Rising stars and beloved veterans: The best performances at VERY Festival 2022

In partnership with VERY Festival

In November 2019, Bangkok’s VERY Festival made its debut with a two-day showcase of international, local and regional artists. Its first effort, which saw 5,000 attend the event, was headlined by The Kooks, Sticky Fingers and Nothing But Thieves.

After being forced to lay dormant for the past two years due to the pandemic, VERY Festival made its grand return last weekend and made up for lost time by extending its festival to three days.

Featuring returning acts such as The Kooks, Joan and Fur among others, VERY Festival 2022 also saw several acts take the VERY stage for the first time. Through unpredictable weather, gorgeous sunsets and everything in between, here are the best sets NME caught at VERY Festival 2022.

Lauv brings the joy after the rain

After a heavy downpour halted the festival for nearly two hours, day one headliner Lauv took to the VERY Stage to perform for his adoring fans decked out in ponchos, umbrellas and mud-covered footwear.

Lauv’s music was met with a stunning response from start to finish as his fans sang every word back to him. After a balanced set of greatest hits, deep cuts and even a new song, Lauv fans left day one of VERY with satisfied smiles .

Keshi solidifies his status as a bona fide headliner

Apart from the last-minute fill-in for NIKI at 88rising’s Head In The Clouds festival in L.A. earlier this year, Keshi’s performance at VERY Festival day two was his first-ever festival headlining set. He performed like a seasoned veteran, looking totally comfortable in front of a packed crowd.

Accompanied by pyro effects and smoke cannons, Keshi quickly let the crowd at VERY know that they were in for a treat. Two particular highlights were a live preview of an unreleased song titled ‘Kiss Me Right’ and set closer ‘2 soon’.

The former saw Keshi ooze swagger backed by flames that lit up the night. The latter got the loudest response, as confetti rained down on the crowd. In that moment, Keshi solidified his status as a bona fide headliner.

pH-1 showcases his star power

You’d be forgiven if you were confused why Korean rapper pH-1 had a relatively early performance slot at VERY. Performing against a gorgeous sunset on day two, pH-1 drew in one of the largest – and loudest – crowds of the entire weekend with his sheer star power.

With a short-and-sweet set, pH-1 locked in his bid as a future headliner with an energetic performance that had crazed fans eating out of the palms of his hands.

SILVY lights up the night

In her first-ever festival performance, Thai pop artist SILVY closed out the Rising Stage on day two of VERY, sandwiched between performances by Franz Ferdinand and Keshi.

SILVY made the most of her 30 minutes, starting with her debut single ‘XL’ and quickly drawing in the crowd from the mainstage, where everyone was camping for Keshi. With each song performed, the crowd grew louder and larger. SILVY also shared a tender moment with the audience, trying her best to fight back tears while performing ‘PLS’ to a crowd full of phones and lights.

When all was said and done, SILVY had won the entirety of the crowd over. There is no denying that this is just the start of an exciting streak for this artist.

Franz Ferdinand take Bangkok out

Two decades after forming and taking the world by storm with ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘Do You Want To’, Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand proved at VERY Festival that they’ve still got what it takes to hang with hyped younger headliners

The loudest band to take the stage at the festival over the weekend, Franz Ferdinand treated frenzied fans to pure guitar rock, kicking off with ‘The Dark of the Matinée’ before diving right into ‘No You Girls’ and ‘Curious’.

It was evident that the crowd was waiting for ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘Do You Want To’, so it came to a complete surprise to everyone that they landed right smack in the middle of the band’s 18-song setlist. The surprise made the whole experience that much sweeter though, as fans began jumping once they had recognised ‘Do You Want To’’s opening seconds.

Apart from showing VERY that they’ve still got it, Franz Ferdinand also proved that sometimes, veteran acts just do it better.

Phum Viphurit brings the funk

Despite performing at 5:30pm, Thailand’s own Phum Viphurit was practically a festival headliner. Drawing in a packed crowd, Phum delivered fan favourite after fan favourite throughout this hour-long set, complete with intricate extended outros for him and his band to geek and jam out on.

Viphurit also treated those in attendance to an unreleased song from his upcoming album, ‘The Greng Jai Piece’. While the singer-songwriter is a known introvert, you’d have a hard time believing that when he’s on stage. Viphurit exuded rock-star charisma from the opening seconds until his last note, even taking time to snap photos with a seemingly never-ending queue of fans.

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