ARTICLE
Sundown Festival 2013: Music is the Universal Language!
By InCinemas / 21 Nov 2013 (Thursday)
With acts across eight different Asia countries – Japan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China – gracing Sundown Festival 2013 last Saturday, the saying of “Music is the universal language” definitely came true as fans rocked out the concert with the performers who did their songs in various languages that they were most comfortable with.
Southeast Asian Flavour
Kicking off the night was the Rocksteddy trio from Indonesia, quickly followed by No More Tears from the Philippines. Despite the majority of the crowd coming for the Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong acts, the Southeast Asia representatives kicked a notch up right from the start with their powerful performances.
Surprising the ones who were new to him, Filipino singer Rico Blanco came out in a full traditional tribal outfit topped with face paint, and performed his signature rock tunes. With their Ironman-esque LED shirts, Indonesian band NIDJI brought their famous tunes to the stage, with many fans in the crowd dancing and singing along to their energetic stage.
Chinese Representatives
Coming to Singapore for the first time, China singer Adonia Shao, who hailed from the mega-popular singing competition Super Girl in 2005, was quick to warm the crowd up once she graced the stage. It did not take long before the 27-year-old got the concertgoers, many whom were not too familiar with her, singing and dancing along to the catchy tunes and repetitive lyrics.
Dubbed as the “Enchanted Prince”, Taiwanese singer Yoga Lin took the stage with an acoustic guitar and surprising the fans present as he started off his performance slow – an acoustic version of his song “Good Night”.
Stopping abruptly halfway through “Da Xiang Wu Tai”, Yoga let on that he “played a note wrongly”, before delighting the fans when he performed the song again right from the top. When he got to one of his more popular tracks “Shuo Huang”, it was not hard to hear the many fans that were singing along aloud, with many who were waving their placards and light-sticks as the Taiwanese performed.
As the lights dimmed and the announcement that the next performer is from Hong Kong, fans surged towards the stage, whipping out their huge LED boards with Bosco Wong’s name on it. The actor-singer from Hong Kong took the stage performing his Cantonese hits, with the highlight of the night being the performance of his mega-popular track, “Final Blessing”. The song’s producer, Tang Chi Wai, joined Bosco on stage on the guitar and the duo caused a stir amongst the fans as they put up a seamless act.
Not his first time to Singapore, Bosco let on during the interview that he likes “girls who are independent and are not clingy…but when I want to find her, I can, yet when I don’t, she will not bother me.” Seemed like a tall order but we are sure the fans do not mind if they can be that lucky girl!
Meeting of Japan Rock with Korean Pop
Japanese visual kei rock bands SCREW and D=OUT, decked out in their loud outfits and makeup, and Korean sexy girl-group AOA, each performed their hit tracks to an enthusiastic crowd, with many fans coming down to Sundown Festival 2013 specially just for them.
Rocking out in just a sheer jacket and tight leather pants, SCREW’s vocalist Byou strut around the stage while belting out rock tunes such as “XANADU” and “Red Thread” before going topless for “Barded Wire”, creating a stir among the fans present. Fans joined the band in head-banging during the performance, creating a sight that used to be only seen in Japanese rock concerts.
Their maiden trip to Singapore back in May saw Korean girl-group AOA bringing only seven of their members here, but this time, all eight members were present for their set during the Sundown Festival 2013. The 5-member subunit, AOA Black, saw the girls donning their guitars and instruments before breaking out in signature tunes such as “Get Out” and “Moya”. After which, the rest of the members joined the stage for “Love is Only You” and “Elvis” before rounding their performance off with their latest single, “Confused”.
If you think that D=OUT will be performing to a smaller and less enthusiastic crowd as they round the night up, you will be in for a shock. The loud blonde hairdo with thick mascara, donning on flowery outfits on top of their basic black get-up was definitely an eye-opener for the ones who are used to the gothic rock performances that are more prominent in the West. Belting out tracks such as “One”, D=OUT got the crowd singing along and dancing with them to their tunes. Definitely a crowd pleaser, the band even did a few lines from “Stand Up For Singapore”!