GD & T.O.P and Taeyang to Perform at Rock Festival?

It was announced today that Big Bang’s G-Dragon, T.O.P, and Taeyang will perform at the annual Pentaport Rock Festival in Korea this August. Other guests invited to the festival include U.S. nu metal band Korn and English indie band The Ting Tings, as well as local rock bands such as Boohwal (Reincarnation) and No Brain.

The Pentaport Rock Festival started in 2006 in the port city of Incheon. The three-day event is held every summer outdoors in front of more than 20,000 people. Notable guests in the past include Black Eyed Peas, Chemical Brothers, L’Arc-en-Ciel, and Ian Browne. This year’s Pentaport Rock Festival will be held from August 5th to 7th at Dreampark in Incheon.

Korn is one of the most influential rock bands in the world, having sold over 40 million albums worldwide. They’ve earned seven Grammy nominations since their debut in 1993, and have done many collaboration works with prominent musicians including Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, and Nas.

The Ting Tings are an English duo that debuted in 2007. Their first single “That’s Not My Name” and first album “We Started Nothing” both ranked #1 on the UK Singles Chart and Albums Chart respectively. In 2009, they were nominated for Best New Artist at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

Following the release of Big Bang’s first rock-inspired tracks “Love Song” and “Stupid Liar” last April, many fans have been wondering if the group would continue with their cross-over into rock. GD & T.O.P’s unit album from last year was quite hip-hop heavy while Taeyang has always been touted as having one of the most soulful voices in K-Pop. In the U.S. market, we’ve seen many collaborations between rap and rock in the past (i.e. Jay-Z and Linkin Park) so this might be a sign of more to come in K-Pop’s rap/rock cross-over in the future.