It was a hectic but fantastic weekend spent at events of O.P.E.N and Baybeats and other work events! Was literally zooming around venues of 72-13 for the symposiums, The Projector for the films and Esplanade for the gigs. I brisk-walked between these venues. It was blooody hot but it was faster to walk than get all angsty over getting a cab or a bus especially on Saturday. Traffic was horrible- both vehicular and human. The NDP rehearsals were going on at Padang, roads were closed and the entire area was ridiculously congested.
O.P.E.N as a pre-festival over three weekends is pretty cool except for a strange intervention by MDA which resulted in the festival withdrawing the screening of 'Tony Manero' and 'A German Youth'. Very annoying because I bought the festival pass mainly to watch these two films in an indie cinema with a fairly restricted type of theatre-goers. It's an arts festival, ffs. Please keep your nose out of it, MDA. Beerfest was also happening at the Marina Promenade but I ignored it. In the matter of priorities in an ultra-packed weekend, chugging beer wasn't high. To that, I also gave up my tickets to Lars Voght at the Victoria Concert Hall since I've already missed Imogen Cooper.
At least nobody cut anything out of Baybeats. Stoked to watch new bands and familiar older ones light up the stages. Although I've to admit that year on year, the bands are getting younger only because I'm getting older. *shrug* Many good bands who rehearsed like crazy to play at the festival. Hard to pick favorites. Couldn't catch every act but glad to have heard many. I'm not partial towards to heavy punk/death rock though.
The first evening saw an easy introduction to the lighter side of indie music, with Seyra, Matajiwa (Indonesia) and The Caulfield Cult (Singapore). Happy to hear Caracal and Riot !n Magenta again. Even better to see newly-formed arson get better with each live show.
There was new small stage set up for 'Mixtape', a throwback to the bands of the yesteryears, like a tribute to the bands who played then. Mixtape was presented by Awakening Productions' John Chiong and Rockstar Collective's Razi Razak. For the first two nights, Typewriter included guest Esther Lowless, and Surreal had Caracal's KC Meals. The Fire Fight jammed with Benjamin Kheng of The Sam Willows and wrapped up the final night of Baybeats 2015. It had been a long time since I saw The Fire Fight live. The boys have grown up. Woohoo.
What a weekend! Crazy weather, but the shows rocked it all out. Pure adrenalin. It was awesome. Thank you music-people, and Esplanade!
O.P.E.N as a pre-festival over three weekends is pretty cool except for a strange intervention by MDA which resulted in the festival withdrawing the screening of 'Tony Manero' and 'A German Youth'. Very annoying because I bought the festival pass mainly to watch these two films in an indie cinema with a fairly restricted type of theatre-goers. It's an arts festival, ffs. Please keep your nose out of it, MDA. Beerfest was also happening at the Marina Promenade but I ignored it. In the matter of priorities in an ultra-packed weekend, chugging beer wasn't high. To that, I also gave up my tickets to Lars Voght at the Victoria Concert Hall since I've already missed Imogen Cooper.
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| Left: Seyra ; Right: arson. Photos © Aloysius Lim. He takes the best photos of gigs and musicians. |
At least nobody cut anything out of Baybeats. Stoked to watch new bands and familiar older ones light up the stages. Although I've to admit that year on year, the bands are getting younger only because I'm getting older. *shrug* Many good bands who rehearsed like crazy to play at the festival. Hard to pick favorites. Couldn't catch every act but glad to have heard many. I'm not partial towards to heavy punk/death rock though.
The first evening saw an easy introduction to the lighter side of indie music, with Seyra, Matajiwa (Indonesia) and The Caulfield Cult (Singapore). Happy to hear Caracal and Riot !n Magenta again. Even better to see newly-formed arson get better with each live show.
There was new small stage set up for 'Mixtape', a throwback to the bands of the yesteryears, like a tribute to the bands who played then. Mixtape was presented by Awakening Productions' John Chiong and Rockstar Collective's Razi Razak. For the first two nights, Typewriter included guest Esther Lowless, and Surreal had Caracal's KC Meals. The Fire Fight jammed with Benjamin Kheng of The Sam Willows and wrapped up the final night of Baybeats 2015. It had been a long time since I saw The Fire Fight live. The boys have grown up. Woohoo.
What a weekend! Crazy weather, but the shows rocked it all out. Pure adrenalin. It was awesome. Thank you music-people, and Esplanade!
 |
| Reunited after eight years- The Fire Fight. Ah yes, that's a cut-out of Uncle Allahudin at the back. He had a provision shop and generously supplied drinks and snacks to Wake Me Up Music when it was a shop at Margaret Drive from 2002-2007. |
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