Big Mountain Music Festival capped off its 15th edition with plenty of auspicious positive energy, bringing together thousands of fans and hundreds of artistes from across genres and the region.
This year’s festival – themed ‘It’s so auspicious’ – took place on the weekend of 6 and 7 December, returning to The Ocean Khao Yai with a refreshed layout.
BMMF15 also saw the return of the ‘dual-use’ – two different themes for each day – stages, which allowed for a total of 14 stages across the festival grounds. This year also saw an earlier start, with some acts beginning as early as 1pm.
The flagship Ferris Wheel stage made its return this year, seeing top rock acts like Lomosonic, Potato and Bodyslam, who brought out GNEST boy group PERSES for a special collab.
On Sunday, the stage was transformed into the Ferris Hell stage, bringing together pop and rock’s biggest names like Jeff Satur, Three Man Down, Nont Tanont and Joey Phuwasit.
T-Pop fans (like yours truly) were also not disappointed: the Block/Cow stage stunned with its impressive line-up of pop acts. On Saturday, Riser Music acts like Fourth, FELIZZ, LYKN and JASP.ER joined boy groups like PROXIE and PERSES to bring the house down.
The next day saw two of T-Pop’s biggest girl groups 4EVE and PiXXiE in the line-up, sharing the Cow stage with acts like ATLAS, Bowkylion, Ink Waruntorn and Lipta.
Over at the rock-focused Red/Black stages, Saturday saw the likes of Polycat, Tilly Birds, Tattoo Colour and PUN take the stage with their blend of softer, heartfelt songs. This contrasted with the heavier, more intense line-up on Sunday, with bands like Retrospect, The Darkest Romance, Little John and Freehand taking the stage.
This year’s BMMF also saw its newest stage: a self-curated artiste stage by TaitosmitH frontman Jai Itkron, who brought on indie, reggae and hip-hop acts like Srirajah Rockers, Rejizz and and Hugo.
The stage was then transformed into the Chic stage on Sunday, with indie and up-and-comers taking the stage, such as Genie Records freshmen Goodmood, WIM, Yented, as well as Landokmai.
This year’s edition also had its growing share of international fans, underscoring BMMF’s popularity among a global audience. ChaPop spoke to fans from Asia, Europe and the Americas, with some coming from as far as France and Chile.
FIREWORKS APLENTY AND DRONE SHOWS
A key highlight of every BMMF are the firework show, and this year did not disappoint. On both days, fans were treated to spectacular fireworks: on Saturday, it was when Bodyslam closed off the day’s line-up at the Ferris Wheel stage.
On Sunday, fans got a double-bill treat: right before Joey Phuwasit took to the stage, there was a special drone show, forming the images of the festival cow mascot, as well as the BMMF logo. Immediately after, there was a series of fireworks, marking the 15th anniversary of the country’s largest music festival.
Later that night, as TaitosmitH capped off the festival, fans were again treated to another round of fireworks.
As BMMF marks its 15th birthday, fans will be eagerly awaiting how the next 15 will turn out, but it will definitely be bigger and better – and perhaps even more auspicious.
