This year's 10-day Spring Scream in Kenting may already be mostly over, but the festival kicks into high gear today for the final blowout weekend, with the best bands taking the stage over the next three nights.
A lot of the bands scheduled to play this weekend have by now become fixtures at the festival and missing their shows is like going to Hualien and not coming back with a bag of moachi to share with the office -- it will raise suspicions that you weren't actually there.
So, below is a chronological guide to the best, most fun and most noteworthy bands that will play this weekend. Remain on the lookout, though, for the new bands coming to Spring Scream, either from Taiwan or abroad. There are usually some pleasant surprises in the mix.
Tonight, 6pm, Stage 1: Bad Daughter
This sugar-coated indie pop band released their second album at the beginning of the year with more sing-along, cutesy-ironic lyrics and jangly guitar melodies. A couple of the band's players like to dress up in bear costumes for shows, which is very kawaiiiii.
Tonight, 8pm and 9pm, Stage 3: Stone
After Bad Daughter's toothless pop, these four bands will raise pulse rates with crunching hardcore rap metal. Stone and Monkey Insane triggered mosh pits at last summer's Ho-Hai-Yan and Formoz festivals and have only gotten better since.
Tonight, 10pm, Stage 1: WonFu (旺福) or Stage 2: Cthonic (閃靈)
WonFu released probably the most enjoyable indie pop album last year mixing rockabilly, ballad and punk while being consistently funny and listenable. The full make-up black metal spectacle of Chthonic plays at the same time on Stage 2.
Tonight, 11pm, Stage 3: Nylas and Gay Vagas
Nylas are newcomers to the local electronic music scene, but have made a splash with the release earlier this year by Fnac of a six-track EP that brings to mind early Portishead.
Tomorrow, 5pm, Stage 1: Ass9
Bluegrass music becomes cool when it's played by Ass9. Who would've guessed?
Tomorrow, 6pm, Stage 2: The Anglers
A few months ago, this foreigner band out of Zhongli self-released an album with a nudge and wink titled A Quarter Ounce of Prevention. Its a jam band in the Phish tradition, but with a bit more reggae flava mixed in.
Tomorrow 7pm, Stage 1: Mimie Chan
Coming from Japan for five consecutive years now, there may be no more anticipated band at Spring Scream than Mimie Chan. Count on at least one band member wearing an adult diaper and rolling around the stage screaming "niao bu," or diaper, with a thick Japanese accent.
Tomorrow 9pm, Stage 1: Milk
By the time some people have realized The Anglers' show is over, they'll head over to Stage 1 for Milk, a Taichung foreigner collective, for more funky jams that should stir fond memories of fraternity parties.
Tomorrow 10pm and 11pm, Stage 2: LTK and Clippers (夾子)
LTK have a deserved reputation as one of the most explosive bands in Taiwan. At previous Spring Screams they have started intra- and inter-band fights and burned guitars onstage. Clippers are more subdued, but their crazed take on cheesy nakashi music is straight-up fun.
Sunday 8pm, Stage 2: Vibration
It's slim pickings on Sunday, but it would be a pity to leave the festival before catching Vibration, an electronica outfit from Hong Kong. Their moody vocals and ultra-sophisticated composition caused jaws to drop when they stopped over in Taipei several months ago to promote their album release here.
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