Global Gathering Korea has grown into one of the world’s leading electronic music festivals, but its lack of on-site guidance, inconvenient entry procedures, and lack of amenities leave a lot to be desired. Improvements are needed to enhance the quality of the festival.
Many years ago, I attended an electronic music festival called Global Gathering Korea (GGK). With a motto of “the best festival in the universe beyond the best on earth,” Global Gathering is the largest global dance music festival that started in the UK in 2001. Considered one of the best festivals in the world alongside Glastonbury, it now takes place in the UK, Australia, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, and Belarus, and attracts over 700,000 people worldwide. Featuring over 150 of the world’s top artists, including Daft Punk, Tiësto, Underworld, Amin Van Buren, Digitalism, and more, the festival has been voted #1 Best Festival by DJ Magazine for its incredible stages. When the lineup for the Global Gathering was revealed, we were very excited to see Justice and Amin Van Buren on the bill.
The festival was held at Nanji Park on the Han River. Because of this, I had to get off at World Cup Stadium Station and transfer to another mode of transportation. However, when I got off at the station, there were no signs directing me to the venue. It was quite a confusing situation for a first-time visitor. Luckily, I had been there a few times since last year, so it was relatively easy to get in, but I couldn’t help but feel a little bitter about my lack of preparation.
Global Gathering Korea is one of the largest electronic music festivals held in Korea, along with World DJ Festival, and is a cultural exchange event that attracts not only Koreans but people from all over the world. However, the lack of signage from the beginning of the festival was frowned upon. Aside from the location of the venue, you had to take a shuttle bus or a taxi to get to the Nanji Park campground. However, due to the lack of information on where to catch the free shuttle bus, foreigners and first-timers had no choice but to take a taxi. However, the taxi drivers demanded high fares, forcing visitors to take a taxi. The festival should be more prominently advertised, and people should have more options for transportation. For example, one solution could be to partner with a taxi company to offer a reasonable fare per four passengers.
After a bad first impression, there were still a few inconveniences I noticed when I entered the venue. My friend was a foreigner, so we had to go to a separate window for foreigners, and we didn’t get the timetable that we were supposed to get. Also, if you bring a bag, you have to go through a bag check. I had seen the announcement that food and drinks other than water were prohibited, so I took it for granted, but I felt that it was a system of administrative convenience in addition to cutting off my ticket. While it’s true that food and drinks are banned due to the difficulty of garbage disposal, the number of vendors was far too small to cope with 20,000+ spectators, and the selection was very limited. We were very disappointed that despite having organized the event last year, there was no room for improvement. If they had considered the issue of garbage disposal, they could have handed out garbage bags or placed trash cans everywhere. There are many ways to make a good impression with a little thought.
When it comes to organizing and running a festival, two of the biggest headaches are restroom and storage issues. I’ve been to many festivals, and it’s always a challenge. Once again, we saw long lines at the restrooms and bags and clothes stacked on the floor or scattered around due to insufficient lockers. After the festival, there are often posts on message boards asking for lost items. Despite recognizing the problem, we are not looking for solutions, and we are repeating the bad practices of the past. The luggage problem could be solved to some extent by providing plastic bags to store items, or by allowing campers to store their luggage along with their camping at the Nanji Park campground.
In addition to the main stage, there are also small booths on the side of the festival. However, these booths didn’t blend in with the festival and felt like a separate event. I think this is a result of emphasizing diversity but overlooking the harmony of the festival as a whole. Also, the booths only sold certain alcoholic beverages and food, giving the audience no choice. The aforementioned alcohol ban seemed like it was for the benefit of certain companies. It’s a result of expediency that doesn’t take into account taste. Of course, festival sponsors may have exclusive contracts to provide certain drinks or products, but it’s important to ensure that festivals are diverse and harmonious.
The music festival culture in Korea has been around for about 10 years. In a decade or so, festivals should be established and the quality of festivals should improve. However, it is still a reality that only those who are thirsty for music and visit festivals are willing to put up with the inconvenience. As the number of festivals grows, the price of tickets only increases, and so do the expectations of the audience. People who pay for expensive tickets to attend festivals have a right to amenities and a right to enjoy festivals in a variety of ways.
It will be difficult to solve all of these problems at once. No festival can improve its quality if it is a one-time event that happens once a year, and we can’t afford to be complacent. Rather than throwing a festival that lacks basic infrastructure and relies solely on makeshift facilities, organizers need to be prepared and organized. A good example of this can be found close to home. The Jarasum International Jazz Festival is one such example. It’s a great example of how a solid festival infrastructure can make a jazz festival a part of the culture, and turn it into a global event. If the Global Gathering is developed with this as a benchmark, it could also become a cultural phenomenon.
In the previous section, I mentioned some problems with the Global Gathering and suggested ways to improve it. If these are implemented and improved, the festival could become the largest electronic music festival in the world. In the future, Global Gathering Korea will open a new chapter in the rock music-centered festival culture and become the best festival for audiences who have been longing for an outdoor dance music festival.
