The Music, The Mud & The Mad Rain At Singapore Grand Prix 2022

MARSHMELLO

Day 1 of the Singapore GP saw the 31-year-old American DJ and his signature marshmallow helmet as its headlining act. Playing to a crowd that included Zoomers, who probably have no idea who Westlife and Green Day are, and Boomers who just want to let loose, Marshmello turned the Padang into a club, thanks to his catchy EDM hits like ‘Happier’, ‘Here With Me’ and ‘Friends’.

Just about right, since it was a Friday night.

TLC

Boy, did the rain come down hard during the American group’s set on Day 2. So hard, one might even say it was like standing under ‘Waterfalls’. Heh.

But T-Boz and Chilli — third member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes was tragically killed in a car crash in 2002 — came and conquered with their hip-hop anthems, including ‘No Scrubs’, ‘Unpretty’ and ‘Creep’.

SUEDE

The veteran English rockers took to the stage an hour after TLC and by that time, the relentless rain had waned.

Not that it would have mattered to their enigmatic frontman Brett Anderson, now 55, who slinked around on stage with his trademark raw sexual magnetism, while performing hits like ‘Trash’ and ‘She’s In Fashion’.

Suede also delivered the closer everyone was waiting for: ‘Beautiful Ones’. And beautiful it was.

WESTLIFE

Who knew the Irish boyband, made up Nicky Byrne, 43, Kian Egan, 42, Mark Feehily, 42, and Shane Filan, 43, did Abba covers? This writer sure didn’t and was surprised to find himself singing along to ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Thank You For The Music’ during Westlife’s set on Day 2.

But of course, it was the foursome’s (fifth member Brian McFadden left the group in 2004) classic hits like ‘Swear It Again’, ‘Flying Without Wings’ and ‘If I Let You Go’ that had the crowd belting out every word, especially those who came of age in the noughties and spent many a night listening to Say It With Music.

Also unforgettable were their dance moves that were more endearing than electric, more Bieber’s dad than boyband. And guess what? Westlife is heading back here — no, not the Padang, but the Singapore Indoor Stadium — next February as part of their Asia tour. So you know what to do if their F1 set left you wanting more.

GREEN DAY

The American band’s gig on Day 3 was pushed back by an hour to coincide with the end of the race, which was delayed because of that awful downpour. By then the Padang was already a muddy, squishy mess, that some on social media described as a “pigsty”.

That was, of course, all forgotten when Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool exploded on the stage with ‘American Idiot’ at 1130pm for a raucous one-hour set that featured, thankfully, the band’s greatest hits including ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, ‘Basket Case’, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ’21 Guns’, and ‘When I Come Around’.

And by the time the band said goodbye with an acoustic rendition of ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life’) — capped by fireworks, duh! — it was indeed time to bid farewell to a wild, wet weekend of fast cars and partying… and also to rush for the last train home.

Seeya next time, Billie Joe Armstrong!