Pentaport Rock Festival conquers heat

Nell performs at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival in Songdo, Incheon, Friday. Courtesy of Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival

By Yun Suh-young

INCHEON ― The scorching heat couldn't beat the passion of rock fans who flocked to the port city of Incheon, Friday, the day that kicked off the Pentaport Rock Festival which ran through Sunday.

The Songdo Pentaport Park, which was built specifically for the festival in 2013, was slowly filling in with participants starting from a little before 12 p.m. on Friday, when the first concert was scheduled.

Visitors carried a load of bags with them to nestle themselves at a good spot. Some were ready to camp out in the tents available in a corner of the festival venue. At the entrance, several visitors were spotted dragging in-flight carry-on bags with them.

"I see people coming from all over the country. The previous customer came from Daegu and they said they booked the tickets five months ago and will be staying at a hotel nearby the festival venue," said a taxi driver running to and from the festival venue and the subway station to drive visitors to the entrance.

When the reporter arrived at 12 p.m., the festival was still at the preparation stage and no music was playing. However, at around 12:30 p.m., the first performance began by Boys in the Kitchen, a garage rock boy band, followed by Pentaport Super Band. In the next stage, Shinhan Card Stage, the smallest stage where new artists perform, several bands were playing in between the breaks of next-door performers.

A member of Suede performs among the audience at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival in Songdo, Incheon, Friday. Courtesy of Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival

It wasn't until Rux (featuring Bagagee Viphex13) at 2:30 p.m. that the atmosphere heated up. Audience members were jumping and dancing in front of the stage sweating like melting ice-cream from the 35 degree Celsius weather which felt like 40.

As time evolved, the atmosphere got rolling and participants were all enjoying the festival. Several games were on going at various sites inside the festival venue. People from all over the country participated -- from Icheon, Daegu, Ulsan and even across the globe from California.

The real madness began, however, in the evening when the popular bands started to appear. The appetizer was Run River North, a Korean-American folk rock band of six which recently released their second album "Drinking From A Salt Pond."

Then the Pentaport Stage, the largest stage which is where the big name artists perform, was occupied by Nell, a band popular among fans for their melancholy dreamy music. Nell has returned to the festival for the first time in 10 years since its first performance in 2007. The Pentaport Rock Festival was established in 2006 and celebrates its 11th anniversary this year.

After Nell came Suede, a British rock band from the 1990s, which came with their newest album "Night Thoughts." The group performed at Pentaport in 2013 as a headliner.

Saturday featured some of the hottest artists, including indie duo 10CM, pop rock band Daybreak, Japanese electronic metal band Crossfaith, and Weezer, a pop rock band from Los Angeles which has sold 17 million albums so far along their 20-year career. Weezer recently released their 10th album "White Album" which was met with rave reviews from critics.

Sunday closed out with Japanese band Spyair, indie band Peppertones, Irish indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club, British rock band The Vaccines, and Panic! At The Disco which visits Pentaport for the first time since its debut.

The Pentaport Rock Festival which initially began as Tri-port Rock Festival in 1999 suffered a seven year hiatus due to operational challenges in the first year. It was rebranded and launched in 2006 and has since maintained its reputation as the largest rock festival in Korea and one of the visit-worthy rock festivals in the world. Over the past 11 years, 1,100 foreign and local bands played and over 600,000 music lovers visited. The 3,000 early bird tickets for this year's festival were sold out in five minutes since the release of the first line up.