A hometown headliner with new music to share, a K-pop group making its Singapore debut, and thousands of people singing ‘Mr. Brightside’ into the night. Across 9 to 11 October, the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2026 gave music fans plenty of reasons to make the Marina Bay Street Circuit their weekend destination.
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JJ Lin, CORTIS, Zara Larsson, and The Killers led the first two days, before Janet Jackson and Lana Del Rey brought long-awaited appearances to Sunday’s programme. For the latter pair, the weekend also offered a chance to hint at what comes next, alongside the music fans had waited years to hear.
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Friday’s enthusiasm was evident long before the first song. CORTIS fans queued outside the circuit from the morning, with some travelling from overseas to catch the five-piece’s first Singapore performance. When the gates opened, securing a spot near the Padang Stage was an immediate priority.
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Opening their 50-minute set with ‘TNT’, the group moved into ‘Fashion’ and made full use of the stage’s catwalk. ‘Go!’, ‘Motion’, and ‘MoneyMoneyMoney’ brought the members closer to the crowd, while their descent from the stage during ‘YoungCreatorCrew’ prompted an even louder response.
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Between songs, James thanked fans who had travelled to see them, while Martin spoke about the excitement running through the city. Those exchanges gave their Singapore introduction a personal touch, with ‘Joyride’ adding another upbeat moment to the set.
Later that evening, JJ Lin took over the Padang for a performance that combined familiar songs, firsts, and a guest appearance by fellow Singaporean artist Jasmine Sokko.
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Starting with ‘The Show’, his collaboration with Steve Aoki, Lin followed with ‘No. 89757’ and ‘Sanctuary’. He also performed ‘Careful With Fate’, from the drama Pursuit of Jade, for the first time in Singapore, and introduced ‘Rise Without A Sound’ ahead of its release the following day.
For Lin, playing the Grand Prix brought together two personal passions. Addressing a crowd of around 60,000, he described the appearance as a dream fulfilled: a chance to share his music with fans at an event centred on his favourite sport. The new material and Sokko’s appearance made the homecoming feel like an occasion of its own.
Elsewhere on Friday, Split Enz played the Wharf Stage and DJ Snake took over the Barge Stage, giving audiences different routes through the evening’s music.
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Saturday brought a particularly memorable encounter between an international pop star and a local dancer. During ‘Lush Life’, Zara Larsson invited Singapore’s Dineaish onstage to perform its dance break. He delivered the choreography and left with a custom spray-painted T-shirt, turning a familiar part of Larsson’s show into a moment with a distinctly local connection.
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Her first Singapore concert packed 55 minutes with movement and colour. Dolphins, mountains, and suns filled the screens as she worked through ‘Pretty Ugly’, ‘Ain’t My Fault’, and ‘Symphony’, the last of which drew a substantial singalong.
‘Midnight Sun’ framed the performance, appearing at both its beginning and end. Larsson also made space for the people sharing the stage with her, introducing her all-female backing band and giving its musicians brief solo spots. Her four dancers received their own introductions, extending the attention beyond the singer at the centre.
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Over at Waterside, HYO, better known as Hyoyeon of Girls’ Generation, represented another side of K-pop’s reach. Appearing in her DJ guise, she brought her electronic music work to Saturday’s programme, giving fans a chance to catch her behind the decks between the evening’s pop and rock sets.
The Killers approached Saturday’s headline slot with a catalogue practically built for a field full of voices. Returning for their third Singapore Grand Prix appearance after 2013 and 2018, the Las Vegas band delivered 75 minutes that made those repeat bookings easy to understand.
Brandon Flowers paced the stage, leading the audience through ‘When You Were Young’, ‘Shot At The Night’, ‘Runaways’, and ‘Somebody Told Me’. Alongside guitarist Dave Keuning and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr., an expanded touring line-up gave the songs the scale the setting demanded.
‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ became a shared vocal workout, its recurring refrain rising from the crowd as confetti fell. ‘Mr. Brightside’ then provided the finale’s immediate recognition and mass participation. Flowers returned to the earlier refrain towards the end, before the musicians stretched the performance into an instrumental finish.
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Sunday’s early evening programme presented a choice between two very different voices. James Arthur occupied the Padang’s pre-race slot, bringing the British singer-songwriter behind ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ and ‘Impossible’ into a weekend that ranged freely across pop, rock, and dance music. Across the circuit, Janet Jackson’s Wharf Stage appearance ended a 15-year wait for her Singapore return.
Jackson revisited her classics, but also left fans with something new to talk about. “Now… they call me Diamond Black… you’ll get to know me soon,” she teased during the performance. It was a brief, tantalising interruption to the nostalgia, nodding towards her previously announced Black Diamond project without giving the game away. Singapore had finally welcomed her back, and she was already leaving questions about her next move.
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After the race, Lana Del Rey took the Padang in a different direction. Opening with ‘Young and Beautiful’ and ‘Video Games’, she put two of her most recognisable songs right up front. For her first full Singapore concert, following a promotional showcase in 2012, there was little need to hold those introductions until the end.
Her selection moved through the darker turns of ‘West Coast’ and ‘Ultraviolence’, the wistfulness of ‘Chemtrails Over the Country Club’, and the expansive ‘Ride’. ‘Norman fucking Rockwell’ also featured, while ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’ unfolded with an extended outro. Together, the songs traced the different shades of a catalogue built around longing, memory, and the uneasy edges of romance.
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There was a first for Singapore to claim, too. Del Rey gave ‘White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter’ its live debut, carrying it into an extended a cappella outro. Alongside ‘Henry, come on’, it made room for newer material among the songs fans had spent years waiting to hear. She also shared that two forthcoming records were nearing completion, offering another glimpse of what lay ahead.
The final stretch returned to the beginning of her breakthrough: ‘Blue Jeans’, ‘Born to Die’, and ‘Summertime Sadness’. After a weekend that had made room for CORTIS’s exuberance, JJ Lin’s homecoming, Zara Larsson’s choreography, and The Killers’ communal choruses, Del Rey closed with her own unmistakable strain of melancholy. The last word at the Padang belonged to ‘Summertime Sadness’.
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