baybeats 2009 review

Courtesy of Shiro Ang

As a musician and a music fan, I absolutely had to head down to Baybeats to check out the local and foreign acts no matter what, and I figured I might as well share my thoughts in case any of you might be interested.

I first went on Friday. Unfortunately, I missed West Grand Boulevard; but I'm pretty sure they played a kickass set as they always do. Would have been quite curious to hear how their newer stuff would sound like now, though I've always been a fan of their older classics.

Next band I caught was Calerway, which was an Australian band. They weren't particularly remarkable in the "OMG THAT'S AWESOME!!" sort of way, but they were really really tight and their musicianship was impeccable. I was particularly won over by the lead singer's vocal control- he sounded live as he would have sounded on record. Having played on the Esplanade Powerhouse stage before, I can assure you that it is blazingly hot and doesn't particularly make life easy for any musician (although the sound monitoring is a dream- but that's another story for another day...)

I then went over to the concourse to check out Weiwen Seah, better known as For This Cycle. Weiwen is an incredible kid- he's young, hardworking, talented and really nice. In place of where one would expect a throbbing ego to be, is a rather endearing shyness which has clearly won over many adoring fangirls (who chope their seats in front of their idol immediately after the previous set). I really enjoy Weiwen's music and look forward to watching him grow as an artiste and musician. His guitar work is solid, his vocal style is unique and recognizable, and his songwriting avoids the cliché route. If he markets himself properly, my money is on him being well on his way to becoming a local music icon.

The highlight of the night, was of course, The Great Spy Experiment. The band was flawless, delivering exactly what I have come to expect of them. It was a great set, and some of the new songs were really interesting and not too similar to the British-electro-pop that they've often been likened to. However, the set was marred by a ridiculously violent moshpit and weak sound. I cannot understand why people even mosh to The Great Spy Experiment; it's predominantly dance music for crying out loud. The sound system did not do justice to the band either, with the bass significantly underpowered. I much preferred catching their set at Stasis 10 last year at the Substation, where it was an intimate experience between the band and the paying crowd of about 200 people. It is an unfortunate fact that free gigs invite troublemakers who just want to go crazy and spoil the experience for others.

About the volume- my guess is that there must have been complaints from the area; rumour has it that the powerhouse stage was shut down a few months ago because Minster Mentor Lee Kuan Yew found it too loud. My guess was more or less proven right the next day, when NEA officials came down with their sound-meters and demanded that the volumes be turned down, or the festival called off. Sigh. How can we support the arts and make our city-state more vibrant if we can't even tolerate a 3-day music festival once a year?

I couldn't make it the next day, unfortunately. I can't remember why. I would have loved to have caught Meza Virs, which I believe is the first bonafide metal band to grace the Baybeats stage. I was also looking forward to catching Suicide Solution, Flawed Element and In Each Hand A Cutlass- awesome bands. Another monumental step forward would be Opposition Party, old school punk veterans who've been around forever. Alas, I am told that they too were drastically underpowered on stage.

I went down on Sunday promising myself that I'd catch Audiocean, but only managed to catch the last couple of songs. Still, it was completely worth the rush- the energy was great and I'm very proud of them for owning the stage the way they did. I missed For Better Endings to catch Anberlin's acoustic set. It bugs me that I've still never actually caught a For Better Endings set, because I keep hearing their name so many times. It means that they've either had a meteoric rise to the top of their game, or that I've been out of touch with the scene for far too long. Probably both.

Anberlin's acoustic set was good. Stephen Christian's vocals are amazing- they're ridiculously high and polished! There was nothing special about the guitar playing or the harmonies, and the songs were decent. What made the set special was the crowd, which was absolutely packed and massive. I distinctly remember feeling a little chagrined, realising that it is extremely difficult for any local English band to get that sort of passionate support. On retrospect though, perhaps it's just a case of rarity? After all, if Plainsunset announced that they would be playing one last set before retiring, it would probably draw a crowd as significant. If Anberlin played at the Esplanade every weekend, we'd probably get bored after a while. Still, you feel me.

I then went to catch Inch Chua's solo acoustic/electronica set, which proved to be very interesting and rather pleasant. I think she's really developed as an artiste, both vocally and as a songwriter. The music is textured and very pleasant. Mark John, as he always has been, was absolutely killer on the guitar. Extremely musical, yet quirky and fun. I enjoyed it.

I only caught the last bit of Lunar Node's set, but it was nice to see that the crowd was really getting into them. I'm proud of them for coming so far so fast! Could really see their passion. I went over to the Powerhouse Stage to catch Zero Sequence, and they were mind-blowing. I remember catching Zero Sequence a long time ago and thinking that they were virtuoso wannabes. My perception has changed completely. They've gotten a new drummer (Big boy Shamyl!) and an amazing new vocalist (Mang?) who has an absolutely epic, theatric voice. The music soared and the showmanship did justice to it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and am proud to acknowledge them as a local band.

I caught slight bits of Jon Chan at the Arena, who never disappoints with his heartfelt music. I went over to the Powerhouse stage again where we caught The Ambassadors, a Filipino pop-punk band. They were absolutely awesome, with great musicianship, awesome riffs and rhythms and brilliant harmonies. The drummer was amazing too. I'd describe it as a sort of eclectic mix of Amber Pacific and All Time Low.

The main highlight of the entire festival of 2009 was, of course, Anberlin. I'd never actually listened to more than a couple of their tracks on MySpace or YouTube, but I always thought they were fairly decent at best. The set started late because of sound-check issues. I was going pretty psycho with anticipation at this point, because the crowd was so revved up. If any of you saw a shirtless indian guy making strange and unintelligable noises the top of his voice, it wasn't me.

The band came on suddenly and the volume was cranked up especially high for the occasion. (I like to think of it as the sound engineers' way of giving the finger to the authorities, but of course they would never actually acknowledge that even if it were true...) The volume was awesome. They had some problems with the mike at the beginning, but it was quickly sorted out. The volume was torrential and the music was epic; great sound, awesome showmanship from the band. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Oddly, the mosh didn't feel as ridiculously violent as GSE- probably because the most violent moshing was contained within a circle pit, which is the thoughtful and ethical thing to do.

The pinnacle of my Baybeats Experience so far still belongs to a Filipino band called Faspitch which played at Baybeats 2008. It was hands down the best large crowd I'd ever been a part of, and some of the best music I ever witnessed. It was a lot more intense, whereas Anberlin felt more crazy and mindless in comparison?

Still. Glad to be a part of the music.