Singapore has its fair share of music festivals too, albeit a little downscaled for our city’s size. No matter, this one’s for the young at heart.
Noise Singapore Festival Concert (Aug 26-28)
We’ve hit the mid-way point of the Noise Singapore Festival and the organizers are now throwing a festival concert featuring a mix of old and new Noise musicians. Familiar names like Stopgap, Take Two and enec.e will be playing alongside acts like JAWN, Samantha Rui and HubbaBubbas.The festival concert will also see three merging Australian acts who will also be performing at various stages in Esplanade.
Mosaic Music Weekend (Sep 1-4)
After taking its final bow in 2014, Esplanade’s long-running programme returns in a new format. They’re ditching their 10-day “festival” concept for the fresher Mosaic Music Weekend, which will see different genres of music–electronic, folk, indie, jazz pop and rock–over four days. Headlining acts include returning Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi, UK singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf, Korean electronic band Idiotape, Singapore’s very own singer-songwriter DEON, and many more.
Ultra Music Festival Singapore (Sep 10-11)
Last year’s Road to Ultra proved that Singapore had a healthy stream of EDM lovers, leading the huge brand to set up camp with the full-fledged edition of the festival right here in Singapore. A mainstay on the Miami music festival circuit for years, it’s really a big deal that they’re slowly (and finally) entering the Asian market.Their lineup sees EDM stalwarts like deadmau5, Axwell and Ingrosso, Above & Beyond and Kygo, alongside local acts like DJ Myrne, Shigga Shay, Rave Republic and Maurice Simon.
Music Matters Live (Sep 12-15)
Music Matters Live has always been about shining the spotlight on music (and musicians) from around the world. Now in its 11th year, you can look out for a wide range of music, with highlights such as The Veronicas, an Australian pop punk band fronted by identical twins; electronic indie pop band from Israel, Garden City Movement; New Zealand’s R&B songstress, Aaradhna; Alex Cuba, a Canadian singer-songwriter, and more.
Singapore Grand Prix Concerts (Sep 16-18)
Some people spend the whole year waiting for the Singapore Grand Prix, and then there are those who look forward to the fringe events that happen on the same week. One of the most anticipated programs year-in and year-out are the concerts that see some of the biggest names in music. This year’s diverse line-up of artists include Halsey and Imagine Dragons, who’ll be on the same bill as huge international headliners Kylie Minogue (who was scheduled to perform in Singapore in 2005 but pulled out after being diagnosed with breast cancer), Queen + Adam Lambert, Bastille, KC and the Sunshine Band and Pentatonix.
It’s The Ship 2016 (Nov 4-7)
Back for its third edition, Asia’s second largest electronic dance music (EDM) festival on board the luxurious Royal Caribbean cruise-liner will set sail for its round trip from Singapore on Nov 4 to Penang, before returning to our shores on Nov 7. The four-day floating festival will be captained by David Hasselhoff aka The Hoff (so you can live out your guilty Baywatch fantasies), and will feature more than 60 international and local acts, including EDM royalties Sander van Doorn, Andrew Rayel and Australian duo Knife Party. Dutch house duo Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano will also be presenting their concept show, Sexy by Nature, for the first time in Asia, alongside Asian-American hip-hop group Far East Movement, local music producers Shigga Shay and MYRNE. This year, It’s The Ship will also roll out the first of themed nights on multiple stages, so you can definitely expect to forgo your sleep on this cruise.
Neon Lights (Nov 26-27)
Returning for a second year, Singapore’s homespun premier music festival Neon Lights, taking place Nov 26-27 at Fort Canning Park, has been teasing us about the rest of the line-up for weeks, with little social media games. Apart from headliners Sigur Ros and Foals, joining this year’s stellar line-up are Canadian indie-electro duo Crystal Castles, whose music existence was rather fuzzy after lead vocalist Alice Glass left in 2014 (producer Ethan Kath has since brought in new singer Edith Frances); England’s Shura and Blood Orange who’ll be making their debut in Singapore; New York hip hop pioneers The Sugar Hill Gang; Canadian neo-funk artist Neon Indian; and more. The Singapore contingent at this year’s Neon Lights is pretty superb as well—Gentle Bones, Cashew Chemists, Disco Hue and Linying will all be performing over the two nights as well.
ZoukOut (Dec 9-10)
Everyone wondered if last year’s ZoukOut would be the last after Zouk Singapore was sold off to Genting Hong Kong for an undisclosed sum, acquiring most of Zouk’s trademarks, including the new Zouk Club in Clarke Quay and the massive festival. But a date has been set for this iconic annual beach festival that has seen throngs of partygoers come and go over the past 16 years. No word on the lineup yet but we’re keeping our ears close to the ground to keep you updated.
St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival Singapore (Jan 2017)
Here’s another mainstay in the city’s festival circuit. It’s the annual pilgrimage to The Meadow at Gardens by the Bay that music lovers, festival-goers and hipsters take to kick the year off to a great start. There’s no date confirmed, but we’re pretty sure it’ll happen in the first month of the year, just like other years. The lineup usually gets announced closer to the date, but during the lead up to the indie music festival, it’s always fun to make a guess on who’ll be on the bill, based on album releases for the year, music news on artists and more. Laneway fans are usually quite the dedicated-to-music bunch.
