Organiser says anonymous complaints about Tanjong Pagar Distripark music events are 'absurd' & 'false'

For the past few years, Tanjong Pagar Distripark (TPD) has been the site of several live events.

The former logistics hub turned arts cluster is not only home to the Singapore Art Museum and a whole litany of art galleries, but also a popular spot for various types of events, from beer festivals to Singapore Art Week to even acclaimed Japanese dance music fest Rainbow Disco Club.

However, on Oct. 30, the venue announced that it had paused all outdoor music events.

TPD stated that loud music might "cause some disamenity" to the surrounding community, and announced that they would be "asking [their] licensees and tenants to take a step back" and "temporarily pause" such events. 

And just a day prior, local party and DJ collective Ice Cream Sundays made an Instagram post saying they would no longer be able to host events at TPD "for the foreseeable future" due to a noise complaint.

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A post shared by Ice Cream Sundays 🍦 (@icecreamsundays_)

The complaints were pointed in particular at Rainbow Disco Club's Singapore debut at TPD on Oct. 3, co-hosted by Ice Cream Sundays.

Notably, the collective called the complaints "outrageous and provably false".

An outpouring of sadness and frustration from commenters and fans ensued, who bemoaned the loss of yet another venue in land-scarce Singapore.

Many called for the authorities to review their complaint mediation process.

But this was a measure taken by TPD's management, Mapletree, and not mandated by any government agency, said Ice Cream Sundays in response to Mothership's queries.

What happened exactly? We spoke with them to find out more.

Anonymous

Jake Camacho, 34, one of the co-founders of Ice Cream Sundays, told Mothership that around the start of August 2026, they received an email from an anonymous complainant calling for TPD to stop hosting live events.

He said that several government agencies, TPD tenants, as well as the building management were copied in the email.

Curiously, various other businesses that Ice Cream Sundays founders had links to were also copied, despite having no links to the events.

The sender claimed that the events were creating "a disturbance for the neighbourhood", and signed off simply as "Singapore resident".

They also claimed to be staying at the residential area opposite TPD, across the Keppel Viaduct highway.

This began a series of complaints that this individual would make over the next few months.

Another co-founder Daniel O’Connor, also 34, added that TPD reached out to the complainant to arrange a face-to-face meeting to hear their concerns and mediate the situation.

However, they never responded to the offer.

Instead, O'Connor claims that they escalated the situation, threatening to raise the situation to the media and take legal action.

Ice Cream Sundays was allegedly not the only event organiser implicated, with the complainant making reference to other upcoming events at the venue.

Measures taken

In response to the complaints, Ice Cream Sundays took a long list of precautions before their Oct. 3 event.

Three weeks before the event, the collective made the decision to move the outdoor segment of the event from the carpark to an area further within the compound.

This was so that the noise would be blocked by the TPD building itself, standing between the event and the residential side.

Camacho noted that this was no "small undertaking".

"We did take the complaint seriously, and we did want to demonstrate that we're not here to cause a disturbance," he said.

As for the indoor segment, they also added extra sound barriers "like the kind you see at construction sites", added O'Connor, after venue management asked them if they could take additional measures.

In addition, they modified their speaker arrangement to reduce the amount of sound projected towards the residential area.

All of this was fully licensed and approved by the authorities, Camacho and O'Connor stressed.

"So this is a system that has been proven to work for us in in many situations, and has also been signed off by the police when they issue us a licence as well.

That's why we also find it hard to believe that the sound could escape to that extent."

Not enough

This was not enough to satisfy the disgruntled resident.

A new complaint was soon lodged, in which they claimed that they had gotten an "NEA-registered noise consultant" to monitor the noise from the residential area, recording levels "exceeding 115-125 dBc".

According to the American Academy of Audiology, that would be the equivalent of a jet plane taking off.

Ice Cream Sundays' sound engineer called this "nigh impossible", said O'Connor.

"You know, we're not unrealistic. We understand that music events are loud, but the extent to which these claims are being made... it doesn't add up to the lived experience on the day."

As part of their agreement with the venue, Ice Cream Sundays monitored noise levels every two hours during the event, from both within the TPD compound as well as from the residential area.

Their measurements were ultimately several orders of magnitude lower than the complainant's findings.

O'Connor claimed that while at the residential area, his team recorded levels hovering around 60 dB.

This, he alleges, was entirely attributable to the ambient noise of the area, in particular from road traffic from the highway next door.

"Our staff member who went and took the readings said they literally could not hear our event when they were taking the reading," he said.

Camacho also noted that they had received other noise complaints in the past, warranting a police visit.

However, if directed by the police to turn the volume down, they would comply.

But the police never came down to the Oct. 3 event, he noted.

"We didn't receive any complaints during the event, which is strange, right? Because if the the noise levels are as loud as this person is claiming that they were, you would expect there to be many complaints, and that that was not what we experienced."

Illicit activities?

However, the complainant took a step further, accusing Ice Cream Sundays of being a hub for illicit activity.

"These types of events promote the abuse of alcohol, public drunkenness and smoking including illegal drugs and vaping which are offences and extremely harmful to Singaporean society," the email read.

O'Connor simply called these allegations "disappointing".

"If anyone comes to our event, you can see that we we have adequate security. We do bag checks, we have a list of house rules that sets out the expectations of the kind of behaviours that we expect people to uphold at our events, and our events are fully licenced.

"So, if that's the case, it must mean the authorities are satisfied with the measures that we're putting in place at our events."

Notably, in a list of house rules that the collective posted on Instagram, the third line reads: "No vapes or illegal substances."

O'Connor also remarked that their events were now "pretty family friendly", with various workshops and activities catering to different eventgoers.

Not the venue's fault

Ultimately, Mapletree decided to temporarily suspend outdoor music events at TPD.

O'Connor called it "a shame", but quickly clarified that he did not lay the blame on the venue.

"I want to be very clear that I don't that we don't blame them. We certainly don't blame any government agencies. I think what we're talking about is a wider issue of... the complainer always winning in Singapore," he stressed.

"And it takes someone who doesn't even name themselves, or show themselves, with claims that they don't have a lot of evidence to back up... to ruin the prospect of having events there again, for not just us but also for a lot of promoters."

Camacho added that they empathised with the venue, having been placed in a "difficult position" after being threatened with legal action. 

But it is a "bigger challenge than ever" to find spaces to host events now, he noted.

Lamenting on the loss of venues in Singapore, Camacho said that it was difficult to find places that are accessible but also not close to residences.

O'Connor also remarked that people have pointed him towards hosting events in Fort Canning Park or Marina Bay.

But those sit firmly outside of Ice Cream Sundays' budget, as a "DIY party".

"And I think that's why the post went kind of viral, right, because it resonates with both industry people, but also punters who who like to go to these types of events.

"I think it reached a lot of people who have never been to an Ice Cream Sundays before, but just understand that these challenges are getting harder and harder to overcome."