Starkly different from its previous iterations where the festival was headlined by international acts, the Skechers Sundown Festival 2017, held on 5th August 2017 (Saturday), brought the focus back to homegrown musicians, featuring an all local line-up.
As singer-songwriter Derrick Hoh pointed out, ‘whenever there is such a big stage in Singapore, it is usually because there are artists from overseas.’ Acknowledging that this was a bold move by the organizers, Derrick noted that it also reflected the organizers’ commitment in providing a stage for local artists.
Indeed, it is not often that local artists get to perform on a stage like this, and having an all Singaporean line-up for a large scale event the likes of the Skechers Sundown Festival is perhaps a necessary — albeit long overdue — step to help the local music scene grow.
In the absence of international acts, along with a change in venue to City Beach Resort (Labrador Park), the turnout was considerably less than the festival had previously managed to attract. Despite the smaller crowd, and a slower start to the festival, the atmosphere had definitely picked up tremendously after sunset when Derrick Hoh took the stage. He started his set with his English single, All I Want, and had fans sing along with him as he performed a series of his most popular tracks, including 柠檬甜甜的, 当我知道你们相爱, and 假装不了.
The audience at the Skechers Sundown Festival also had the honour of witnessing Lee Teng’s very first live performance as a singer, as he performed his recently released single, titled Fall in Love. Veteran artist, Jason Chung, and singer-songwriter Ling Kai, also had the crowd singing along as they belted out familiar tunes like 你把我灌醉, 演員, and 对你爱不完.
Local veteran duo, Jack & Rai, closed the show on a high as they serenaded the audience with their original tracks, including The Falala song and Fiona, and renditions of popular hits like I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles) and 安静 (Jay Chou).
In line with the intent of providing a platform for local artists to bring their music globally, the Skechers Sundown Festival 2017 had also invited producers from the region to the festival, thereby providing a window of opportunity for any potential collaborations.
KAvenyou would like to thank Red Spade Entertainment for the invite to Skechers Sundown Festival 2017.
For more photos of Skechers Sundown Festival 2017, do head over to KAvenyou’s Facebook page: Skechers Sundown Festival 2017
Article by: Lauren @ KAvenyou
Photography by: Yanglin @ KAvenyou and Skechers Sundown Festival
