School’s out, and it’s not just the scorching heat that marks the beginning of summer vacation. Teenagers, college students and live music fans are flocking to Fulong Beach (福隆海灘) this weekend for the Ho-Hai-Yan Gung-Liau Rock Festival (台北縣貢寮國際海洋音樂祭).
The free three-day event, now in its 11th year, begins with a performance this afternoon by Sodagreen (蘇打綠).
Attendance at Ho-Hai-Yan continues to grow every year. According to the Taipei County Government, the event’s main sponsor, 540,000 people showed up over three days last year, up from the previous year’s record of 510,000. Those figures could not be independently verified. By way of comparison, Glastonbury sold 140,000 tickets for its festival last month, according to the BBC.
If you go, be prepared for crowded trains, crowded highways and a crowded beach.
In recent years, the event has grown to accommodate more mainstream pop artists. In 2007, Chinese rock legend Cui Jian (崔健) made a storied appearance. Last year the headliners were R ’n’ B and hip-hop artist Stanley Huang (黃立行) and A-mei (阿妹). While there are no such heavy hitters this year, there is some celebrity power in the lineup, which includes Hong Kong actress and singer Josie Ho (何超儀) and her band Uni Boys, who appear on Sunday.
Some veteran festivalgoers might long for the earlier days when Ho-Hai-Yan’s main stage featured more cutting-edge acts such as Australian noise rockers The Dirty Three and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion of the US.
But Ho-Hai-Yan still clings to its indie roots. The event remains a magnet for aspiring rock and pop performers, who vie for spots in the festival’s annual battle of the bands contest, which takes place tomorrow.
More than 200 groups applied this year, and around 30 were chosen to participate in an elimination round last month. The 10 finalists compete tomorrow on the main stage for a grand prize of NT$200,000. The second runner-up gets NT$50,000 and the third a trophy.
In addition to the prize money, the contest helps bands gain visibility and is a fairly good predictor of success on both the indie and mainstream pop circuits. Past winners include energetic garage rockers 88 Balaz (88顆芭樂籽), who won the first competition in 2001, indie pop favorites Tizzy Bac and Aboriginal indie band Totem (圖騰樂團). These three bands are scheduled to perform tonight.
But the most commercially successful past competitors never won the grand prize.
Singer-songwriter Cheer Chen (陳綺貞) and Sodagreen won the second place “Critic’s Choice” awards (評審團大獎) in 2001 and 2004, respectively, and geek chic rocker Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), now a household name, took third place in 2007.
As for Ho-Hai-Yan’s beach party atmosphere, the Taipei County Government caused a minor stir last year when it announced that it would ban onsite alcohol sales and C-strings, a type of thong bikini. This year, however, a government spokesman said that there would be no such bans, but officials will be keeping an eye on underage drinking. Onsite vendors have been instructed to be vigilant about asking for identification when selling alcohol.
In addition to Josie Ho, Sunday’s lineup has something for everyone. The program includes Japanese glam-rock band SuG, power pop/alt-rock group Melee of the US and French post-rock outfit Stuck in the Sound.
Perhaps it will be up to Aboriginal musician Kimbo Hu (胡德夫), who also performs on Sunday, to remind revelers of the inspiration for the festival’s namesake — Ho-Hai-Yan
(吼海洋) is an Aboriginal folk chant that refers to the beauty of the sea.
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