Bandwagon Music Market 2016: Serious Dose of Singapore

by Reena Mesias

For a long time, Manila had a lack of mid- and large-scale music festivals. People had to travel to nearby countries or farther to attend. Then came a surplus of them that it became a challenge to define what a “festival” really was. Was it the number of stages? Was it the variety in the lineup?

While titles can be irrelevant to some, I personally appreciated that Bandwagon Music Market, an annual event by Bandwagon Asia and was brought to the Philippines for the first time last October 1 at Power Mac Spotlight Center in Circuit Makati, stood firm with the name “music market” and didn’t try too hard. It was, more than anything, a place that connected people to music in Asia and its community. It focused on, not just the artists but, the concessionaires that had all the reasons and purpose to be there.

From Satchmi’s vinyl records, the artists’ CDs, music gears, and music-related merchandise, to stickers and prints from artists and live music photographers, as well as collectibles, there was nothing like shopping (or crying because you can’t do the former anymore) your way around this market. Of course, we also left with our tummies filled with those glorious rice bowls and beer!

There were plenty of highlights that made this Music Market memorable like Eyedress’s moshpit (there’s nothing like a fresh moshpit and a masked anonymous to close the show), the records at 30% off, free chips from Tomorrow, the surplus of all that music gear, art, and merch—the list goes on! But let’s talk about something else for a change.

Bandwagon has carved out a spot for themselves in Manila, not only for gathering a few of the best artists like Oh, Flamingo!, Tom Story, BP Valenzuela, Shadow Moses, Bullet Dumas, CRWN, Tom’s Story, Beast Jesus, Runway Crimes, and Satchmi’s featured artist Eyedress. Bandwagon also brought a taste of Singapore by flying in iNCH and Intriguant., which just made us more curious about what else Singapore has to offer. Since we have this #BWMM2016 high, let us get to know more of the music from the country that brought us the Bandwagon Music Event.

Here are some you may like:
Cashew Chemists