Baybeats (11th ed.) Festival Highlights

–Esplanade presents Baybeats (11th ed.) Festival Highlights–

Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay celebrates the best of Asian alternative music at the 11th edition of Baybeats with over 50 free performances by 35 acts from 29 June to 1 July 2012. Baybeats aims to help the local music scene grow and galvanise the community in one weekend of fun, fresh and free-for-all great alternative Asian music.

Besides discovering local talents that debut at Baybeats, audiences will also be introduced to an eclectic range of sounds ranging from folk-rock and dream-pop to electronica and hardcore punk, performed by 35 acts from Singapore and the region. This year also marks the biggest number of comeback bands to celebrate and renew friendships that were formed at the decade-long festival. It would be interesting to see how these bands have expanded and grown since their last Baybeats  appearance.

At the Powerhouse stage at The Edge, an adrenaline-pumping and heart-thumping variety of sounds await fans of progressive punk band PLOT (Thailand) and ska, punk and reggae band Copy Machine (Korea) who will be playing at Baybeats  for the first time. Other familiar favourites not to be missed include hardcore King Ly Chee (Hong Kong), indie rock darlings Great Spy Experiment and veteran pop punk band Plainsunset. This is also the first time that we are presenting an Oi! Band – a subgenre of street punk music – The Bois.

Set against the picturesque Marina Bay skyline, audiences at the Arena stage (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre) can get a taste of a wide variety of music from post-rock, indie-rock and acoustic folk. We have two Indonesian bands – indie pop band Mocca from Bandung who split up last year but are reuniting at Baybeats to perform easy listening swing, bossa nova and folk sounds in their repertoire, and folk band The Trees & The Wild, named the “Must See Act of 2011” by Times Magazine, with their post-rock sounds that encompasses elements of traditional Indonesian music.

Female-fronted emo rock band START OF THE DAY (Japan) will be playing in Singapore for the very first time. Like Esplanade, they will also be celebrating their 10th anniversary this year.

Employing spatial and emotional guitar hooks, soaring vocals, and tight drums, their music is likened to “watching an emotionally-driven cinema”. Another band to catch will be The Fast Colors, which is formed by highly respected local musicians – Patrick Chng, Kevin Mathews and Chris Toh. They will be doing covers of local music from the 90s such as Oddfellows, Padres, Watchmen and hope to have the crowd join in with the singing ala karaoke session style.