Urbanscapes Kuala Lumpur 2013

While last year saw the Icelandic post-rock giant Sigur Ros rocking the stage, this year sees even bigger acts performing during the festival. Confirmed international music acts for this year's weekend event, also known as 'The Big Weekend', include the award-winning Scottish band Franz Ferdinand, Irish indie rock favourites Two Door Cinema Club and Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara. These three acts have never appeared in Malaysia before and each is scheduled to perform at least an hour’s set during the weekend.

Local touches added into the line-up are renowned Malaysian music acts such as They Will Kill Us All and Kyoto Protocol, together with the famous comedy outfit Actorlympics, consisting of the actor cum comedian Afdlin Shauki, Douglas Lim and Rashid Salleh among others. On the arts side, this year sees an exhibition from the unique Red Hong Yi, a Malaysian artist whose art has been showcased in the international media such as Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and NBC News. Nicknamed 'the artist who loves to paint, but not with a paintbrush', Red creates art pieces using everyday materials such as food items and flowers into intricate representations of animals, sceneries and everything else.

This year also sees a new twist to the festival, as there will be standalone shows prior and after The Big Weekend festival. These standalone shows, called 'Urbanscapes Satellite Shows' are small concerts featuring even more international music acts, and both shows are held at KL Live, right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. The first show, on 31st October 2013, will have the Texan post rock act Explosions in the Sky and Danish rockers Mew all performing on one night, while the second show, on 3rd December 2013, will see Canadian new wave band Metric rocking the stage.

Tickets to Urbanscapes 2013 can be purchased online through TicketPro and Thai Ticket Major, or through Rock Corner outlets nationwide. There are three categories for the entrance tickets – Satellite Show Pass, Weekend Pass All-Access Pass. The Satellite Show Pass is priced RM177 and allows you to enjoy either one of the concerts, while Weekend Pass, at RM247, is only for entrance during The Big Weekend. To experience all of Urbanscapes, the All-Access Pass, with the price tag of RM397, lets you into both satellite Shows and the Big Weekend, plus other goodies such as free entrances and discounts to upcoming gigs in the city.

Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) is located in Serdang, approximately 20 minutes from the city centre. To get to the venue, you can board the Skybus shuttle busses at KL Sentral with a fee of RM20 one-way on both days of the Big Weekend. For drivers, the venue can easily be reached using highways such as Sungai Besi Expressway and New Pantai Expressway.

Besides celebrating everything and anything art-related, Urbanscapes is also a festival known for its choice of street foods. Vendors from known city cafes and favourite Malaysian restaurants are all set to have a booth during the weekend to serve festival goers. Take note that this is a rain-or-shine event, so bring an umbrella or a poncho just in case of downpours.

Urbanscapes Kuala Lumpur : Big Weekend

Highlights: Date: 23rd and 24th November 2013
Opening Hours: 14:00 till late on both days
Location: MAEPS, Serdang