SINGAPORE –In a city-state where multi-night stadium spectacles by the likes of music megastars like Taylor Swift and BTS dominate mainstream culture, Singapore’s longest-running alternative music festival, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s Baybeats, is celebrating its landmark 25th edition.

Set to take place at various venues within the arts centre from Sept 3 to 6, the 2026 line-up features over 50 free performances by home-grown acts and artistes from the region and around the world.

The Singaporean musicians include experimental rock outfit The Observatory, who also performed at the inaugural Baybeats in 2002, one year after the band formed.

Reflecting on a quarter-century of shared growth, the group tells The Straits Times via e-mail: “2002 was a very different time for the band and for our sound. We have experienced different combinations of musicians in the band since, and have ventured through different genres, techniques and even formats in expressing our practice, outside of sound.”

Baybeats audiences can expect to be reintroduced to The Observatory when the trio – comprising Dharma, Yuen Chee Wai and Cheryl Ong – take the stage at Singtel Waterfront Theatre, renamed Powerhouse2 for the duration of the festival, on Sept 4.

They say: “In recent times, our music is pretty much instrumental. One thing’s for sure, we hope audiences come and be open to listen. That, for us, has always been most important.”

Especially in “the hyper-capitalist place of Singapore”, the band add that an enduring platform like Baybeats cannot be taken for granted. Its legacy raises a critical question for the country’s independent music ecosystem: “Where are our platforms for alternative sound, practice and narratives and how can we sustain them?”