29/7/23: Muse, Bukit Jalil

Sat 29/7/23

This was my second Muse concert after the first one, also in KL in 2007. I was recovering from diarrhea, was contemplating to forego, but went to the concert eventually. We went quite late, only reaching the venue at 7.30pm so parking was a hassle and we had to park far from the national stadium.

RM30 parking away from the stadium

We were at the Zone C Free Standing area, which is far from the stage, so I didn't expect much, just to come and enjoy the music with visuals from the screen. I thought the sound system was way too loud (maybe I am just old). We then moved towards the seated area to fill the empty seats and enjoyed the concert from there. 

Zone C free standing

moved to the seated area

Here's the setlist that I got from the internet:

Muse KL 29/7/23 setlist

Time is Running Out from seated area

Overall, I probably would enjoy it more if I was nearer to the stage where I could see the action live instead from the screen. And I would probably be semi deaf the next day if I did that lol. 

Butterfingers, Transcendence 20th Anniversary concert

Stadium Malawati Shah Alam
Sat 2 Nov 2019

This would be my second Butterfingers gig, the first one being a 2 day back to back Kembali + 10th anniversary of Transcendence at Istana Budaya back in 2009. Wow it has been 10 years already!

With Spotify available nowadays, we were able to do our revision of the first 3 albums by Butterfingers that the band would be playing this time around. Yes, the band mentioned this on their Instagram and Facebook prior to the gig.

It turned out that Transcendence was played in its entirety and in sequence!  It was then followed by selected songs from Butter Worth Pushful (1997) and 1.2 Milligrams (1996). So as you could imagine, we were treated with a 3 hour performance by the band ( a few hiccups though as the bassist Kadax was missing from a few songs due to exhaustion).  This was indeed a feat requiring high fitness level to be performing for 3 hours. Luckily for us we were seated for the concert - I anticipated that I would not be able to endure free standing for the entire concert! I was also impressed with the visuals that accompanied the performance.

It was a pity though that Emmett didn't play the guitar to cover for Loque when Kadax was missing, or the sound would have been complete. This was especially crucial in the 1.2 Milligrams section when there was only guitar (except Royal Jelly with drum and bass).

view from our seat

Butterfingers banner at the end of the concert

Setlist for the concert as below:

Transendence
1. Chemistry (Between Us) - violin by Emmett
2. Epitome
3. Meltdown
4. Mermaids (Fair God & Stone Faces)

Interlude
Singalong
Selamat Tinggal Dunia (guitar only)
Silk (guitar only)

5. Dooms Day Out
6. Faculties of the Mind
7. Floating in a Vacuum

Drum Solo by Loco

8. Weird
9. RnR
10. Moksha
11. Mystery
12. Words VS Wisdom

Bass Solo by Kadax

Butter Worth Pushful
13. Fire is a Curse
14. Girl Friday
15. Vio Pipe (Violin by Emmett) with funny bagpipe video
16. Stolen
17. Ruin by Selling Out
18. Still River

Interlude
Singalong
Tanah Pusaka

1.2 Milligrams
Kadax missing

19. Niccotyne (guitar only)
20. Chrome (guitar only)
21. Royal Jelly (drum and bass by Loque)
22. Sober (guitar only)
23. Wet Blanket (guitar only)
24. Me (guitar only)

What was supposed to be the setlist. No encore and Chemistry reprise

M Nasir Sang Pecinta

Sang Pecinta, Sun 31 July 2013, Istana Budaya

Another M Nasir concert - always a joy to attend.

Overall, 25 songs were played (according to NST) And it stretched to more than 2 hours, how generous of him. He seemed not to realize this at all, enjoying himself throughout the concert.

The set started with a backdrop of CGI to the instrumental tune of Cermin Mimpi, followed by a recital of poem.

The first song kicked off with M Nasir and his musicians performing behind a translucent screen where you could see the performers' silhouette a la wayang kulit.

He's backed by the Orkestra Seni Kebangsaan for the strings section and Orkestra Tradisional Malaysia for the gamelan ensemble; apart from his very able band of course.


He played a mix of his own songs and his compositions for other artistes. According to here, he played a whopping 25 songs which stretched more than 2 hours! Thank you for being so generous :)

Here's the setlist (not according to order, searched from here) by the mix of genres: (at least from my personal opinion)

Intro / Poem
Cermin Mimpi

Strings / Orchestra
Dalam
Bahtera Raudah
Apokalips
Keroncong Untuk Ana
Hidayah
Rajawali Terbang Tinggi
Perang Yang Lagi Satu
Hijab Kekasih
Mentera Semerah Padi

Acoustic (Unplugged)
Layang Layang Putus Talinya
Meniti Titian Usang
Srikandi Cintaku
Tanya Sama Itu Hud Hud
Aku dah Bilang (new song, I liked it)

Contemporary

Akar Kita
Buka Hatimu
Wadi
Mustika
Sahabat Gua
Ada

Traditional / Gamelan
.....probably some mixed up with the contemporary set. I can't recall, and did not take any recordings

Jazz
Sesat di Kuala Lumpur
Sentuhan Listrikmu


Encore
Hati Emas
Mentera Semerah Padi (reprise)

M Nasir DFP Showcase

M Nasir Showcase with MPO, DFP 13/7/12

I first heard about the concert from KSRP's promotion email, it did occur to me to go, but I didn't do any follow up on it, until after the promotion had expired.

Then a week before the concert, my friend Miele from the Muse messageboard asked me if I wanted to go. I said yes, why not. So I checked for the Friday show, fortunately it was still available - for the Upper Tier seats, as the Lower Tier were sold out already. I somehow thought that the Lower Tier seats should be more expensive than the Upper Tier hmmm...

Anyway, we managed to grab our tickets. So Miele and partner would be going for the Saturday show, while me and my partner Faz would be going for the Friday show. It was unfortunate that we couldn't seat together, all 4 of us. I wouldn't want to seat alone and not be able to discuss the performance.

So, on to the show. It started sharp at 8.30pm, with M Nasir looking dapper in a smart suit, but without any tie/bow. That was already smart for his level, you know how he always dress up ;) The opening song was Andalusia ( I think,missed the opener from my jottings) backed by orchestral music by the MPO which was lead by the conductor Kevin Field. It was interesting to hear a re-interpretation of M Nasir's Nusantara music with orchestral music. As always, the acoustics in DFP was superb, we imagined that we were at London's Royal Albert Hall. It would be a perfect setting for Sigur Ros' upcoming performance, but we doubt it'd be done here. No bands had ever performed here. The closest to a rock artiste performing here was Sting.

Sorry I digressed. It was interesting to hear the sounds from traditional instruments from the original songs being re-intepreted by the violins, cello, double bass, harp- yes! & horns section (for example). They were beautiful. It was an awesome aural experience.  My favourite was Mentera Semerah Padi, as it was an uplifting song, with bass and drums thrown into it. I'd always preferred a combination of guitar, bass and drums with orchestral instrument. Perfect harmony! M Nasir also brought in his tabla player, just to mix in some traditional sounds, and it did blend well. We felt like jumping off our seats but restrained ourselves as everyone else was primly seated. That didn't stop us from bobbing our heads, tapping or feet and waving our hands!

On a light side, he had a change of clothes once, as I guess he felt weird wearing suits. Just after the intermission, he re-entered wearing his trademark wacko robe complete with ornaments. Lol! He was high spirited, making interacting with the fans and joking with Kevin, sometimes talking to him in Malay as if he understood. The closing song was a joget number, yes, imagine a joget song with violins! It worked, miraculously. During this song, he invited the fans to dance with him, although he did ask if it was permissible to do so at DFP. Lol!

I'd say Kevin did justice to M Nasir's songs as he re-imagined them in orchestral version. I did discuss with Faz on some parts in the horns section of certain songs which I thought could be improved for more oomph, but then again, I'm not even a musician, but I thought it'd work ;)

According to my notes there were 17 songs performed, of course this is merely a piece of his plethora of songs, such a prolific songwriter, a genius! Kevin would have a hard time to re-compose his entire portfolio, or it'd have to take up at least 7 sessions ;)

I don't remember all his songs, so it was a bit hard to compile this setlist. He does not use the words in the chorus as the song title, and sometimes the song title doesn't even appear in the song!

Here is the setlist (based on my own notes, might not be 100% accurate):
1. Andalusia (probably)
2. Kias Fansuri
3. Keroncong Untuk Ana
4. Mustika
5. Bonda
6. Kepadamu Kekasih
7. Apokalips
8. Juwita

Intermission
9. Hati Emas (Kembara)
10. Bukalah Hatimu (Kembara)
11. Di Balik Cermin Mimpi
12. Suatu Masa
13.Sahabat Gua
14. Raikan Cinta
15. Mentera Semerah Padi
16. Sentuhan Listrikmu
17. Ada

Train, KL Live, 16/6/12

Sat 16/6/12


The day came. A little change of troupe member - Liza would be replacing Ezad. Well you see, when Mas tried to convince Ezad to tag along, he was a bit reluctant. Then when Mas tried to tell Ezad of one of their more popular songs - Hey Soul Sister - he was singing it to the tune of Lady Marmalade's chorus - much to Mas' annoyance. So that was it, Liza was going to replace him. Heheh...

Sorry I digress. After roars of laughter reminiscing our Surabaya trip watching the video at Mas' place, we went to KL Live and arrived just about 8.15pm. Nice timing. Due to a mix up by our office's recreation club, we had to collect our ticket at the venue prior to the concert. So we entered as soon as we got our tickets.

There was a big crowd already - as the concert is scheduled to start at 8.30pm. We were at the back standing area as we bought the cheapest ticket at RM65 from our recreation club. Being short people, the view from here wasn't the best, but it was OK because we just wanted to enjoy the music. So apologies, no good shots were acquired, perhaps you need to scour the net for better images.

I saw that the technicians were not on stage yet for soundcheck, so it seems that this show might be delayed a bit. On the playlist to appease us concertgoers were my current fave tune - Gotye's Someone  I Used To Know, some Kings of Leon, etc. Not long after, the drum and guitar tech came onboard so it's nearing showtime yeah!

Not too long a delay - as they started at 8.45pm with the sounds of a choo-chooing train coming through, then they introduced themselves - Kami Keretapi. Aha, that was cute! We are Train. They opened with 50 Ways To Say Goodbye which I'm not familiar with, but that didn't deter the crowd from getting excited. I got to admit, this has to be the least revision that I'd done before attending a concert. But although hearing some songs for the first time, they were catchy and I found myself bobbing my head and swaying a bit. It's no fun just standing still ;)

Train with California 37 (new album title) as backdrop

The familiar songs really got everyone excited, including yours truly, which we all enjoyed a good singalong to :  If Its Love, Save Me San Francisco, Hey Soul Sister, Marry Me, Drops of Jupiter and (gasp!) a cover of Don't Stop Believing. Ahaha, we the antagonists refused to singalong to that one as we are no fans of Glee. No offence to Journey - the original singer. They did a beautiful acoustic rendition of Marry Me where almost all of the song was sung by the fans. We even managed to outdo the fans from Manchester - well, according to Patrick (tak dapat menahan) Monahan. Really Patrick? ;) Ah, at the chorus of Marry Me, Mas screamed "I Will!" and we all cheered to that - then it was followed by an "I Will!" from a guy. Woof. But nevertheless we all cheered for him! Everyone was on high spirits. Mas and Liza kept on gushing on how good looking Patrick was live, and praising his singing prowess. Good on you girls. Let your hair down ;)

Marry Me - acoustic

Too bad my Partner In Crime who's a bigger fan than me wasn't here. Had to make do with a skype and phone call during Hey Soul Sister and a t-shirt. Hope you enjoyed it ;)

Praises also to Train for bringing in a full live band - complete with the horn section, piano and backup singers. And of course the much loved ukulele. Train are indeed very hardworking and do not mind investing in bringing a full band although logistics might be a headache, what more with a small venue like KL Live. With a good reputation like this, perhaps they could command a bigger crowd next time and perform at a stadium ;)

with horn section

Overall they played 17 songs in a span of 1.5 hours which whizzed through so fast. When you're having fun, time really flies.
Here is the setlist:
1. 50 Ways To Say Goodbye
2. This'll Be My Year
3. If Its Love
4. Meet Virginia
5. I Got You
6. Finally Meet My Mom
7. Calling All Angels
8. Mermaid
9. Save Me San Francisco
10. Bruises
11. Marry Me
12. Don't Stop Believin (Journey Cover)
13. Hey Soul Sister
14. Drive By
15. California 37
16. Drops of Jupiter
17. Sing Together.

Setlist excerpted from here

Ah I got to admit, this was a 'vanilla' flavoured concert for me - wholesome and fun - Train's PR are really good - Patrick communicated a lot with the fans. They know how to appease their fans -taking their fan's mobile phone, took pictures of them, then passing back the phones with their pictures as memorabilia, throwing in free t-shirts - one was signed by all the members. And heck, one lucky (and very innocent) girl even got an autographed (by the full member of the band) acoustic guitar. How about that? Awesome. Luckily Patrick chose a very young innocent girl - I wouldn't know what would happen if he had chosen Mas - or girls like her on to the stage to pose and sing with the band LOL! Although vanilla, I had fun. And it's not really wrong to have fun right? Ops, did I say I was going to behave, just stand and watch? That would be impossible I say, heheh.

The Cranberries, Stadium Negara, 4/4/12

Wed 4/4/12

I knew about The Cranberries coming to KL quite early in Feb, but I waited to buy the tickets from KSRP (my company's sports club) because they usually offer discounted tickets for concerts (I also got the Incubus tix via KSRP!) I bought the upper tier free seating for RM77 (normal ticket priced at RM110). I wanted to go because the band is instrumental in my high school years. I have fond memories listening to them while doing my homework or studying.

We drove from office at 7pm, after having filled in our stomachs first, and we armed ourselves with some buns, in case if we got hungry after the concert. Traffic was OK, we arrived just before 8pm, so the doors have already opened and there were no more queues, so just breezed through.

Our seats at the upper tier was still mostly empty, so we parked ourselves right in front of our section. The view from our seat is not that bad. I've now mostly opted for seated tix, I used to get crazy at the free standing pit back then, heheh...Of course, the view from right in front of the stage would always be better (I mean, right in front, because I'm short, I can't afford to stand at the back ) but you have to endure all the moshing and pushing.



Anyway, back to The Cranberries. They started punctually, at 8.40pm with the opener Dreams. That really got everyone excited and we were all singing along to the song. They mostly played their greatest hits (which I've already expected - so I downloaded their Gold 2CD compilation a few days prior to the gig for revision heheh). But there were also songs from their new album, Roses which I haven't listened to yet, so there were unfamiliar songs to me.

Dolores sounded just like in the album, and she looked like she never aged a bit! She was enjoying herself, playfully swaying along while singing. Only she could get away with goofying around, but still commanded attention from her adoring fans! I thought she was cute in in a little tutu-like black dress and leggings. They played Zombie before the encore though. I thought they'd play this as the closing song.


Image from The Star





Here is the setlist:
1. Dreams
2. Linger
3. Tomorrow
4. Wanted
5. Just My Imagination
6. Ode to my family
7. Dreaming My Dreams
8. Animal Instinct
9. Desperate Andy
10. Daffodil Lament
11. When You're Gone
12. I Can't Be With You
13. Waltzing Back
14. Raining In My Heart
15. Free To Decide
16. Schizophrenic Playboy
17. Ridiculous Thoughts
18. Zombie

Encore:
19. Conduct
20. Losing My Mind (Premier: First time ever)
21. Salvation
22. Promises

Setlist taken from here

The concert ended at 10.15pm, so fans coming by monorail would have ample time to catch the train back home.

For review of The Cranberries gig, read here

Thank you to the Lady and my Partner In Crime for accompanying me. I can't find Mr E though, and Mr E, of course, we came! I didn't like Dolores' second dress too though. She just slipped into a baggy clothing - I guess to adhere to the authorities' concert guideline

Incubus, Stadium Negara, 23/7/11

Ah, it was a reminiscence of sorts. Of the venue, I mean. The last time I was here, it was for Muse in Feb 2007

So we arrived in the drizzling rain at 6pm, went straight to the queue. Azni & Shahril were here too, but I didn't manage to meet up with them cos I was still waiting for 2 other mates to pass their tickets. They arrived at about 6.31pm. The queue wasn't that long, we were swiftly given access into the stadium at 7pm, it was drizzling anyway. So kudos to the organizers for punctuality :)

Us

We had a lower tier seating ticket - it was quite a good view. And the seats are comfy. Last time for Muse, I was at a different section of the lower tier - we were seated at the wooden benches. Well, I didn't sit last time actually - I hung around at the railings actually ;)

There was an opening act - a local band called Roosevelt - I've never heard of them before, I guess they must be Jason Lo's signing (he's also sponsor Tune Talk's CEO). They were OK, I didn't really pay attention to them - dashed off the loo before Brandon & co came on stage! Ah again, our seat was perfect as it was also near to the washroom ;)

At 9pm sharp, the band came on stage, blasting it off with Megalomaniac. That had the crowd kicking a$$ and head banging & (there was one chap in front of us who was highly animated with his head banging, I couldn't help being very amused lol!). Yours truly couldn't help screaming her lungs out. Woah. Luckily I still had my voice post-gig lol! Ah, my partner in crime seemed to be enjoying himself too - considering this was his first paid rock gig experience - he was jumping off his seat in excitement lol!

View from our seat


En Brandon at the screen. Gagaga..


Sing-a-long


Crowd dispersing


Incubus!

Next up was another sing-a-long: Wish You Were Here.

This song is dedicated to you Shawn!

Ah, Brandon & co sounded just like their album version, I was highly pleased ^_^ (read: going gagaga) Woah, Mike's effect pedals were all over -surrounding him. He was in his own mind – doing his thang with his guitar – the mad scientist ;) Oh, the boys had nice (Persian?) carpets spread out on the stage – and Brandon’s mic was the old type – the one which you have to hold it -that was a nice touch.

I was pleasently surprised (& pleased) that they played In The Company Of Wolves - full version - with the extended bassy + the delicious guitar licks part. Pure class! I recorded the whole song. And they continued with Thieves - another favourite of mine from the new album ;)
From the new album they played 4 songs.

Overall, they played 18 songs. Faz managed to find the setlist from the net - they were supposed to play 20 songs - they omitted Crow Left of the Murder & Love Hurts. Love Hurts was supposed to be in the encore, just before the finale Nice To Know You. Hmmm...wonder why they left the 2 songs out? Not loud enough? I thought we could have brought the roof down that evening ;)

Oh they didn't play I Miss U also - my partner in crime's wishlist. My wishlist wasn't played too - I fancied Dig. Or maybe Admiration. Oh well, I guess they'll have to come again here to make sure the set is complete! But overall, it was an awesome gig! It was cute of Brandon to address us as boys & girls. :)

The setlist

p/s: I had a tip off on Friday, a day before the gig of the band's press conference at Doubletree Hilton, which is just 1 station away from my office - but this time I chickened out from stalking them hehe.

Read the review from The Star here

Gruff Rhys, MAP @ Publika, 6/5/2011

Warning: Sweetnest overloaded! Read if you can handle all the saccharine ;)

This was the cutest gig I've ever attended. Baffled? Read on..

Gruff Rhys (pronounced Grif Ris) was the sweetest ever ^_^

I've always liked Super Furry Animals' (SFA) quirky music, so when I heard that BFM's 33 RPM is bringing in SFA's frontman Gruff Rhys to Malaysia, I knew I had to go! Tix only costs RM63, it was dirt cheap for an international act! (despite an obscure one though).

Tix


Gruff Rhys poster

A trivia - see my blog profile picture of a pink lion? Well that's Gruff Rhys' Candylion. So you see, I've always had a soft spot for SFA / Gruff ;)

Well back to cute. Cute because when Gruff came on stage, he saw the room was packed with everybody standing. So he asked everyone to sit down, then asked if it was enough space for everyone to enjoy the showcase. Being me, I was right in front, at the 2nd row actually, and was just a few inches away from him ;)

Another aspect of cuteness is due to his playful remarks along the show ;)

Crowd waiting before show

It was an intimate acoustic show, the room was small, and Gruff was very interactive with us. He brought along all sorts of gadget, one could never imagine these could be used as musical instruments / rhythm section (as Gruff himself puts it) to accompany him! Well this role was played by Trevor the metronome (I only knew that this is a tool to help musicians keep in beat - thanks bro! - he told me that)

A metronome

Other gadgets include a turntable, an illuminated keyboard (which inspired the song Sensations In The Dark). Ah, I have to tell you this - during the introduction of Sensations In The Dark, he asked his producer - Dan to switch off the lights - when asking this, he also said that "This is a dangerous situation" - because it was pitch dark! He actually just wanted to demonstrate how the keys to his keyboards illuminate when he presses them lol!

His turntable


His illuminate in the dark keyboard

He also introduced us to his trusty acoustic guitar which he says he "plays it upside down" as a joke with his siblings. No name though. He also demonstrated that an extension of his guitar is just a stick on - he took off the part and revealed double sided tapes used to stick it. That extension was just "to make the guitar more aerodynamic" and give "more confidence" to perform for "a more enjoyable concert experience"!
Damn funny, we couldn't stop laughing at his banter!

Talking about his guitar


This is the extension part to make the guitar more "aerodynamic" lol!


More banter

He only brought along a producer - Dan, and he did the guitar tuning himself

Some other banter from him:

*During the encore, being someone who just loves music, he brought out some local records (piring hitam) from a plastic bag (we reckon he went shopping at Amcorp Mall's store which sells old records), and said "Let's try to play one". He randomly picked Rafeah Buang's Hati-Ku Kau Churi EP and asked "Do you know the lady?" We responded "Rafeah Buang"

Then he played it to us, then asked "What's the song about?" We said "It's about love!" He just smiled ;)


That Rafeah Buang record: Hati-Ku Kau Churi EP (1971)


During the introduction to one of the songs - forgot which one - "This is a tribute to Phil Collins. He is the first ever solo artiste to ever split up" LOL! Now how can one person split up? Only bands split!

During introduction for The Court of King Arthur - he said "This song is inspired by archaelogy"

He said "Terima Kasih" a few times. That brought a thunderous applause from us :D

Before the start of another song (again forgot which one), he taught us a few lines of the lyrics to it and asked us to "karaoke with it". And at the start of the song, please give a big round of applause like when Jimi Hendrix (I think he mentioned Jimi, if I'm not mistaken) was playing LOL!

He brought along placards as cue cards for us with words like:
"Woah!"
"Applause"
"The End"

"The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness" (his collaborative album with Tony Da Gatorra)


Some of his placards


Effect pedals

Overall, he played 18 songs.

The setlist:
1. Singing A Song
2. Vitamin K
3. Sophie Softly
4. Shark Ridden Waters
5. Cryndod Yn Dy Lais
6. Cycle of Violence
7. If We Were Words, We Would Rhyme
8. Lonesome Words
9. Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru
10. The Court Of King Arthur
11. Sensations In The Dark
12. Conservation Conversation
13. Candylion
14. Rubble Rubble
15. Gwn Mi Wn

Encore
*Played Rafeah Buang's Hati-Ku Kau Churi
16. Shark Ridden Waters (this time he played the record, but added some live singing and playing on top of it)
17. In A HouseWith No Mirrors (You'll Never Get Old)
18. Singing A Song

His setlist


The End. See there Trevor the metronome in orange colour

Gruff Rhys solo showcase was opened by 2 local acts - BFM Zack Yusof's Free Deserters (not bad) and Couple.

More report on the gig here and here

MGMT, Bkt Kiara Indoor Arena 25/3/2011

MGMT concert? Yes, you read it right - it's a Management concert! I can't imagine my bosses performing though! Ah still confused? The band's name is MGMT, it was meant as a joke when they started it. They're from the US - playing psychedelic rock genre. Read more about them here

Iris, as usual informed us on the gig back in January and we managed to get the early bird ticket at RM 128. Originally the venue is at KL Live (near Concorde KL), but it was changed to Bukit Kiara Indoor Arena, and the venue change was only officially announced about 3 days before the gig. I wonder if there was anyone who didn't know about this and turned up at KL Live instead.

But anyway, it sort of made my life easier as it is near to my house. Only I had to make a mad dash from office at 5 sharp, fetched Iris at Kota Dsara then dash again to the venue. Actually, I had to make another mad dash after the concert to Azni's place as I have another trip early the next morning! Yeah I think I'm quite mad to be doing all this :-p

Luckily traffic was clear. We reached Bukit Kiara Indoor Arena (it is actually located in the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club) at 7.15pm The indoor arena is actually a venue for horse showjumping competitions. Planks were used to cover the sand flooring. Me and Iris started to queue only at 8pm, although the ticket says doors open at 7pm. There was not a huge crowd yet at 8, so we just sat and waited. Finally we were allowed in at almost 9pm. We were segregated by gender, as there was a body check and they also checked our IDs (it's for 18 and above only). Lucky again I guess, as we were in the fastest lane at the left most side. We wondered why people crowded at the middle lane. Because of that, we managed to be at the front row again as the hall was still empty! We didn't plan to. We wanted to just come at our own sweet time, hang around at the back and enjoy the show.

But unfortunately, we were very near to the amplifier - and the bass was too loud. Even The Star's reporter agreed with me. (Read the review below).

Overall, I guess because the band is still very young (only 2 albums so far), they hardly moved around the stage and only stuck to their positions, although you can't blame Ben though, cos he plays the keyboard, and that cannot involve much movement! Andrew can be blamed though hehe.. Andrew did communicate with the crowd, quite a few times in fact. And he sounded friendly, he seemed to be very happy performing. Another downside is Andrew's singing voice - he doesn't have the best of vocals, I guess he can improve on that. (But then, what do I know yeah, I'm not a vocal coach :-p)

Last complaint is that the concert started late - there was a local opening act - Kyoto Protocol, and they only appeared at about 9.30pm MGMT only started at 10.30pm, and we only finished at midnight! But then from a girl I met who won a meet & greet pass with the band, I was told that the session was at 8pm at another venue nearby, so maybe that was one of the reasons their appearance was delayed

Anyway, here is their setlist:
1. Flash Delirium
2. Weekend Wars
3. I Found a Whistle
4. Electric Feel
5. It's Working
6. Of Moons, Birds & Monsters
7. Only a Shadow (Cleaners from Venus cover)
8. Time to Pretend
9. Song for Don Treacy
10. The Youth
11. Siberian Breaks (My fave - all 12 mins of it)
12. Kids
13. Congratulations
Encore
14. The Handshake
15. Pieces of What
16. Brian Eno

Anyway, back to the review excerpted from Startwo, 29/3/2011 Note: Somehow my pictures turned out very bad this time around, so not much pix to be shared here unfortunately.

It was all about flashes of delirium at MGMT’s concert in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.

NEARLY three years after exploding onto the music scene, New York-based psychedelic rock act MGMT was finally making its way to Malaysian shores. Now sporting a sophomore album, three new band members, and a few years more of touring experience, the group’s live debut in Kuala Lumpur promised to be an insane night of psychedelic thrills.A 3,000-strong crowd filled the Bukit Kiara Equestrian indoor arena last Friday night, making a strong statement that indie fans are a sizeable demographic in this otherwise oldies and Top 40-centric concert town The venue’s traffic and parking woes were also alleviated by the organiser, Future Sound Asia, arranging a shuttle bus service for concert-goers. It was an odd mix of glittered-up hipsters, underground rockers and casual T-shirt-and-jeans attendees just looking for a good party. Of course, the seasoned party crowd were spotted outside the venue gates as they tanked up before the show.

The group already had a taste of this region, performing with Whitest Boy Alive the night before down in Singapore.

Despite a late start to the KL show, anticipation remained high. The crowd was roaring for MGMT as local alternative rockers Kyoto Protocol made their way on stage.

Catching on the audience’s impatience, Kyoto lead vocalist Fuad Alhabshi half joked: “I can’t wait for them to come on, so let’s make this quick!”

Kyoto warmed up the audience, cramming seven songs into a 30-minute set.

Next up, MGMT came in like proper rock stars, sauntering in backed by a cheesy pre-recorded introduction that sounded like something from an old boxing match, “They’re not from Montego Bay, they’re from the Eastern shores and they’re absolutely crazy. Ladies and gents, this is M.G.M.T!” The 10.30pm kick-off was perfectly timed with the venue’s Twitter brigade itching to announce the rock action.

The band started with Flash Delirium, whipping the crowd into a frenzy by the second song Weekend Wars.

Weekend was reinterpreted in the band’s new sound, with more forward electric guitar and drums instead of synthesised sounds making it more rock than psychedelia.

The new approach worked just as well on older songs Moons, Birds & Monsters and Time To Pretend. Unfortunately, one of this writer’s favourites, Electric Feel was butchered by frontman Andrew VanWyngarden’s weak vocals, as he chose to go solo rather than harmonising with Ben Goldwasser like on the Oracular Spectacular record.

The venue’s sound system did the band no favours either, over-emphasising the bass in favour of vocals and acoustics instruments. VanWyngarden’s guitar was only noticeable during Siberian Breaks and encore song, Pieces Of What.

Making the best of their situation, the boys still managed the pull off a few gems, the highlights being the slower Siberian Breaks which gave fans a chance to catch their breath just before the band went all out with Kids.

On Kids, the band lived up to its name as a party band, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser dropping their instruments and howling shoulder to shoulder in the spotlight, reminiscent of when the two were the entirety of MGMT. All this was made possible thanks to new bandmember James Richardson who manned the keyboard while the founding duo showboated. Richardson definitely deserves MVP of the night for his lively performance on guitar, keyboard, backup vocals and even a bongo drum for It’s Working.

One wonders how many real “fans” were at the gig, with most leaving after the band played their most well known hit, Kids. The hardcore fans stayed on, stomping their feet and chanting the classic Malaysian concert goer cry: “We want more!”

Boy, did MGMT deliver, performing three more songs for the encore, pushing the count to 16 tracks on the night (just three songs shy of their entire discography)!

The frantic Brian Eno was the perfect closer with just the right amount of crazy, thanks to Goldwasser hammering his keyboard, unleasing a rainbow of bizarre samples from cartoon laser beams sounds to cuckoo clocks and birds chirping.

Arrested Development, HRC, 12 Jan 2011

Ah I admit, I'm not really familiar with Arrested Development (not the TV sitcom ok)- a hip-hop 8 piece ensemble from a diverse background. They have been around for a long time and have won Grammys in the 90s. Check out Everyday People, Mr Wendall and Tennessee and chances are you might have heard one of them without knowing (myself included)

When my bro told me that they were performing 5 days before show day, I had my reservations. Firstly, I'm not really into hip-hop & secondly, I'm not so familiar with their music. If I did a test - I did this before deciding to go to Stereophonics - if I knew 50% of their recent setlist, then I'd go. I'd fail here miserably :-p

Anyway, I defied my theory again, and went anyway because after doing some homework -listened to my bro's CD: 3 Yrs, 5 months & 2 days in The Life Of..(1992) - I thought it was good, and reading that the group promotes respect for women, family, spirituality and responsibility in their lyrics/rapping, I decided I'd go!

Arrested Development performed for the first time in Malaysia (after 19 years in the business!) at Hard Rock Cafe. No need to buy tickets, just pay for the cover charge of RM55 (with drink). It was a small venue - the stage is a bit too small for the 7 of them (not all the 8 members came - 2 singers, 2 MCs (rappers), a drummer, a guitarist & a bassist), especially to accommodate one of the female singers - Montsho Eshe's crazy dancing!

The group kicked off with The Who's Who Are You riff (that CSI Las Vegas theme song) - that made everyone excited! They gamely played along with the audience - getting us grooving to the thundering basslines and the drumbeats. Of course we were highly entertained by Montsho's energetic dancing! They asked us to repeat after them a chorus off 4 Non-Blonde's What's Going On? during a teaser of Everyday People just for fun - and that had the crowd roaring for more!

Altogether they played 24 songs with 1 encore - yes, Everyday People of course!
Here's the setlist (which I got it from here):

Who Are You riff intro
We Rad We Doin It
Motivational
La la la
World is Changing
Fishing for Religion
Dawn of Dreads
Bloody
Ease My Mind
Tennessee
Let Your Voice Be Heard
Inner City
Mama's Always on Stage
Freestyle
Honeymoon Day
Miracles
Mr Wendall
People Everyday (teaser)
I'm Bad
Haters
Raining Revolution
Redemption
I Got Feelin
U

Encore
People Everyday (full version)

Finally, enjoy the pics!


On the right is Montsho's crazy dancing ;)


Hands in the air!

The Flaming Lips (I Wish!)

Agagagag...I was stuck here in KL due to work and so missed The Flaming Lips' concert in SG last night at the spanking new Marina Bay Sands

The gig was sure as heck mind blowingly epic! There's Zorbing, a bear(!), giant laser-emitting hands, lots of balloons and confetti! Note: Background music of the video is "Do You Realize?"

A friend of mine Nut from SG got lucky to have won a pair of tix to the gig! His winning story is here (find ewoksoldier's entry)

And he got a lucky break again that the tix had to be picked up from Junk's office in PJ (but he's based in SG!) when another tix winner from M'sia offered to pick up the tix for him & met up with him & they had a blast going to the gig! I'm not kidding, here's his account:

On that night itself, some dude named Omar email-ed me about joining him and his friend for the road trip down to Singapore for the show (he must've gotten my email from the Junk website). So I replied that I'm in Singapore and asked him if he can be arsed to help a stranger and get me my tickets from Junk HQ, highlighting the fact that he can run away with them and that I can do nothing about it. In return, I'd treat him and his friend to supper after the show. He replied with a very sincere "yes"!

So this super-duper nice fella did get me my tickets at 10am SHARP thurs morning, and gave me a call right away to assure me that he's not running away with it! Such a nice fella right..

I brought my lucky friend along and we met Omar and his friend at Marina Bay Sands (it was their first time driving into Singapore and kudos to him for finding his way through this extremely confusing place) after work. I think he's the last human being of this kind (helpful, selfless, honest). I received my tickets and he said he'll take a smoke while my friend and I go look for something to eat (but we didn't in the end). Apparently there isn't a single fast-food restaurant in that bloody huge place. Not a big fan of fast-food but we needed to bite into something light just before the show, so we ended up with coke.

Then we went to the exhibition hall and there was a queue. Went to check out the merch stalls and I bought a tee. I loved it. We decided to join the queue but soon after, Omar came and called us to his BIG group of friends who came down from KL too, and they were near the front of the queue!! Then I spotted my colleague (who's a freelancer so I had no idea she was attending the show too) on the other side of the queue, where we were a minute ago and I did the right thing by passing along the good deed, so I pulled her to our huge group of cool people (apparently some of them are in a Malaysian band called Flocks, if i heard correctly... google isn't giving me any result so I must have heard wrongly then). Then it was 8pm and we were ushered into the hall and it was the beginning of a lot of surprises for me.

Moral of the story: Do good unto others. It's infectious :-D

Stereophonics KL Live : Liz's take

I have to publish my lovely gig mate Liz' Stereophonics review here. Hers gives more justice to the awesome performance of the 'Phonics. She's only 22, but has great potential to be a music journalist (I hope she'll achieve her dreams!) She sends her gig reviews around to music zines/sites~ hopefully one of them will take notice and rope her in! *Fingers crossed*

Originally published at More Than Good Hooks

The five guys (4+1 touring keyboardist) of Stereophonics were flawless.

Alas, this is where the quandary starts trickling in. You get so comfortable and in total captivation by their musicianship that you start to wonder if you were even in a live concert. The whole stage was set up perfectly. The dry ice effect (probably more tobacco smoke than dry ice), blazing lights from all directions and top notch sounding audio resonating through the halls of KL Live. It seemed too good to be real.

The only constant reminder of course was Kelly Jones himself in flesh and blood giving you scraps of his thoughts by belting out song after song after song in sheer confidence. As you soak up everything they have to offer, there’s only one way of giving back. It was an absolute sight to behold as everyone paused in time and chanted in unison to the lyrics of Dakota during the encore but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

JUNK magazine did a great job helping This Feeling KL to spread the word out early March that Stereophonics will be stopping by Malaysia. By the time the tickets were announced in April, word has already stretched to long time fans eagerly waiting for the revival of Britrock in Malaysia. Kudos to This Feeling KL for their effort, but a huge howler came up when there was a mammoth mess up of the queue pre-gig. Fans that arrived early were left disappointed and upset when they found themselves squirming with late comers. However, noting that this was perhaps the first major event organized by This Feeling KL, it was quickly forgiven.

Rockstars are never punctual so when Stereophonics emerged in a very Malaysian time-keeping manner at 9:25pm the crowd was almost delirious as Live N Love echoed abrasively catching any one off guard. The blinking multi coloured neon lights were a sight to behold as it blends with every pitch perfect note and drum beat. More so if you’ve got a bird’s eye view of the whole stage from the balcony. It almost tells a story of its own added to the weight from Kelly’s lyrics. From the front however, it was a nightmare for photogs to get the right camera settings. The lights were clearly set up for arenas and stadiums that Stereophonics have now become regular patrons of. Basking in the glorious lights, all five seem to play in their own silhouettes and one can only hope the lights would be from the front to see more of their facial expressions (I mean, let’s not put Kelly Jones’ pretty face to waste, shall we?)

For a guy that usually dons his leather jacket and black shades, we can excuse Kelly if he seemed slightly detached with the audience. His luscious Gibson SG guitar with a bejeweled strap stole the hearts of many but it’s the music that really speaks. Take it from the pair of young lovebirds, soaking in the lyrics of Could You Be The One hand in hand and eyes gazing timidly into each other as the song panned out.

Speaking of hands… (here we go) how lovely was the fact that every time Kelly raise his glorified hands, the crowd cheered even louder? Amusing himself (for lack of better words), Kelly played a little game of what I’d like to call “hands and cheers” with the mass as they made their final bow out. They left on such a high after the Malaysian gig but the Asian leg of the Keep Calm and Carry On tour may have ended slightly sour with a particular slipper incident in Singapore two nights after.

Forgive my massive lack of mention for Adam, Javier, Richard and Tony (who celebrated his birthday that day!). They were the true champions of the night, allowing Kelly a platform for storytelling. Richard was particularly groovy with his bass and when met after the gig, he was still in high spirits and jocund company albeit sleeves folded up as high up as they can go due to the scorching Malaysian heat.

With 17 years of experience in their pocket, Stereophonics weighed their options and chose a splendid set list. Going through all the best moments from that night would take a while with the massive 24 songs played, but I shall remain forever grateful to be able to listen to A Thousand Trees live.

At the end of the day, leaving a Stereophonics gig may give you that very pleasant feeling of consuming a small portion of your favourite (vanilla) cupcake. Exhilaratingly memorable leaving you craving for more. It is with that very essence everyone went back to work and reality the next day with the intensity of Dakota still ringing in their ears.

Stereophonics, KL Live 28 April 2010

Another gig within 2 months!

Unlike Placebo , Stereophonics took some time for me to decide whether I should go. I theorised that if I knew at least 50% of their most recent setlist, then I should go!

But I failed the test - knowing only about 8 of the songs :-p

I defied my theory anyway and bought the ticket. It turned out to be a good decision - it was totally worth it! Worth 24 songs - 2 hours of rockin' guitar licks, swaying bassline (or rather swaying bassist!) and infectious chorus. Plus it was a good winding down after weeks of slaving it off in the office. OK no mention of work should come here. Apologies. ;-)


No stalking also this time lol! Though we knew they were staying at Hotel N ;-)

I was impressed by their live performance. They surpassed my expectations. Kelly Jones' (that's a male Kelly yeah) raspy voice totally commanded our attention to him. And his glorified hands - borrowing Liz' words - commanded the crowd's cheers and screams. Glorified because everytime he raised his hands, people would cheer- the higher, the louder. He also did this at the end of the gig - before leaving the stage. He would raise his plastic cup and people would cheer - and he kept on repeating it until he disappeared from sight. That was pretty funny :-)




Kelly's glorified hands

I was impressed with the guitar playing (and admiring Kelly's sparkly guitar strap as well) especially on the rockier tunes- although less pedal effects from them- not really needed actually- as their choruses was enough to get the appreciative crowd singing along (and to an extent - some very very high pitch screaming from a few fangirls behind me). I could tolerate loud amplifiers, but not those screams! Luckily that happened at the tail end of the gig; I would have to nurse semi deafness if it had been longer lol!

Some grouses though - the backlighting was too bright that you couldn't see the guys - only their silhouttes! Argghh we couldn't really see the faces of the band members. Sigh. Another one was the overly loud sound system - but maybe because I was very near to the amps. At the same spot as Placebo actually. We initially wanted to go to the upper tier, but seeing that we could get front row, we abandoned the plan. So we had to live with poorer acoustics then. Thirdly, the gig only started around 9.20pm and finished around 11.15pm so a friend of mine had to leave earlier to catch the train and missed the climax of the gig - the closing song - Dakota!


And another one - again - the disorganized queueing system - people who came later to collect their tickets prior to the gig conveniently parked themselves at the entrance upstairs while the early birds (a group of 4 came as early as 10am!) who already had tickets waited downstairs. There was a commotion between the organizers and the early birds. When will the organizers learn? It happened also during Placebo, but this time it was worse.

Anyway, here's the setlist:





Some pictures (not so good due to the said lighting)






And a review by The Star here

Review by Malay Mail and KLUE

A press conference link here. They tried rendang and durian heheh