By John Redmond
RocKorea, a concert at Midan New City held over last weekend put together by local and expat business leaders, more than doubled expectations of organizers.
The festival was aimed to promote Midan “Leisure” City, located near Incheon, a project incorporating Indonesian and Korean investments.
Set in a valley surrounded by picturesque mountains, complemented by state of the art facilities, the event ran like clockwork last Saturday through early Sunday morning.
Participants and concertgoers were well catered for in terms of facilities, including food, beverages, information and emergency services, all provided by sponsors and city officials.
A welcome sight was the low key presence of the local police force, at the request of foreign organizers.
Pascal Biannic Leger, director of Softindustry Development and main festival organizer, spoke to The Korea Times about the event.
“Investors came to us with ideas such as a theme park, an exhibition and other things, but we decided on a rock concert,” he said.
“With my contacts with people like Lance Reegan-Diehl I thought it would be a good chance to see some good indie bands and some tribute bands.”
For a concert featuring a host of tribute bands ― musicians that specifically play songs and recreate the image of a well-known acts ― post punk outfit the Tremors gave the afternoon audience a taste of highly energetic original power pop. Fronted by Matt Randel on guitars and vocals, with Gavin Donohoe on bass and vocals Mike Mayhem working a double kick drum kit, the trio pumped out a rousing 45 minute set of Korea inspired songs punctuated with a few classic British punk gems.
The surprise act for this writer and everybody else was Korean Beatles tribute band The Tatles. Kitted out in early Brian Epstein-designed suits, the quartet performed flawless renditions of classic early Beatles songs, complete perfect vocal harmonies in perfect English. The members even spoke to the audience in Liverpool accents.
The midnight set of the Lance Reegan-Diehl Band (LRD) gave the audience a taste of some classic rock that was timed perfectly, giving the audience a high energy combination of raw power and stage theatrics. Reegan-Diehl, a seasoned professional musician, recording studio owner and event organizer was also the person management approached to put the music line up together.
The LRD Band, fronted by sensational vocalist Megan Kim, Reegan Diehl on guitars and vocals, David Dauberman on bass gave the audience a taste of their collective years of working the international music circuit.
Drawing almost 3,000 people, RocKorea wrapped up in the early hours of Sunday, completing a solid 18 hours of music.