In space-constrained Singapore, there’s only so many number venues to consider when you’re planning to throw a music festival. You’ve got your big-ass grassy knolls at Gardens By The Bay and Fort Canning; the mid-sized but fairly reasonable indoor spaces like *Scape The Ground Theatre and Beep Studios; while the compact expanses of The Substation and Aliwal Urban Arts Centre exist for intimate occasions.
Pop-up party organisers Super 0 and Red Bull Music Academy said “fuck that noise” and hit up the perfect spot to throw one of the best festivals yet to usher in the new year: the long-abandoned SIA Changi Sports Complex, a stone’s throw away from Old Changi Hospital and a boulder’s roll (?) from anywhere else.
For a single day last weekend, 24 Turnhouse Road transmuted from a creepy-ass, super-haunted (check out that Bismillah sign nailed to a door) establishment in the middle of nowhere into a bustling party area hosting some of the world’s eminent left-field DJs in the middle of nowhere.
That middle of nowhere was a party hub of sorts, complete with fantastic neon decor, food stalls, giant Jenga blocks, an Alchemy Garden (for your freshly picked herbal cocktail needs) and a refreshing DIY aesthetic that was able to hold its own against mega-music festivals.
A room had been converted into a slick closed-door Red Bull Music Academy session, featuring a jet-lagged Jennifer Lee aka Tokimonsta herself take the couch in an intimate Q&A session with ex-JUICE writer Hidzir Junaini. The Flying Lotus protegé took the audience through her origins with former RBMA classmate Cherry Chan (of local audio-visual collective Syndicate), the expansion of instrumental hip-hop, working with difficult rappers, growing up in an Korean household and more in a lighthearted session with a room full of musicians and journalists.
Outside, the emptied-out swimming pool became the perfect spot for a dance party underneath the open sky, hosting the eclectic likes of Ben Pearce, Steffi & Virginia, The Field and more. Sublime projections by motion design masterminds Non/Aligned played on in the background, creating an increasingly astonishing backdrop to the festivities as darkness fell upon the abandoned complex.
Over in the second floor of the centre, the Red Bull Music Academy Stage proved to be an intimate experience but the most fun you can have in a forsaken room in the fringes of Changi. Tokimonsta, Tim Sweeny and My Nu Leng proved to be the most hot and heavy turnouts, effortlessly getting the crowd into a high with the sounds of deep house, chillstep, hip-hop and drum & bass.
While the party idled away into the night, with the makeshift lights shutting down one-by-one, the distinct talking point was of how the boutique festival was a huge-ass triumph. Super 0 and RBMA took a risk on this desolate venue, but they proved that with a little creativity and a whole lot of good vibes, any place is a party.
Photo: Chee Boon Pin/Red Bull Content Pool; Colossal Photos/Super 0
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