The up-coming Borneo Sonic Music Festival 2024 is putting Sarawak on international artist radar, with many now slowly recognizing Kuching, and Sarawak in general, as an option to hold their future concerts.
Such conclusion is possible as the massive festival, dubbed the biggest concert in Borneo, is headlining massive names from the music and performance industry, breaking strereotype and general perception that Sarawak isn’t adequate to organize such masive music events.
Record breaking 30,000 festival goers in 2023
In 2023, the festival brought in Big Bang’s vocalist Taeyang, former 2NE1 singer CL, Suho who is leader of EXO and Girls Generation’s HYO as headlines to sing along side renowned Australian artist Havana Brown and the late legendary American rapper and Grammy Award Winner Fatman Scoop.
Their presence, along with DOLLA, Ning Baizura, Belle Sisoski, Andi Bernadee, Majin, 7ling, Yungkai, Keeyushee, Guccimith & Zhekamil, Melo Moon, BG7LOCC, Jordan Queka and JA-G entertained over 30,000 festival goers over the span of two days, making it the biggest ever paying concert to have ever happened in Borneo.
The positive feedback was massive with Borneo Sonic and BSMF2023 taking over social media feeds on the night of the festivals with many expressing their disbelief and joy they could see their idols performing live in front of them for the first time.
Some also commented that they were very happy with how the festival particularly the concert set-up was done.
In fact, it wasn’t just the local crowd that made up the 30,000 strong crowd as some also flew in just to participate in the festival.
As a matter of fact, it was observed that some were also envious of those who attended the festival and felt that Kuching had presented an alternative venue for future international artist.
Sarawak as major concert hub
With West Malaysia somewhat constantly having issues and controversies with concerts, Sarawak is now fast becoming a good alternative as a major Malaysian concert hub as it is seen to be more ‘open minded’ and supportive of such events.
Perceptions that Sarawak isn’t able to pull in crowds for such events is slowly diminishing as well with recent major concerts and festivals getting record number of paying attendees, with the Borneo Sonic Music Festival 2024 itself anticipated to break their own record of attendance.
Sarawak Stadium, the biggest stadium in Malaysia-Borneo, also the venue for the Borneo Sonic Music Festival 2024, was also recently improved, enabling better facilities and experience for festival goers.
Also supportive of Kuching’s growth as a major concert hub is the increasing number of hotels in Kuching with the Sarawak government itself commited to address and improving connectivity to Kuching from other parts of the world.
Borneo Sonic Music Festival 2024 coming in 30 days!
That said, dates surrounding 11 and 12 October 2024 will be a busy time for Kuching as thousands are expected to be in town to attend the Borneo Sonic Music Festival 2024.
This year, the festival will be featuring one of the biggest names from South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, Thailand, USA and Australia, with Rain and Yongjae headlining Day 1 of the festival, and Jessi and Yuna headlining Day 2.
Early bird tickets are available until 13 September 2024, with normal priced tickets sold from 14 September 2024 onwards. The festival’s super early bird tickets had also been sold out.
To learn more about the 2024 edition of the festival, go HERE, or grab your tickets HERE.
