ROCKTOBER Fest Borneo 2017, billed as Borneo’s biggest beachside rock festival, saw a successful turnout on the weekend of October 6 – 7, attended by rock music enthusiasts from all over Malaysia, as well as international fans.
Held for the first time ever, #RTBF17 welcomed over 5,000 people on two days, with a majority of ticket-holders coming from Miri and other cities and towns in Sarawak; a significant number of festival-goers also came from cities with direct flights to Miri such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and countries Brunei and Singapore.
“I came here to see my favourite bands Slapshock, XPDC, Bunkface, OAG, and Hujan,” said Mohd Yusof, a festival-goer from Brunei, and added that he was also there to support Rose On My Coffin Door, a Bruneian band. Gan from Ipoh commented: “I think Rocktober Fest Borneo is something fresh. Miri is known for the Borneo Jazz and the Country Music Festival, but #RTBF17 attracts a different and new crowd to come here.”
24-year-old rock fan Deanna Maria flew in from Kota Kinabalu just for the festival, and listed OAG as one of her favourite bands. “I think it’s really fantastic that we have a huge rock event in Borneo. I look forward to next year’s event, and hope to see more international artistes,” she said.
The two-day rock festival took place at ParkCity Everly Hotel and featured 37 bands on two stages, who performed live from 2pm until midnight. Among the headliners were Hujan, XPDC, Koffin Kanser, Filipino band Slapshock, Oh Chentaku, OAG, Bunkface, Estranged, and many more. Kicking off both festival days were up-and-coming Bornean bands, whose performances gave them a remarkable exposure to a larger audience. Estranged’s Rich Gimbang expressed his enthusiasm at being able to perform at Rocktober Fest Borneo, after the band’s last gig in the Miri in 2013.
“It has been really awesome for Estranged to be back here and to be a part of a festival with such great acts. The audience was so supportive, as well, and we were happy to hear that some of our fans travelled from all over to hear us play.”
As for his own favourite set at #RTBF17: “I loved the set by XPDC. It was also great to catch new local Bornean bands on stage!” Many festival-goers were highly anticipating the performance of Hujan, whose singer Noh Salleh is a Miri native. During a media interview session, Noh expressed his joy about being back in his hometown.
“It’s been seven years since Hujan performed here. I think it’s great that something as big as Rocktober Fest Borneo is being held in Miri, I mean, I grew up listening to bands like Koffin Kanser, so it felt surreal that we’re performing on the same stage as they are!” Hujan was the closing band of #RTBF17, and the band performed late into the night on the final day, with crowds singing along to tunes such as ‘Miri’ and ‘Bila Aku Sudah Tiada’.
#RTBF17 attendees also experienced a number of activities on site, such as on-ground giveaways, a massive Food Village, a mechanical riding bull for the adventurous, a taste of the ‘Horror House’, a Tattoo Garden run by a group of talented Bornean tattooists, and various booths by Rocktober Fest Borneo sponsors.
“We are humbled and honoured by the amazing response to Rocktober Fest Borneo,” said Karl Lian of NorthEastern Group, the organiser of #RTBF17. “We wanted to revive the music scene in our beautiful city of Miri by providing a platform for our local musicians to showcase their talents on stage, alongside established rock bands.”
Karl continued: “Both performing rock bands and rock fans at the festival have given positive feedback to us, and we’re already planning for the second Rocktober Fest Borneo next year. We can’t say too much yet, but there’ll be a couple more international headliners in the 2018 lineup, so fans should follow us closely on our social media platforms for the latest information!” Rocktoberfest Borneo 2017 was fully supported by the Miri City Council and Sarawak Tourism Board, and was sponsored by Hotlink, JOOX and Uber.
This year’s festival partners were ParkCity Everly Hotel Miri, Stubapp, Alice in Borneoland, Marshall Headphones, MOMAwater, and The Tuyang Initiative, and its official media partners were hitz.fm, EraFM and TapauTV.
#RTBF17 sponsor and the official music streaming service partner JOOX had a live streaming video of the festival on its platform during the two days, allowing rock fans across Malaysia to virtually be a part of the event.
Close to 70,000 viewers were experiencing and following Rocktober Fest Borneo during the course of the event. UBER, a #RTBF17 partner, provided a stress-free option for festival-goers with a special discount on the UBER app during the two-day event.
Users were given the convenience to be dropped off and picked up right in front of the festival entrance at ParkCity Everly Hotel. For latest updates and more information, follow Rocktoberfest Borneo on Facebook www.facebook. com/RocktoberfestBorneo or head over to the website www. rocktoberfestborneo.com! The JavaScript code minimizer helps you optimize your scripts to enhance page loading speed.
