Spring music festivals canceled, postponed due to coronavirus

Seen is a poster for Beautiful Mint Life 2020, one of the major indie music events in Korea. Courtesy of Mintpaper

By Park Ji-won

In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, most music festivals scheduled to be held in the spring have been canceled or postponed.

Beautiful Mint Life, one of the major music festivals presenting indie bands, has been canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. In a statement released Sunday, organizers said, “We decided to cancel the event planned to be held between May 16 and 17 to prevent possible COVID-19 infections for audiences, artists and staff.”

It added that it also decided not to present the festival online citing costs including payment for musicians and operation fees.

The most famous musicians in the indie scene and K-pop singers including BOL4, Jang Beom-june and Eric Nam were booked to perform in the yearly event.

The cancellation came in line with canceling or postponing large festivals after the government's decision to extend the social distancing period until May 5. However, the event was largely expected to be held as planned as the number of coronavirus infections and deaths has started to slow in recent weeks.

In addition to the cancellation of Beautiful Mint Life, other music festivals such as Love Some Festival, which was planned to be held on April 4, were canceled. However, some events are set to move online or be rescheduled for the near future.

Greenplugged Seoul, a music festival which was planned to be held between May 16 and 17 with famous indie musicians and K-pop singers such as ZICO and Nell, was postponed to July 4 and 5. Seoul Jazz Festival, one of the largest jazz events, also delayed its event slated to be held on May 23 and 24 to autumn. Hiphopplayer, slated to be held between April 25 and 26, also put off its event indefinitely.

Jarasum Jazz Festival, however, announced that it will hold an online festival through YouTube and Naver where it streams free live performances of seven jazz artists including Heo So-young Trio between May 8 and 10. The festival will also release footage of live performances from past festivals. The festival is planned to be held on Oct. 9 and 11.