Esplanade celebrates National Day with Baybeats 2007

Start a new tradition and celebrate not one, but 9 full days of national glory with a healthy dose of alternative and indie music this Aug at the Esplanade.

Started in 2002, Baybeats is a popular indie music festival that showcases both new bands and key players of indie and alternative music. Estimated to have acquired a fan base of up to 70,000 music lovers, the annual festival is held aptly at Singapore’s arts centre the Esplanade– Theatres On The Bay.

Baybeats 2007 will premiere with its first ticketed show on Aug 2, before continuing with its mandatory 3 days of free outdoor performances featuring local, regional and international bands. Opening the music festival with their lyrical beats would be the American dream-pop cult fame band, Mercury Rev, who have produced 6 astounding albums since their formation in the late 1980s.

Says Amy Ho, producer of The Esplanade Co. Ltd, “This year’s ticketed programme allows us to showcase established acts better, catering to our increasing audience base. We are also introducing a new type of sound to the festival, one suitable indoors, which we were previously unable to present due to the festival’s format of using only outdoor spaces. This will widen the variety of sounds and moods at Baybeats.”

Moving on to its 3-day free live performances, Baybeats will be presenting hot local bands like the Kate of Kale and March Twelve, regional bands like Urbandub from the Philippines, winner of the SMB Cebu Music Awards 2001 for “Best New Artist”, and international bands like Blindslide from Sweden who have cut 9 albums since 1996 and have also toured internationally with renowned modern rock band Hoobastank.

As a salute to Singapore’s birthday, Baybeats 2007 will also be featuring the best in local talents from Aug 8 to 12 . Seeing themselves as a ‘platform to profile local acts’ and to uncover yet undiscovered indie musicians, Baybeats held hundreds of auditions in Jan to source for promising indie and alternative groups.

This year, they are proud to present up and coming bands like King Kong Jane, who was featured in a Jan issue of The Sunday Times in recognition for their achievements and Deputy Siren who were offered shows at Ministry of Sound’s Nokia’s Flow Event and has cut a mini album under Singapore’s famed sound engineer/producer of Snakeweed Studio, Leonard Soosay.

If the fiery onslaught of indie music fails to draw you to the Baybeats 2007 this Aug, the Esplanade invites you to visit its Forecourt where a maze of New Year’s wishes from Singaporeans will be displayed.

Also, be sure to walk through the Esplanade Tunnel from the Aug 8 to 19 to appreciate the showcase of paper cranes folded by residents from both the South East District (South East CDC), the Geylang East Home for The Aged, and students from Admiralty Secondary School.

There’s also a Baybeats Photography Exhibition at the Esplanade basement from Jul 31 to Aug 6. It will parade a vibrant selection of youthful and energetic shots during past Baybeats events in a bid to reflect the essence of the festival.

Who said you can’t celebrate with the nation just because you couldn’t get tickets to this year’s National Day Parade?

BAYBEATS PROGRAMME LINE-UP

2 Aug (Thu)

3 Aug (Fri)

4 Aug (Sat)

5 Aug (Sun)