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Dec 03, 2024 By Laura Studarus Photography by Laura Studarus Web Exclusive

The Hong Kong skyline is gorgeous. After three days of Clockenflap Festival, located at the Cyberport business park right at the edge of the water, I was straight-up obsessed—particularly at night when the city’s dense clump of modernist buildings turned into a cyberpunk dream. It was an incredible backdrop for a music festival.

Since 2008, Clockenflap has been the region’s premiere arts and culture festival, bringing a deep bench of musicians and creatives together for a weekend-long celebration. (Festivities were held in 2019 due to protests, and again in 2020 and 2021 due to travel restrictions. Because of that, two editions were held in 2023.) Previous notable acts include David Byrne, Tegan and Sara, and New Order. This year we were treated to sets from Air performing their landmark album Moon Safari in full, St. Vincent, and Jack White . Combined with the dopamine rush of traveling to another country for a music fest, those three names would have been more than enough to justify attendance, particularly with Glass Animals, BANKS, and Jamie xx rounding out the back half of each day.

But—and I say this as the woman who drops everything and stands slack-jawed every time I see Air perform—it isn’t enough simply to revisit your favorite bands. One of the best souvenirs of international music festival tourism is walking away with new favorite bands. I particularly loved high-energy Taiwanese rock band deca joins (who could argue with a bassist in that snazzy of a hat?), enigmatic J-pop artist Yama (who is under that blue wig and mask?), and Ibrahim Maalouf, a French-Lebanese trumpeter who seemed every bit thrilled to be there as I was.

In addition to music, every year, the fest introduces a pop-up art installation—usually a shocking, larger-than-life creation that simply appears unaccounted. This year it was an entire pop-up rave where a DJ selected tracks from the top of a smoke-breathing silver head while “security guards” vogued on the ground below her. Was it campy? Yes. Did I bust a few of my own embarrassing white-girl moves? Also yes. Did my enthusiasm wane when I saw it again the following two days? Hell no—I’m a woman of simple tastes and great giddiness. That delight goes double for the small forest of inflatable mushrooms decorating a side of the festival grounds, the perfect place to watch a set with a surreal Alice in Wonderland twist.

The fest is extremely popular with locals, many who, as a friend informed me, allow their teenagers to attend unsupervised, because it is a welcoming enough environment where people actually look out for each other. It’s so popular that organizers are already selling “Blind Bird” tickets to next year’s festival—and are expected to once again sell out.