Thailand's premiere dance fest has grown by leaps, bounds and beats

When Thailand’s first international dance music festival drew a crowd of 4,000-plus in 2008 the vibe couldn't been spoiled even when headlining DJ David M got caught up in the moment and bawled his eyes out in front of the packed arena. In 2009, about 8,000 people saw Faithless' Sister Bliss headline the second Culture One event. This year, organizers told CNNGo they’re expecting more than 10,000 revellers to get in on the action.

“This year’s theme is ‘space odyssey’, which we will interpret differently in each stage,” says Nita Dickinson, General Manager of Buzzin’ Ltd, the group behind the festival and also Club Culture. “We have one experimental and five international stages this year.”

Street performers, a flea market and an all-star cast of musical talent will make this year’s Culture One the best ever, she adds.

“It was the first proper dance festival in Thailand, but it’s not just the acts, it’s the environment. We have massage facilities for clubbers who get tired. There will be beer where the food area is.”

Each stage brings something unique to the festival, which Dickinson says will attract a broad spectrum of hedonists.

The main stage will see the long-awaited debut of techno god Sven Väth with support from the likes of Slacker and Barry Ashworth of Dub Pistols fame.

“For me, I’m excited to see Sven Väth. He’s an act we have been waiting for,” Dickenson says. Culture One doesn’t have the money to bring in big name DJs like Singapore’s Zookout festival does, so Dickenson and her team recruit up-and-coming DJs who are building a name for themselves in the circuit.

Also debuting at this year’s festival will be the Slinky trance stage.

“The Slinky stage will have 3D visuals, so clubbers will get 3D glasses. The headliners are Slinky regulars Aly and Fila, who have never played in Thailand before,” she says.

The Spinclub Ibiza stage offers minimal techno and house headlined by Chris Liebing. For something completely different, check out the stage hosted by gay-friendly English club Horse Meat Disco. The Horse Meat crew come not only with an outrageous “five-legged” horse for a logo, but also with enough house and disco tunes to get booties shaking.

“Horse Meat Disco will appeal to the gay crowd,” said Dickinson, “the Silom soi 2 and soi 4 crowds.”

For the local indie trendsetters, Dude/Sweet have a stage where the top act of the night will be face-painted Scottish beat freak Drums of Death. Former Futon favourite Gene Kasidit will also be on hand to play choice cuts from his new album.

But no Culture One event would be complete without a little help from Club Culture’s acclaimed team of resident DJs.

“Each stage will have Club Culture residents,” she said, including the Sound Element crew on the main stage and DJ Oum and the Wrong Disco DJs on the Spinclub Stage.

This year, Dickinson is hopeful that a regional advertising campaign will attract crowds from nearby countries to party it up Thai style.

“From the beginning we wanted the festival to be a landmark event for clubbers to come to Bangkok,” says Dickinson, who hopes the last Saturday of January will forevermore mean one thing for the region’s partygoers: Culture One.

Culture One

January 30 at Lakeside, Bitec Bangna
Doors open at 2 pm and the action is expected to go on until 4 am.
Tickets are 950 baht in advance, 1,200 baht on the door.
Visit www.totalreservation.com for tickets or log on to www.club-culture-bkk.com for more info.