SAGA Festival unlocks its destiny on a wet Thursday night in December

SAGA Festival held at GWK was nothing less than an amazing dance music festival. Not just for the usual reasons of a great line-up, staging etc but also just for pulling such a massive crowd over two nights between Christmas and New Year – and while it was drizzling and Mount Agung had put a volcanic threat over the whole event. We spoke to Winni Pratiwi Marcom for the SAGA Festival and also new social media manager at Mirror Club in Petitenget to find out how it all came about.
TB: So who was behind the event? Was it their first time or how?
Winni: It was us, ALLIN Group. And yes, this is our first time doing a show as big as this.
It was so well organised and the stage etc was near breathtaking. How did you put that together being the first time?
As you know, we already have event spaces, (Mirror Bali and Fable Jkt) and some restaurants and bars. And SAGA was like a new way to elevate our dream. Put together all of the fabulous things to see and do it in this tropical paradise, transforming the experience where music, art, food and dance music collides. We didn’t have a big team, but we did believe that we could do it and we had the spirit to make it happen. And finally, it happened.
The main stage was quite amazing. Was it all built here in Bali?
Yes, all stages were built in Bali, finished around seven days before the event. We had two stages.
And who designed them?
We designed them. Our team.
Inspiring. I imagine the costs for this event must have been tremendous, with the amount of quality DJs and super stages etc. But I also imagine there is a long term plan. You must be looking to the future with this project.
Yes, we’re already planning the next edition. This year already. End of the year.
Will it be the same time this year?
We’re still not sure. We’re still discussing the date.
I was surprised at how many people were there. I went on the opening Thursday night and it was raining heavily in Seminyak when we left. I wasn’t expecting too much, but was pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find a few thousand people there. What did you think of the turn out, the size of the crowd?
It was good enough, we had around 10k people through the doors. Considering the Mount Agung situation at that time, I think it was a good sized crowd that turned up.
That’s fantastic. What was a highlight for you at the festival?
The number one highlight was definitely the headline acts. They were amazing. Besides, the Balinese performances like the kecak dance during the evenings was also fun.
How about the underground stage? It didn’t seem to be too busy, will there be an underground stage next year?
We’re still considering that.
BTW what does SAGA mean and why that name?
SAGA itself means a long story of heroic achievement, a series of incidents or events / a long series of adventures.
And that could well describe this event, well destined for long and enduring adventures.
Check out this page for the photos from the event .