Ultra Singapore
When your friend tells you to he is putting together one of the biggest EDM (electronic dance music) concerts to hit Singapore you adjust your travel plans. My original plan was to fly from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Phuket, Thailand via a two hour layover in Singapore on Sunday. After a brief conversation with my homie David, whom I met in Japan and was serving as the Executive Director of Ultra Singapore, that plan shifted to Saturday and turned into a 12-hour layover.
Just after boarding the plane in Ho Chi Minh, underneath ominous clouds, the crew confirmed that boarding was complete. Shortly thereafter the torrential downpour began and we were told the airport was closed until further notice. So we sat on the plane at the gate and waited. I grabbed a few z’s in anticipation of my upcoming sleepless night. After an hour of waiting the plane backed away from the gate and we were off.
Upon arrival in Singapore I was met by my friend Jeff who also altered his travel plans to join me at this concert. From the airport we headed to my friend Grant’s house, a friend that I met in Rome. We showered changed and headed to dinner. After dinner we hopped in a taxi and headed to the concert/HUGE party.
The headliners included Skrillex, Alesso and Nicky Romero. I honestly just showed up for Skrillex whose music and live music NEVER disappoint. When we arrived we headed to the VVIP area to get wristbands that were left by David and luckily I ran into him. It was a brief but welcomed reunion after six years of not seeing each other.
He informed us that everything was cashless. Our wristbands were our tickets to enter and also how we would buy drinks. We had to top up our wristbands with cash or credit cards and we were set. The concert took place at the Marina Bay Sands, which is Singapore’s premier entertainment venue. The space was huge and was filled with over 11,000 people, some who were already drunk and sprawled out on the floor or being carried out by our post midnight arrival.
We got drinks and headed to the dance floor where acts were transitioning. It was around 1am when they announced that Skrillex was coming on. Prior to that announcement we said we would leave by 2am. We stayed until 4:00am!!
Skrillex’s energy and master mixing turned the crowd all the way up. Remixing songs he produced himself and popular tunes from US artists that have spread globally. We didn’t stop dancing one time. I will let the photos tell the rest of this story.
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Our late departure from the event meant that we went to sleep at about 5am and I had to wake up at 5:30am to head to the airport. I was a zombie and couldn’t hear anything because I had ringing in my ear. All that matters is that I made my 8am flight!
