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Missed Clockenflap? 7 Asian music festivals to book instead – from Japan’s Fuji Rock with Lewis Capaldi and Lizzo, to Kendrick Lamar at Summer Sonic and Creamfields with Tiësto in Hong Kong

Thailand’s S20 festival is all about EDM music and water this Songkran. Photo: Handout
Thailand’s S20 festival is all about EDM music and water this Songkran. Photo: Handout
Music

  • If you’re kicking yourself because you missed out on Clockenflap, don’t worry: not only is it tipped to return in November, but there are some brilliant alternatives in the meantime
  • From pop-indie legends The 1975, The Strokes and Blur popping up in Japan and Malaysia this summer, to big name DJs Calvin Harris and Tiësto in Hong Kong in April, now’s the time to grab tickets

If there was ever a year to travel to a festival in Asia, it’s 2023. While Europe and North America chose to embrace “normality” by hosting large-scale music events last summer, much of this region is now entering its first post-pandemic honeymoon – and naturally, after three-plus years of empty stages and silent fields, we couldn’t be hungrier.

Exhibit A: Hong Kong’s beloved Clockenflap festival just sold out completely for the first time in its 15-year history, within hours of the full line-up being (somewhat belatedly) announced – a testament to the pent-up demand for live music in the city, and beyond.

Naturally there’s thousands of disappointed music fans who missed out – but the time for mourning is over. Now it’s our turn to travel – so dry those tears, and make your plan B with STYLE’s handy upcoming regional festival guide. We’re only featuring events now booking with a confirmed line-up, and skipping the plethora of annual Asian winter festivals that fall later in the year – because frankly, who can wait that long?

1. Wanderland

The Wanderland Festival in the Philippines returns this year after two years. Photo: SCMP Archive
The Wanderland Festival in the Philippines returns this year after two years. Photo: SCMP Archive
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If you really can’t hold on another second (or want to make your Flapping followers well jell), then hop a Manila-bound plane and hit the two-day Wanderland, making its own very public “comeback” after years away. Helpfully, this unofficial sister festival shares many acts also playing up north in Clockenflap – Phoenix, FKJ, Men I Trust, HYBS and Balming Tiger – as well as bringing out its own exclusives Carly Rae Jepsen and Sunset Rollercoaster, and hometown hero ((( O ))).

March 4-5 at Filnivest City Events Grounds, Metro Manila, Philippines

2. Pelupo

 

Missed Clockenflap? No problem, this brand new, day-long neighbouring festival hosted near Pattaya just a week later features an almost carbon copy of the ‘Flap line-up – with Phoenix, Kings of Convenience, Men I Trust, Ginger Root, Ezra Collective and Black Country, New Road all making the most of the trip out East and doubling (or tripling) up. It takes place on the same site as December’s notorious Wonderfruit festival, 141km – or exactly one hour 31 minutes, the website claims – from Bangkok.

March 11 at The Fields at Siam Country Club, Chonburi, Thailand

3. Creamfields Hong Kong and Taiwan

Marshmello at Creamfields in Taiwan in 2017. Photo: Captured from YouTube
Marshmello at Creamfields in Taiwan in 2017. Photo: Captured from YouTube

Originally founded in the UK in 1998, a quarter century later and the world’s best-known electronic music happening has grown outshoots in as many countries as years it’s existed. For 2023, its young branches are back in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, simultaneously hosting almost all the same acts in two places. So we can thank our new-found quarantine-free travel for the fact that perennial party-starters Calvin Harris, Above & Beyond, The Chainsmokers and Tiësto are the top draws for this epic two-night audio assault.