St Jerome's Laneway Festival with FIJI Water!
I can proudly say that I survived the Singapore leg of the Laneway Festival!! It wasn't easy but it was definitely worth the exhaustion. Overall, it was an exhilarating experience watching so many talented musicians liven up Singapore's indie scene. Thank you FIJI Water for this amazing opportunity!
Preparation
To prepare myself for this indie music festival, I put a bunch of their songs (bands who were performing) into my ipod and listened to them any chance I could, and it was worth it. I was exposed to such a wide variety of music and I found some bands that I really liked! Was really psyched up for the actual day :)
Brought a friend along hahahah. Intended to throw it around in the mosh pit but nah.
I also went to 'research' on indie dressing so I could blend in hahahha. Here's what I found. The typical 'indie' look involved, a fedora (NOT a cap), shorts, boots, either a floral printed top, geometric prints or vintage-looking prints, sunglasses, and keeping it light on the make up (for both boys, and girls! :p).
Grabbed my pal Michelle along with me, asked my music lover friends if anyone was going, and made plans to rock the day out. Whoops - I meant indie that day out!
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The Festival
It was the third year running that St Jerome's Laneway Festival was in town! I didn't get to catch the first two (BOO) but I'm sure this year was the best! :p Held at The Meadow, at Gardens by the Bay, it was a huge plot of land perfect for concerts and festivals. Thousands of us braved the scorching heat to show our love for indie music. The sun was unforgiving but it was an unexpectedly windy afternoon, better sunny than rainy for sure! We laid down our picnic mats, towels, anything we could find, and made ourselves comfortable for the long day ahead.
FIJI Water was not only an official sponsor, but an official lifesaver at the event. Their bottles were served cold which made the heat slightly more bearable. I remember they were even sold out at one point and the organizer had to make an announcement that it would be replenished shortly! I really love FIJI Water because it's refreshing and doesn't have a strange processed taste like most other brands.
I happily slaked my thirst with FIJI Water then remembered that the toilets were the portable type. :(
Quite bummed that I overslept and missed the first act of the day, Kings of Convenience. Only got to hear their final song 'I'd rather dance with you' while walking in. Still good though! Quite sure they were a big hit with the ladies hehe.
Some festival-goers even took out towels, clothes, whatever they could find, and wrapped themselves up in it. As long as one is still able to listen to the music, it's still a winning solution right?
Even saw a couple of foreign vistors who chatted up some locals to borrow sun block. LOL.
Michelle hydrating herself to prepare for more acts
One of the bands I was really looking forward to was Iceland's 'Of Monster and Men' and I'm sooo glad I managed to squeeze to the middle of the mosh pit! My favourite songs, 'Little Talks', 'King and Lionheart' and 'Mountain Sounds' were splendidly performed, was so into the moment with the rest of the crowd as we sang along. To think that a week before the festival, I hadn't known such great music existed!!
That awesome feeling singing along, with everyone waving their hands in the air
Michelle and Candice. Do we look hipster enough?
Took a photo with the FIJI Water girls, who were walking around with cute props! I think I look like I'm in a band in this one. FIJI Water had a photo competition where winners walk away with an autographed Laneway poster!
When the evening came, we were getting really hungry and needed to hide away from the sun, so we walked over to Marina Bay Sands for an early dinner. It was a loooong walk and I'm really glad I brought slippers to change into, as my feet were killing me.
Photo by Ryan Chang c/o Chugg Entertainment
Made it back just in time to see Kimbra's eclectic performance! Looks-wise, she's like an indie version of Katy Perry, but her music is completely different. I was so impressed by her range, passion and energy, and she was definitely one of the best acts that night! Check out one of her infectious songs, 'Settle down' if you want to start listening to her but no idea which track to start with.
Getting quite tired but we survived 6 hours!! Another 6 more to go!
By nightfall, I was seriously impressed with the amount of people gathered! People were drinking, spirits were sunburnt but enthusiastic, and the queues for food were snaking. Music-wise, Bat for Lashes sang her haunting ballad, 'Laura' that resonated through the crowd and had everyone spell-bound.
Was getting a little nibbly so I queued up for Prive Catering to get a Teriyaki Chicken burger and cheese fries which were devoured really quickly! It was pretty good festival grub that was easy to eat!
Photo by Nina Sandejas c/o Chugg Entertainment
The perfect finale for the night, Goyte and Kimbra blew us away with 'Somebody I used to know'. Dancing and singing with my friends were great fun and I was pleased that Goyte played one of the songs I had been playing on repeat - 'Smoke and Mirrors'.
At the end of the night we were exhausted, tired, but proud that we had survived the greatest music festival in Singapore, and made mental notes to come back in 2014.
Thank you, FIJI Water and FoodNews PR once again for the amazing time and the gifts! My FIJI Water lights was a hit at the concert (sooo cool at night) and I love the huge bottle of FIJI Water, the cap and the t-shirt!
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