REVIEW / FESTIVAL
NEON LIGHTS 2019
Fort Canning Green/Last Saturday
Despite the organisational disaster that soured the experience for some festivalgoers on the first day of music festival Neon Lights, the eclectic mix of headline acts - from the electro-soul of Honne to the banjo-tinged folk rock of Mumford & Sons to the global electronica of Mura Masa - came through with stellar performances.
British folk rockers Mumford & Sons were clearly the biggest draw of the night, judging by the packed-out grounds.
For their first outing to the Republic, the band dipped into a good mix of songs across their decade-long discography, from early hits such as Little Lion Man and The Cave to Beloved off last year's album Delta, as well as the brand new track Blind Leading The Blind.
Gravelly voiced lead singer Marcus Mumford even got behind the drum kit for Lover Of The Light.
Naturally, the loudest singalong was reserved for the band's breakout hit I Will Wait For You, but it was clear throughout that there was plenty of love for the band from the Singapore crowd.
It even prompted Mumford to say: "(Bassist) Ted (Dwane) lived here when he was a kid and he's been begging us for 12 years to come and see the place... and now we know why."
There was enough love to go round for the band's fellow British acts, including electronic R&B duo Honne and producer Mura Masa, who both had stellar female vocalists adding plenty of star power to their sets.
Honne, led by the charming James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck, opened strong with Warm On A Cold Night, welcoming the first wave of the crowd that managed to make it past the crippling queue into the festival grounds.
They are no strangers to Singapore, having played several sold-out shows in the past three years, but Neon Lights was their outdoor festival debut here.
However, it was vocalist Rebeka "Beka" Prance's silky smooth, soulful runs on tracks like Someone That Loves You, Crying Over You and Location Unknown that played off the group's in-the-pocket grooves and high quality musicianship.
Funk-laced tracks like I Got You sounded even better than the original with her honeyed vocal touch.
On the other hand, the superb musicianship of one-man show and electronic producer Mura Masa, or Alex Crossan, was almost outshone by London singer Fliss, whose firecracker energy and electrifying dance moves lifted the show as she commanded vocal duties on Nuggets, Complicated, Love$ick and Firefly.
That said, Mura Masa's live percussion work on his unique brand of electro-pop was impressive as he deftly toggled among a keyboard, drum kit and electronic drum pads to create everything from the Oriental-tinged garage music of Lotus Eater to the sparkling steel drum sounds of the dancehall-influenced 1 Night.
While the majority of the crowd left after Mumford & Sons, those who stayed on got to witness a music genius at work.
