NIGHTLIFE 2.0 KICKS OFF IN THE AFTERNOON
Undoubtedly, a thriving nightlife culture complements other tourism pulls such as dining, heritage, and retail, as well as business travel. It’s a smart move by the government, coming a year after Clarke Quay’s S$62 million revamp into both a day-and-night destination.
I’d think that most businesses would embrace shaking up the status quo, especially since these locales typically welcome late crowds of tourists and post-work locals. They’d also want to provide guests with a great – and safe – night out.
This adds new energy to Singapore’s reputation as a dynamic cosmopolitan destination, a place where visitors can pick up iconic Mambo Jambo mass dance moves while locals experience international ways of mingling.
Such exposure is how we’ve discovered our affinity for the niche, experiential and experimental, and how once very foreign concepts like Oktoberfest and Japanese cocktail bars are now mainstays on our social calendar.
Increasingly, however, a new kind of nightlife – and day clubbing – is gaining ground. DJs like Fred Again and Illenium, less about hype and more about emotional connections with fans, recently spun sold-out sets here.
Under-the-radar avant-garde parties featuring dark alternative music (think deep house, psychedelic trance) and performance art thrive through word of mouth.
Event collectives like Culture SG and Ice Cream Sundays are disrupting traditional clubbing culture with themed events in unusual places such as coffee shops, Haw Par Villa and Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Some of these events kick off in the afternoon and wrap up by 10pm.
Bars like Hogan’s Dutch Door and his natural wine cave Wine Mouth in Joo Chiat, as well as Juice in Katong pour thoughtfully curated wines in casually artful settings that feel like a friend’s apartment. The latter has hosted pop-ups with popular culinary outliers like Pizza Keenway and is also a de facto gallery for emerging Southeast Asian artists.
