Neon Lights returns for its third edition at Fort Gate, Fort Canning Park from 9 to 11 November 2018 and the scene is set for three sensational days of immersive arts activities and experiences, and a stellar music line-up. Festivalgoers can look forward to a slew of arts programmes, workshops, live art and projections from internationally renowned artistes, including Justin Shoulder’s ‘Fantastic Creatures’ and Berlin Short Film Festival award nominee Empyreal’s mesmerising ‘Liquid Galaxies’. Exciting new homegrown musical acts are joining the festival line-up, including Mediocre Haircut Crew, FAUXE and Perk Pietrek, with additional international acts set to be announced soon. These incredible experiences are poised to complement musical performances by previously announced festival heavyweights like YUNA, Caribou and Interpol.  Early bird tickets to Neon Lights 2018 are selling out fast, and can be purchased on www.neonlights.sg and SISTIC.

May Leong, Neon Lights Director of Partnership and Arts shared, “Neon Lights is a unique proposition in Singapore’s culture landscape, being a holistic celebration of arts and entertainment with a stellar  music line-up at its core. We’re thrilled to have partnered with some of Singapore’s most exciting local collectives and programme partners to bring together a diverse community of artists, musicians and culture pushers to add depth to the festival experience!”

EASY STREET & NEON ARTS

Festival revelers can discover and hone their creative vibes through three distinct and eclectic programme areas at this year’s Neon Lights – Easy Street, Neon Fun and Neon Nooks. Deep beats permeate the Easy Street stage from Friday to Sunday. Co-programmed by Sideshow, festivalgoers will be treated to performances by some of the most sought-after local producers and musicians from a wide range of musical persuasions, including house, disco, hip-hop and and jazz.

Local hip-hop collective and rap fiends Mediocre Haircut Crew take to the stage on Friday with their honest lyrics and eccentric genre-bending rhythms, followed by a vibrant set by Scottish beatmaker DJ Shellsuit, a global party-rocker whose music has moved crowds around the world. Shellsuit will be joined by Singapore-based musician and winning percussionist Ridz.

Dubbed ‘Singapore’s Hottest Producer’ by European label Top Billin, Perk Pietrek will set the tune on Saturday. The underground electronic dance tastemaker will be joined by one of Singapore’s most prolific producers, FAUXE, fresh off his new album Ikhlas and ready to drop some highly-anticipated South-East Asian inspired beats. For those itching to have a go at the turntable, established DJ school E-TracX will be running a skratch workshop. To close out the night, the renowned DJ Ulysses, who draws from a wide repertoire of genre-bending styles and has been featured in Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Festival, is set to bring down the house with a TUFF CLUB Takeover.

Attendees can groove to the jazz funk rhythms of The Jazz Djogets on Sunday, while Read Bridge Dulcimer take the world music showcase up a notch with a mixture of Appalachian old-time American and Irish mountain tunes. DJ Shellsuit returns for an electrifying festival encore to cap off the Easy Street performances.

Illuminating the nooks and crannies of the festival, Neon Nooks will bring Fort Gate to life with spectacular roving acts, live art performances and projection mapping. Be intrigued by Asia Pacific Brewery Foundation Signature Art Prize finalist, Australian performance artist Justin Shoulder’s ‘Fanstastic Creatures’ while Berlin Short Film Festival award nominee Empyreal will bring her mesmerising light projection to the festival – an experiment in light and colour using organic liquids and filmed through a lens –which will transport visitors to an alternate galaxy. 

Witness the Glitter Queen transform into an extraordinary sparkly PINK icon with her durational performance or shake things up with a rousing Samba display by Saodaçåo Capoeira Singapore. While moving between programmes and activities, fans should keep their ears peeled for roving bohemian band The Lost Hat.

There’s oodles of fun and play for the whole family at Neon Fun over the weekend, which presents an array of imaginative workshops and games for the young and young at heart to dabble in. STPI-Creative Workshop and Gallery’s two workshop stations with screen printing and marbling techniques will resonate with creative souls, along with Casey Chen’s unique sessions on wearable woodart where participants can take home their own creations. Pop in for Frankie Malachi’s amazing Puppet Exposé which showcases fascinating puppetry creations and shares the magic behind them, or to dance to DJ Itch’s all-vinyl Asian-inspired sets. Those looking to spruce up their festival getup should head straight to the It Takes Balls workshop for eclectic DIY finger bracelets, before getting active with Sideshow’s various DIY Garden Games.

MUSIC/MAINSTAGE OFFERINGS

FRIDAY, 9 NOVEMBER

Poised to open the festival with her lithe vocals and chart-topping beats will be Malaysian-born R&B superstar YUNA, all the way from Los Angeles. She’ll be sharing the stage with Thailand’s world music  sensation The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band.

SATURDAY, 10 NOVEMBER

Bringing their dynamic stage presence to South East Asia for the first time ever, the iconic Interpol is set to stun with their show-stopping hits spanning Turn On The Bright Lights to this year’s new album Marauders. Ethereal dream-pop maestros Cigarettes After Sex from Texas take to the stage next with their highly-coveted ambient-pop melodies, followed by The Vaccines, ready to show Singapore the sound of a defining British rock and roll band. Post-punk provocateurs Shame are slated to amp up the crowd next, with Riot !n Magenta rounding off the night as they indoctrinate listeners to their brand of edgy soul.

SUNDAY, 11 NOVEMBER

The last day of the festival will welcome the mesmerising Canadian electronic innovator Caribou, followed by the expansive vocals of ethereal R&B enigma Rhye. Australian multi-platinum selling reggae group Sticky Fingers will light up Fort Canning with their high-voltage, seductive tunes, and Brooklyn art-punk unit Bodega’s wild minimalism and sharp wit takes center stage at the festival next. Thailand’s alternative folk-funk singer-songwriter Phum Viphurit will bring the good vibes, followed by the affecting frankness and playful melodies of Singapore’s own indie pop trio Sobs.

The last weekend of November 2016 (26-27) was a special couple of days in Singapore as people coming into Fort Canning Park because the day of Neon Lights Festival has finally arrived. People from inside and outside Singapore filled in areas of the park to celebrate arts in all form all weekend

 Day 1 of Neon Lights started out wet, really wet. It was already drizzling by the time the gate’s open. Sea of people in bright colored ponchos entering the fully transformed Fort Canning Park. Neon Lights Fest team has perfectly transformed the park into an art lover paradise. With two main stages, Fort Green Stage and Fort Gate Stage, they’re ready for the music to kick in!

While day 2 started out relatively dry, it ended up a lot muddier than day 1, heaven knows why. The excitement however was still as high as day 1, or maybe even higher. We never ran out of excitement on both days. But we do have some favorite moments that we still daydream about until now.

Lucy Rose

This soft spoken lady from England managed to keep everyone engaged with her sweet and easy listen numbers such as “Middle of the Bed”, “Shiver”, “Nebraska” and “Bikes” as her closing remarks. She made standing in the rain all worthwhile.

Shura

Being her first time in Asia, we say she did a fantastic job. Top notch numbers combined with her fantastic stagemenship made it one of the must seen set of the day. She played some of her hit numbers like “What’s It Gonna Be?”, “Indecision”, and “Touch”, pleasing the crowds.

Foals

Oh yes, Foals! The five piece band from Oxford finally came back to Singapore to headline Neon Lights Festival. The build up excitement minutes before the lads went up on stage was unbelievable. People coming in from all over Southeast Asian just to catch them perform live again after all these years. We can tell you that it was all worth the wait. When the first beat of “Snake Oil” erupted, so did literally everyone at the park.

 Their set, despite being moved three hours early from the headliner slot, could still get the best of the crowds energy. Song after song after song never left un-chanted. Their setlist was the perfect combination of all of their album. From their first record such as “Red Socks Pugie”, “Olympic Airways”, the classic “Two Step Twice” and they even treated us to an old classic “Cassius” since it’s their second last show for the “What Went Down” album tour. Speaking of that brilliant record, bless them for playing some of their most powerful song yet, “Mountain at My Gates” and “What Went Down”. “When I see a man I see a lion” never sounded so good.

Day 2:

Blood Orange

 The London born and raised R&B singer-song writer amazed everyone with his pitch perfect voice and groovy moves across the stage. A soulful voice backed by guitar playing skill that was out of this world, Dev Hynes really took that stage to a whole other level.

José Gonzáles 

 For everyone’s in love and in need of a good holiday, José Gonzales set at Neon Lights would make you weep. His soft voice, acoustic sound, impeccable band, and pretty backdrops made it impossible for us not to quietly sob while singing “Heartbeats” under our breath.

Yuna

The Malaysian singer-song writer was a late addition to the line up, but the reaction was overwhelming! She took the main Fort Green Stage like a pro that she is. Looking and sounding flawless, she get the crowds to replace her duet partner Usher in “Crush”. We’re having a big crush on her till now.

Sigur Rós

What can we say about this Icelandic trio that hasn’t been said before? If we could choose one word to describe Sigur Ros set, it would be hypnotizing. Indeed everything about their set baffled us in the greatest way possible. From their music, Jónsi’s perfectly high pitched voice, to the mesmerizing backdrops, they left us in awe and in a shocked state even long after their set was over.

Although if we have to choose just one favorite Sigur Rós moment, it would have to be their live version of “Sæglópur”. The way they carry out the whole song starting from the most whimsical sound to a hard rocking beat, you just simply have to be there to feel its power.

Neon Lights Festival 2016 has put Southeast Asian in the map of international music and art festivals. With top notch line up and art, Neon Lights has shown the world how we like to party.  They indeed have rise above all expectation, and we had a very high expectation. We can’t wait to see what Neon Lights 2017 will bring for us! (Photo: Safitra A. Pranoto)

1. It was actually fun to experience an all-indoor festival
Call us a coward or whatever, but when it comes to an air-conditioned room, we can’t help it. It turns out that Java Soundsfair Festival is the all indoor art and music festival in Indonesia. And we are sure, that many of you must be very happy for this all indoor concept, because you guys didn’t end up having sweat patch all over your shirts.

2. RAN’s stage act was such a joy to watch

We overheard some people decided to skip RAN’s show and some even said that they are boring. However, we decided to give it a go to see RAN. And those people who said that RAN is boring, well, it’s either they are the ones who are boring or they are the ones who are totally boring. Because from what we saw, RAN gave a simply nice set and they even had dancers who pumped up the excitement to singalong to their pop hits. We are a stan for RAN now.

3. Sophie Ellis-Bextor doesn’t age. The same thing goes to her music.

When we found out that the inhuman beauty, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, would be one of the line-ups, we knew we were not going to miss it. The first thing crossed our mind when she came out the stage is she doesn’t age. Okay, now we sound like a fan boy. Ms.Ellis-Bextor performed her infamous ‘Take Me Home’ and a groovy medley from Modjo’s ‘Lady’ to Moloko’s ‘Sing It Back’. Her performance was completed beautifully with her disco dance in an emerald sheer dress which gives a peek of her bedazzling underwear. Combo.

4. You should see Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra for once in your life

Yes, you should see Tokyo Ska Paradise for once in your life. All we can say is they did it in a f***ing legendary way in a serious classy act. We expected that their set would be mindblowing but when we finished seeing them, it was like you just finished seeing the Godfather banging their instruments. The point is if you missed their show, you missed out big time. (See how mindblowing their set was : here)

5. Magic weren’t rude

The canadian reggae fusion band were the headliners on the first day of the festival. Nasri, Mark Pellizzer, Alex Tanas, and Ben Spivak performed songs ‘Don’t Kill The Magic’, ‘No Evil’, ‘Let Your Hair Down’, ‘Paradise’. Then they closed the night with their world-wide known song, ‘Rude’, which invited the whole crowd (and we are sure 80% of the crowd know them from that song) to do a massive karaoke. FYI, the band were not surprisingly rude. Enough said.

6. There was no bad hair day

Well, if you went to the fest, we could assure you that there were no bad hair on that day! At the Assembly Hall 2 (it’s where some cool paintings and art installations were put), they even had this pop-up barber shop where you can get a seriously cool hair cut. Getting dandy comes in handy.

7. So many good things to capture, included the art installations

If you are a fan of art and cool paintings or whatever that sounds artsy, you must be very glad with the art installations at the fest. Just FYI, the art installations were curated by some of the cities’ best curators.

8. Cody Simpson shook his hips like Elvis

It turns out that Cody Simpson (who happens being a bestie of Justin Biebs) could pull of Elvis’ on stage. Before Cody Simpson hit the stage, we saw a bunch of teenagers has already lined up infront of the gate just to make sure they can secure a great view to witness him, or maybe his dapper look. Well, what we can say is, Cody Simpson’s show was cool enough. Might be even better than Justin’s.

9. Hail to the line-ups at Demajor’s Merak Stage

We just can’t even (insert a dramatical GIF) at the performers at Demajor’s Merak Stage. From day one to day three, we were pleased!

8. It takes two to tango, but Poolside might need three to make us dance

We love the daytime disco sounds of Poolside, we always dance to their blissed-out and bass-grooving songs. However, that night their set felt a tad bit blant and that was just it. Maybe that was just us, but we will always put them in our disco daytime playlist!

10. Coldplay karaoke session with Yamaha Special Project

This is definitely one of the best highlights from Java Soundsfair Festival 2014. Yamaha Special Project brought some great vocalists (and also the current guitar maestro, Jubing) to perform some of Coldplay’s notable hits. From Payung Teduh’s Is to Sandhy Sandoro, they all succeeded the crowd to experience a local sensation of tribute to Coldplay.

11.       Scouted talented up and comers at Soundsfair’s lobby

Soundsfair’s Lobby stage was definitely the easiest stage to see since it’s located right after the entrance gate. The cool thing is it felt like the live-music enthusiasts were welcomed by some of the best new bands once they entered the hall. From Singapore’s Weish to the latest MERAH Music from Jakarta (interesting fact : right after MERAH Music performed, a synth band from China RED was scheduled to play next. MERAH is RED in bahasa Indonesia, in case you are wondering why this is interesting)

12. Roosevelt fed the depressing indie music fans to dance

As how they describe their music “dance music for people who are too depressed to dance. It was really good to finally have some great indie bands to come to Jakarta after a long hiatus from Indonesian promoters for not making indie bands’ concerts. Cheers to the amazing time circa 2010 – 2012.

13. The Walking Dead was brought into the fest
There were not only art installations at the festival, but also Zombies! We thought someone was hammered after walking frantically, but we realized it was still pretty early to get boozed. When we got closer, they were zombies. A fan of the Walking Dead should be making a parade if they saw this!

13. Yuna was undeniably lovely

“Jakarta~” Yuna melodically greeted the crowd who’ve been waiting for her at the plenary hall. With her looking pretty in her turban and flowing dress, Yuna performed her hits such as ‘Falling’, ‘Gadis Semasa’, and also her Pharrell-produced chart topper song ‘Live Your Life’. Yuna also showed off her ukulele playing skill, and once again, it was a great rendition accompanied by her smooth as silk vocals. Oh, what do Indonesians and Yuna have in common? A fan of Indonesian Meatballs, BAKSO. Hell Yeah.

14. Tulus gave an “elephant size” of a sweet performance

Do you guys remember the long lines at Java Jazz Festival when Tulus was about to perform? Yes, that happened again when Tulus became the festival closer at the Plenary main stage. It was easy to say that Tulus successfully made the love birds to singalong to his romantic songs such as ‘Jangan Cintai Aku Apa Adanya’, ‘Sewindu’, and ‘1000 Tahun Lamanya’.

15. With extra sugar and extra salt, Cibo Matto were solid

The New York-based band were just totally solid. With their high musicality, the crowd were swayed with songs like ‘Sci-fi Wasabi’, ‘Birthday Cake’, and even their rad bossa cover of ‘Águas de Março’. Evethough the hall was quite empty, Yuka and Miho managed to blast their ambient music to make the numerous crowd to dance. (Shout out to the front liners crowd, included to the Indonesian designer, Kleting.)

16. Long live the King, long live The Jacksons

The Jacksons are definitely the king of all the line-ups from the festival. Looking like a total legend, they showed up dramatically and walked through the gunsmoke in a bad ass style to open their show. They performed an effortless yet sublime show with songs like ‘Can You Feel It’ and the all-time dance favorite ‘Blame It On The Boogie’. Eventhough one of the jacksons had departed, The remaining brothers still remain being a supreme group. That night was filled with the soundtracks most of everyone’s lives, and we all know they have become wiser with age, they were still able to give a dynamic and amazing fresh moves like it was their first time to perform. It was a priceless experience for us to finally be able seeing the legends live.

17. We need a round two of Java Soundsfair Festival

You heard it, once is never enough. Let’s have another round of Java Soundsfair Festival because we need more festival experience. Cheers to Java Festival Production and the whole team for the event!

(Photos : Maria Anastasia/Alcander Alonzo/Gilang Bimar)

When it comes to independent musicians in South East Asia region, we can only recognize Indonesian musicians (such as White Shoes and the Couples Company or Sore) who make it big on the international map. Countries like Malaysia hasn’t really spoken much about this scene, but there’s one girl who finally appeared and she hit the jackpot. She is Yuna.

Yuna Zarai or famously known as Yuna began writing her songs at the age of 14. The reality is she didn’t mean to perform anything until she took her guitar and tried to play with it. At the age of 19, when she was studying in Law school, she started performing her music and it began attracting people to know more about her music. Starting in 2006, she’s been using MySpace to promote her music and when her song ‘Deeper Conversation’got a major airplay on the local radio, she decided to put her life for music. And she really did. After receiving numerous recognition and awards in Malaysia, a New York-based indie label FADER, signed Yuna as one of their new artists.

When Yuna is on the board of FADER, the label promoted her music here and there. And as the word went in and out, Pharell Williams listened to her EP, ‘Decorate’, and he fell in love with some of her tracks. “Pharrell was one of the producers who wanted to work with me so I was really lucky to be one of those people who got to work with him. I think he heard some songs from my EP and he loved it. We worked on a couple of tracks.” Said Yuna to Complex.com on her story of meeting Pharell. With a help of Pharell, Yuna’s music begin to expand into a new level, not only being a typical acoustic girl, she added a hip/hop and black music influences. Her latest album, Nocturnal, also makes it big time to her career. The album speaks more about the personal stories and has a simplicity mixed with her soft-angelic vocals. Even David Foster ( the head of creative operations of Verve Music Group, the label that Yuna recently signed with) tweeted “I’m really excited about the next hot artist to join Verve Music. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for Yuna in 2013”

Yuna has made it for Billboard, she has set a really high bar for her music. With an outstanding comments from the Grammy scorers like Pharell Williams and David Foster, Yuna is building her way to the stardom. Don’t need to dress up in a quirky way or do a little stunt in the public scene, Yuna is beautifully sitting on her throne and ready to echo her music.