Explain this: What happened at Road to Ultra and what’s next for Hong Kong’s festival scene?
The city’s music events scene is young and growing, making it difficult for security to prevent drugs being smuggled into venues
While this incident has put a black mark on the music festival scene in the city, the events are still crucial to Hong Kong as they import culture, publicity and tourism dollars.
Three Hong Kong festivals for fans of electronic music, from commercial to underground
How popular are large music festivals in Hong Kong?
In 1993, Hong Kong held its first major international music festival. The Wan Chai International Music Festival brought in acts such as Apache Indian, reggae band Nogabe and One Horse. But many reviews of the event were negative and it would take a decade before another international music festival was put on in Hong Kong.
HarbourFest was held in 2003 to help bring tourism back to Hong Kong after the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. The festival was mired in a corruption scandal and also was criticised for its high costs and low attendance numbers despite signing big acts such as the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and Santana.
