Japan has the Fuji Rock Festival, Singapore has WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) and Taiwan has the Formoz Festival. These music festivals feature legions of international and homegrown bands. But there's no need to feel left out: Hong Kong has the Rockit Music Festival. Now in its second year, the festival will take place from October 22 to 24 at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, offering an eclectic mix of music, food and family entertainment. 'It is something that Hong Kong needs because it markets itself as an international city. But if you compare it to Singapore ... their audiences are a lot more educated about music. It has international acts visiting all the time,' said Rockit organiser Nimal Jayawardena. 'Hong Kong needs a music festival like this so that when [international acts] go to Japan and Singapore, they can stop off here as well.' The international headliners for this year's Rockit include garage rockers The Cooper Temple Clause, UK indie favourite Aqualung, and Tokyo-based 5, 6, 7, 8's. Local acts play an important part in the festival. Eleven local bands have been shortlisted through open auditions which have taken place every Friday since September 10 at Amnesia, a bar in Central. 'We selected bands which have a positive attitude rather than those who are doing it for their own benefit,' Mr Jayawardena said. However, the organisers have attracted some criticism - particularly about the audition process. Some people believe that encouraging fans of each band to attend the auditions has been a profit-making tactic to benefit Amnesia, which is owned by Mr Jayawardena. He denies the accusation. 'If live music makes money for bars in Hong Kong, there will be more bars doing live music. Besides, the money we make in the bar doesn't cover the cost and risk of the festival.' Ah Mei of local outfit J Minor, which decided not to audition, said the organisers lacked an understanding of local bands. She also voiced the possibility that outstanding bands could be turned down for Rockit if they did not bring enough friends to the bar to cheer for them. This was countered by Mr Jayawardena, who noted that local heavy metal band Zoundz - which only brought 10 people to its audition - was still selected on the basis of its musical strength. 'It's quite hard to strike a balance between the need of the bands and the need of the festival. If you want to make a festival as big as this, you have to be prepared for criticism. Because a lot of people think they can do better than you without actually doing it,' he said. Mei suggested that the organisers could learn from other music festivals overseas if they wanted to turn Rockit into something as vibrant as the Woodstock music festival. 'Maybe they could spend more time for preparation or use another way of selection ... such as requesting that bands send demo [recordings]', with the festival lineup chosen based on the quality of the demos, she said. 'This would be more convenient for everyone and judging can be made based on the quality of music.' Additional reporting by Lau Kit Wai For more details, visit www.rockit-hk.com