'Tis the season for love

A bevy of artists gather under the Suan Phung skies for the second 'Season of Love Songs' fest

Surrounded by mountains and with a pleasantly cool climate yet only two hours by car from Bangkok, Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district is an idyllic spot for a music festival. Boost Bangkok's first Season of Love Songs, held back in November 2010, was a success but last Saturday's edition went one better, drawing in a 20,000-strong crowd, most of them from the capital, and 25 bands.

The 17-hour event, which kicked off at 3 on Saturday afternoon and ran into Sunday with just one hour's break due to unseasonal rain, was an impressive affair. The performers seemed determined to match their sets to the beauty of the surroundings, the fireworks lit the night sky with plenty of colour but not too many deafening bangs and the release of hundreds of floating lanterns by the crowd at midnight offered a memorable scene.

All but three of the 25 acts had played at the first Season of Love fest though this year Pod moderndog was handed the finale spot and kept his show going until nearly 8am beating out his predecessor Boyd Peacemaker, who wrapped the 2010 event out at 4am.

The show began with Chocolate Series, followed by whatcharawalee, Lonely Logo and T-Six, who played their own songs and some covers before the Sincharoen brothers took the stage and entertained the crowd with comic sketches as well as plenty of music. The loudest laughs though, went to Basket Band, who sang their hit "Khon Narak Mak Jairai" in Chinese and in cambodian, making sporadic jokes along the way.

Heavy rain drew the concert to a temporary halt after Portrait finished their show, proving that despite its success, Season of Love Songs is unlucky with nature. Fans will remember that it was postponed from November 26 to Saturday because of the flooding. But the clouds soon cleared and Terracotta and Krungthep Marathon took the stage before making way for a series of shows by heavyweights like Room 39, La Ong Fong and Singular.

Too-Phobthorn and Saksit "Tor" Vejsupaporn delighted with ballads then Lipta took the stage and played an upbeat set that had the crowd up and dancing.

ETC also played a tight set featuring several of their hits before handing over to Pheeraphat "Bee" Thanewong who sang his singles and "Khwam Jing Nai Jai", released during his time with Crescendo.

Scrubb and Apiwat "Stamp" Uathawornsuk both won loud applause, the latter also drawing screams when he performed the "Khwam Khid". Armchair and Mild, both popular draws, started their sets at dawn, then handed over to Thanachai Ujjin, aka Pod Moderndog, who brought the festival to an end for another year.

Boost Bangkok say the third edition of the popular "Samed In Love" event will be held sometime in the new few months and they'll announce the date soon.

Part of the proceeds from Season of Love Songs 2 went to two schools under the patronage of Border Patrol Police.