Clockenflap brought a number of memorable moments, from an onstage marriage proposal to A$AP Rocky making it rain fake dollar bills. Like the Clockenflaps of the past, 2017 also had its fair share of weird and wonderful moments. Here are some of our favourites:
Kaiser Chiefs give someone a birthday cake
A few songs into their set on the first night of Clockenflap 2017, Kaiser Chiefs front man Ricky Wilson parted the sea of Clockenflappers to deliver a birthday cake to a member of the band’s sound crew before running back on stage to perform Modern Way.
A Footballer, a Headliner, and an Activist Walk into a Festival
There were some sightings of famous people in the Clockenflap crowd for The Prodigy on Saturday, including former England goalkeeper David James, Daddy G from Massive Attack, and Demosistō Chairman Nathan Law.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbpDrTThU2J/?tagged=clockenflap
Crowd Surfer Moments
Cantopop fans went into a frenzy when Sunny, the lead vocalist of band Supper Moment, leapt into the crowd and crowd surfed. Proving themselves to be the nicest band of Clockenflap, Sunny also took a moment to thank Clockenflap music director Justin Sweeting “for trusting us to headline before Massive Attack”, and did the whole thing in English after spotting one or two non-locals in the audience (“I’ll work on my English if you work on your Cantonese, ok?”).
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbr1idgHlI4/?tagged=suppermoment
The Cave of Denial
Designed by local artist Jason Demski, the art installation in the middle of the festival site was made up of bits of abandoned wood found in Hong Kong, from shelves to doors with the hinges still attached. The interactive element was that people could go in and write down any sordid sins or confessions, which ranged from “I love Clockenflap” to “I still read real books”.
Everyone singing along to Hey Jude
Everyone’s favourite Beatles tribute band helped got everyone on their feet twisting and shouting. But everyone knows it is not a proper Beatles tribute without everyone singing along to Hey Jude.
Massive Attack
A pet peeve for Clockenflappers is when a band says “thank you” in Mandarin (“xie xie”) instead of Cantonese (“mgoi” or “dohtse”), so no surprises that Massive Attack were a crowd favourite on the last night of Clockenflap after doing it the right way. Their set also included a slideshow of political logos — with the Occupy Central and Umbrella Movement logos among them — and featured lines of text from Hong Kong news stories in English and Chinese. At one point in the set, Robert Del Naja gave a shout out to “the spirit of independence”… right next to the People’s Liberation Army building.
Robert Del Naja gives shout-out to "Spirit of Independence" in Hong Kong SAR China Massive Attack Clockenflap 2017 pic.twitter.com/6Awt8l6Do0
— don north (@donplusn) November 19, 2017
Wednesday Campanella: The whole set
It all began 20 minutes into Wednesday Campanella’s set when lead singer KOM_I ran off the stage pulling a gold sheet with her, climbed over the barrier and went into the crowd. Then three inflatable balls appeared and were thrown into the crowd. KOM_I then continued her performance standing on a ladder above the crowd.
She then made her way back to the stage for the final two songs, and everyone thought the shenanigans would end there right? Wrong. For her final song, she climbed inside an inflatable ball that was brought on stage by two stage hands, who then helped throw her into the crowd.
It was the most Instagram-friendly performance of the festival with some spectacular photos and videos of the moment.
Got a favourite Clockenflap 2017 moment that we missed? Let us know.
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