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15,000 expected to attend Neon Lights

SINGAPORE — As one of the last music festivals of the year here takes place this weekend, organisers of Neon Lights say the two-day event is expected to attract 15,000 music fans — 50 per cent more than last year.

SINGAPORE — As one of the last music festivals of the year here takes place this weekend, organisers of Neon Lights say the two-day event is expected to attract 15,000 music fans — 50 per cent more than last year.

This year’s Neon Lights Festival, which is into its second edition and held at Fort Canning Park, will feature international stars such as Sigur Ros, Foals and Yuna, as well as Singaporean music acts Gentle Bones, .GIF and Linying. London-born singer-songwriter Blood Orange and British dub-reggae producer Mad Professor will also be performing in Singapore for the first time. The festival is set to be “the party weekend for everyone, from music lovers to families in for an audio, visual and experiential extravaganza”.

“We don’t have a fixed formula or policy for the music line-up — it’s driven a bit more by the heart than the head,” said festival director Declan Forde, who is known for co-founding well-reviewed festivals such as Electric Picnic in Ireland and Harvest Festival in Australia. “We try to have a range of quality music throughout the event, across a broad range of genres for the right time and setting. This applies to the Singaporean acts, too. (We are) delighted with the Singaporean acts we booked this year, and yes (we will), definitely (add more local names to the line-up) next year.”

Unlike other festivals, Neon Lights will also feature a number of arts programmes, including circus, comedy and cabaret acts, and food offerings from vendors such as The Lab, Two Bakers and Popaganda. For the first time, Neon Lights will introduce Neon Nooks, which will transform the festival grounds with performance, workshops, live art, installations and roaming acts.

Beyond the arts programme and music line-up, Neon Lights will incorporate a marketplace with a barter market for festival-goers to bring items to barter with independent artisans, illustrators, musicians and other artists.

“We were happy with last year’s inaugural festival and felt it made an impact. But we are really stepping up a gear this year — a stronger music line-up, top-quality arts bill, the whole decor and visual aspect, in particular. I think May Leong’s Neon Nooks programme is going to blow people away,” said Forde.

“Overall, I think we’ve done a much better job on the visual aesthetics and made better use of the natural environment at Fort Canning. You’ll see what I mean.”

As the appetite here for music festivals increases — with events such as Laneway and the Singapore International Jazz Festival popping up over the last few years — Forde said he believed there was room for at least a few festivals in Singapore to thrive in the medium- to long-term.

“The standard and range of festivals in Singapore have increased over the last few years, so that makes it somewhat inevitable that they would get more popular,” he said. “Such festivals exist in just about every other developed country in the world, and the signs in Singapore are that the popularity of festivals is increasing.” HON JING YI

The Neon Lights Festival will be held at Fort Canning Park on Nov 26 and 27. Tickets available at http://www.neonlights.sg/tickets.

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