Pattaya Music Festival gets fans swaying, shopping

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From the songs to the stalls, the Pattaya Music Festival hit the right note for hundreds of thousands of fans that swarmed the city, except for maybe those stuck in traffic.

With Beach Road and all its connecting sois closed to traffic from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. March 20-22, the city descended into its usual festival-mode gridlock, with cars backed up Central Road to Sukhumvit Road and pedestrians outpacing pickups on Second and Third roads.

Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, Rewat Phonlookin, Toranin Kiathichai and honored officials and guests take to the stage to officially open the 14th annual Pattaya Music Festival.Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, Rewat Phonlookin, Toranin Kiathichai and honored officials and guests take to the stage to officially open the 14th annual Pattaya Music Festival.

Once they made it to the venues located from Soi 6 down to Walking Street, however, everyone seemed to be having a good time, rocking out to three stages full of musical acts including Slot Machine, Buddha Bless, Big Ass, Lomosonic, Kot Chakapan Takataen Cholada and Pee Saderd.

Pannee Sae-ung said that she is local to Pattaya and came to the music festival with her son, who bought robot toys. The stalls set up along Beach Road were offering weird, but quite interesting and new products, she said, and her son was spoilt for choice.

They said they would love to attend the festival again as it’s full of fun and wish that they would host it more times in a year. It’s a great way of promoting tourism, concluded Pannee.

New & Jiew sing “Chan Ko Rak Kong Chan” (“I Love What is Mine”) from the Samee Tee Thra series.New & Jiew sing “Chan Ko Rak Kong Chan” (“I Love What is Mine”) from the Samee Tee Thra series.

Besides robot toys, the Beach Road stalls had food, drinks, locally-made products and other souvenirs. The large and mini stages set up along the beach offered an equally large choice of music, from rock to pop and “mohlam sing” to country.

Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome said this year marks as the 14th Pattaya Music Festival and has drawn people throughout the region. It is one of Pattaya’s best-known annual events that many people have been waiting for.

Music lovers can enjoy the atmosphere of Pattaya while watching the performance of their favorite music artists and bands while foreign tourists find the festival a great attraction due to its variety of music, he said.

Pattaya authorities provided tight security and other services to facilitate all attendees.

Getsunova gets the crowd clapping their hands to “Klai Kae Nai Kor Klai” (“No Matter How Far, We Are Close”).

Pop from Calories Blah Blah sings “Kon Thi Toog Luem” (“The Person Who Has Been Forgotten”).

Deep O Sea performs the “Koh Samui” song.

Pee Saderd has the crowd dancing to his popular hit, “Jee Hoy” (“Grilling Shellfish”).

Deep O Sea sings “Thailand For You”.

Mocca Garden, a well-known and popular Ska band, performs for Ska lovers.

Takkatan Chonlada, a popular country music artist sings “Mai Chai Fan Tam Taen Mai Dai” (“I’m not your girlfriend, I cannot act as I am”).

The Main Stage near Soi 6, Pattaya Beach Road was packed with tourists, both foreign and domestic.

Music lovers sing along with some of their favorite hits.

A guitarist from Sweet Mullet greets music fans in front of the stage.

Country music legend Kot Chakapan sings with his dancers.

Kot Chakapan and his dancers give the crowd a big “thank you after his performance.

As is the case every year, traffic comes to a standstill during the music festival.