SINGAPORE - Music festival Laneway will be giving Singapore a miss in early 2019, the first time since the annual event made its debut here in 2011.
The touring festival, known for its eclectic line-up of music acts, is set to continue in Australian cities Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand's Auckland in January and February. It might return to Singapore later next year.
A Laneway spokesman told The Straits Times: "The festival will not be going ahead in January 2019 due to unavoidable logistical and programming complexities.
"However, we are still hoping to bring Laneway Singapore back later in 2019 and are currently busy making plans with that in mind."
Over the years, the St Jerome's Laneway Festival has built itself up to be the largest music event featuring indie music acts held here.
This year's 12-hour-long edition, held at The Meadow, Gardens by the Bay on Jan 27, drew 10,000 fans. It featured 23 acts, including Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter Father John Misty, American rapper-singer Anderson Paak, Canadian singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco and British alternative rock band Wolf Alice, performing at three stages.
The festival has traditionally taken place in the first two months of the year.
Laneway originated in Melbourne, Australia, in 2005. Over the years, it expanded to include other Australian cities like Sydney, as well as international editions in Auckland, New Zealand and Detroit, United States.
Its first edition here in 2011 was held at Fort Canning Park and drew 6,000 fans. The festival moved to Gardens by the Bay in 2013, and started drawing crowds of up to 13,000.
It was also in 2013 that the festival began including home-grown music talent in the line-up.
Singapore bands like experimental rock band The Observatory and indie-electronic group Riot !n Magenta have performed at the main stages alongside other international acts in past years. This year's line-up included home-grown acts such as post-rock outfit Amateur Takes Control, singer-rapper MAS1A and indie pop quintet Obedient Wives Club.
