Back in 2019, hkclubbing.com flew to Thailand to experience a truly unique festival known as S2O Songkran Music Festival, which takes place during the Thai New Year's national holiday. The outdoor festival hosted an amazing line-up of some of our favourite artists including Said The Sky, Netsky, Fatboy Slim and more. Plus the dance floor was showering the crowd with water hoses! Now the festival is travelling overseas and will be coming to Hong Kong on the 5th and 6th of August 2023.

We had the chance to chat with Pulin Milintachinda, the founder and organiser of S2O and Carvin Chan, the organiser of S2O Hong Kong to find out more about the festival and what to expect in August at Central Harbourfront.

(Q1) hkclubbing.com: Pulin, so how did you come up with the idea to create and organise S2O and what were you doing before the festival?

Pulin: The origin of this event is from Thailand's annual Songkran festival, it is our way to welcome a new year. The tradition is to splash water to others, bringing happiness and blessings. Nowadays, the millennials start to blend in energetic, powerful music to this tradition and give new colors and meaning to the festival.

My brother, Woody Milintachinda and I had an idea of creating a festival that combined water splashing and music together so that people could enjoy both at the same time. To us, S2O is more than just water and music, the water in the Songkran festival means blessings. We want to bring blessings to participants through a fun way.

I was a diplomat working in the government sector before. Now I work with my brother in our own media company.  Because of our background, we know how to work and communicate with the government sector as well as the music preferences of the public.

(Q2) hkclubbing.com: How has the festival evolved since 2015 (8 years ago) to today and what major changes have you made over the years to keep the crowds coming back?

Pulin: Started in 2015, S2O is growing in terms of scale and popularity. People are coming back each year because of the unique theme and immersive experience, the diverse lineup of performers.

S2O aims at offering a unique experience to participants by having a distinctive theme and stage design each year. This year, the theme is ‘Energy’ and we promise there is a spectacular and incredible stage, featuring multiple large screens adorned with pipes and bubbles to ensure everyone enjoy a true water festival.

In terms of music, we have a diversified music genre lineup such as electronic dance music (EDM) by talented musicians, hip-hop and pop music to cater the interest of our audience. We will also acknowledge the local taste in each location, for example, we included live bands in Japan. The result was very encouraging.

(Q3) hkclubbing.com: Carvin, having organised many different kinds of events over the years, from water related events to concerts, what lead you to make the decision to bring S2O to Hong Kong?

Carvin: During the pandemic, everyone had experienced a long time of lockdown with travel restrictions, cancellation of events and various quarantine measures. 2023 is our time to resume back to normal life and the best time to have S2O in HK. The festival itself means bringing blessings, happiness and luck to people. And I hope HK people will share the same happiness and luck through the event.

Hong Kong definitely has the advantages to host S2O. We are a city that embraced diversity, we have people with different background and culture. We are so lucky to have the Central Harbourfront event space, the city centre, as the venue. Not just because of the convenient location, we also have the magnificent Victoria Harbour as the event backdrop. It serves as the first and only one S2O that is held in the city centre.

(Q4) hkclubbing.com: What challenges have you faced in bringing the customer experience to Hong Kong, including the crowd water experience element?

Carvin: Hong Kong for sure has the highest production cost when compared with other participating S2O cities. Yet to us, our priority is to create a diversified experience to participants, we are more than a music festival. S2O is a unique journey and experience to each participant. Though we have a good lineup of EDM performances, we are more than EDM parties. You don’t have to be fan of EDM or know every single DJ to have a good time.

Another challenge is the supply of water to the event.  As there is no direct supply of water at the Harbourfront, we will use trucks to transport the water and have water tanks as storage.

(Q5) hkclubbing.com: People do like to compare. How will the Hong Kong festival compare to other festivals that have happened in Hong Kong in the past, what is the difference? From setup to the whole experience?

Carvin: It is the first and only music festival that combines water effects with live music performance. Instead of just focusing on performing artists, we hope audience to enjoy a large-scale party by creating their own experience in the event. We have iconic giant water towers, an exclusive 360-degree powerful water sprays, something that you could not find from other music festivals. These designs will also create extraordinary visual and audio impact as they are adjusted in real time according to the performer’s own music and atmosphere. This is the unique selling points of S2O.

 
(Q6) hkclubbing.com: Each of the two days has two stages and the Summer Beats Stage hosts local and regional artists from day to night including a group we have enjoyed in the past called per se. How have you chosen these artists? what’s the reason for this stage ending earlier than the PayMe presents S2O Stage?

Carvin: There are two stages in the event featuring an impressive line-up of performers. The ‘Summer Beats Stage’ is the non-wet zone presenting diversified artists from different genres and styles. Korean rapper-singer B.I., Taiwanese singer-songwriter Huang Hsuan (Yellow), the limited-time-reunited local band JUICYNING, the poetic pop music duo per se, and new generation singer-songwriters JB x The Hertz and LEWSZ will be here.

The wide range of music selection will cater various music preferences of the audience. We are committed to promoting and supporting local artists. We are providing a platform for them to demonstrate their talent and let more people to know about them. Every artist deserves a chance to shine.

We have arranged the second stage to complete its program earlier than the main stage so that participants will have sufficient time to move to the main stage and join the finale conducted by the headliner DJ. We hope all participants will be able to enjoy the water splashing experience together.

(Q5) hkclubbing.com: From the exciting PayMe presents S2O Stage line-up including Krewella, Vini Vici, NGHTMRE, Breathe Carolina, Alesso and Adventure Club, which artist are you looking forward to seeing perform the post or may not have seen before?

Carvin: To me, it will be Krewella, Vini Vici and Alesso…in fact all of them.  They are all talented and popular artists in EDM.

As Vini Vici are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, one should not miss out their performance. I would recommend participants to check them out on-site and celebrate their milestone together.

Another not to be missed out one is Alesso. Not only as the headliner DJ on Day 2, he will also have his first performance at a water splashing EDM festival. We had attended his live performance in Thailand and were amazed to see how his set changes during the time.

I would also like to introduce DJ Liu, a young and energetic rising DJ. Liu has gained popularity at an astonishing speed with just a few songs being released. His song "Don't Look Back" was doing well on platforms such as Beatport and SoundCloud, and was invited to perform at Tomorrowland in 2015. He is a promising addition to the S2O lineup.

The event will present a wide range of electronic music genres to fit various interests of EDM fans. All artists will present their own unique sound and vibe. S2O is a multicultural musical festival featuring a variety of DJs and performers.  It’s an event that you don’t want to miss.

For more information about PayMe presents S2O Hong Kong Songkran Music Festival visit their official website at www.s2ohongkong.com

Event Details
5 & 6 August 2023 (Saturday and Sunday)
Door open at 1:00pm

General Admission (GA) Tickets
*with access to all general area and wet zone
[GA] 1-Day Pass HK$1,180
[GA] 2-Day Pass HK$1,980

VIP Tickets
*with access of VIP entrance, non-wet zone, VIP storage and toilet + Complimentary Souvenir
[VIP] 1-Day Pass HK$2,080
[VIP] 2-Day Pass HK$3,380

Tickets are available at:
1) POPTICKET.HK www.popticket.hk/s2o
2) KLOOK: https://www.klook.com/zh-HK/event-detail/102000117-s2o-hong-kong-2023/
3) All 7-Eleven Stores

THE FULL LINEUP

August 5 (Saturday)

「PayMe presents S2O Stage」(2:00PM – 10:30PM)
。Nicky Romero
。 NGHTMRE
。 MAKJ
。 Ben Nicky
。 LIU
。 Lyla x itschosenai
。 Yukio
。 iLtiK b2b Yaat

「Summer Beats Stage」(1:30PM – 8:30PM)
。 YELLOW
。 JUICYNING
。 per se
。 R.O.O.T
。 Anna hisbbuR
。 CHANKA
。 ANGUS
。 CHRISTIANN B2B KERRY



August 6 (Sunday)

「PayMe presents S2O Stage」(2:00PM – 10:30PM)
。Alesso
。Vini Vici
。Krewella
。Adventure Club
。Breathe Carolina
。Pei Pei
。Gail Werner
。Karlie

「Summer Beats Stage」(1:30PM – 8:30PM)
。B.I
。JB x The Hertz
。Jill x Kiri T
。JNYBeatz x Kerryta
。LEWSZ
。Luna and the Bosin
。M.O.D.E.
。KY

Check out their trailer for the event below!

(Image Source: PR Company)