Since its initial debut in 2015, the Ultra Singapore music festival has become one of the country’s best known and most highly-sought after events of the year. The festival attracts more than 45,000 people from around the world, and needless to say, it is truly a once in a lifetime experience. Ultra is known worldwide in the 20+ countries in which it takes place, and that was certainly made clear through the unparalleled lineup for this year’s event, which boasted the names of world-class DJs such as Axwell, Jamie Jones, and Skrillex.
Photo by RUDGR
With that said, however, this year’s Ultra Singapore did encounter a few road bumps along the way. The first and most prominent issue with this year’s Ultra Singapore festival came about when attendees were told less than 5 days before the event about the downsize of venue from Ultra Park, an outdoor field of 60,000m^2, to the B2 level of the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center, an indoor space of 17,000m^2.
While this downsize came with extremely late notice, I found the venue more than adequate for the event. Further, main headliner Martin Garrix was forced to cancel due to a serious ankle injury suffered in May. This, along with the news of the change in venue, certainly made some festival-goers a bit apprehensive. Some online rumors even stated that the festival would be canceled entirely for this year. However, despite these setbacks, the festival went on and turned out to be a huge success!
photo by RUDGR
Ultra Singapore 2019 Music Highlights
The whole reason one attends Ultra is the awesome lineup of DJ’s. I was disappointed Martin Garrix had to withdraw from the festival but Axwell and Skrillex definitely made up for his absence.
Axwell headlined the first evening and crushed with my favorite songs such as More Than You Know and If I Lose Myself. The entire audience was jumping and singing along in one mass. Axwell rocked the house and got everyone pumped for day 2.
Day 2 of the festival was surprisingly mellow until Porter Robinson performed and everyone got hyped with Shelter. It was a quick, smooth transition from there onto Skrillex. Words can’t even describe how engaging his set was. The music was fire! Every single person was smiling, dancing, and singing along to Sicko Mode, Would You Ever, Where Are U Now, and Levels just to name a few. Skrillex was definitely the highlight of the festival.
Skrillex at Ultra Singapore 2019 Main Stage, photo by RUDGR
Food/Drink:
Food and drink options were plenty. Food was affordable at starting prices of about $8 SGD which most options ranging from about $12-$15 SGD. This year’s food options were sold on the ULTRA Worldwide Food Street, where cuisine from each country in which Ultra takes place was available for purchase. Drink options were a bit limited but had the usual liquor/soda mixer options as well as great beer to drink throughout the day. Paying for food and drinks was super convenient as we could load money onto our wristbands rather than have to pay upfront at the stalls.
Access to bathrooms:
There was 1 bathroom for general admission and 1 for premium general admission. For general admission, the queue was quite long and the bathroom was not extremely clean, but nothing too bad. The bathroom for premium general admission has a much shorter queue and was much cleaner, but both options were fine for use throughout the day. Considering this was a festival, the restrooms were much cleaner than expected.
Ultra Singapore 2019 Main Stage, photo by RUDGR
Festival atmosphere:
As expected, the atmosphere at Ultra was great! The crowd was super fun and not too violent. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and the space was large enough that those who did not want to be up in the mosh pit could stay near the back and have some room to breathe. The staff was super friendly and ready to answer any questions/provide directions. Ultra also partnered with Sephora and set up a booth where you could get your makeup done and feel festival ready FOR FREE. It was a great idea but you had to get there early because the queue’s got a bit lengthy!
Security:
As with bathrooms, there was a separate queue for general admission than there was for premium general admission. While the queue for premium admission was much shorter, neither queues were too long of a wait. Security was very diligent in checking bags, pockets, and bodies for anything on the prohibited item list, and we were glad that they were taking such good care of keeping us safe!
Even with a few hiccups along the road, Ultra managed to pull off another wonderful event that I thoroughly enjoyed.
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