The lineup dropped. The comments started. Expectations were high. But before we judge a festival by one poster, maybe it’s worth looking at what actually goes into putting one together.

Sunset by NEON is happening in Genting Highlands on 26 and 27 September 2026, and if you’ve been anywhere near Malaysian dance music social media lately, you’ve probably already seen the conversations surrounding it.

Some people love the lineup. Some expected more. Some questioned why the full reveal took as long as it did.

Fair enough.

When you're paying hundreds of ringgit for a festival ticket, you're allowed to have expectations. But there’s also a much bigger conversation here about how festivals actually come together, because booking a festival isn't quite the same thing as filling a Saturday night DJ slot.

So, what exactly is going on?

THE MUCH-AWAITED LINEUP REVEAL

A few weeks before the big weekend, the NEON team finally started revealing the names for Sunset by NEON, and naturally, the internet had thoughts.

One recurring question was: why did it take so long?

From the outside, announcing a festival lineup looks simple. Secure the DJs. Make the artwork. Post it.

Except… not really.

KL's nightlife scene has become incredibly active. International DJs are playing clubs here almost every other week, so audiences have naturally become accustomed to seeing major names regularly. But a festival is a completely different ball game. A club already has a venue, sound system, operating infrastructure, licences and a relatively predictable capacity. A large-scale festival has to build an entire ecosystem around the artists, often for just one weekend.

WHAT ACTUALLY MAKES OR BREAKS A FESTIVAL?

Festival audiences have expectations. The location needs to make sense. The lineup needs to excite. The production needs to deliver. Entry shouldn't be chaos. Drinks shouldn't take forever. Toilets need to exist in reasonable quantities. Security needs to know what they're doing.

And yes, when tickets aren't exactly cheap, expecting a good experience is completely fair.

But sometimes we get so caught up debating the names on the poster that we forget everything else required to make those names appear on a stage in the first place. We're talking concept, audience, budget, artist availability, permits, licensing, venue, production, logistics, security, medical planning, staffing, transportation, accommodation and contingency plans.

Because would we rather have an insane lineup at a questionable location with terrible production and barely any safety infrastructure? Absolutely not.

THE BORING STUFF THAT'S ACTUALLY VERY IMPORTANT

Here's the part nobody puts in the aftermovie.

Malaysia has regulatory and licensing processes that event organisers may need to navigate depending on the event, venue and entertainment involved. For large events featuring foreign performers, that can involve local authorities as well as agencies and requirements connected to foreign artiste performances, public safety, fire safety, music rights, local councils, and more.

Think local council approvals, PUSPAL processes for foreign artistes, police and security requirements, Bomba requirements, music copyright licensing and relevant F&B or liquor permissions, among other approvals depending on the event.

And music rights alone are more layered than many people realise. MACP, for example, specifically provides licensing categories for events and major live concerts, while PPM licenses certain uses of recorded music in public.

Not particularly sexy. But very necessary.

Now multiply all of that by thousands of attendees, international talent, multiple production vendors and a mountain full of equipment.

Suddenly, "just announce the lineup lah" becomes slightly more complicated right?

OKAY, LET'S TALK ARTISTS

Booking a big international artist isn't quite:

"Hey bro, free September 26?"

There are agents, management teams, contracts, negotiations, deposits, routing, exclusivity considerations and schedules to work around. Then comes everything surrounding the actual performance. Flights. Ground transport. Accommodation. Backstage requirements. Security. Technical production. Catering.

And then there's something called a rider.

If you've never heard the term, a rider is essentially an artist's list of requirements attached to their performance agreement. There are usually technical requirements (decks, mixers, monitors, lighting, stage specifications and other equipment) alongside hospitality requirements such as accommodation, transport, dressing rooms, food and beverages.

For major touring acts, getting the artist to Malaysia is one challenge. Making sure everything is ready when they arrive is another. And when multiple international artists are involved, every one of those moving pieces has to line up with the festival's budget, dates and overall direction.

WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO NEON

There's another important piece of context here. NEON isn't trying to squeeze every corner of electronic music into one festival.

The team operates three different intellectual properties, designed to represent different sides of dance music. Sunset by NEON was specifically created as the home for house and techno within that wider portfolio.

Their thinking is pretty straightforward:
“We believe there should be something for everyone. Rather than trying to make one festival appeal to every audience, we created distinct brands with their own identities, sounds and communities.”

And perhaps that's the better way to look at Sunset. It isn't necessarily supposed to have every DJ everyone wants.

It's supposed to have a point of view. That distinction matters, especially as NEON itself continues expanding beyond Malaysia. What started as a local dance-music brand has increasingly moved across borders, while Sunset has developed into its own recognisable festival property.

Growth doesn't guarantee perfection, obviously. But experience counts for something when thousands of people are about to descend on a mountain for a weekend.

SO… SUNSET BY NEON 2.0

Which brings us to the elephant in the comment section:

The lineup.

The reaction has been mixed.

NEON doesn't seem particularly surprised by that either.

“I don’t think we have ever had a show that did not receive mixed reactions online. That is simply part of putting on a festival.”

According to the team, lineup decisions come down to several realities: artist availability, performance dates, pricing and what they believe their audience can realistically afford.

That's probably the part of festival curation audiences don't always see. You could theoretically stack a poster with enormous names. But somebody eventually has to pay for them. And ultimately, that somebody is the audience.

So there's always a balancing act between ambition and accessibility. That doesn't mean audiences shouldn't criticise a lineup they aren't excited about. They absolutely can. But a lineup being different from what someone personally imagined isn't necessarily the same thing as a festival getting its curation wrong.

For this upcoming festival, whether that lineup hits the spot? That's ultimately down to you.

Because festivals aren't built in comment sections. They're built through months of negotiations, paperwork, production planning, creative direction and calculated risks and then judged across two very intense days by thousands of people who never saw any of it happen. And maybe that's exactly how it should be.

The audience doesn't need to love every decision. The organiser's job is to make those decisions add up once you walk through the gates.

A TOUCH OF WELLNESS BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

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This year, the NEON team is stretching the festival experience beyond the festival ground with Sunrise Reset, a wellness and recovery-focused side event happening around the Sunset by NEON weekend. Think of it as your official pregame and recovery stop in Genting: poolside music, drinks and a good old pool party for those who want to keep the weekend going, plus yoga, Pilates and strength & conditioning sessions for the fitness crowd who still have energy left in the tank. The idea is simple: instead of heading up to Genting just for the festival and calling it a weekend, Sunrise Reset gives you a reason to make a proper getaway out of it, arrive early, party, recover, then go again. With the wellness sessions kept reasonably priced and the poolside pregame open to everyone, it’s a nice little addition that turns Sunset by NEON into more than just what happens inside the festival grounds.

So after all the discourse, lineup debates and Instagram comments, there's really only one question left: Sunset by NEON is happening this weekend. Have you secured your tickets yet?