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.

Entering the venue, the place reeked of four perfectly combined symbioses: excitement, nicotine, cheap liquor and pure youth. The mob was definitely ready to party on a gorgeous Friday night with the highly anticipated The Vaccines live concert. Chosen to be the opening act for Upfront’s yet another exhilarating show, The Rubens succeeded on heating up the stage for the crowd to cheer tremendously despite the fact that most of the people were singing along incoherently not knowing the words, but in the end it’s the enthusiasm that counts. The Rubens fascinated the crowd with eight songs from their self-titled album, including Best We Got, Be Gone, My Gun, Never Be The Same and Lay It Down. It is without a doubt that the newly formed band was about to gain new fans with their retro-indie sound.

After The Rubens’ exit, followed by a huge applaud, the night paused, leaving the crowd restless for The Vaccines to start. The thrill continued, and exploded after Árni Arnason (bass) entered the stage, followed by Pete Robertson (drums), Freddie Cowan (guitar) and Justin Young (vocals). Our four favorite Brit guys jump-started their arrival with No Hope, followed by Wreckin’ Bar Ra Ra, I Always Knew, Tiger Bloodand Under Ur Thumb. The night starts to unravel in sheer madness when they played Lack Of Understanding, the venue was echoed by the screams and chants from the hyped-up mass. The madness didn’t stop there; it escalated even greater when their infamous song Wet suit and Teenage Icon started playing, which has victoriously defined the theme of the night: a coming of age chapter.

Speaking of coming of age, The Vaccines also brought up some new songs from their new album, Come of Age, which was Aftershave Ocean and GhostTown. Though the pace of the gig was getting a tad bit predictable, Justin, none other but the delirious lead vocals, seems to have the flair to capitalize the crowd’s attention by maximizing the band’s performance, with Freddie’s fascination, Pete’s invigorating beats and Árni’s flawlessness. It was all about the energy with The Vaccines, the resurgence of guitar music era was felt in the air.

The lead singer then took a short interval by expressing the band’s sincerest excitement for being in Kuala Lumpur for the first time, described it, in his words, as “weird and f—ing amazing”, which got the mass even more electrified. Continuing with the music, Post-Breakup Sex was next in the setlist, and seemed to be a lot of people’s favorite that night since the screaming and the singing along was at its climax. After the band’s insane performance along with the stage’s seizure-like lightings, All In White and Blow It Up was brought by the band, concluded with the renowned and first single, If You Wanna.

Even though it was getting close to the end of the show, the crowd was not even close to getting tired from listening to the authentic audio played by the band. As an encore, The Vaccines performed three of their songs, Badmood, Wolfpack and Norgaard as the final song of the utterly fitted one-and-a-half-hour set. The Vaccine’s exit off the stage was tailed by a massive applaud, and with a hint of grief, knowing that the show was over. All in all, Upfront and The Bee has thriven on The Vaccine’s spectacular show, bringing the sound of 50’s rock and roll alive in Kuala Lumpur and leaving the crowd in a state of trance.

So, if you ask do The Vaccines wanna come back here to Malaysia, needless to say that it is definitely alright with us.

Who doesn’t know The Vaccines? No one, well if you do, you must be living under a cave for a long time (or you don’t have good sense in music). And who doesn’t know that The Vaccines will be having a show in Kuala Lumpur (KL)? Well, the West London based band will be having a show in Kuala Lumpur on January 11th 2013. Before invading Malaysia, They Vaccines will be having a tour to Australia. The Vaccines is known for their heart-pumping stage performance, so we are having no doubt that this show in KL will be one of the best way to give a kick start in 2013.

The Vaccines were formed in 2010 and they are Justin Young (vocals), Árni Hjörvar (bass), Freddie Cowan (guitar) and Pete Robertson (drums). Just in case if you still have a doubt about how the show will go, here is the fact that you shouldn’t miss their show in KL : The Guardian preached their first ever performance with 4 out of 5, which means almost perfect. So, there’s no excuses to miss it!

In the early of 2012, The Vaccines were nominated in three awards, NME Awards, Brit Awards, and XFM Awards. They goaled in the nomination for The Best New Artist for NME Awards and New Music Award for XFM Awards. Their debut album “What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?” was a huge success and their second album “Come Of Age” seems will be following the success of the previous album.

The Vaccines’ show in KL will be held The Bee, Publika. Did we say this show will be very intimate yet awesome? The show will be such a heaven for The Vaccines’ huge fan! (Alcander Alonzo)

The Vaccines Live in Kuala Lumpur
Date : January, 11th 2013
Location : The Bee, Publika.
Ticket Price : Presale 113 RM – Normal 133 RM
For overseas buyers, The Bee can arrange for online ticket purchase. You just need to write to bees@thebee.com.my.

Ps: Considering that this is an 18+ event, make sure that you are above 18 to attend this event. If you are not, don’t bother to buy, because strict rules are applied at the entrance gate.

Holidays! The best thing about holiday is you have a chance to do what you gotta do without have to think your stacks of assignments and stuffs. Mostly, people are doing vacation during holiday season. And we all know that sometimes it takes hours (or maybe days) on your journey to your getaway destination. So, to ease your boredom while waiting to arrive there, we have picked 15 Best song selections to accompany your day (we also put a short review for some songs and put the video for all of the songs) :

1.Vampire Weekend – Holiday
Just by seeing the title of this song, we already know that this song will cheer-up your day. The upbeat melody and catchy tunes will easily take you to hum along with this song.

2.Young The Giant – Apartment

3.Bombay Bicycle Club – Beg

4.Miike Snow – Paddling Out
Synth Pop Trio , Miike Snow put a really schizophrenic synths and contagious vocals in “Paddling Out”. And Paddling Out is chosen as the best track in “Happy To You” by Pop Matters’ Evan Swadey. The catchy riff of this song is inescapable.

5.Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend

6.Cut Copy – Take Me Over
The familiar sounds of 80s Soundwave in Take Me Over really put you in a disco pop level. Tell us when does disco pop themed song ever make you feel bored? True, It never happens.

7.Pop ETC – Yoyo

8.The Vaccines – No Hope
The snottier sounds of this song will never put you fell asleep (unless you just drank 20 pins of beer or you just consumed a palm of sleeping pills). Well, beside No Hope, we actually recommend you to listen to their “If You Wanna”, they both sound really good. And alike.

9.The Killers – Bones
This track is just so lovable. The 80s tunes and its scratchy riff is one of the reasons why we think this track should be on your holiday’s playlist.

10.The Kooks – Shine On

11.The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing
This is a very excellent single by New York-housed but Florida-reared band. A very beamed pleasantly melody of this song always boost up the holiday feelings. Well, the best situation for you to listen to this track is when you are about to…. Surf.

12. The Caesars – Jerk It Out

13.Animal Collective – Honeycomb

14.Arctic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent

15.Weezer – Island in The Sun
Okay, you can’t go wrong with this song, especially when it’s on holidays! The laid-back cheer “hip-hip-hip-hip” sung by Rivers Cuomo is just so earcatchy and kind of gimmick for this song. The instrumental in the arrangement is summery and cool.

Those are our best 15 songs to accompany your might-be-so-boring holidays or maybe your so-boring-to-get-there moment! Hope you all enjoy it! (Alcander Alonzo)