Rocking August, from the Mainstream and the Fringe
Posted by: mark ˑ August 5, 2009 – 1:20 amBy Mark
Even though Pentaport and the Jisan Valley Festival are the biggest two music events in Korea (at least in many people’s minds), August has a lot going on, too. Busan has an International Rock Festival and a Beach Party Techno Weekend (sadly, the Beach Party website is considered by my computer to be a malicious website, so I will not link to it here).
There is another rock festival in Dongducheon, the Freebird 14th anniversary weekend from the 14th-16th, and of course Seo Taiji’s ETP Fest on the 15th.
But for me, August makes me think of the Seoul Fringe Festival (but no English yet). For 11 years now, the Fringe Festival has been one of the major artsy events of the year, with a refreshing lack of pomp and importance.
This year the Fringe Festival runs from Aug. 13 to Aug. 29, and features a wide array of music, art, installations and random oddness, scattered across the Hongdae neighborhood. I will post more about the Fringe Festival as I hear more about it (or one of this site’s many contributors might post about it).