Balmy Evenings and Brass Bands: April’s Al Fresco Soundtrack

There is a brief, fleeting moment in the Bangkok calendar when the evening air doesn't immediately dissolve one’s shirt into a damp rag. We are in that window now, and the powers that be have seen fit to provide a soundtrack for our park-sprawling pleasure. 'Music in the Park' returns this April, turning our green lungs into open-air auditoriums for everything from smooth jazz to full-scale classical orchestras.

Lumphini, Benjakitti, and Rot Fai are swapping their usual joggers’ heavy breathing for the Bangkok Big Band and the Metropolitan Orchestra. It’s a civilised affair, really. One can settle onto the grass and pretend, for a moment, that the city’s chaos is just an elaborate stage set. The schedule is packed tighter than a Sukhumvit 11 sidewalk, featuring everything from trumpet maestros to indie start-ups.

The variety is commendable. One weekend you're being serenaded by classical strings at Lumphini Hall, the next you're discovering 'The Exorcist'—which, one assumes, is a band and not a public service—at Benchasiri. It’s the kind of effortless weekend planning that requires nothing more than a bit of grass and a willing ear.

Of course, the real draw is the sunset. Watching the golden light hit the lake as the first notes float across the breeze is a reminder of why we tolerate the heat and the traffic for the other eleven months of the year. It’s low-key, it’s free, and it’s remarkably un-fussy. Exactly how an April evening in the City of Angels ought to be.