Hundreds of thousands of fans from around the country
and abroad piled into Pattaya for the Pattaya International Music Festival
2005 last weekend. Throngs of people lined the Pattaya Beach Road stage
areas at Soi 5, Soi 9 and at Bali Hai to grab a glimpse of their favorite
rock stars during the 3-day event.
Mayor
Niran and Joey Boy, same style ... almost
The opening ceremonies took place at the Bali Hai
international “World Box” stage on Friday evening, March 18.
Before the ceremonies got underway, Thai singer Tata
Young took to the stage in a sexy jumpsuit, much to the delight of fans,
and raised the mercury levels for red-blooded males. Tata Young has had a
string of recent hits in Thailand and on the international charts. She
sang numbers from her latest album “I Believe” including “Sexy,
Bitchy” and the title track.
(L-R)
Juthamas Siriwan, TAT governor, Somsak Thepsutin, Tourism and Sports
Minister and Pisit Ketphasook, Chonburi governor open this year’s music
festival.
Following the headlining set, honored guests Somsak
Thepsutin, Tourism and Sports Minister, Juthamas Siriwan, Tourism
Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor, Pisit Ketphasook, Chonburi governor,
Pol. Gen. Jongrak Jutanont, Region 2 police commander, Mayor Niran
Wattanasartsathorn and city councilors took to the stage to declare the
Pattaya International Music Festival open for 2005.
Japan’s
Makoto wais to Thai fans.
“The Pattaya International Music Festival is another
activity for both Thai and foreign visitors to attend and enjoy with
plenty of fun ... This year we welcome a more international feel to the
event,” said Somsak Thepsutin.
“There are many international artists from the Asian
and European regions and big name Thai artists as well. We are all here
for one reason: to enjoy music, and this can only benefit the image of
Pattaya,” said the Tourism and Sports Minister.
Juthamas Siriwan, TAT governor, said during her opening
speech, “TAT has spent 44 million baht on organizing this year’s
Pattaya International Music Festival and we estimate that as a result an
additional 2 billion baht will be injected into the Thai economy through
fans of both Thai and foreign musicians.”
Blackhead’s
vocalist Pu had fans moshing in front of the stage.
The TAT governor also said that they had projected at
least a million visitors to this year’s event - although the final
estimates were somewhat less than that - as part of the TAT’s
“Happiness - no place like home” tourism campaign for 2005, aimed
attracting tourists from around the globe to come back following
December’s tsunami tragedy.
Following the opening ceremonies, Taiwanese superstar
Ken Chu and the F4 band hit the stage to screaming fans, both Thai and
Chinese, wanting to hear their favorites. The performance included a
stunning guitar solo.
Taiwan’s
Ken Chu from the F4 band wooed plenty of fans.
Alan Lo and Dylan Kuo, also from Taiwan, were next, and
along with the sexy Baby VOX girls from Korea, entertained their fans
leading in the first night of the festival.
The two larger stages, Peace Box (Soi 9-10) and the
Love Box (Soi 5-6) cranked up the volume with both Thai and Asian stars
playing to huge crowds. The younger and more volatile fans had the
opportunity to chill and ‘mosh’ to big name Thai and Asian bands,
including Potato, Zeal, AB Normal, Clash, Taxi, Big Ass, rapster Joey Boy
and Gancore Club, Black Head and Labanoon. Hardcore fans mulled around the
stages waiting for their idols to appear live and ‘get with it’.
Some
of the artists hang out with Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn, Deputy
Governor Pisit Boonchuang, Chonburi MP Chanyuth Hengtrakul, and others.
The very crowded Beach Road was closed to motorized
traffic during the festival period, allowing people to walk around,
looking at many of the numerous booths offering a variety of goods and
merchandise in between concerts.
The
sexy girls from Baby VOX.
As with any large event, there was also a more
unpleasant side - but thanks to increased security and law enforcement
officials who inspected everyone for weapons, incidents were kept to a
minimum. Some fights did break out among drunken youths, but security
quickly brought these under control and disbursed the combatants. There
was also a number of pick pocketing crimes recorded this year.
Tata
Young got everyone in the mood for a good time.
Medical personnel were also kept busy attending to many
who fainted in the crush of the masses, and to the minor injuries due to
scuffles that broke out - but by comparison, everything went fairly
smoothly.
Pattaya’s roads and major arteries were, however, just as packed with
autos as Beach Road was with pedestrians, as motorists from Bangkok and
other provinces converged on the city to enjoy the weekend of music.
Despite looking like Bangkok on Friday payday afternoon, traffic flow was
slow but consistent over the weekend. Motorists, both local and from out
of town, cooperated with the large amount of police and volunteers sent
out to keep everything running as smoothly as possible before Pattaya
returned to its less chaotic system on Monday.
“Senahoy”
jamming with the song...
Hardcore
fun with Big Ass...
Clash
banged out some of their hits.
Teen
favorites Alan Lo (right) and Dylan Kuo from Taiwan.
Nurses
on duty were kept busy with the fainted and injured.
Thousands
of fans turned out to see their favorite artists over the weekend.
There
was plenty of fun away from the main stages with more live music on Beach
Road.
