For rock fans in South Korea, the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival, since 2006, has become an annual tradition. As one of the biggest live music events in South Korea, it attracts both local and foreign favorites for three days of rock and electronic music across multiple stages. The five main themes of the festival are music, passion, being environmentally friendly, DIY and friendship. Some of the acts who have played Pentaport in prior years include The Prodigy, Weezer, Scorpions, The Used, Korn and Deftones.
Pentaport is located in Dream Park, the southern part of Incheon, which is very close to the airport but far from the capital city, Seoul. The location is of no matter, as South Korea’s subway system has a stop conveniently close to Dream Park.
In 2018, I decided to attend Pentaport due to Nine Inch Nails announcing they would perform at the festival that year. What I’ll say next is a common theme in these retrospective articles – I was living in China at the time and Nine Inch Nails was not playing anywhere in the country, so had to make a trip outside of China in order to see them. My choices were Bangkok, where they would be playing a headlining show, Pentaport in South Korea and Summersonic in Japan. As I’d already seen a festival in Japan in the form of Loud Park and wanted a festival experience, I decided upon South Korea for this trip. It would give me the chance to see some of the local Korean rock bands as well.
The rest of the lineup for Pentaport was also intriguing – My Bloody Valentine would be the headliner for the third day, Japan’s Crossfaith would be playing, Mike Shinoda would be playing, and even Hoobastank would be charming the Korean fans with old favorite “The Reason.”
I luckily managed to find someone living in Incheon extremely close to the festival grounds and arranged to stay there for this trip. Upon arriving in Incheon, I found a shuttle bus and took a 10-minute drive to the stop, actually seeing the Pentaport stage on the way. This part of Incheon looked much different from the metropolis of Seoul, with spaced-out, modern buildings designed in an eco-friendly sort of way. It was clean, green and spacious.
The festival was three days in length, but I decided to just attend the final two days with the Nine Inch Nails and My Bloody Valentine headliners. The first day did include Japanese metal band Loudness, Korean alternative rock band Pia and further Korean bands Jaurim, Daybreak, Romantic Punch and iamnot. During the first day of the festival, I explored Incheon, seeing the Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing operation, a museum about the Korean War. Upon returning to the apartment, I saw the festival grounds in the distance, seeing the lights shine towards the stars from the stages. It was hard to believe Trent Reznor and co would be performing there the next day, so many hundreds of kilometers from the US, but then again, there I was, too.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Before making my way to the festival grounds, on this clear as crystal day in Incheon I stopped at a store and bought a small bottle of grapefruit Soju. I had a feeling that drinks would be expensive at the festival, so this was my little strategy. The grapefruit flavor was sweet, dulling the taste of alcohol and after drinking it I felt well-buzzed.
The path to the festival was lined with posters from past ones, showcasing the history of the event with headliners like The Prodigy. I made my way to the ticket table and bought tickets for both Saturday and Sunday. The staff told me that cash was not used inside the festival and they presented me with a Pentagon credit card (a Kona Card) which could be charged up to purchase goods and services inside. And if you are looking for amazing credit rewards, I suggest you check out Credit Reward Perks.
There were three stages at Pentaport: the KB Kookmin Starshop Stage, the Kona Card Stage and the Incheon Airport Stage. The Incheon Airport Stage was located closest to the entrance, and was the smallest. The food vendor area also included one for facepainting, which was hardly put to practise. There was a lounge area with big pink soft bean bags located next to this stage to rest, and a little behind that, a shaded Heineken beer lounge area with more soft seats and and after the headlining acts at the other stages ended each night, this stage would still have locals playing into the wee hours. Tents were set up in an area near this stage – there was an option to camp at the festival, as it was a trek to get to for most of the attendees.
I made my way across the big field which made up the center-space of Pentaport to the Kona Card Stage, a sem-indoor stage which looked like an airplane hangar (I will refer to it as the hangar from now on). The first band I would see at Pentaport were South Carnival, a 10-piece band who played a mix of ska and latino music fronted by a charismatic fellow wearing a straw hat. I then made my way to the KB Kookmin Starshop Stage, the biggest stage of the festival, which was just a minute away from the Kona Stage. Playing here were Jannabi (잔나비), an indie rock band who had the fans unified early, waving their flags in the center of the space which would become a mosh pit later on.
South Korea’s Crash, a legacy thrash act who formed in 1991. As the first Korean metal band I saw, they made a good impression, playing what could only be described as old-school thrash and encouraging the crowd to erupt into circle pits for their set. Being that this was now around noon, the big hoses and staff with squirt guns were brought out to douse the nearly on-fire audience – this was done throughout the festival and was always welcomed.
I then went into the hangar for a few discoveries. DTSQ surprised me as an indie band with a sound that kept on giving, with shredding songs about the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that would melt him if he were near the stage.
Japan’s Crossfaith were next up on the Starshop Stage. Electronic metalcore is a type of music which translates well to a live audience, and Crossfaith indeed had the crowd in the palm of their hands for their 45 or so minutes on stage. Highlights were their cover of The Prodigy’s “Omen” and a “jump the fuck up” gimmick popularized by Slipknot during their “Spit It Out” live performances that had the thousands there jumping up at the same time.
It was getting hot as hell in Incheon. Those with umbrellas had them open, but for those who didn’t, inside the Kona card hangar to see Marian Hill, an electronic/synth pop duo, is where they’d be found.
The Koxx hit the main stage next and with their arrival came dozens of flags waved by the audience members. Their form of indie rock also prompted endless sing-alongs from the fans, who went as wild for the Koxx as they did Crossfaith.
Inside the hangar was then Glen Check, who I knew nothing about. They performed a synth/rock/pop blend with catchy hooks that the people all seemed to know, which was endearing but left me feeling a bit out of place.
Merely a year after the passing of Chester Bennington, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda would go out on his own, with Pentaport as one of his tour stops. His set was a mix of uptempo solo tracks, a bit of melancholy and a bit of celebration for the life of Chester. He told the audience that Bennington loved coming to Korea and trying on their traditional costumes. The feeling of remembrance came to a peak with an a cappella rendition of “In the End,” which everyone sang while fighting back tears.
I heard some heavy bass pounding as I walked up to the hangar for the next group. When I made it inside, the scene was like a Halloween-themed rave. The pounding beats and masked performers onstage reminded me of The Prodigy, and I would soon find out that the band was Italy’s The Bloody Beetroots. At the back of the venue, a few Crossfaith members were drinking and bobbing their heads to the Beetroots. I knew Nine Inch Nails was next up on the main stage, so watched most of their set and tried to make my way through the masses to the second or third row for NIN. I saw their gear on stage, which for this Bad Witch era, was a more stripped-down version of NIN – no video screens in front on the band or other fancy bullshit.
I realized I could have watched the entire Bloody Beetroots set when Nine Inch Nails came on a little later than scheduled. I would later find out when looking at the set-list that someone procured from a stage hand that this delay caused one song to be missed – “The Day the World Went Away.”
Regardless, the concert was an example of standardized excellence by Nine Inch Nails, with ragers like “Wish” and “March of the Pigs” coming early while new songs like “Less Than” and “Ahead of Ourselves” fit in well. Covers for David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” and Joy Division’s “Digital” were treats and no matter how many times it’s performed, “Hurt” still had resonance and had everyone in crowd shouting the lyrics before trailing off to leave the festival grounds.
After getting my wits together once the roadies started taking apart NIN’s stage set, I watched some of the festivities at the Incheon Airport Stage while sitting on one of those cushy seats before setting off to sleep.
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Due to waking up a little late, I didn’t see the first couple of Korean acts on Sunday, including Riot Kidz, and in retrospect it was probably a bad idea. When am I going to see these bands again?
It was a hotter day than Saturday and I made a pit stop again for the trusty grapefruit Soju but I could only finish about half of it. When I arrived inside Pentaport, the hoses were out already as I made my way to the main stage for Life and Time. This Korean rock group featured the bassist from The Koxx and brought a chilled atmosphere to Sunday’s festivities. This atmosphere would go on throughout the day thanks to the booking choices.
Around this time, I decided to check out the Incheon Airport Stage, which I had neglected plenty during the festival due to not knowing many of the acts there. I am glad I did, as NST & The Soul Sauce, a South Korean reggae band, brought the temperature up just a few more degrees. I slathered on some more sun tan lotion and went off to the main stage after their set.
We have all heard that “Shut Up and Dance” song. I thought it was just a popular one-hit-wonder and thought nothing of the band who wrote it, so I was surprised to find myself witnessing it live during Walk the Moon’s set. For a hot summer day, this song, and the rest of what they played did fit like a glove and whenever I hear it now, will be brought back to this day with the Koreans.
Se So Neon (새소년) then performed inside the hangar. The translates to ‘new kids’ or ‘new boys’ and they did appeal to the youngsters (and to me) with some serious and unexpected guitar shredding by Hwang So-yoon.
Another band who will be forever known for their one big hit, Hoobastank were up next on the main stage. It’s true that “The Reason” resonated around the world, with the Korean fans knowing every word to the song, but the rest of their set was just as well received and surprisingly hard-hitting.
The vibe stayed chill for Japanese rock/jazz/hip hop band Suchmos next up in the hangar. The band is on an indefinite hiatus now, though their set here was a unique blend that had folks shaking their buns like it was a Jamiroquai concert.
Hyukoh (혁오) graced the main stage next. I didn’t know what to expect from this Korean group, though their Beatles-esque songwriting was second-to-none, with the track “Tomboy” being a standout, bringing a feeling of summer times past – with the crowd singing along to the chorus, a reminder to keep enjoying this very moment as it’s happening – it will soon be a summer time past itself…
Post-Britpop band Starsailor sailed their way into Incheon without incident and performed inside of the hangar next. It felt like a rave tent from day one and with this set and the sun starting to go down and the alcohol starting to really kick in, the crowd seemed a few gears more energetic as Starsailor made the crowd feel as though they were front row at Wembley.
My Bloody Valentine are a band who need no introduction, though I remembered their reputation as being one of the loudest bands on the planet… This was true. It was dangerous to get close to a speaker or even the stage unless you were wearing earplugs. Their set was a literal kaleidoscope of noise and psychedelic imagery, which caused the Korean fans to become unglued and nearly maniacal. They joined hands and made big, revolving circles. They lifted each other onto each other’s shoulders. They opened up pits just to dance like it was the last show on earth – all the while MBV played on.
When it was all said and done, it felt like the end of some kind of hallucinogenic battle in Incheon – one with no casualties and the poster for this show being preserved with the others on the walkway up to next year’s Pentaport.
