Click here for an audio-visual look at the gig highlights

***for full gig listings jump to the bottom***

Greetings:

Thursday in Phnom Penh kicks off with a fundraiser at Motodop to  support the education expenses of young Cambodian student Vimean, featuring Chiet & Nget of Kampot Playboys, Daro & Friends, Dane & Scoddy, and DJs.  Free entry, with a raffle with prizes including a motorbike.

Other options in Phnom Penh on Thursday include a brand new open mic hosted by Scott Bywater at Tropico, the returned open mic at Noisy Chili, and the regular jazz jam with Dr George at Tape Deck  [Note: there’s also a new open mic started up on Wednesdays at Phoenix Bar, hosted by Jeremiah Nadir – check our open mics and jams page].  Later on The Extraordinary Chambers are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Lost City Jazz Society return to Lost City Pizza Society and Rod Tolentino is at The Pizza Garden.

On Friday in Phnom Penh Lisa Concepcion is at The Vine, Sinville Roadshow are at Botanico, the Tuesday Welders are at The Tin Hat and a new jazz outfit, Sakura Trio (Caroline Liu, Raphael Biamonti, Kemhour Teav) are at Khmer Funk Sky Bar.  DNA are at End of the Road and Em Chamas by Jair Coelho is at Little Susie.  Later and louder, LoveMe2Time: A Doors Experience debut at Baccara [see our LengPleng feature article below] and Jam-Cha are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  Sam Rocker with Escape and Loola complete the LostNFound tour at Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang, and in Siem Reap Mika and Kiko are at The Panthers Hut and Pablo is at The Pizza Garden.

A big night of interesting choices on Saturday in Phnom Penh with the acoustic instalment of the 1976/1996 tribute [band instalment planned for November] features Marianna Hensley, Mirasol Aguilar, Brooke Palmer, Greg Beshers, Gaby Courroux, Cove Aaronoff, Adam Marsland and many more at Tape Deck.  Also Hops celebrate 10 years of operations with Jam-Cha, Bassac Brass Quintet and Checkered Past, and it’s the 6 year anniversary at Little Susie with Sambath Bun.  Elsewhere Ysabel is at Botanico, Sakura Trio are at Au Marche, Jam-Cha are at Noisy Chili, Brooke Palmer is at Tropico and Rom Romvong are at Back Street Bar.  Later on Sinville Roadshow are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, an eighties pop night with Skip A Beat at Laundry.

Come Sunday, Mirasol & Gaby are The Vine, the Sunday Sundowners open mic at Tacos Kokopelli is hosted by Scott Bywater, Greg Beshers is at Hunt and Shaken Spirit take it late at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Kodi Hudson is at Embargo, there are open mics at  The Pizza Garden and Nomad Eatery, and Miss Wong hosts the Sunday piano sessions with Jim Latt as usual.

The LengPleng Interview

Daniel from Bolton: here comes LoveMe2Time: A Doors Experience

Debuting this Friday, at Baccara in Phnom Penh, is LoveMe2Time: A Doors Experience, a labour of love featuring some of Phnom Penh’s finest musicians with a brand new singer, Daniel Gillard, who’s been around some, it turns out.   LengPleng sat down with Daniel to discuss music, the Doors, and a particularly interesting Cambodia origin story.

LP:  You’re appearing in a band for the first time but you do have some experience in music.

Daniel:  My father was an organist.  We lived in the north west of England, where he was working in a seaside town called Blackpool, playing in hotels and on the Central Pier.  He would take me along and I would sing old English folk songs and music hall numbers, The Blackpool Belle, Underneath the Arches, stuff like that.  And we would pass his hat around the audience of old retired couples, and the wife would lean in to the husband and say, come on, Norman, throw in a pound, the boy’s earned it.  What a delightful voice he has, the voice of an angel!

Click here for the full article

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

Brent Cagle, AKA El Makinon, which he explains is Spanish for big machine. “I got off stage at a festival one night in Ronda, Spain, and there was a whole row of people shouting it at me. I had never heard that word before, so I had to ask my drummer if it was an insult or compliment. It’s been my nickname since.  I was born and raised in the flatlands of Lubbock, Texas, and cut my teeth learning to play jamming with Texas blues legends like Dangerous Dan Earnest, Junior Meadlow and CB Stubblefield (Stubbs).  Spent years playing the local scene as blues, rock and psychedelic sax player.  In 2006 I went to South America where I met Austin bluesman Jake Levinson, and we played our own brand of blues, dubbed progressive blues, all over the planet for the next 20 years as the Jake Levinson Band.  During COVID I moved back to Texas to take care of my mother, and played country with the infamous Gypsy Jane, and wrote a psychedelic world music album called Tales From the Multiverse under the pseudonym Don MakiTon.  With Gracie, my dog/best friend/sanity/boss I moved to Costa Rica to reassess, then it hit me:  I’ve been all over the place but never Asia.  We flew to Cambodia, met the core of Sinville Roadshow at my first jam in Kampot and we’ve been sinning around Cambodia since then. I’ve also fallen in love with Khmer psyrock and eagerly look forward to my getting to play some.”  As the newest member of Sinville Roadshow Brent will be in Phnom Penh this weekend at Botanico on Friday and Oscar’s on the Corner on Saturday.

Do you have a pet musical hate/pet peeve?
Playing without soul.

A private musical indulgence:
Don’t know how private it is, but you’re likely to catch me blasting Herb Alpert and Pantera in the same playlist.

The year you first came to Cambodia:
This August.

An early music memory:
The first time my grandmother played Yakety Yak for me on her record player when I was 5 years old. After hearing that sax solo I knew I was going to be a sax player.

The last thing you had to eat:
Bbq.

Stagefright – yes or no?
No, the bigger the crowd the more energy to work with.

A country you want to visit:
Japan.

A book or movie you keep going back to:
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

What languages do you have?
I speak English, Spanish, German, Texan and sarcasm. Working on learning Khmer.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:
Sax. I started playing in 7th grade.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:
I love to grow cactus; I used to have over 500 cactus in my collection.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?
Either Woodstock, of course, or Bonnaroo 02. Both festivals featured lineups of some of the best musicians to actually exist and they were definitely trippy experiences that I would love to be a part of.

A question from the last participant: what’s the last thing you were proud of that nobody saw?
People saw but didn’t know how proud I was of my dog for being such a good girl and general badass on our move from Costa Rica to Cambodia. She survived 48 hours of airports and me stressing out, like the rock star she is. She is a better person and bigger rock star than I will ever be.

Department of Mutual Support:  Friends of LengPleng

Welcome to new Friend of LengPleng, Tropico!  And welcome back to Pearl of Kampot, The Tin Hat and Crash Boom Bang.

 

Being a Friend of LengPleng is open to venues, acts, and even private individuals; if you value the service we provide please consider assisting us financially.   For a modest contribution ($25 for three months, $40 for six months, $75 for 12 months), you get the logo of your choice into the weekly email and onto the weekly wrap page, and an automatically click through to a page on our website for further information, photos, videos and so on – we like to think of it as an alternative to Facebook.

We also pay special attention when you have a good story for us – an upcoming event or an artist you wish to highlight.  Email gigs@lengpleng.com for further details or bail up Scoddy wherever you see him.

 

Steve Porte Photo of the Week

Cove Aaronoff with Japan Guitar Shop at Motodop on Saturday 25 September.

 

 

If you wish to receive a notification for the new edition of LengPleng in your inbox every Thursday please send a subscribe email to gigs@lengpleng.com.

Musicians, venues, punters:  if there are things you know that LengPleng should know, please tell us and we’ll do our best to tell the world.

See you around the traps.
your correspondent,

 

 

Guillermo Wheremount
LengPleng.com
gigs@lengpleng.com (mailto:gigs@lengpleng.com

 

Weekly Gig Guide – week commencing Thursday 24 September 2026

 

** residency/weekly

Thursday

 

Friday

 

Saturday                                                            

 

Sunday

 

Monday

 

Tuesday

 

Wednesday

 

Coming soon:  

Thursday 8 October

 

Friday 9 October


Saturday 10 October


Sunday 11 October

  • A Go Go (Euan, Alex, Andrey, Chema), 4 pm, New Leaf (Siem Reap)

 

Thursday 15 October


Friday 16 October

  • Frankie Teardrop Dead, 7 pm, Motodop

 

Saturday 17 October

 

Friday 23 October

 

Saturday 24 October

  • Bassac Brass Quintet, 6 pm, Hops Tuol Kork
  • The Ivory Express and guests present an evening with Elton John, 7 pm, Motodop – $5 entry
  • Slam City IV with Fang, Round Eye, Johatsu, Soselo Summer and Mazama, 8 pm, Noisy Chili

 

Sunday 25 October

 

Wednesday 28 October

By Weekly Wrap