The 6th edition of CAT radio‘s Expo Festival was held on November 23 and 24, at the Siam Amusement Park.

The event is exactly what it says – expo of indie bands and labels, set on the grounds of a huge amusement park, with 5 stages. It is a great opportunity for young and independent bands to promote themselves and to be spotted by some of featured independent labels.

There were around thirty bands, in several categories, starting from headliners like Parkinson and Hugo, some of the up-and-coming alternative bands like Stoic, to old-timers like Modern Dog, and several new Thai pop stars.

For me the most interesting stage was the Bad Bad Stage, the smallest one with independent bands that each had their unique and different style. I was most impressed by soulful and melancholic Rosalyn, glammy Diaries, sunshiny H3F, and the only original blues band Daddy C & Bangkok Mojo. They performed two of their original songs for the first time ever and were quite well received.

This event is actually a music fair where bands and labels can sell their merchandise, fans and music lovers can walk from stand to stand checking out their favourite bands and discovering new music, with the usual enormous food and drinks offer (with no proper coffee tho and only two areas sponsored by Budwiser where you can actually have a drink and sneak a fag). For us old-timers, it’s quite a different concept from what we expect from a music event, but I must say it was quite refreshing and totally understandable for the organizers to avoid any possible problems as the majority of the audience where young Thais.

All in all, it was quite an interesting experience, especially since you could do all the rides in the amusement park while discovering new sounds. CAT expo is organized on an annual basis, so if you are interested to see a wide range of Bangkok’s music offer, it is a place to be.