By JAYDEE LOK
alltherage@thestar.com.my

Legendary guitarist Nile Rodgers performed with his band Chic on Day 2 of Clockenflap Festival 2013. Rodgers has been actively performing with Chic since 1976.

WITH seven stages, 50 music acts, a silent disco, a cabaret, a film tent, countless pieces of artwork and a whole lot of pizza, it’s hard not have a great time at the recent Clockenflap Festival in Hong Kong. The only question is: how do you experience everything that the festival has to offer?

You can’t, of course, but that doesn’t mean you need to come up with the perfect game plan. Everything is good when you’re at Clockenflap. Just make sure you don’t trip on the cloud gazers lying down on the grass.

Already in its sixth year, the annual music festival founded by live music promoters Jay Forster, Justin Sweeting and Mike Hill, seems to keep growing bigger and bigger. Approximately 18,000 people flooded the festival grounds in the West Kowloon Cultural District on Day 2 alone.

The city skyline in the sunset and during the nightly Symphony of Lights facing the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade made for the perfect festival backdrop. It’s safe to say that you may never attend an Asian music festival with a prettier venue.

The three-day festival happened late last month with acts from all over the world.

American rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club headlined the first day of the festival with their shadowy stance and heavy riffs. Their assertive beats resonated throughout the festival grounds in the glow of the stage lights while the audience gaped in awe completely forgetting that only moments before, British electro DJ Four Tet had entertained the post-rock fans with his unique take on cleverly morphed organic sounds.

On top of singing, Robert Levon Been plays guitar, bass and piano for American rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club that headlined Day 1 of Clockenflap Festival.

Originally set to perform on Day 1 of Clockenflap, Irish alternative rock band Two Door Cinema Club had to cancel their entire Asian tour (including their performance at Urbanscapes 2013) because their vocalist Alex Trimble was suffering an unbearable form of laryngitis leaving fans from all over the region feeling blue.

Fortunately, fellow Irish rock and roll band The Strypes managed to drown out their moans of disappointment with their “speed blues” guitars and harmonica. The extremely talented group of four teenagers (aged 15 to 17) flew in to Hong Kong all sleepy-eyed and somewhat dazed at the very last minute after having just gone on tour with the Arctic Monkeys.

Also headlining the festival was Scottish indie band Franz Ferdinand. The band’s set lasted a whole hour and a half on Day 2 of Clockenflap and even after it was over, each member looked as if he could go on for another two hours. Rather impressive for a group that has been performing for over a decade.

Alex Kapranos proved that even after twelve years of playing together, Franz Ferdinand still know how to rock out by performing an hour and a half long set on Day 2 at Clockenflap Festival.

British band The 1975 embraced the stage all calm and collected which was unexpected due to the fact that they had apparently rushed from the airport to the venue because their flight was delayed. As all new age heartthrobs do, the boys slowly stripped off their hoodies and sweaters as the rest of festival goers hurdled together to escape the autumn wind.

As with all good things, Day 3 of Clockenflap ended with performances by identical twins Tegan and Sara, Belgian brothers David and Stephen Dewaele of 2ManyDJs, Canadian indie band Metric and “the Godfather of modern rock in China” Cui Jian.

Canandian twins Tegan Quin (L) and Sara Quin (R) that make up multi-genre group Tegan and Sara made sure to stop by Hong Kong to perform on Day 3 of Clockenflap while touring the region.

So how amazing was Clockenflap? Too amazing. Were there any other cool acts? You bet. Does this article do the festival justice? Most probably not, but that’s exactly why you should attend the festival next year and experience it yourself.