We The Fest went down in Jakarta, but that did not stop Singaporeans from flying over to join in the fun.
We The Fest is one of Southeast Asia’s most hyped about festivals since its inception in 2014. This year, as usual, it took place in the busy city of Jakarta. Touted as a summer festival of music, arts, fashion, and food, it’s no surprise that We The Fest has become the go-to event for millennials.
This year’s edition featured massive names like Vince Staples, SZA, Miguel, Lorde, James Bay, Odesza, The Neighbourhood, alt-J and Nick Murphy as headliners. Even local band The Sam Willows managed to snag a spot on the coveted line-up.
The ZYRUP team was present at this year’s event, and after just five minutes exploring the festival grounds, it became apparent that a sizeable number of festival-goers were, in fact, Singaporean (the distinctive lah’s and leh’s gave it away).
What was it about We The Fest that made these Singaporeans want to fly over to Indonesia (especially when Singapore has no shortage of music festivals)? We tracked them down to find out.
“I really wanted to experience a music festival overseas, outside of Sunny Singapore! I loooove how they have so many different booths and interesting art stores that are set up by the local brands. But of course, needless to say, I came for the music. My favourite act here would be SG Lewis. Wait no, alt-J. Wait no, Petit Biscuit. Okay, I can’t choose. I watched The Sam Willows’ set and it was so energetic and full of love. As a Singaporean, I felt extremely proud to be standing in the crowd.”
“The acts here are really good and it’s so affordable. It’s our final year at university together, so we wanted to commemorate our final year. The highlight was definitely watching Lorde live and also spending time with friends. Also, Singapore rarely has festivals that run for three days. This has a lot of headline acts for all three days so that’s quite special. The lineup is super sick. The mix of artists is on point and super trendy. The festival ground is massive and they managed to fit in a lot of fringe activities that keep you entertained between acts.”
“I actually came for the 2017 edition of the festival, which I really liked. They brought in all the acts that do not normally tour in Asia. Last year, Kodaline came, along with Phoenix and The Kooks. They’re not the typical, mainstream bands. This year there’s James Bay, Lorde and not to mention Miguel. These are acts that I love! Also, I think the scale here is much bigger. You can’t compare the festivals in Singapore to this one. It’s also definitely much cheaper here. It’s really nice to be another country and to explore it before coming to the festival and immerse yourself in the culture here.”
“We love Jakarta for the food and everything. We came for Lorde, James Bay and Honne. Honne was so freaking good. Their performance was so electrifying. We like how this reminds us of Oktoberfest, with so many carnival booths. I think the stage is amazing. Jakarta is a really nice city. Jakarta’s vibes make it worth it to fly down for the experience.”
“I’ve been a hardcore fan of Petit Biscuit since 5 years ago. So when I heard that they were coming to Jakarta, I was like, ‘I’m coming! I’m definitely coming’. Music festivals here are a lot cheaper and the people here are more unrestrained I think. It’s always more fun in Jakarta.”
“The line-up is siiiiiiiick. And the price is cheap. One main difference between this festival and the ones in Singapore is the general vibe. People here are a lot more fun and outgoing; no one is really self-conscious – that really added to the atmosphere overall. We hope to see more Singapore acts like Charlie Lim, Linying or Mediocre Haircut Crew play We The Fest in the future.”
“This is my first time going overseas for a music festival. I heard so many good things from friends. The experience is really different. For a three-day festival, the price was pretty decent, so we formed a group and came here together. I’m a huge James Bay fan so it was pretty awesome seeing him up front so close instead of just watching him on YouTube. The other headliners put on great shows as well, like Lorde, who was pretty rad and The Neighbourhood too, they were pretty good. I hope they’ll bring acts like George Ezra in the future.”
We The Fest is an annual festival promoted by Ismaya Live. Find out more about We The Fest at their website or Facebook.
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