SO MANY EDM festivals and other big music events are planned for the year ahead that it’s hard to believe electronic dance music only just caught on in Thailand a few years ago.

We’ve had a slew of big-name foreign DJs working the dance floors in clubs all around the country, and Bangkok has hosted quite a few international “party brands”, such as Gravity from Britain, the Miami-based Ultra Music Festival and the Netherlands-originated Sensation.

Last year’s EDM calendar had important events and festivals almost every month, on top of appearances in the clubs by A-list DJs, and 2016 looks like it’s going to be every bit as busy, if not more so.

The year kicks off with a wallop next Saturday with “Arcadia – The Bangkok Takeover”, the second edition of Gravity Thailand, this time being held in Lumpini Square (just pile out of the Lumpini subway station), which is certainly far more accessible than Minburi, host to the previous gathering.

Gravity’s bringing in a fire-breathing, award-winning production created by Arcadia Spectacular, complete with a 360-degree “sound field” – which means there’ll be no escape from the music that must make you move. And just in case the music does have any trouble finding you, there’ll be three times more lasers than last time slashing through the crowd.

DJs Kaskade, Zomboy, Bl3nd, Must Die and DVBBS will be flying in – to be joined by a raft of homegrown talent – for the rave-up right in the heart of Bangkok, a mere stumble from the MRT line and also with ample parking space if you’re driving.

On February 20 it’s the turn of the Maya Festival to have its second edition, this time taking place on bigger turf in Pattaya.

Last year’s event can only be described as unforgettable, the stage itself mesmerising thanks to thousands of dancing LED lights and 20-metre-tall naga motifs on both sides, also illuminated so they looked like they were slithering in time to the beats pumped out by globally renowned DJs.

EDM giants including Tiesto and Dash Berlin are headlining the 2016 festival, which is entirely Thai-owned. They’ll perform on one stage alongside Don Diablo, AN21, D-Block & S-te-Fan and Voicetone, while a second “live stage” will have top Thai acts like Thaitanium, Potato, Da Endorphine, Big Ass, 25 Hour and Cocktail.

With April begins the Thai New Year, its birth eased by a great deal of cooling, splashing water, and the second S2O Songkran Music Festival is taking shape for April 13 and 14 at the same venue as last year – the S2O Factory near RCA.

The same purpose-built “waterproof” venue will reopen ready for two very wet, extremely fun days and nights of dance-floor gymnastics. The full line-up of participating acts has yet to be announced but, judging from the huge success of the inaugural event last year – when big names like Deadmau5, Graham Gold, Sydney Samson and Afrojack were on the bill – this year should be equally jaw-dropping, and maybe even better!

Just as the S2O squirt-fest is wrapping up, gCircuit will be launching into its 10th edition of SongKran 10, which runs from April 14 to 17. No rush for your dancing shoes for this moist marathon, because it begins with the Glam Gala, a posh banquet raising funds for the Thai Aids Society and the Poz Home Centre Foundation. It’s being held at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok and tickets cost Bt5,000. Once the dishes are cleared, though, grab the comfy slippers, because DJ Leomeo will be cranking the tunes for the after-party.

And then it’s all dancing, all the time, with the “Olympus”, “Dynasty” and “Prism” parties arranged for consecutive nights at Central World’s GMM Live House. Leomeo will be around again, joined by DJs Spectrum K, Alyson Calagna, Alex Costa, Twisted Dee, Able, Oscar Velazquez and Paulo.

Afternoons will not be wasted. The gCircuit crew is hosting more of its notorious pool parties at the Double Tree by Hilton on Sukhumvit Soi 26. Be warned – tickets for these are selling fast.

There’s a lot of rumbling going on about other events in the pipeline, for which negotiations are continuing, so dates, locations and entertainment rosters are still up in the air.

What we do know so far is that the Together Festival will be happening in May and a “Road to Ultra: Thailand” event in June. You can also count on attending more light-and-sound extravaganzas like the second Warp Music Festival, likely in October, and the third Waterzonic in November.

And in December another Thai-owned bash, the pioneering 808 Festival, is expected to return for its sixth edition. Put together by Retox Sessions, that festival came to life in 2012 at Bitec in Bang Na and featured monster acts like LMFAO and Afrojack. It’s since become one of Bangkok’s longest-running EDM gigs.

A lot of local folks have their white outfits already picked out for the next White Party, a lavish affair that graced Bangkok in 2012 and 2014, but – apart from Moscow and Hyderabad – the full destination list has not yet been unveiled for this year. You might want to check the price of flights to Russia and India just in case.