Rockstars

As cheers reverberated through the sheet of rain and the dirt grew to mush, the strum of a guitar rang out.

Even the worst of storms couldn’t keep out the rock fans, who heated up the Pentaport Rock Festival that opened in Incheon starting July 28 to July 30. The stage grew so hot that even the rain stopped the next day.

On the vast auditorium where the festival went on for two nights and three days, the performers cried out “Rock! Rock!” and became one with the 40,000 fans filling up the place.

The rock maniacs started a camping town, where 50 people propped up tents on the noon of July 27 before the concert began. The camping site was soon full with some 250 tents. A high school student Kim Jin-cheol (17) reported that he took a boat from Jeju Island to Incheon for 13 hours and said, “I feel proud that a concert like this is here in Korea.” Soldier Kim In-jae (22), who took off his vacation to watch the concert said, “I told my superiors that I was going to see my parents and got my vacation. This festival is for people just like me.” An office worker named Ham Cheol-ho (35) told us, “For three days we all talked about rock at the camping town, and I hope that it’ll become the core of Korea’s rock culture, like Woodstock in the U.S..”

The camping town became a “rock community.” When the concert started, the stadium would pound with rock, and when the concert ended, the fans would have mud fights or light campfires. Thanks to security, there were no thefts or injuries.

The American rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs rocked the opening stage, and the rock continued until Franz Ferdinand finished it. Yeah Yeah Yeahs inserted Korean soccer cheers Daehanminguk within its music to the joy of the audience and the lead vocal of “The Strokes” sampled a few Korean traditional rock songs. “The Black Eyed Peas” donned head bands with “COREA” written across them, and gave an encore performance for over 30 minutes.

The artists we met backstage had nothing but praise for the muddied fans cheering outside. Fergie of the “The Black Eyed Peas” said, “We all became sweaty and muddy, but we’re happy.”

bsism@donga.com