SINGAPORE — Saturday’s St Jerome’s Laneway Festival (the Singapore edition or Laneway Singapore for short) was the sixth in the series. Taking a long-ranged view of the event, it’s not hard to observe the obvious — much has changed since Australian promoters Chugg Entertainment organised the inaugural Laneway Singapore way back in 2011.

For starters, the type of music being curated by Laneway Singapore: back in 2011, the two bands that closed the festival were guitar rock bands Temper Trap and Foals. In 2016, synthesiser pop bands were the order of the day — with Flume, CHVRCHES and Purity Ring given the honour.

Back in 2011, the promoters were defending their decision not to include any local bands in the lineup, but this time round, not only were there three Singaporean bands, Riot !n Magenta, Cashew Chemists and Intriguant, a fourth stage (The White Room) was added to showcase the emerging DJ/electronic producer scene here in Singapore, executed by audiovisual collective Syndicate.

Six years ago, the somewhat elegiac surrounds of Fort Canning Park provided the location for the festival, the event has — for the past couple of years — significantly ‘upgraded’ to the touristy environs of Gardens by the Bay, with the imposing structure of Marina Bay Sands prominent in the background.

And what about the weather? Notoriously, the first Laneway Singapore became known as ‘Rainway’ for the incessant inclement weather that turned Fort Canning Park into a mud bath. This year, significantly, temperatures climbed to 34°C at its worst during a scorching afternoon that saw many performers commenting about how hot it was throughout.

There was not much to distinguish the last three editions of the Laneway Festival. Logistically, it was such a well-oiled operation with plenty of food and beverage, lavatory facilities, tight security and on-time performances, that the average pundit did not have to grouse about these mundane issues. A very good indicator.

When it comes to the music, an almost new generation of music fans have emerged in the past five years. The spectre of the generation gap looms large. Certainly, the programming must have been a challenge, by and large, the promoters demonstrated that they understood their audience well — the slow demise of the guitar rock bands merely reflected current preferences among music-loving youth.

Yes, while pop — under the guise of ‘indie’ — continued to dominate, especially with the crowd-pleasing performances of The 1975 and Grimes, there were sufficient opportunities for the experimental fringe (in this context) to find curious ears. In this respect, the heavy jazz fusion of Thundercat, the electro-soul of The Internet, the electrifying gay disco of Shamir and the progressive art rock of Battles, gave the edgy kids their time in the sun.

However, the big story surely has to be the presence of the local bands, which proves, finally, that Singapore music has earned its place in the Laneway Singapore line-up.

Riot !n Magenta opened the festival proper at the main stages in the blazing sunlight and as always never failed to impress with its electro-rock agenda. All eyes were on Eugenia Yip as she displayed the mesmerising stage presence that she is now famous for. Considering the genre bias throughout, Cashew Chemists was the surprising flag-bearer for rock ’n’ roll and despite unforgiving sound initially, warmed up enough to get the audience jiving on the grass, singing along to crowd favourites Feel Amazing, What She Said and Over You.

Over at the Cloud Stage, Intriguant (aka Louis Quek), a local electronic music producer and DJ, embellished his sounds with ‘live’ accompaniment and even guest vocalists Tim De Cotta, Eugenia Yip and Charlie Lim. Wise choices all but Quek remained at the centre of it all, shaking the venue with his deep trembling bass vibes. Definitely a highlight of the festival.

Surely the next step for Singapore acts is to be included in the line-up when the Laneway Festival hits the various Australian cities and Auckland?