Back in June 2012, I went to the Baybeats Music Festival. It's an awesome event that showcases all the best musical talents of local and regional bands. You may remember that I have already written an article about the Festival late last year. You can read about 2012 iteration of the Festival right over here. This year, I decided to attend the Baybeats Music Festival again and in today's article, I will be showing you my experience at the festival and why you should give more support to the local and regional bands.
Late Attendance
I came all the way to the Esplanade from school and although I did actually rush, I actually missed the very first Baybeats performance. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a seat and in the end, I only watched this band's last song. Although I arrived late and managed to watch their last song, I was able to still find a good standing spot and watched them play. Their performance was absolutely stunning and like I said, it's too bad that I never get to watch them perform since the beginning. I still enjoyed their last song and if you want to know what the band's name is, they're called Mannequins. According to the Esplanade's website, they are all about playing smooth guitar riffs and strong melodies plus they like to sing about random stuff which is definitely pretty cool.
A Performance at the Power House
Although I missed the first one, I certainly did not miss this. The venue for this band's performance was located at an unusual place called the Power House mainly because it was located at a temporary stage right between the Floating Platform and the Esplanade. The venue reminded me of those outdoor rock concerts in the US. Search for "Vans Warped Tour" and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, the band performing at this venue was known as Dropbeat Heartbeat and they remind me of those young and punk rockstars that can be found on TV and on YouTube. The songs that they performed got people dancing and everyone was all so energetic and jumping and having fun together. It's too bad that I went here alone and not with a friend because if I did, I too would be screaming and jumping.
The band, Dropbeat Heartbeat, as mentioned in the Esplanade website, love to perform pop punk music with some sort of boyish charm to it. They have also released several albums and EP and received lots of praise from various local radio DJs. Cool isn't it? So it's really a great indie band for those of you are really interested in punk rock. For me, not so much but after listening to their songs, they make me appreciate punk rock even more.
Since there was no actual mosh pit section at the Power House, a group of people formed their own mosh pit and that was what made the performance even more amazing. If you don't know what's a mosh pit, basically it's sort of like a section where some people will dance crazily to a song performed by the band that's performing.
Crowdsurfing are sometimes done in the mosh pit. So some people danced crazily to the song and one guy did some crowdsurfing. The makeshift mosh pit was right in front so I can't really see that well but what I did find interesting was that there was even this inflatable boat with someone in it (the same guy who was crowdsurfing earlier). Unfortunately, the crowdsurfing boat was taken away by security guards (possibly due to safety concerns) but still, it's pretty amazing to see that happen. The band members themselves were pretty surprised at the sight. Back to the band, their performances were amazing and it really got me engaged into their songs.
The Festival Village
Before I proceed with the next set of pictures and performances, I visited the Festival Village. This is the place where you can get all kinds of merchandise from the performers that performed during the festival. Fans can actually buy their merchandise and have a nice chit chat with the performers. Many people can be seen enjoying themselves here and I can see that they had a great time purchasing the items.
The Festival Village is a great way for audience members or members of the public in fact, to know more about the local music scene. Not only that, it's also a great way for the performers to engage themselves with the fans and to show their other creative talents. I can see a lot of cool T-shirt designs along with other creative merchandise on sale. Fans can also get a copy of the music albums from their favourite bands here if they wish to listen to their music at their own time.
A Performance at the Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatres)
After watching the totally awesome high energy performance at the Powerhouse, it's time for me to head to the Esplanade Outdoor Theatres to watch another round of performances. This time, it's performed by Hightime Rebellion and they played a wide variety of songs. Unlike the high energy performance at the Powerhouse, this one here is slightly more relaxed but they still performed foot-tapping music. I checked out their profile at the Baybeats official website and I see they like to play a wide range of fun music from a variety of genres like pop, funk, rock and dance and so on. This band originated from Indonesia and they played at different festivals like Nylon Music Festival 2011, Love Garage 2012 and more.
Overall, the peformance was totally awesome and their music really made my feet tap and I was so engaged with their performance. There was even one song which they made themselves but also they managed to still fit in a cover of One Way Or Another, the hit song by Blondie all while performing their original song. All that integration makes the song sound even better. Families, couples and even elderly people enjoyed their performances. Plus, it's no wonder they played that cover. Their upcoming album will feature some of their covers of popular Blondie songs and covers of songs from The Beatles. All the performances were totally awesome like what I have just mentioned earlier.
A performance at the Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse)
This was the last venue that I actually visited and it's called the Chillout Stage also known as the Esplanade Concourse. The performances here was performed by this lady called Tall Mountains also known as Sydney Yeo. She is actually a solo artist and has performed at different places around the world like the Knitting Factory and 92Y Tribeca according to the Esplanade's website.
Not only that, she enjoys performing folk pop songs, youthful songs, songs about young love and so on. She used to lived in Singapore but now she is currently based in New York. Back to her concert, Tall Mountains' performances are like a combination of soul and some other relaxing music genres. It was totally very relaxing and I could see from the faces of the audiences that they were enjoying themselves listening to the music.
Tall Mountains is a very talented performer and her songs were just very soothing and relaxing to listen to. For some reason, her merchandise and music album was available for sale at this table located right behind where the audience was standing. I was not really sure why her merchandise was not on sale at the Festival Village. Maybe because it's convenient for her and her fans and audience members? Most likely. Anyway, the performance mattered more and all I can say was that I had a great time listening to her perform.
Conclusion
Overall, Baybeats Music Festival 2013, was a great music festival. In some ways, it's much better than last year's but overall it was as good. I get to discover a wide variety of artistes and performers performing a wide variety of music on various kinds of music genres. I totally enjoyed this year's performance and I hope to visit it again the next year. Baybeats Music Festival is a totally great way to find new music, especially new local and regional music and it's great to bring families and friends to this event. I'm sure everyone who attended this year's festival had a great time.
More Information
Website: http://www.baybeats.com.sg/2013/index.php