explosions in the sky at kl live.

i've been avoiding writing this, mostly because i should have had two concerts to talk about at the end of 2013 and i actually only have one. and that depresses me. i need to talk about why. 2013 was a good concert year for me. and by good, i don't mean i went to a lot of concerts and had a lot of fun. i mean i saw people i'd been waiting to see for ages. for AGES.

well, actually, it was good and bad.

i saw the backstreet boys, which made me ecstatic and nostalgic.

i saw explosions in the sky (who i'm talking about in this post), which made me ecstatic and nostalgic and made me tear up.

malaysia brought both of them to me for a small price compared to what it would cost to see them in the US. so that was good. i saw some other people in concert who i normally wouldn't see, but went because it was cheap to see them here, and that was good too. i found a new love in rita ora and her cheese dress and the way she handled her mic messing up with grace.

then the bad. not talking about the bad concerts. talking about the good concerts that never came. mainly, my girl ke$ha. i must have been living under a rock, but i found out the day before she was scheduled to perform here that she was scheduled to perform here. ecstatic, as usual, i went out and bought my tickets that night without checking any social media. that was a mistake. the next day, right before i started to get ready i said, "hm. ke$ha is so crazy. i really can't believe she's allowed to perform here [given that other female artists who are less vulgar have been denied performance]. i better check the internet." sure enough, there it was, right on ke$ha's facebook and twitter and the redtix page: girlfriend got canceled. the reason is undetermined. concert organizer blames the government, government says concert organizer never filed the papers properly. who knows. they refunded everyone but i was unable to get a refund because my bank is in the US. it's okay. i'll hold on to my warrior tour ticket forever and cry glitter tears.

so anyways. that bummed me. but, alas, just a few days after that, my beloved explosions in the sky were coming as part of the annual urbanscapes concert. they were performing at a satellite show with mew. this was perfect, because it was a walkable distance (whereas the actual urbanscapes show was quite a bit far out).

i've been waiting to see explosions in the sky since 2006, when i fell in love with them. unashamed to admit, like many others, i only noticed them when listening to the theme song for "friday night lights." i ended up downloading all of their albums soon after. their music is, admittedly, the soundtrack to my emo college years. i listened to them while studying, i listened to them while crying about boys, i listened to them to calm me down when anxious, i listened to them all the time. i still listen to them in all those scenarios. that might sound like their music is meant for sad times, but it's not. i fully intend to walk down the aisle to the string version of "your hand in mine."

so i was ecstatic. because they are instrumental, not many people i know listen to them. but i do. and that's why i was surprised to find the line at KL live totally out the door! i had no idea they'd be popular here. mew was performing first, so i didn't mind getting in late. one thing that the organizers didn't really make clear was that the giant line out the door? yeah, it was for people going to urbanscapes who purchased the full ticket (urbanscapes + satellite shows). there was a much shorter line for those of us who had only purchased for the satellite shows. i figured it out soon enough.



mew was fairly good. i've only heard their songs in passing, but they were energetic and fun to listen to. i was mostly impressed that their drummer's hair and shirt stayed seemingly dry throughout the set. does that man not sweat? (also, my pictures were pretty terrible because i took the camera that i can't figure out to use after 1+ year of having it.. oh well)







the crowd was fairly full. i still managed to get myself up to the very front, leaning against a guard rail for the whole show. my tally is 3 for 3 front row at concerts here.



i have to say, in between sets is where my love for eits solidified. maybe i am just an unexperienced concert-goer, but when they all came out to set up their own instruments, i was impressed. i've never seen an artist set up their own... set before. i loved them.




my angle didn't lend well to getting pictures of the whole group, but i'm happy with what i got. they performed for about a solid hour and a half. considering they don't really break between songs, but instead blend one seamlessly into the next, that's impressive. i just loved them. loved them. i couldn't tell you what songs they played since it was now almost three months ago, but they were perfect. you can see how emotionally invested they are in their songs. i'd see them again and again. and again.

my only negative came in from the crowd. the guys next to me trying to sing along with the music the entire time, which my camera picked up perfectly in the audio of my videos >:| and constant headbanging. i realize i maybe just look at the music different, but i don't see it as headbanging music. it's mellow to me. but whatevs. i still saw one of my favorite bands in concert. check that one off the list.

as i said, 2013 was a good year for concerts. 2014 is already promising for future music fest, so i'm excited!

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twin towers @live 2013

i have been putting off writing this post, mostly because it still makes me SO EXCITED that when i start looking through the photos and videos to pick out what to put on here, i get stuck watching my videos and reliving the evening.

to add to the build up of the formula one races held in malaysia, petronas sponsors a free concert held at the base of the twin towers, spanning two nights. the concert itself is free and viewable by all, but you can purchase 150 ringgit of petronas merchandise and receive one ticket to the "fan zone" which immediately surrounds the stage, limit two tickets per person. as soon as i saw who would be performing on the second night, it wasn't even a question as to if it was worth it to pay for a ticket. it was definitely. definitely. DEFINITELY. worth it.



this is the second day, the day we went to. the first day had a few local artists and demi lovato.



we arrived around 8 pm (gates opened at 5) and soon were watching caprice and his dancing boys as they rapped and entertained the crowd. he was really great. we started a bit far out from the stage.



right in the middle of the concert was earth hour, so the event catered to that. they shut off the lights on the towers (which is truly a sight to see), and all the other lights on the surrounding buildings. the concert, however, went on. the hour started with a touristy video of malaysia, which went on a bit too long. then the stage was filled with drummers in local cultural dress, and they were fun to watch. then we experienced the beatboxing of shawn lee. he was ADORABLE. and i was so, so impressed by his beatboxing skills. it's really amazing to see that in person. following him was a show of dancers decked out in glow lights, illuminated by UV lighting. they danced to madonna and lady gaga. they were okay. and THEN, there was a drumline. more amazingness. i love a good drumline.



one nation emcees took the stage next, and they were interesting, to say the least. i'm not quite sure what they do other than run around and sing and dance other people's songs, but they entertained. no one else was dancing though. i danced.



finally, one of the two acts we were so excited for! mizz nina! she came out sparkling, of course. however, her performance was disappointing. for being a local artist who has international fame, i would expect more than two songs. especially given everyone who had come before her did at least three-fiveish? i don't know. maybe there were time limits. she left quickly.



as you may or may not notice, we kept creeping closer and closer to the stage. when the k-pop group 2ne1 came out, the crowd went crazy and we were able to get even closer. it seemed that the majority of the crowd was there for them. and the crowd was CRAZY.



we continued to sit and wait patiently for the main act, or did we?



quick answer: no.



i can officially check one item off the imaginary bucket list: elbow my way to the front row of a concert. but what concert is worth of such physical straining?



i'm dead. can't even resize these.






i mean, honestly, i am dead. every time i look at these photos i cannot believe it happened. as soon as i saw the backstreet boys were reuniting as a force of five at this concert, i about passed out in the office. ALL FIVE OF THEM. IN MY TEMPORARY CITY. i could not believe it. i saw the backstreet boys in 2001, just before the end of eighth grade. my darling dear friend (whose wedding was mentioned last september), another friend, and i made shirts, sprayed our hair black and blue, the works. and NOW, my thirteen-year-old self was reawakened and i just knew i had to be in the front row of that concert. and i made it so. my friends were right there behind me. and we had so much fun. we could hardly walk afterwards, and i spent most of the next day in bed, but it was so worth it. they were excellent. they sang everything. every. thing. they did the only version of "gangnam style" i will ever approve of. i came home and skyped my boyfriend and he asked if i was drunk. NO. just drunk on my love of 90s boy bands.

this was truly a perfect day. one of my very best, favorite days living here, by far. i'll go back to being a respectable 25-year-old now.

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future music festival asia 2013

a couple weeks ago, future music festival asia came to town. i missed it last year (as i had just arrived), but everybody said it was fun. in looking at the line-up, i was most definitely not excited. still, i wanted to experience it with my friends. there were four stages, so lots of music going on all the time but we stayed at one of the main stages.



first, of course, we had to feed ourselves with the most deliciously authentic barbeque you can find here in malaysia. andy's bbq is run by americans, and seriously delicious. a nice taste of home. we also found some amusement in the cigarette girls.



there was a ferris wheel, but we didn't try it, and a seriously beautiful sunset. you can see the ATC tower at the airport, something to make my dad happy :)



the first artist we saw was rita ora, from britain. she was pretty good. there were several problems with her mic that caused some issues, but she powered through it. we managed to squeeze ourselves right up to the front of the stage.



second we saw psy. yeah, THAT psy. he performed several korean songs and then "gangnam style" not once, but TWICE. i caveat this with the fact that i really dislike him. i won't get into the reasons why, but i don't find him to be genuine. that being said, he performed his one-hit-wonder song twice for the reasons that people would want to take photos/videos, so he wanted to provide them an opportunity to take photos/videos during the first performance, and then fully dance and enjoy the second. i thought that was admirable. he has to be completely tired of that song, and i'm almost positive his dancers are equally tired since one of them looked so unenthusiastic throughout the whole show i thought she might fall asleep on the stage, so to perform it twice purely for fan enjoyment says something. still, he peeves me. i'd post a video, but youtube has changed its settings such that i can't access my account and that's all a big mess.



after that, fun. took the stage. they lived up to their namesake. i also have a bone with one of their songs, but i let it go because they were all such great performers. the lead singer was so ACTIVE on stage, he was just fun to watch. they were pretty great live as well.

we left after that, as we were tired and there weren't really any other artists we were interested in seeing. it was a timely exit as well, as i had a little sinus issues and they miraculously disappeared for the five hours or so we were out there, and creeped right back in during the last fun. song. ah well, the concert made for a nice weekend!

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