Pet Shop Boys hit Bangkok hard, along with Rain, Pitbull and an exploding drum kit.
Boom! Wow! Pow! Bang! The names of the four stages at BEC-Tero's debut festival, Sonic Bang, promised thundering performances from Bangkok's biggest line-up of international stars since Ian Brown and Franz Ferdinand teamed up with Oasis seven years ago.The shows blasted off loud, but not always clear, at Impact Muang Thong Thani from about 10.30am on Saturday, offering an eclectic mix of everything from '80s electronic pop to the latest hip-hop hits, luk thung, dance and indie music.
It brought back the Pet Shop Boys, Placebo, Jason Mraz, Ash, Owl City and Korean superstar Rain to the City of Angels, and gave us a first taste of Pitbull and newcomers such as Australian pop band Sheppard and multi-Grammy-nominated country star Hunter Hayes.
Most big acts got the attention they deserved, but smaller outfits such as Air Guitar and some luk thung artists missed out, while local indie acts such as Submarine and In Ear Beat were lost in the shadows. The rainy season also took a bow, dampening action on the outdoor Park and Sound Blast stages.
Still, the real thunder came onstage, reaching a crescendo with the Pet Shop Boys, who kept a jam-packed auditorium mesmerised for 90 minutes with a visual feast of signature avant garde costumes, props and laser lights. The British disco-powered duo was here to promote its latest album, "Electric".
The four-act show kicked off at 10pm, transforming the Boom! stage into a futuristic spaceship, complete with trippy strobe lights that whisked us back to the '80s with "Axis". Frontman Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe arrived dressed like human porcupines and pumped out old and not-so-old hits such "Opportunities", "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing", "Suburbia", "West End Girls", "Leaving", "Rent" and, of course, "It's a Sin". They proved once again that disco is certainly not dead.
Half an hour earlier, this very stage had been exploding with a completely different sound, as Pitbull brought the house down with hits such as "Rain Over Me", "Get it Started", "Don't Stop the Party" and "Hotel Room Service". Some 4,000 fans were singing, screaming and jumping in time with the rapper's scantily dressed dancers on stage. He brought on Christina Aguilera, for "Feel This Moment", and J-Lo, for "Live it Up", and the crowd got even wilder, despite the stars appearing via videos rather than live. Judging from the reaction, "Mr Worldwide" will be returning soon.
As Pitbull began to wrap up, Placebo was just getting busy at the Pow! Stage, with numbers like "For What It's Worth", "Loud Like Love", "Every Me Every You". Sadly, the band's electro-glam flair and Brian Molko's showmanship got lost in a bad sound system and distracted audience.
At about the same time, Jason Mraz began lulling a different crowd with a string of his gentle, acoustic hits over at the Bang! stage. Dressed casually in a T-shirt, jeans and baseball cap, Mraz opened his two-hour show with smooth ballads "5/6", "Tonight, Not Again", "Make it Mine", "Three Things" and "Remedy". The pace picked up a bit when he segued into "Everybody's Got Somebody But Me", for which he was joined by Hayes.
Though Mraz was never in the running, the prize for loudest fans was won earlier in the evening by Rain. The decibel level exploded as Southeast Asia's King of Pop - dressed in a white suit - hit the Boom! Stage with "It's Raining", followed by "Touch Ya" and "I Do". The Korean heartthrob disappeared from the music scene for a couple of years to complete his military service, but the response of the Bangkok crowd proved he has lost none of his power. He offered up R&B-pop hits such as "You", "Fresh Woman", "Love Story" and "My Girl", but left the girls disappointed by failing to strip off his T-shirt.
Early birds were treated by Japanese rock guitarist Miyavi, who brought his electronic rock hits such as "Free World" to the Pow! Stage for the first time in three years. Local star Stamp Apiwat joined him on stage to jam on the Thai number "Ohm Jong Ngoie".
Then, fans of hip-hop had to rush off to the Boom! stage to watch Korean band Epik High pump out hits such as "Kill This Love" and "High Technology".
In between, the Bang! stage witnessed Scandal, a Japanese all-girl group ("Everybody Say Yeah"), followed by Japan's Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, dressed frilly and colourful to serve up sweet singles such as "Kyary An An", "Fashion Monster" and "Ninja Re Bang Bang".
Over at the Pow! Stage, the LA-based hip-hoppers Far East Movement were blasting the dance floor with "Ain't Coming Down", "Wild Things" and the catchy, base-heavy "Like a G6". The Movement's collaborations with Justin Bieber ("Live My Life"), Ryan Tedder from One Republic ("Rocketeer"), and Cover Drive on "Turn up the Love" brought things to a climax.
Soon after, the stage was taken over by Northern Irish alternative rockers, Ash, back after its appearance at an Impact festival in 2001. Though scheduled to start at 5.30pm, drummer Rick McMurray spent about half an hour adjusting his kit, but in vain. Lead vocalist Tim Wheeler had to stop mid song when the "drum kit exploded". Still, Ash managed to keep feet tapping, bodies swaying and fans singing along to hits like "Binary", "A Life Less Ordinary", "Burn Baby Burn", "Angel Interceptor". They dedicated "Orpheus" to record executive Tim Carr, who died in Thailand in April. He was 57.
In this age of Facebook, concert-goers could use their wristbands to update their festival status by zapping boards outside each stage. This feature was a huge hit among younger fans, who were still filling the venue as the sun set, despite rumours that tickets hadn't been selling well. A BEC-Tero organiser insisted that the target of 15,000 festival-goers had been met.
But this line-up should have packed Impact to the rafters. Next time, the organisers need to ensure the sound system is up to par and work to minimise overlaps in the schedule so that fans don't end up missing opening numbers.
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