Here’s What to Expect at Clockenflap 2025

On a blustery November morning, Clockenflap co-founder and music director Justin Sweeting is sitting in a Montreal café, sipping on a hot apple cider. He’s in the Canadian city for a music showcase festival, M for Montreal — one of the many international events he attends that helps him plan the programme for Hong Kong’s biggest and most influential music fest. 

“Normally I can’t make it here because the dates are too close to Clockenflap,” he explains, as flames dance in a nearby fireplace and a Zamboni cleans the ice on the public skating rink just outside the café. This year, though, with Clockenflap held a week later than usual — from 5 to 7 December — Sweeting was able to check out the showcase that helped launch the careers of major indie artists like Grimes and MacDemarco. “It’s a very curated festival and not too big,” he says. “I like coming here not knowing what I’m going to see.”

You could say something similar about Clockenflap. Over three days on the Central harbourfront, musicians from Hong Kong, Asia and the rest of the world come together for a one-of-a-kind mix of genres and languages. Where else do major global stars play alongside Cantonese rappers, Thai rockers and Japanese pop legends? 

“I always want the lineup to feel cohesive,” says Sweeting. “But we’ve never wanted to feel like every other festival out there. You often see the same lineups all over the world. We just want it to feel like Clockenflap.”

What’s on the programme

That unique Clockenflap feel always means including a strong lineup of local musicians. This year will include performances by rising Cantopop stars Panther Chan, Jace and Moon Tang, plus indie up-and-comers like Before the Night Ends. There will also be two extraordinary performances by local acts: shoegaze group Astrology will play a special tribute to their late founding member Kwan King-chung, while Canto rappers FAMA will join hip hop crew M4Gang for their last-ever show.

On top of that, there’s a mix of international artists, including this year’s headliners, shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine, Indonesian-Chinese rapper Rich Brian, Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand and British multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier. Sweeting says to expect some revelations from overseas, like Estonian Eurovision contestants Puuluup (“Just really fun,” he says), Belgian synthpop musician Bolis Pupil (“He has Hong Kong roots, so it’s a meaningful show for him”) and moody Canadian post-rock legends Godspeed You! Black Emperor. (“Seeing them outdoors, under Hong Kong’s neon skyline, will be very special.”)

Then there’s the Clockenflap element that has proven to be especially and increasingly popular: musicians from Japan, Taiwan and other Asian countries. “We’ve made a conscious decision to lean into putting more regional Asian acts into the programme,” says Sweeting. “It’s doubling down on all the talent that’s right at our doorstep.”

Chief among those is J-pop superstar Vaundy, whose performance at Clockenflap will not only be his first in Hong Kong, it will be his first-ever show outside Japan. There’s also alternative J-pop artist ano, Japanese TikTok star Akasaki, Thai indie rocker Phum Viphurit, Japanese pop-punk act Ellegarden and Taiwanese pop star Yoga Lin — among many others.

That’s just scratching the surface of the programme, which also includes influential indie acts like Soccer Mommy, Bright Eyes and L’Impératrice, plus a number of DJs, including London-based Japanese DJ Riria, whose 2024 Boiler Room set in Tokyo went viral on social media. “She’s going to blow the roof off the stage,” says Sweeting.

A musical ecology

Putting together this eclectic list of music acts is always tricky. Hong Kong doesn’t make it easy, with a certain impermanence hardwired into the city’s DNA. The tender for the Central Harbourfront Event Space, where Clockenflap has been held since 2016, is leased to a private management company in a short-term tenancy agreement that must be renewed every three years. That makes it hard to plan long-term, which means Clockenflap can miss out on major touring acts that need to lock in their dates up to two years in advance. 

And yet there is now a certain ebullience in the city’s music scene. Clockenflap has not only managed to survive since its launch in 2008, Sweeting says it has finally reached the level where its budget is “competitive” with other international festivals — especially when overseas bands realise the “strategic importance” of the exposure that playing Clockenflap can give them. 

On top of that, there are more and more upstart promoters looking to launch music events of their own, including the recent CT Music Fest on Cheung Chau. Sitting far from his hometown, finishing his hot cider, Sweeting welcomes the development. “We’re not competing with each other — we’re all competing with people taking a weekend trip to Japan,” he says. “We need more people doing more things. Not that everything will work, but that’s what makes for a healthy musical ecosystem.”

Clockenflap 2025 will take place from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 December. Click here for more information.