Honda Summer Music Fest Hua Hin 2010

[buksida]

Honda's third multi-genre fest on the beach in Hua Hin is set for May 1

There may be political problems in Bangkok, but that's not going to stop the Honda Summer Fest from taking place on Khao Takieb beach in Hua Hin on May 1.

In fact, organiser Vinij Lertratanachai is expecting what he calls "a good turn out" at the third edition of the event, which is set to run from noon to midnight.

"I've identified the strong and weak points of last year and taken steps to make it better," says Vinij, the chief executive of Fresh Air Festival. "I'm not going to forecast how many people will come this time but I think we'll be successful."

Honda Summer Fest has been an unpredictable project since the beginning. Initially, there were concerns as to whether the event would achieve its target audience of 30,000 on the venue site of 1 square kilometre on the 10km-long beach. But they underestimated the power of free admission and more than 100,000 people turned up.

Last year, Vinij thought he was well prepared, having doubled the space, only to be shocked when 300,000 flocked to the free-for-all. The crowd was so big, it showed up on Google Earth.

"It was impressive. However, this year, I don't expect more than 200,000 people," he says. "It's hard to control too many people.

"As management, we must be more serious about the traffic on the road and in the sea, toilet facilities, environment and garbage. Every year, I have more and more manpower to collect garbage and clean the beach. We two groups for the garbage-collecting concession and 100 volunteers and municipal officials to clear up the beach the next day. We also had 100 people working on security the first year and 300 the second year," he adds.

Vinij has been organising music festivals for many years. Does he have any ideas how to instil good behaviour in festival-goers when it comes to discarding their garbage? In Japan, for example, audience members are given plastic bags in which to store their rubbish.

"Absolutely, Honda and I are very concerned about that. Last year, we prepared a lot of those same bags and rewarded people for good behaviour. Those giving us four pieces of garbage received one water bottle. More pieces were rewarded with a premium product. I announced that no glass bottles were to be taken on the beach and asked several booths to use plastic or paper cups. It was effective," he recalls.

There will be two stages offering rock, pop, hip-hop, reggae-ska and electronica.

The main stage features Joey Boy, T-Bone, Thaitanium, Lipta, Two Poptorn, Champ Supawat, ETC, the Teddy Ska Band, Jui Juis, the Kai-Jo Brothers, Tamone Band, Mocca Garden, Buddha Bless, Sing Nuea Suea Tai and Tai Dern Len. There's also the Japanese all-girl ska band Pistol Valve and the Thai-Japanese duo Sweet Vacation featuring Hayakawa Daichi and Sitapha "May" Uttaburanont.

The second stage is for DJs. Among those taking part are homeboy Spidamonkee and foreign acts like Uprooted from Shanghai and King Kapisi, plus New Zealand-based Samoan hip-hop artist Bill Urale.

"Last year, Nossa Alma Canta shot a video and it got 100,000 hits on YouTube. Now, I'm thinking how to broaden our communications," says Vinij.

A fishing boat that accidentally ran aground last year was turned into an impromptu snack bar, offering drinks and food. This year Vinij has signed up a few more fishing vessels to serve the same purpose.

He's also made sure that there'll be plenty of buses and vans at the end of the fest to take revellers back to Bangkok.

How about pickpockets?

"I didn't hear about that being a problem but everybody should take care of themselves. If you go to a music festival, you shouldn't bring anything valuable," he says.

WIN A LITTLE

- Activities include a sand sculpture contest with prizes varying from Bt4,000 to Bt50,000 for the best artwork.

- The first 3,000 people who send an SMS with the word "Honda" to 4649222 get a premium from Honda Automobile (Thailand).

- Call Honda at (02) 341 7777 or Thaiticketmajor at (02) 262 3456.

Source: The Nation

More info: http://www.thaiticketmajor.com/concert/ ... 10-eng.php
http://www.freshairfestival.com/

[buksida]

Giving this a bump as it is on this Saturday - HHAD travel advisory: don't go anywhere near Khao Takiab if you're not attending this event!

Here are some shots from the first fest two years ago (didn't get any last year): http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/vi ... 2&start=16

[lomuamart]

Looking at the travel advisory from buksida above, he was absolutely correct.
I came back from Dolphin Bay around 7pm last night and took the by-pass road from Pranburi and down towards town on the Pala U road.
At the bottom of the hill, it was chok a bloc heading into town and that would have been all the way to Chomsin/Petchkasem.
Luckily, we found a roundabout way of getting to Petchkasem but there was no way back into town from there. I was dropped off and walked back home.
It's all well and good having these events here, but the traffic is worse than a nightmare. People heading south on Petchksam from the Tansamai shop might have got to the centre of town about midnight. If they were trying to get to Khao Takiab, then they could forget it. They might just be arriving now.

[hhfarang]

Yes, I agree! We went out to dinner last night at a new restaurant on Soi 90 and the traffic up Phetkasem road was a nightmare. I came home on the dirt road along the railroad tracks to avoid Phetkasem and even it was a bit bumper to bumper as others had the same idea!

[STEVE G]

Over the last few days of my stay in Hua Hin last week I'd seen the stage down at Khao Takiab beach and I did wonder about access. I often cycle down there in the late afternoon for a bit of light exercise and I sometimes get held up by traffic trying to get there on a nomal weekday on a bicycle, let alone in a car on a weekend with a rock concert!

[bladerunner2120]

Reggae you say? hope its better than the salsa they play in the latin dance clubs in BKK....La Reudea is still playing the Mexican top 40 of 1960.