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SINGAPORE: The August opening of SINGfest in Singapore will go head on with the MTVAsia awards in Malaysia, but the local two day, non-stop, outdoor music fest may just win out this battle of stars and sound.
After a very successful debut last year, SINGfest’s organisers pulled out all the stops to make this year’s festival not only much bigger, but much better as well!
Headlining this year’s festival is highly acclaimed British folk rock band, Travis, and eleven time Grammy award winner, Alicia Keys, on both the first and second day. But don’t expect just a glimpse, both will be performing a full set, so it’s good as attending two concerts by these top acts.
Joining Travis on the first day (August 2) are also alternative rockers Lost Prophets, New Found Glory, pop punk group Simple Plan amongst many others.
The second day (August 3) will see up and coming rock band OneRepublic, singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, dance rockers Panic at the Disco and even 80’s chart star Rick Astley, along with other international and local acts.
Organiser Midas Promotions had been hoping to exceed the high benchmark set at last year’s inaugural festival, which saw acts such as Cyndi Lauper, Sugar Ray and the Pet Shop Boys take to the stage.
It looks like they did.
Michael Hosking, Managing Director of Midas Promotions, told Channelnewsasia.com that little persuasion was needed for the acts to agree to perform at this year’s festival which will be held at Fort Canning Park.
“Bands that played last year loved SINGfest and went back with glowing reports! Every act that we asked that was available (i.e. had no previous schedules elsewhere in the world) said ‘yes” immediately!” said Hosking.
“Those we invited that could not make it due to other prior commitments all asked that we invite them for next year!”
In fact, Hosking revealed that one of the greatest challenges faced when organizing this year’s festival was deciding who to leave off the line-up to ensure that a broad range of music tastes are catered to.
This year’s SINGfest tickets are priced S$150 & S$200 for one-day passes and S$300 for week-ender passes. A fee that’s a little too outrageous some may feel.
Not so, says Hosking who points out that compared to other music festivals around the world and stand-alone concerts in Singapore, the prices for SINGfest are much less.
For those who are still not convinced Hosking does the math.
“Tickets for Alicia at the Indoor Stadium for a stand alone event would cost more than $200! Fans paid $148 to see Jason Mraz at Esplanade last year – and his show was just him and his bass guitarist,” mused Hosking.
“At SINGfest you’ll get 18 acts for S$300 – and only (have to pay for) two taxi fares, not 11!”
Alright, so with all things equal it’s S$16 per act, plus a bit more for sunblock, mozzie and insect repellent, loads of thirst quenchers and don’t forget food. Round that up with good company... it can’t be that bad !
In fact, the success of SINGfest among both music-lovers and music-makers has had other Asian countries eagerly hoping for their own version of SINGfest.
“Every other Asian capital would love to have a SINGfest... for obvious reasons!” Hosking said.
“For now SINGfest remains the premier music event in SE Asia – with a line up the likes of which Asia has not seen before!”
With no concrete plans yet for the show to travel, it looks like Asian venues will have to wait, and fans will have to turn music pilgrims come August 2-3.
Tickets for SINGfest are available through SISTIC. But for your chance to win a pair of weekend passes click here.
- CNA/os
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