In this blog post, I’ll talk about how someone worn out by daily life can briefly escape from it by experiencing the music, the people, and the free-spirited atmosphere at a rock festival.
Perhaps because of the short monsoon season, that summer was particularly hot. In late July, after the monsoon ended early, I was working on a summer session project in Building 301. The summer session classes, which began immediately after the first semester ended, and the project following the final exams were taking a toll on both my body and mind. That day, too, I was sitting at a computer with a friend, struggling with a project that just wasn’t coming together. As I browsed the internet to clear my head because the project wasn’t going well, I suddenly came across a rock festival. It was a festival that many people, including myself, had been looking forward to since early this year because the world-famous band Radiohead was scheduled to perform. However, the project still had a long way to go, and it seemed there was absolutely no way I’d have time to go, so I hadn’t made any preparations. But whether it was because of my stifling daily routine or the heat, my mind seemed to have gone a little haywire. In the end, the next day, my friend and I impulsively hopped on a bus bound for Jisan.
Thanks to a brief monsoon season, it didn’t rain that day—unlike last year. But as is often the case, there was a downside: the heat. So my friend and I decided to conserve our energy until the evening shows and headed for the venue. The bus was late, and by the time we arrived at the venue around 2:00 p.m., we could already hear the sounds of bands that had started performing. The first band we encountered was an indie band called “Achim.” The decision my friend and I had made to conserve our energy until we arrived crumbled all too easily the moment we saw them. The sound of the bass and drums, which we hadn’t heard in a long time, made our hearts race again. The vocalist’s voice, which had sounded utterly strange when heard from a distance, blended beautifully with the band and was a pleasure to listen to. The bassist, dressed as if he were just heading to the neighborhood supermarket, wasn’t flashy, but he was more than enough to get us moving. To be honest, since I don’t have a deep background in music, I’m not sure if “Morning” was performed with technical precision. But the vividness of a live performance—something I hadn’t felt in so long—was more than enough to satisfy us, who usually just listened to music on cheap earbuds every day. The rich bass tones and the sound blasting from the high-powered speakers literally made our hearts pound. Furthermore, the connection with the artists—something you can only experience at a live show—made us even more immersed in their music. For example, when the song “Line 2” came on, everyone spun around in unison to the lyrics “spinning round and round,” allowing us to feel the music with our whole bodies rather than just listening with our ears. As that brief yet long time passed and we heard the final song, our entire bodies were already drenched in sweat. My friend and I—who, of all things, had worn tight pants for our first outing in a long time—decided to cool off and watch the festival while drinking beer until the headliners took the stage.
Many vendors were set up at the festival, selling a wide variety of food. They offered everything from beer to various types of alcohol, as well as rare foods you wouldn’t normally get to try. We wanted to find a spot in the shade, but since it was so crowded, we just sat down on the grass and started drinking our beer. I think this is exactly what makes rock festivals so appealing. Even though they’re small things, in everyday life you can’t just plop down on the ground, walk around in weird clothes, or drink alcohol in broad daylight without hesitation. But at a rock festival, no one bats an eye if people are dressed strangely or drinking wherever they please. Some might find it chaotic or even rude, but these are exactly the reasons I go to the festival every year. Back then, quite a few people even came dressed in matching outfits as a group to enjoy the festival. The previous year, when LMFAO’s “Shuffle Dance” was all the rage, a group of people actually walked around the festival dressed just like in LMFAO’s music video, dancing the shuffle.
It seemed that not only these people but many others were coming to the festival to release the energy they couldn’t let out in everyday life in various ways. After casually drinking some beer and taking in the festival atmosphere, we headed back to the performance area.
This time, we found a spot on a nice patch of grass, sat down, and watched a performance by an artist named “James Iha.” It was my first time seeing him, and I wasn’t familiar with his songs, but I got the feeling that James was definitely an artist who fit right in at Jisan. Given Jisan’s nature, the festival tends to feature artists who are a bit softer and more in line with the festival’s vibe rather than heavy bands, and James was exactly that kind of artist. As the sun began to set and a gentle breeze blew, his voice, heard from the grassy field, blended perfectly with the atmosphere of Jisan. For us, who had been on the go nonstop, it felt like a long-awaited break. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we began preparing to fully enjoy the evening lineup.
The lineup starting on the Main Stage—featuring the Kim Chang-wan Band, Elvis Costello, and Radiohead—was the one we’d been looking forward to the most. First up was the Kim Chang-wan Band. Although I’d heard plenty about their reputation from TV, I’d never actually experienced their music in person. Still, I had high expectations for them. As expected, they lived up to their reputation. They opened with “Arirang,” a song dedicated to Olympic athletes. After everyone sang “Arirang” together, their live performance began—and it had a completely different vibe from James Iha’s set earlier. While James played more emotional and laid-back music, the Kim Chang-wan Band delivered a rawer, less polished sound. Despite his age, Kim Chang-wan maintained a passionate energy throughout the entire hour-long set, and watching him, I thought he was truly remarkable. In particular, the setlist—which kicked off with “Let’s Ride a Motorcycle on a Guitar” and continued with “Rascals”—had everyone going wild. People were running around the venue playing “train” all over the place, and many male audience members were “slamming,” bumping into one another. This is another aspect of rock festivals that I find appealing: the freedom to let loose. Whenever I went to a solo concert by an artist I liked, I’d notice that there were always more female fans than male fans wherever I went, and because of this, I often ended up holding back and being timid instead of letting loose. But at a rock festival, I could enjoy the vast venue and the many male audience members, and I loved that I could have fun without disturbing them or anyone else. After the Kim Chang-wan Band’s set ended, the next artist I saw was Elvis Costello. He was another artist I’d never heard of before, but watching his performance, I had only one thought: “Ah! He’s a world-class artist.” While I’d let loose to my heart’s content during the Kim Chang-wan Band’s set, during Elvis Costello’s performance, I was literally just taking it all in. I don’t know much about music, but his playing and singing were truly the best. He wasn’t producing sounds in any unexpected ways, nor was he creating them in particularly modern ways. I just couldn’t believe that such a sound could come from just a guitar, bass, drums, and his voice. Watching him, I thought, “If someone this amazing is performing before Radiohead, just how amazing must Radiohead be?” And then came the long-awaited Radiohead performance. I don’t think there were even this many people when Muse headlined the final day of the Jisan Festival in 2010. There were so many people that everyone who had been sitting had to stand up, and it was literally difficult just to stay on my feet. After waiting like that for about an hour, Radiohead’s vocalist, Thom Yorke, appeared. I take the subway regularly, so I thought I could handle just about any crowd, but this was a crowd beyond anything I’d experienced. A huge crowd surged forward, chanting Tom Yorke’s name, and that’s how their live show began.
To be honest, I’m not a Radiohead fan. I was only familiar with a few of their famous songs and their reputation.
I had expected them to be a band that played music with a slightly melancholic and decadent vibe, similar to ‘OK Computer’. But they completely shattered that expectation. The music they played early in the set didn’t strike me as melancholic or decadent at all. The song “15 Step” was the one that most thoroughly shattered the image I had of Radiohead.
Starting with a unique drumbeat, this song felt so sophisticated to me that I found myself thinking, “Is this really Radiohead?” Thom Yorke’s distinctive dance moves, which began with this song, had everyone swaying along. The thing that struck me most while listening to Radiohead’s music was their obsession with sound. I recalled what a friend had said when Muse performed here before: “Do you know the difference between Muse and other bands? It’s not their skill. It’s the sound they create.” I wondered if that wasn’t also the difference between Elvis Costello and Radiohead. While Elvis Costello was simply—and I don’t mean this as a slight—good at music, Radiohead went beyond mere skill; you could see they’d agonized over how to create a sound all their own. With a double-neck guitar, acoustic instruments I’d never seen before, and electronic instruments, their stage was truly filled to the brim with sound. Furthermore, it was the stage effects that really gave their music wings. Twelve LED screens set up separately behind Radiohead continuously displayed changing images—showing each member’s profile, their hands playing instruments, and their feet pressing foot switches. In fact, although the members themselves weren’t very visible, the constantly changing images of Radiohead on the screens and the rich sound coming from the main stage satisfied both our eyes and ears. Thom Yorke danced in his unique style throughout the performance and even took off his shirt, showing us more than just singing—he offered something beyond the songs. Their performance wasn’t just a rock concert; it was, quite literally, like watching a work of art.
Sometimes we get bogged down by the daily grind, get irritated by the little things, and grow weary of our routine lives. That’s why many people dream of escaping reality, yet seem unable to break free from their daily lives, using excuses like school, work, or family. There are many ways to escape the routine. But if you want to experience music with all five senses—not just your ears—and enjoy a unique festival, wouldn’t it be great to come to a rock festival and dream of an escape, rather than doing something like “putting on a strip show inside Sindorim Station” as described in a certain song?
