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Everything About the Yuewen Music Festival in Sentosa That Has Gone Viral

2024-12-30 , 5:48 pm

If you have any friends who are hardcore fans of Taiwanese singer Maggie Chiang, or K-pop girl group Itzy, you should probably check up on them — they were probably one of the many who had less than ideal experiences at the Yuewen Music Festival.

Haven’t heard about the Yuewen Music Festival saga? We got your back — here’s a chronological summary of what happened during the festival that led to some people calling it “the worst event ever”.

Lightning Warning Issued on Day 1 of Festival; Attendees Told to Leave the Venue

The complaints started as early as the first day of the festival, on Saturday (28 December).

Festival attendees shared that a lightning warning was issued during Taiwanese singer Maggie Chiang’s set. According to the music festival’s official Instagram account, Chiang’s set was supposed to last from 5 pm to 5:40 pm.

After the lightning alert was issued during Chiang’s set, the Taiwanese singer’s performance was cut short. Festival attendees were subsequently told to leave the venue.

In the music festival’s Instagram post, attendees were asked to “evacuate to the nearest shelter area”.

The post stated that those at the VIP deck could stay there while those with premium passes could head to Trapizza, an Italian restaurant at Siloso Beach.

Those with general passes were asked to head to the Sapphire Pavilion.

This was where many attendees found their first gripe with Yuewen — attendees with general passes shared that they were chased out of Sapphire Pavilion despite the organisers asking them to head there to seek shelter.

As a result, many attendees shared that they had to walk all the way to Beach Station to seek shelter instead.

According to Google Maps, the walk from Siloso Beach, where the festival was being held, to Beach Station could be as long as 11 minutes.

Another gripe that festival attendees had was that it was unclear whether the lightning warning was even legitimate.

For instance, a TikTok user @tombwithaview shared in a TikTok that while she was leaving the festival grounds, she noticed that nearby attractions like AJ Hackett were still running. People were still bungee jumping and swimming despite Yuewen’s “lightning warning”.

@tombwithaview reupload w captions… THERE WASNT EVEN A CAT 1 STORM. 3rd reupload cuz i forgot to cover my ic number… oops #yuewen #yuewenmusicfestival #kissoflife #kiof #itzy #sg #fyp ♬ original sound – zest

She added that upon checking the NEA website, the “only storm was mostly in the Jurong Island area” and not the festival grounds.

Performance Commenced While Many Attendees Still Queuing to Re-Enter After Lightning Warning

Regardless of whether the lightning warning was legitimate, the woes of the festival attendees didn’t end there. Around 30 minutes after the lightning warning was issued, the warning was lifted and Yuewen announced that the festival would resume.

And if you forked out such a large sum of money to attend the festival, of course, you would be rushing back lah. For context, the Yuewen Music Festival tickets cost hundreds of dollars, according to the SISTIC website.

However, many festival attendees found themselves missing the next performance by K-pop girl group Kiss of Life. The girl group had commenced their performance while many attendees were still stuck in the re-entry queues.

@sjyunlvrr do better fr bc we missed their whole act wtf #fyp #fypsg #kissoflife ♬ original sound – eunseok’s wife (real)

Others were stuck in the re-entry queues for so long that they claimed to have missed even the performance by K-pop girl group Itzy, which came after Kiss of Life’s performance.

Itzy’s set ran from 6:25 pm to 6:55 pm, according to the Yuewen Music Festival’s day one schedule.

Strict Security Team at Festival Re-Entry Queue

But why exactly did re-entry into the festival take so long? According to festival attendees, it was due to the strict security team at the festival re-entry queue.

Some claimed that one member of the security team patted attendees down so much that it caused the re-entry queues to be held up.

Another attendee claimed that the security team was rude as well. The attendee shared that although she donned a hijab, she was told by a member of the security team to “remove [her] outerwear”.

“I told her I wasn’t able to remove my outerwear as my inner was a sleeveless top. The aunty insisted on it and I had to insist back that I wasn’t able to. A bit more and I would have fought her,” the attendee added.

Long Advertisements During Festival

If you’re paying hundreds of dollars to watch your favourite artistes perform at a music festival, you’d expect to, well, be able to watch your favourite artistes perform. Yet, thanks to the lightning alerts and long re-entry queues, many attendees weren’t able to do so.

But that’s not all. Even those who successfully re-entered the festival were faced with another issue — long advertisements between each artiste’s set.

Attendees shared that instead of advertisements, the time could have been given to the K-pop acts to perform, given that their acts were shortened by the lightning warning.

You can already foresee all the CASE complaints that are going to be filed.

Cancelled Performances Not Properly Communicated on Second Day of Festival

On the second day of the festival on Sunday (29 December), more new issues surfaced.

On the second day of the festival, the performance of Thai singer Nanon had to be shortened due to bad weather. The performances of Pentagon members Kino and Wooseok, which came after Nanon’s performance, were cancelled.

Yet, according to attendees, the performance cancellations were not properly communicated. From the Yuewen Music Festival Instagram page, it appears that only the cancellation of Win Metawin and Nanon’s performances were officially announced.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yuewen Official (@officialyuewen)

The cancellation of Kino and Wooseok’s performances was not formally announced on the festival’s Instagram page.

Lightning Warnings on Second Day of Festival Not Properly Communicated Either

From what has been said about the Yuewen Music Festival, it appears that a big grudge that attendees hold relates to the festival organiser’s communications. On the second day of the festival, many attendees were frustrated that lightning warnings were not communicated properly either.

Instead of creating new posts to update attendees on lightning warnings, the music festival’s Instagram page merely edited its original lightning warning post.

One attendee wrote: “From 4.55pm to 5.40pm to 6.15pm, and y’all don’t even bother to update with a new post. Y’all just edit your captions, expecting people to see?”

Many attendees also left comments on the lightning warning post, confused as to whether the performances scheduled for the day would go on.

So, what’s your take? Are the Yuewen Music Festival attendees overreacting, or should the music festival organiser take accountability?