‘DMZ Peace Train Music Festival’
The singular music festival shaping the culture of domestic music festivals through original lineup curation and diverse audience participation, the ‘DMZ Peace Train Music Festival’ (hereafter Peace Train), will take place from June 12 to 14 in the Goseokjeong area of Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province.
The singular music festival shaping the culture of domestic music festivals through original lineup curation and diverse audience participation, the ‘DMZ Peace Train Music Festival’ (hereafter Peace Train), will take place from June 12 to 14 in the Goseokjeong area of Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province.
On the 17th, Peace Train unveiled 11 acts in its first lineup and began full-scale ticket reservations at 12 p.m. the same day.
Launched in 2018, Peace Train marks its seventh edition this year. Under the aim ‘Let us transcend politics·the economy·ideology through music and experience freedom and peace’, it has won strong support from audiences every year with a NO Headliner policy and original curation.
Thurston Moore
This year’s named legend is Thurston Moore, frontman of Sonic Youth, which changed the history of alternative rock, and a leading figure in noise rock. Placed at No. 34 on the Rolling Stone list ‘100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time’, he will take the Peace Train stage with his band the Thurston Moore Group.
The overseas lineup features the art collective FCO., formed by members representing the Japanese indie scene, including PERIMETRON and MONO NO AWARE, centered on Ryoto Ohara (Tempalay); and the Japanese Math rock band tricot, selected to Rolling Stone’s ‘10 Global New Artists You Need to Know’ for instinctive, jam(Jam)-based performances.
Also taking the stage are Nourished by Time, born in a Baltimore basement and courted by a major UK indie label while drawing worldwide critical attention, and Mildlife from Australia, a three-time winner of the ‘Best Jazz Album’ at the ARIA Awards, Australia’s most prestigious music awards.
In addition, DEADLETTER, a six-piece post-punk band who supported Placebo’s European tour and drew notice across the UK and Europe, will bring a live show that collapses the boundary between stage and crowd, making it a name to watch for anyone who remembers last year’s HiTech set.
DEADLETTER
In the domestic lineup, Cha Seung-woo, who at Peace Train’s inaugural 2018 edition presented a collaborative stage with Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock, returns this year as the band Cha Seung-woo and Cousins. Cha Seung-woo and Cousins is a superband bringing together indie-scene musicians, with We Are The Night’s Lil Fish, Kim Gan-ji, and Resetters’ Claire set to join at Goseokjeong.
Rounding out the first domestic lineup are Effie, who drew raves from Pitchfork and The New York Times and rose as a global hyperpop star; Jeonjayang, a pioneer of Korean folktronica; Peppertones, who have sustained an unchanging sound across 20 years since forming in 2004 up to a 20th-anniversary release; and Sininryu, which won Best Alternative Rock Album at the 23rd Korean Music Awards with its debut full-length ‘Binnaneun Seuteurairo’.
Final discounted tickets for Peace Train this year go on limited sale from 12 p.m. on the 17th via Melon Ticket. They are offered at 10% off the regular price, and free-entry reservations for Cheorwon residents and soldiers serving in the Cheorwon area open as well, with participation available through Naver advance reservation.
On April 14, the second lineup will be announced and regular-price tickets will open. From that point, various discount programs will also apply, including for seniors, national merit honorees, people with disabilities, artists, Gangwon residents, and youth.
‘DMZ Peace Train Music Festival’
Peace Train will again prepare a pre-event for everyone. It unfolds on June 12 at Goseokjeong Square. Peace Train All Stars Eve Night is open to anyone regardless of ticket possession and heralds the full start of the festival. The pre-event lineup will be announced later.
Peace Train’s signature programs also continue this year. The site-specific program ‘SPECIAL STAGE’, unfolding at spots near the DMZ where the scars of war remain, and the ‘FOUNTAIN STAGE’ presented in front of the fountain together with Seoul Community Radio (SCR), will again offer the freest form of musical experience to audiences.
Experiences within the festival have become even richer. A kids zone and kids programs for children, and a nursing room, will operate, and a morning walking program, the ‘MORNING TOUR’ (location subject to change), will take participants along the natural wetland ‘Yongyangbo’ inside the civilian control zone. Audience-participation ‘Activity Booths’ and a relaxation space ‘CHILL ZONE’ utilizing a pavilion near Goseokjeong will also be provided, and a ‘Midnight Rave’ that runs through the night is set to unfold in a flower-field site newly created this year. Each piece of content will be announced sequentially through April and May.
For those who wish to stay at Peace Train for three days and two nights from day to night, the ‘Peace Camp’ will be expanded. In addition to the Hwagang Ssiri Camping Ground, which has hosted the camping program each year, this year, with support from Cheorwon County, part of the Goseokjeong flower field will be opened for the first time as a temporary camping area. The newly prepared campsite is a five-minute walk from the main festival site, promising an even more festive atmosphere around Goseokjeong. Reservations for the temporary Goseokjeong flower-field campsite open on March 18, and reservations for the Hwagang Ssiri Camping Ground open on April 15. Details can be found on the official Instagram and website.
‘DMZ Peace Train Music Festival’
Peace Train will again enhance audience convenience with camping and shuttle operations. Shuttle buses on a total of 13 routes, expanded from last year across the Seoul metropolitan area and to Daejeon, Daegu, Jeonju, Gwangju, and Busan, are offered as round-trip, to-venue one-way, and return one-way, and can be reserved through the Kakao T app.
In mid-May, ahead of the main event in Cheorwon, a pre-event in Seoul, ‘Pop-up Transfer(POP-UP EVENT)’, is also planned. Through an early reveal and sale of Peace Train MD, DJ programs, and participatory activities, audiences will be able to experience the festival heat in advance and get ready together. Details about the pop-up event will also be announced later.
Peace Train’s key message this year is ‘Human Activity(Human Activity, ’. Regarding this slogan, which carries the message “Being truly alive is peace itself”, the Peace Train Secretariat said, “A festival is a space where, standing before each new future, we confirm to one another that we are still vibrantly alive”, adding, “The communal activity of awakening every bodily sense that starts from the movement of the heart and fully experiencing vitality is precisely the essence Peace Train seeks.”
‘DMZ Peace Train Music Festival’
