Modern Entertainment in Thailand

Concerts, Exhibitions, and Modern Theater

Thailand’s major concert and exhibition halls are located in Bangkok. The state-of-the-art Thailand Cultural Center has the country’s best performance facilities and attracts international names. Saeng Arun Arts Center holds interesting occasional events, but mostly in Thai. The German Goethe-Institut and the Alliance Française host first rate exhibitions, concerts, and art movies. Top stars frequently perform in the ballrooms of hotels such as the Dusit Thani and Siam Inter Continental.

Bangkok Playhouse frequently stages plays in English and also houses Art Corner gallery, though Tadu is the best place to see contemporary Thai art. The Patravadi Theater puts on superb, highly visual musicals based on classical stories, which are easily understandable to non-Thais.

Discos, Bars, Comedy, Music, and Folk Clubs

Challenged by international rock and sugary Thai pop, folk music has retained its popularity. It can be heard on the radio and TV, in bars, at festivals, and impromptu gatherings, particularly outside the capital, although concerts are rarely publicized in English. It is also played in the unsalubrious cafés staging talok (comedy), which don’t welcome tourists.

The main styles include the exuberant, rhythmic lamwong, which is often accompanied by a jocular dance; luk thung (“country music”), combining big band music, costumed dance troupes, and singing; and the schmaltzy, ballad-based luk krung. Favored by bus and taxi drivers, the faster Northeastern mo’lam sound is distinguished by khaen pipes and rap-like vocals. The Khmer-style kantrum music of the southern region of the Northeast can be heard in Surin’s Petchkasem Hotel on weekends. The plaintive, radical phleng phua chiwit (“song for life”) emerged during the student protests of the 1970s and has dedicated spots such as Raintree.

Emerging rock bands often play at O’Reilly’s Irish Pub, while hotels host classier venues: Riva’s (Sheraton Grande), Spasso (Grand Hyatt Erawan), Angelini (Shangri La), and the Oriental’s Lord Jim’s and jazzy Bamboo Bar.

Friends sharing food and whisky while listening to live music is the nightlife formula throughout Thailand, although karaoke, discos, and themed bars are gaining ground. In Bangkok, fashionable districts come and go at great speed. Sarasin is an enduring strip, where arty types frequent Blue’s Bar. The original trendy hangout, Silom Soi 4, is still packed with young “glitterati,” while the gay scene is centered on Silom Soi 2 and the multipurpose center, Utopia. The most impressive internet café is Cyberia. In Chiang Mai, The Riverside leads a string of venues beside the Ping River.

Discos can be found in all the major resorts. The large Bangkok clubs include the ever popular Narcissus, flashy Cubanos, and upscale La Lunar

The flesh-trade districts such as Patpong, Nana Entertaiment Plaza (Sukhumvit Soi 3), and Soi Cowboy (off Soi Asoke) in Bangkok, plus Pattaya and Patong in Phuket, are notorious for their bizarre gynecological “entertainments.” Rip-offs are common, although the King’s Group’s bars are among the most “reputable.” One of Thailand’s most infamous and popular attractions on stage and TV is its cross-dressing katoeys, or “lady-boys.” Tourists flock to their sanitized transvestite shows at Calypso Cabaret in Bangkok, Blue Moon Cabaret in Chiang Mai, Simon Cabaret in Patong, and Alcazar in Pattaya, which boasts the best performers.