Since 2008, Clockenflap has served as a showcase for international marquee names as well as promising local acts. As Hong Kong’s flagship international annual music event returns tonight, a festival co-founder and some of the featured artists tell Rob Garratt what makes the Clockenflap stage so special.
Kicking off today, Clockenflap 2024 can be seen as a welcome return to business as usual. Hong Kong’s flagship international music festival was on hold for more than four years — owing to the citywide unrest in 2019, followed by the pandemic. The hiatus was broken in 2023 with a double-header of events, in March and December.
This weekend’s edition sees the festival return to take up its regular winter slot in the city’s cultural calendar — a cadence that organizers have pledged to keep for 2025.
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Rounding out the three-day festival on Sunday night is Jack White — the American rock revivalist behind the bands The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and the supergroup The Dead Weather. White’s Hong Kong outing kicks off a six-month world tour. It was a sentimental booking for Clockenflap’s co-founder and head of music, Justin Sweeting, who was present at the first-ever UK performance by The White Stripes in 2001. “It was in a tiny room, so it feels like a nice, complete circle to have Jack White close out the festival with what is going to be a colossal finale set,” he says.
While the December 2023 Clockenflap prioritized contemporary acts from Asia — with two of the three scheduled main-stage headliners, Joji and Yoasobi, hailing from Japan — the current edition will see a pivot back toward established Western acts, with top billing going to veteran French electronic music duo Air, idiosyncratic American singer-songwriter St Vincent, British producer Jamie XX and pop band Glass Animals.
Notably, ’90s Britpop survivor Suede performs an extended 90-minute set as “special guests” on Saturday night — less than three months after a well-received tour of the Chinese mainland brought the rock band to Shenzhen Bay Sports Center — even as Gen-Z rapper Central Cee is expected to pull a younger crowd to the main stage.
Today, the quintet plans to perform a livestream on WeChat — including a Chinese version of the hit Everything Will Flow, no doubt intended to attract fresh converts on the mainland to travel south over the border. “I can certainly empathize with that special place Suede occupies. Throughout my teen years, they were one of the few international indie acts who would commit to coming to Hong Kong,” Sweeting says. “It’s a warm feeling to have them play our stage this year.”
Connecting cultures
As the best-known international music festival of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Clockenflap acts as a strategic bridge between China and the world. “International acts who play Clockenflap tend to get picked up by other music events in Asia, and similarly in the reverse, we see Chinese and Asian artists pick up further international dates. Hence many Western organizers are attending and checking out Clockenflap,” Sweeting says.
Japanese punk throwback Turtle Island, British festival favorite Fat Dog and Filipino-Japanese singer-songwriter Ena Mori are among Sweeting’s artist picks that organizers of international festivals might want to catch.
Besides, there are two notable acts from the mainland to watch out for. Edgy Chengdu indie rockers Hiperson is performing this evening, while Xi’an’s veteran post-punk band Fazi goes on stage on Sunday. Fazi has prepared a “special set” for the occasion, with the hope of attracting a wider global audience. “It is a great honor to participate in Clockenflap, and we look forward to gaining more new audiences,” the band says in an email.
Echoing similar sentiments, Hiperson frontwoman Chen Sijiang says, “Clockenflap is an important music festival in Asia, and it is very exciting to be able to perform at the same music festival with your favorite musicians.”
Meanwhile, guitarist Ji Yinan points out that the festival’s name sounds closest to a Chinese idiom that advocates discarding the bad things in one’s life and moving on. “I’m looking forward to getting such a vibe on this stage,” Ji says.
Supporting local talent
For homegrown talent, the chance of playing to a wider audience at Clockenflap is invaluable. This year, more than half of the 95 billed acts are from Hong Kong. However, after a bumper bill of two festivals last year, one might reasonably wonder if the local talent pool has been exhausted. “Good question,” admits Sweeting, before drawing attention to homegrown indie acts Lucid Express and An ID Signal, who close the Park Stage on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Main-stage slots have been reserved for established local artists Serrini, and Carl Wong and his Hats On Band.
“We made a conscious decision in year one to not repeat acts in consecutive years, to try to help encourage more pathways for local artists in the long term. That for sure puts the pressure on, since there is a more limited talent pool to draw from compared to some other places,” Sweeting says. “As the festival has grown, so too has the bar risen for the participating artists. There are more levels to the local scene compared to when we first started, and this is all part and parcel of a more developing, healthy and full music ecosystem.”
For Hong Kong shoegaze exports Lucid Express, Clockenflap 2024 marks an anniversary of sorts. Then known as Thud, the quintet made its debut at Clockenflap 2014, before going on to earn notable international success. Lead singer and synthesizer player Kim says that the band’s headline slot is both a blessing and a curse — because she would have loved to watch Suede, performing at the same time. “It will be cool to perform at the most iconic music festival in Hong Kong again. We’re excited to perform and meet other musicians there,” she says.
In a departure from the norm, Glen Lloyd, otherwise known as the electro-comedy act Junk!, is back for a second consecutive year. After the runaway success of last year’s family-friendly musical King Plum and the Quest for the Golden Toilet, he will be back at the Robot Stage with DJ Junk! and the Disco Defenders alongside wife Christelle and 9-year-old daughter Leela.
“Performing at this festival is always a thrill, offering a unique chance to engage with a diverse audience who are fired-up but respectful,” says the Australian, who has been a fixture of the Hong Kong music scene for a decade. “Clockenflap is Hong Kong’s best opportunity to experience international acts, as the city often feels too small to host anyone but the biggest names.”
Livening up the city
Even those who are not that keen on the festival’s musical offerings appreciate the economic and cultural benefits Clockenflap brings to Hong Kong. Sweeting points to the thousands of visitors flying into the city for the event, the international media attention Clockenflap garners every year, and the 4,000 accredited employees who work at the festival in some capacity.
“In essence, Clockenflap delivers on the promise of Hong Kong being Asia’s world city. We are a locally born, truly international, world-class event,” says the festival’s co-founder. “Spiritually, Clockenflap brings people together over shared creative inspiration, creating communal experiences and eliciting lifelong memories. This is the side of things that I’m most proud of — the buzz around Clockenflap weekend is palpable across the city.
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“We hear it time and again that Clockenflap is not just a marquee calendar event that Hong Kong people look forward to, but is many residents’ favorite weekend of the year. In my humble opinion, these are the kind of things that give a city vibrancy and make a place worth living.”
If you go
Clockenflap
Dates: Through Sunday
Venue: Central Harbourfront, Central
