World DJ Festival

obviously "borrowed" this one from the internet.


Oh man, this weekend was crazy!!! Andy and I went up to Hongdae to meet up with some of his friends from home, and their friends. for the annual World DJ Festival. I would say that the Festival was one of the best times I’ve had, minus the fact that I lost everything I own. I was pretty upset about this, but my boss saw me crying and made me feel much better by reminding me that NOW I have nothing left to lose. It can’t worse. I guess that’s a pretty good way of looking at it. But enough about the bad stuff… back to the festival.

The World DJ Festival is the biggest party of the year in all of Korea. It attracts over 100,000 people a year. I heard there were about 120,000 this year. Nuts, huh!?! The festival hosts over 50 DJ’s from around the world. It is held outdoors at the Nanji-jigu Han River park, which is beautiful and makes for some great pics. The festival is an all day and night event with three different areas are crowds to wander through- the Black Zone where hip hop blared over the crowd, the Jagar stage with more of a reggae vibe and another stage area that played house music and techno. Before entering into the grounds of the festival, a big group of us decided to just hang out, drink and people watch for a bit. The party outside the party outside of the festival was just as interesting as inside. Picture a typical music festival in the US circa 1970. It was so great to see people from all walks of life coming together to listen to music and mingle. I met a lot of hippies and even more interesting Koreans. People seem to go all out for this music festival. I saw belly dancers, flame-throwers, people dressed up in big animal suites, and a lot of masks and face paint. The crowd was so huge that I would make an acquaintance with every push and shove. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, mingling and meeting new people.

Andy and I decided to check out some of the DJs performing, heading to the Jagar stage first. We pushed out way up to the second row and enjoyed the music with the crowd for a bit. Then, I had a bright idea that determined my fate for the rest of the night. I thought it would be a great idea to run onto stage and dance, jump up and down and pump up the crowd of sixty thousand people. The Koreans where loving the little white girl, so I came up with another bright idea- dive into the crowd for some crowd surfing. Fun, right? NO! Apparently they don't know what it means when someone jumps on them, so everyone moved and I went straight to the ground!!! I could feel the crowd staring at me with confused looks on their faces, maybe some laughter. I was in a lot of pain, mostly from losing all of my pride, but my back and nose took a beating too (its okay to laugh, I think this is probably one of the funniest/most embarrassing things that has every happened to me!) but I just picked myself up, walked away and pretended like nothing happened lol. Needless to say, this is the point of the night that I all of my friends and everything I own. Yup, the purse full of my camera, ipod, cell phone, keys, and wallet. Some might wonder why the hell I brought all of that stuff with me in the first place so I would like to add here that I needed my camera to document the most amazing/interesting festival, an ipod for the two hour trip up, a cell phone to keep in touch with my friends if I got lost in the herd of people, keys to get back into my apartment of course, and a wallet to pay for my ticket and cab ride home. (THAT'S why- mom!)

For the next 45 minutes, I just walked around checking out all of the booths and fire-eating shows, staying in the same area so I could increase my chances of finding someone I knew. I had no such luck, so I eventually just decided to just enjoy the rest of the festival. I walked around meeting a bunch of random people, talking to a few Korean girls to help out some guys I met, just mingling and having a good time. I checked out the other stage where a lot of techno was being places and rocked out with thousands of Koreans to the phenomenal DJ’s that were performing. The crowd went wild for Japan’s popular House DJ Fantastic Plastic Machine, or FPM. One of the most impressive electro lineups included Dirty Disco Youth from Germany. I also loved it when the DJ’s would put together a series of remixes of my favorite tracks. The most dance-worthy performance came from Vandalism, an Australian DJ who got the crowd to “Throw Your Freakin’ Hands Up” as a sea of heads bobbing up and down rocked out in the mist of the blue, red and purple hue of lights, as you can see from the pictures, it was quite the sight. I was having the best time jumping up and down and rocking out to the music until the mosh pit started getting to the point that i was getting stomped on repeatedly, so i pushed my way through the crowd and went back to meeting and mingling...

Another great part of the night was when the EV boys performed their hilarious song “Kickin in Geumchon” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM). It’s not as funny unless you are teaching in South Korea, but it’s all right. I'm growing sick of the song now, but seeing them as I stood RIGHT next to the stage was still exciting. The three boys are really goofy looking so it’s interesting to see the kind of fame they’ve reached hear for such a silly song. Later, as I was aimlessly walking around looking for Andy, I saw the goofiest looking one with his arm around a gorgeous Korean girl. I guess if you’re lady-luck in low in the US, come to Korea!

Mmmm, what else can I mention?? Oh, well I guess I could mention that there wasn't just music and a beer garden. There was also a ton of booths where people could make their own seat cushion, partake in some body painting, buy handmade bags and jewelry or check out a plethora of other forms of art. Hongdae is famous for its art scene, so it created a distinctive atmosphere of creativity with people exhibiting art or “becoming an artist”. It was incredibly cool to see all of the difference kinds of people all together in one place. One of the most interesting people-watching sessions I’ve ever had.

Oh! And if you’re wondering how I made it home… I ended up running into one of the friends of Andy’s friend and bumming some cash from him to fund my lonely trek home. Andy was save and sound- sleeping in his bed, having no idea that I didn't make it home until about 8 hours after him. Jade’s dad just happened to be at the apartment so I could swoop up a spare key to my apartment. Losing everything is incredibly depressing and making me broke and homesick, but I’ll take a great time, hilarious stories and an amazing night to remember over a few possessions any day. ;-)