The best indicators of where the fun was happening during last year's spring weekend were the floodlamps emanating from a handful of hot spots in and around Kenting. This year, the Taipei Times sheds some light of its own on the major events taking place.
Make a Wish (Moonlight 2003)
There's no such thing as bad publicity, and last year's Moonlight rave on the beach received its share of it. As a result, although anticipation for this year's party has been high, the authorities in charge of the beach asked that it end by midnight.
"The party's just starting at midnight," said David Jr., who has organized the rave for the past three years. He's instead moved it inland to the field adjacent to the site of last year's Dreamfield rave. But sand looks to be the only thing absent from this year's party, the only rave to take place on Thursday night as well as Friday and Saturday. England's Dave "Give It" Twomey has signed up to play, as has Japanese DJ Tsuyoshi. They'll spin on both Friday and Saturday night on the main stage, Alien Prophecy, along with turntablists such as K Fancy, Orange, @llen, Em Lee and Victor, as well as live acts Outer and David Jr's own outfit, Acid Fertilizer.
The second stage, Dazed and Confused, is where revelers can chill out to downbeats and dub, and the third stage, called Traveling at the Speed of Thought, will offer psychedelic trance.
Tickets: NT$800 per night or NT$2,000 in advance for all three nights. In Taipei, you can purchase advance tickets at Rock Candy, located at 7, Lane 79, Sec. 1, Fuhsing S., Rd. or at any Tower Records stores. In Hsinchu, advance tickets are available at Club View on the 15th floor of the China Trust Hotel, 106 Chungyang Rd. In Taichung, at Blue Records, located at 18 Huamei St. And in Tainan's Ganesh Store at 10 Yungfu Rd., Sec. 1, or Kaohsiung's Ganesh Shop at 12 Yuju St.
Spring Love at the "Love Mansion"
Taipei's 2nd Floor makes its foray into the Kenting Spring Weekend by taking over Kenting's Sea View Hotel, which they've temporarily renamed Love Mansion.
Here's the deal: Buy an advance ticket to the Love Mansion for NT$1,000 and the ticket itself will have space to be punched three times; once for a discount round-trip ticket on Royal Dragon Bus Lines from Taipei or Taichung arriving on Friday and leaving Sunday; a second punch will get you onto Dawan Beach for free on Friday for the Golden Beach Music Festival. The third punch gets you onto the grounds of the Love Mansion for Saturday's "Climax," as the organizers have dubbed it.
And just what is the Climax? The gates open at 2pm for a party set to go well into the following day. Headlining the evening will be Japanese DJ Takkyu Ishino of Denki Groove, along with live acts We Save Strawberries, Sissy, Dexter and English, and Spring Scream veterans Mimi-chan. 2nd Floor's resident DJs will also spin throughout the night as will a roster of other local favorites, including K Fancy, Saucy, SCL, Nina, Michaelphonic and others.
The Climax naturally follows Friday night's "Foreplay," an evening of elbow-rubbing set to poolside lounge music. The organizers are wisely figuring that most partygoers will choose to skip the Foreplay and are banking on a high turn-out for Saturday night's fun. They're even helping to promote the Moonlight party on Friday night.
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