Thousands Scream For Spring Scream

Spring Scream, Taiwan’s longest-running annual music festival, staged its 14th installment over the April 3 weekend in the southern coastal resort town of Kenting.

Estimates put the number of attendants at about 10,000, which is a huge increase over the 200 or who attended the first festival in 1995.

The event was established by two Americans, Jimi Moe and Wade Davis, from Seattle. At first, performers were mainly bands who liked to go to Kenting for the beach and the sun. But this year, about 200 artists participated in the festival, including Taiwanese pop divas A-mei and Joanna Wang.

Spring Scream has received some negative press in recent years because of alleged drug use at rave parties that are peripheral to the festival, but Moe said it has nothing to do with the festival itself, which has “never had a drug or crime problem.”