A few years ago I lived in Beijing for a period of time and attended the Strawberry Music Festival. I was lying on a hillside overlooking the stage with my friend, and I started to hesitate: I came to watch my favourite band. But I started drinking and chatting with my friend leisurely and only listening to music from afar, but I am satisfied. Was I putting the cart before the horse? Then I saw a foreign family not far away. The children were tottering on the lawn, jumping and running around to the music. I guess the family didn’t understand what the band Hedgehog was singing, but they seemed to be enjoying it a lot. Then I thought, apart from music itself, maybe there’re a lot more precious things at a music festival?

For the past two years, the atmosphere of music festivals seems to have taken in Hong Kong, and music festivals are mushrooming. The more successful ones include the star-studded Clockenflap by the end of each year, the Calling Music Festival headlined with Taiwan bands, the Heartown Festival gathering heavy bands, the Outlook Festival which plays bass music, the Endless Summer International Reggae Ska Festival, the OpenSesame!2015 focusing on local independent music, the Grasscamp and the Silvermine Bay Music Festival, etc. There were also the “once-and-for-all” Lion Rock Festival and BLOHK Party, etc. Marathon performances in malls are also claiming themselves “music festivals”; performances by three to four bands in an open area are also marketed as music festivals; and there’s the official Hong Kong Asian-Pop Music Festival which hails peacefulness. All of a sudden, festivals have become the most popular musical activity.

People may think that at a music festival, the most important thing is the performance. But instead, I find “character” the most important. For instance, unlike the instant sellout of Glastonbury Festival in the UK or the US, when Clockenflap is around every year, many hesitate whether to buy early-bird tickets or not; or should they wait until the announcement of headliners to decide which day to watch the show. The Iceland Airwaves and Tomorrowland of Belgium target at a niche audience and have thus built up a distinctive character. These names themselves represent a good music choice, a fun and interactive atmosphere, and most importantly, a “great unity” festival, as opposed to music-only simplicity.

Certainly, it takes many decades to temper the character and reputation of a music festival. Apart from versatile live music performance, its spirit is also very important. Just like how Woodstock promoted the spirit of Love and Peace under an unstable international community, we believe that music and artistic creations carry spiritual values. I don’t think music must be hooked with the society and politics (which is overcorrected in Hong Kong lately), but after all, it is the goal of a visionary music festival  to promote universal value through creations to arouse public awareness towards different issues and allow the public to reflect and ultimately change the society. Hardwares including other supporting facilities like catering, booths and exhibitions also help shape up a successful music festival. Only music festivals with distinctive character can gain support of different groups and nurture a culture.

In this context, there are plentiful determined musicians and organisers in Hong Kong. Excluding the land issue of venue limitations, I think the pressing task now is to nurture the audience. Allowing the new generation to engage in and actively excavate non-mainstream musical and cultural choices is a major difficulty. For instance, the Freespace Happening held recently in the West Kowloon Cultural District was determined to attract youngsters through its programming, and has attracted a bunch of audience who have never engaged in bands and subcultures to take their first step. How to maintain their interest in the performance culture will be a challenge for organisers. Maybe there’s still a long way to go for Hong Kong to own a music festival that represents the city and its culture, but I believe it is not difficult to see the coming of this day in near future.