A unique one-of-a-kind music festival experience only Malaysia can deliver
The 1st ever Borneo Music Festival Live was truly one of a kind. Delivering an atmosphere only Malaysia can. Nestled in the middle of a rain forest and Sarawak Cultural Village! The air was always cooling, with plenty of spaces to explore!
The festivities begin at about 2pm for us with a tour of the Sarawak Cultural Village. We were first welcomed with a traditional welcome dance by the locals, and was even invited to join them in learning the traditional dance.
We also had the chance to learn about all the different tribes, how they lived, where they lived and the tools that they used. I felt in awe of the different ways and accommodations the different tribes lived. I came here for a Music Festival but was truly enriched with culture and history, I was absolutely delighted.
There were so many stalls lined up everywhere throughout the path leading up to the Stage area. Everything always felt lively from the moment we stepped in.
One of my favourite stops was the Neon Face Painting + Hair Braiding service offered by @Le_Atelier_Co
If you had no idea how to dress up for a festival like me you would’ve seriously appreciated this service. It instantly made everyone look colourful, lively and ready to dance the night away!
The tuak bomb station was such a unique + native take on the alcohol selection for the night, several people lined up to take the challenge of hitting the bamboo on the table for the tuak to enter the cup!
Let’s talk about the music and the crowd. Some of our favorites were Alan Walker, DJ Moski Love, DJ venom! We were so impressed with the lighting design, everything matched the beat of the music especially during DJ Moski’s Set, she had very cool colorful pop art visuals.
There were some very memorable moments for us, one of them would be when they asked the crowd to take out their phones and to turn on our flashlights, and the whole crowd sang the song “Titanium” together. Same thing happened with the song Zombie!
The most awaited DJ’s were DJ SODA and DJ ALAN WALKER. They came out at the very end of the night, we were really exhausted by that time. But glad we reserved what’s left of our energy for last! It was worth it! The crowd went wild when Alan Walker played Faded!
One huge plus point in terms of comfort for me was the TOILETS! That’s right, there were plenty! And there was never a line! And these are real toilets with running water! No suffering in a porta potty! (although they did have some near the stage) There were so many toilets stationed around the cultural village that it was never a concern. I feel like it’s a comfort that just adds to the experience.
The other thing is the cool air of the rainforest and the size of the compound, 8K attendees but we never once felt suffocated or stood in a long queue for the toilet or food!
A few things that we felt could’ve been better was maybe the set list of some of the local DJ’s, they played similar tunes like we will rock you, zombie, it’s my life one too many times, and a lot of the beats they played sounded monotone and after a while sounded the same. Though this wasn’t much of an issue as all the DJ’s set ended on time and started on time and transitioned to better DJ’s. Some parts of the grass were squishy from the rain, so we just avoided stepping on those parts of the grass, but thankfully not all were squishy and muddy.
Overall it was an amazing experience, not to mention the mini holiday we get to have when we are in the beautiful city of Sarawak! Definitely a festival worth visiting next year!
