THERE is no reason to fret if you don’t have any plans for this weekend. Go check out all the action at the Independent Youth Festival (Indie Youth Fest) at 1Utama Shopping Centre in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya.

Indie Youth Fest is organised annually by Go International Group to provide a healthy and competitive platform for members of the local youth community to flaunt and exhibit their talent.

The 2009 season started in August, followed by a nationwide road show and now is on its final leg, from Oct 14 to 18.

The five-day festival focuses on youth-centric activities and is divided into two zones – Digital and Indie.

The boys from Ipoh who make up Bittersweet, (L-R) Hafiez, Herri, Pijie and Emai, are all proud to call the city home.

In the Indie zone, youngsters can come together and bond through music, visual arts, comics, video games, films and youth entrepreneurship.

Fans of indie band Bittersweet will get a chance to see the group live in action at Studio V, as well as watch other talented bands stepping into the studio to record their live performances.

Studio V also opens up its concourse area, where youngsters can gather and play Nintendo Wii, PlayStation, use the recording studio or just simply hang out.

Beatboxing fans will also get to see four beatboxers laying the beats down to be crowned the Indie Youth Fest 2009 beatboxing champion.

The Digital Zone features gadget and games expo (Digital Delirium Xpo), an e-Sports tournament (GO.esc // Dreamhack Malaysia Qualifiers) and blogger clinics.

During the Indie Youth Fest roadshow, eight Counter Strike 1.6 (CS) Valve teams qualified for the GO.esc // DreamHack Malaysia finals, and will battle head-to-head this weekend in the final playoffs.

Five CS gamers will be selected for an all-expense paid trip to compete at DreamHack, the world’s largest digital festival in Jönköping, Sweden.

The free event is open to public and casual gamers are invited to participate at its other tournaments free-to-download games such as racing game Trackmania Nations Forever, arcade games Bejewelled and Tetris and spelling game, Bookworm Deluxe.

Visitors to Indie Youth Fest 2009 this weekend can also check out other interesting activities such as mass blogging review, Guitar Hero Demoplay, the Rubik’s Cube speed competition and more.

For more information visit www.indie­youthfest.com or www.indieyouthfest.wordpress.com