2008: The birth of the legendary Music Festival, IGNITE!

2008

The first year was nothing but extravagant with fire twirlers, lighting and sounds that would put a nightclub to shame and of course, not forgetting the fans who partied hard!

The Republic Cultural Centre's (TRCC) Assistant Director, Mr Tony Kam, on the birth of IGNITE! 

Mr Tony Kam backstage!

Who came up with the idea of IGNITE?

"The idea came out of one of our ex-staff, Kelly Kuan, who thought of coming up with some sort of a music festival as a platform that was similar to Arts Platter. We thought of it as a mini 'Woodstock'.'' -Tony Kam (Assistant director of TRCC)

When IGNITE was first launched back in 2008, the organizers were
afraid of the bad turnout due to the weather, but that didn't deter the
determined fans from turning up.

The bands practiced very hard & their efforts were definitely paid off by

giving the audience a heck of a show!

"The initial years of IGNITE was self-supported especially the first year, as all of the
technical equipment was supported by TRCC except for the tentage of course.

 No other polytechnic have used most of their in-house equipment and lighting/
sound designers’ expertise, for an entire music festival production."
-Tony Kam 

The show was a perfect synchronization of music and colours all thanks

to the amazing lighting and sound designers.

 Fire twirlers were also part of this year's IGNITE & they gave a wonderful
spectacle to the awe inspired audience.

Another impressive act by the fire twirlers! For those who are wondering about

safety, much assured, no one was injured.

How did IGNITE! provided as a platform for local talent

to showcase their musical abilities?

"In 2008, we didn’t have a real platform for the local bands or talents to be recognized as most of them were sporadically spread out all over and also due to the fact that most of the locals made more of an effort to see the international bands.

 IGNITE was a concentrated platform which reunites local bands on a bigger scale.

The community appreciated this and they were also allowed to play their original music as

opposed to playing covers of other more renouned bands even though the original

may not go down with the audience very well. 

The fact that these people, audience and performers alike, keep coming back every year, says a lot."

 

All in all, the first year of IGNITE! Music Festival was anything but a

huge success and it would continue to be so for the next three years!