In 2006, South Korean promoters I-Yescom Entertainment and Yellow9 launched the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival to coincide with the Fuji Rock Festival in the hope of capitalizing on the amount of foreign acts touring Japan every July.

Showcasing a mix of international and Korean talent, Pentaport grew with each edition and attracted 40,000 people last year to Songdo Daewoo Motor Fields in Incheon city.

In March, Yellow9 revealed they were splitting from Pentaport and beginning their own multiday concert, the Jisan Valley Rock Festival. The only hitch — it would run on the same weekend as Pentaport. South Korea, like Japan, has several summer music festivals. None of them compete directly with one another, though. "I was shocked, disappointed, and frustrated when I heard the news," says I-Yescom's Jimin Euncil Lee. "Both companies had already talked about possible Pentaport headliners for 2009. Together we've gone through the ups and downs of trying to establish a solid festival here for over 10 years."