| 88DB Lifestyle >> Weekend Fun >> Concert >> SINGEST 2008 Rocked |
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| Success of local-grown music festival, only on its second year, means it is already an institution |
| Text and Photos by
Mavis Ang |
| Uploaded on 11 August 2008 |
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Great sunny weather and appreciative crowd contributed to a great SINGfest '08. |
ONLY in its second year running, SINGfest 2008 turned out to be a major success, selling out its second day tickets weeks ahead of the event. It might have been the stellar lineup, which included British folk rockers Travis and R&B princess Alicia Keys – these two attracted the biggest crowds.
SINGfest proved itself to be more than its international acts. Sure, the bands and artists were an important aspect of the musical festival, but SINGfest had it all – a mature crowd, great sunny weather, and squeaky clean toilets. With these essential factors alongside awesome live performances, SINGfest turned out to be the best musical event I’ve attended.
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It started out slow on its opening day, with the crowd still idling around in the early evening. The afternoon acts only managed to get a small crowd up on their feet while the rest of the festival goers went about getting beers, food, and basking in the merciless heat on their picnic mats littered around the main stage. |
| New Found Glory's Jordan Pundik |
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However, the most disheartening sight was the near-empty Legend stage, which housed Singapore’s well-known local bands like A Vacant Affair, Plain Sunset, and Vertical Rush. Many festival-goers instinctively flocked over to the main stage to catch the international acts, leaving our local rockers to face an empty field. Nevertheless, they performed with full conviction and appeared to have enjoyed themselves as much as the folks down at the main area.
The party only started to kick in when New Found Glory took the stage, and they blew me away with their solid set. They even got a hardcore fan on stage to perform with the band! |
| After the sun spared the half-burnt crowd, British band Lostprophets worked up the rock fans while Simple Plan delivered their radio-friendly, teenage-relevant tracks to a younger, more sober crowd. Indie folk band Travis closed Day 1 with a very warm and humble performance, and got the entire crowd jumping up and down (even though it was already past midnight) to their last few songs. |
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Indie folk band Travis. |
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Day 2 of SINGfest began with an unexpectedly huge crowd, with the queue snaking back all the way to the entrance near Park Mall, leaving some frustrated fans still waiting outside of the main area when Stacie Oricco carried on with the first performance of the day.
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As it was full house, many didn’t have the luxury of having their picnic spread out across the field. By the time One Republic appeared on stage, everyone around the entire venue was packed like sweaty sardines. Although the sun was harsh on SINGfest for yet another day, I simply loved the heat. It intensified the festival’s mood and got everyone ready to go all out and enjoy themselves instead of being grumpy about the weather. It was incredible, being in one place with over 10,000 strangers, singing along to the same lines of a song. |
| Panic At The Disco! |
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| When eclectic singer Jason Mraz appeared, everyone reenergised and welcomed him with deafening cheers. He was a natural crowd pleaser, breaking into impromptu songs and conversations with such charm and ease. SINGfest surged on in full gear with Mambo Jambo favourite, Rick Astley, sizzling hot Pussycat Dolls, and finally, Alicia Keys. Alicia’s powerful 1h 40min performance was a grand closing act to SINGfest, marking yet another successful year in Singapore’s musical experience. |
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Stacie Oricco |
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Enjoying the festival. |
Many have whined about artists of different genres being lined up together for this event, and decided to forgo it due to the slightly hefty prices. If you think that it’s not worth paying $300 for a couple of acts you like in the programme, I can assure you that you would end up enjoying every single performance. It was something about basking in the festival’s carefree, hippie-like feel, which made me enjoy all the artists whom I have always stayed clear of. |
I’m confident that SINGfest 2009 will be an even greater success, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go for it again.
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| 88DB Lifestyle >> Weekend Fun >> Concert >> SINGEST 2008 Rocked |
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