[Review] MAYDAY!SG

by Natalie Kwan

The full-day music festival MAYDAY!SG, which was held on 1 May 2019, included a total of 10 acts who performed to a frenzied crowd at Zepp@BigBox.

The festival kicked off at 2pm with local and Malaysian acts such as Tell Lie Vision, Defying Decay, Forests and Sekumpulan Orang Gila. The crowd started to really stream in at around 6pm, just before British pop band, ROAM, took the stage.

ROAM’s fun, feel-good tracks resonated well with the audience. Though I wasn’t well-acquainted with their music prior to the festival, their catchy number Playing Fiction has won a spot on my Spotify playlist.

Next up was Australian pop punk band, With Confidence, whose performance during the MAYDAY!SG festival marked their debut gig in Singapore. The band’s energy on stage was contagious; fans were belting out the verses and tapping their feet in tandem with the music. Icarus and Voldemort were obvious favourites—during these tracks, lead vocalist Jayden Seeley invited the crowd to move closer to the stage.

With Confidence on stage

Set it Off was the final act before the headlining performance, and they put on an amazing show. Lead vocalist Cody Carson had his hair dyed in a bright blue hue, which made me wonder if he had gotten it done to match the album artwork of Midnight, their album which was released in February this year.

Cody Carson of Set It Off on set

Set It Off infected the audience with their enthusiastic performance — Cody was constantly prancing from one end of the stage to the other, reaching out to shake fan’s hands and to smile for pictures. The audience were especially hyped up during their track Dancing With The Devil. The quartet were a group of truly excellent entertainers, and created an intimate yet exciting atmosphere during their set.

When it was finally time for Mayday Parade to perform, my head was filled with dizzying excitement. Thankfully, my high-pitched screams were drowned out by the collective screams by my fellow Mayday Parade fans.

Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade on stage

They started off with their track Never Sure, the first track of the Sunnyland album. While the audience were singing their hearts out to relatively newer songs from the Sunnyland album, like A Piece of Your Heart, it was clear that oldies like Jamie All Over and Jersey still remained all-time favourites.

Mayday Parade serenaded the audience with Miserable at Best and Stay, which were performed on the piano. This marked an emotional moment for fans and performers alike, filling the room with nostalgia. Many Mayday Parade fans grew up with their music, making old tracks like these very meaningful to them. Personally, Mayday Parade songs were the soundtrack of my adolescence, and their powerful vocals during the live performance really transported me back in time.

I’m glad I ushered in the new month with MAYDAY!SG. I was lucky to be treated to a whole suite of amazing live performances by incredibly talented musicians. The experience left me waxing lyrical about the festival, and I’ve since advised my family to avoid me until the post-concert syndrome subsides.