IGNITE! Light My Fire!

IGNITE! Music Festival 2008 was organised and held at Republic Polytechnic on 25th and 26 July 2008. Went for the 26 July event as it was a Saturday primarily to catch Electrico "live" again. Never been to Republic Poly before and was quite amazed by its open concept campus where there are no gates or fencing whatsoever. The staging was amazing with 2 stages - one with the full band complements and the side stage for accoustic acts - the shows were switched between the 2 stages allowing each act more than sufficient time to get themselves ready. It was the first time I had seen light displays used as background for a free concert in Singapore. The crowd turnout was much much more than it was last Saturday at the Arts House front lawn. Really happenin', man! Missed out on Plain Sunset's show as I reached there at close to 8pm. Did catch the accoustic duo act Ngak+Clement opening with Dave Matthews' Ants Marching. The band Marchtwelve was largely forgettable while the accoustic group from Republic Poly, couldn't remember their name though, had a very good female singer with an amazing voice! I never heard of Caracal before but it seemed they had quite a big following with their head and hair whirling emo-rock. Sadly, their fans did not behave well and the security personnels were keeping a very close watch anticipating any trouble. A few idiots started to throw uncapped mineral water bottles around the crowd, dunno what they were trying to prove or achieve, nuts really and for what? Only giving such events a bad image.

The accoustic group from Republic Polytechnic

Ngak+Clement

Electrico

Electrico was the closing act and rightly so too because they were the most forefront and internationally-known Singapore band in recent years. Apart from some glitches in the monitors and some unwanted feedbacks their set went through very well with the same set of songs that they had played last week at the Arts House. This time though, the drums were a little muted and not well-tuned unlike last week. Still, it was a very tight performance and further proof that they are the band most likely to succeed internationally. Getting to like The Slaves and the Digits (a.k.a Gyration III) more and more with each performance, a real get-up-and-move-your-body type of number. Sweet!

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In the morning was surprised to run 12:42.45 for the 2.4km! I thought sub-13 mins will be difficult to sustain considering my aging limbs but now I really had no idea what will come next!

Just Do It! as the NIKE slogan goes perhaps?

LIGHT MY FIRE!