- Hot, sweaty and absolutely soundalicious – that’s the only way to sum up Singapore’s Good Vibrations Festival 2007. Despite the constant threat of rain and the muggy atmosphere, music fans turned out in droves, and who can blame them: it’s not often that Singaporeans get a chance to see The Beastie Boys. This is, of course, on top of a number of incredible acts performing from the late afternoon all the way into the wee hours.
Old school was definitely the theme of the day. Among all the bands that took stage, three truly took the concert to a whole new level. Despite having some serious tech issues and a couple of mediocre tracks mar their performance, Cut Copy really hit their stride by the third song. If anything, their blend of electro-synth and rock was reminiscent of mid to late eighties new wave bands such as A Flock of Seagulls and Depeche Mode, but with a new millennium look and feel.
A little closer to the end of the night, a large majority of the Good Vibrations population had wandered away from wherever they were to head down to the main stage for a single reason: Jurassic 5 was about to hit the stage. Despite the various technical issues, including one of the members microphone going completely off for a full five minutes, Jurassic 5 put on what was arguably the best live rap/hip hop performance to hit these shores ever. This is what hip hop ought to be.
No review of Good Vibrations would be complete without a mention of the main reason we were all there: The Beastie Boys. Scrapping their trademark jumpsuits for a little Starsky & Hutch stylism, Ad-Rock, MCA, Mike D and Mixmaster Mike stepped out onto the stage in seventies suits, fedora hats and carrying briefcases. It might have taken them twenty years to finally get to Singapore, but the crowd forgave them as soon as they came on: fans climbed up the riggings, and two actually made it onto the stage, only to be dragged off mere seconds later, which led Ad-Rock to quip, ‘Hey, Chinese takeout!” The Beasties showed that they meant business kicking off the set with ‘Gratitude’ before taking us back to the eighties with tracks such as ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn’ and ‘Brass Monkey’. Despite having outgrown the insane antics of the past, their performance proved that they could still put on a show that would shame performers twenty years their junior. Their hour-long set ended with ‘Intergalactic’ and the mighty ‘Sabotage’, which they dedicated to George W. Bush.
While Good Vibrations may have been hot, sweaty and uncomfortable, with long queues for drinks and numerous technical issues, there is no question that the festival lived up to expectations. Beastie Boys fans were left with a full arsenal of new music to check out, and general music lovers were certainly not disappointed. One can only hope that we’ll be feeling some more good vibrations on our shores next year.