Hujan

Butterfingers and Friends featuring Noh & AG

Bittersweet

Green Paver

After much anticipation, ‘Akon Freedom Beach Concert 09′ originally scheduled on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 has been postponed to Saturday, 24th October due to unforeseen circumstances.

According to Mr. Michael Chan, representative of the concert organizer Marctensia, Akon’s concert has to be postponed due to his personal reasons relating to his family emergencies; which caused him unable to make it to Malaysia. In fact, this also leads to the postponement of the Manila concert on 4th July.

The concert will be rescheduled to Saturday, 24th October, Surf Beach @ Sunway Lagoon at 8pm. The current tickets prices at RM88 (Beach Zone), RM138 (Rock Zone) and RM188 (The Pitt) remain unchanged and all tickets issued will remain valid for the show on the new date.

For the convenience of fans who has purchased tickets but unsure of the rescheduled date, refund will be available within a grace period from 6th July till 18th July at Axcess Petaling Jaya office. For details, please log on to www.axcess.com.my or contact Axcess hotline at 603 7711 5000.

KL Tower Indie Fest 2009 is the follow up to the first KL Indie Fest 2008 also held at KL Tower. This year’s event will be held on the 3rd and 4th of July 2009, of which, the final day will feature the mega concert with a line up consisting of all the hottest bands at the moment.

An indie art carnival will be held on the first day of the event (3rd July 2009) together with the showcase event. The showcase will feature some up and coming indie bands and starts from 2pm until 8pm. And yes, entrance will be free on the first day for both events.

The mega concert on the 4th of July will set you back RM25 but it will be totally worth it as the line up is great and the whole concert will last from noon till midnight. Yes, 12 hours of music, well minus dinner and prayer times of course.

For more information, head to http://www.myspace.com/klindiefest2008

Disagree’s second album titled To Prevent The Earth From Moving With You will be launching on the 30th of June 2009 at Hard Rock Cafe, KL. You may be able to get it at Rock Corner on the very same day itself.

In the meantime, have a listen to their first single, Osaka at their website http://www.disagreeband.com/ (the player is at the bottom of the page).

The Rhythm of Unity concert was set to improve ties between Malaysia and Indonesia but what turned out was really unexpected.

The event was supposed to start at 5pm and when we got to the venue at 4pm, the stage was still being constructed halfway. Rumor has it that the organisers could not afford to pay the second payment after the stage has been built, prompting the stage company to deconstruct the stage. The organisers then managed to contact another event company for the stage to be built on Saturday afternoon itself, just before the event starts.

Luck was not on their side though as it started to rain at around 6.30pm, just before the lighting and main speakers could be lifted up to be secured on the main boom. The heavy thunderstorm roared for 2 hours before finally giving way. It took the stage crew another 2 hours to properly setup the stage and have a thorough sound check.

The unlucky crowd had to shelter themselves at the covered walkway near the LRT station before managing to have a bite at the celop vans setup just outside the barricaded area. Some entertained themselves at a smaller rock gig held just nearby while some went to Endah Parade to have dinner.

ANYWAY, despite all the delays and setbacks, the show had to go on and it did.

Speaking about the barricades, they were just the metal see through barricades surrounding the stage area, which means if you did not have a ticket, you still can stand outside the barricaded area and watch the concert! Though luck. The organisers had thought about it and just before the event started, they secured plywoods above the barricades to prevent anyone outside the barricades from watching the concert.

At this point of time (about 10pm), I don’t think it was any use to do this as people who had tickets were of course staying back to watch the show and those without tickets are not going to buy the tickets at the door. They even dropped the price of the tickets to RM35, but I guess it was useless anyway. RM35 for a 2 hour show? Hmmm….

One Buck Short opened the show with a 5 song set to a quiet crowd. It took quite a while for the crowd to warm up due to the long delay and frustration. Once their mood was up, they started enjoying themselves.

Bunkface was no where to be seen as they had to perform at another venue.

Hujan was up next, with much support from their fans in the crowd. They did unleash their new single Obsesi, before ending their set with Aku Scandal and Empayarmu.

The Indonesian crowd with their flags up supported by human pyramid structures.

Letto took stage next, playing quite a number of songs and entertaining the hungry crowd.

Estranged’s slot was sandwiched between the 2 Indonesian bands and they managed to play around 6 songs, despite the lack of time. The lack of proper sound system setup was obvious as the vocalist’s microphone was cut out a couple of times during their set.

Heavy security.

Slank took stage as the clock was approaching midnight and played a disappointing 2 songs (last song of the night being Ku Tak Bisa) before giving a bow to the crowd and then quickly into their bus.

The crowd was totally enjoying themselves and singing along to all the songs played by all the bands, but I guess they went home really disappointed as Slank only managed to play 2 songs and also with the lack of Bunkface.

As for the organiser,  this being their first event really brought down their reputation but I wish them all the best in organising their next event.

Back in the month of May, there were weekly events at the auditorium of Wisma Bentley organised by Homegrown Productions (http://www.homegrown.com.my/). One of them was the Homegrown Space which featured performances by local music acts. I had the chance to attend the show held on the second weekend which featured Forty Winks, The Deserters, Pesawat, Bittersweet, Hello Is This The Band and Seven.

Forty Winks started the show with their dose of ska music. The venue was dark, air conditioned and carpetted, which led to people sitting down and relaxing while listening to the music. Of course, the front of the stage was where the action was with small bunch of people dancing to the music.

The vocalist managed to crack some ‘jokes’, in which he ended his statements with a laugh to himself, but managed to make the crowd laugh as well. I didn’t really catch their song titles, but Mak Minah was definitely one of them.

The Deserters was on after Forty Winks ended their set and boy, I was really amazed by their set this time (listened to them at Laundry Bar previously) as the acoustics at the auditorium was much better. The vocals were a bit muffled though.

Their music have elements of brit-rock and well to me, some Bittersweet feel to them as well. Do check them out!

Pesawat, a band which is coming up really strong took the stage next. Their songs have already received heavy airplay on radio stations and their set included the ever so popular Mirage as well as their newer one, Rasional Emosional.

Crowd favorite Bittersweet took stage next and more people were standing up this time and filled the front of the stage. Bittersweet started off with Kuching Hitam (oddly enough, as they usually play this song near the end of their sets) and proceeded onto promoting their newer songs as they get closer to releasing their new album (probably sometime after Hari Raya?).

They played Burn Berlin Down (one of their earlier new songs), and the awesome sounding and very well crafted Ceritera (I think they first played it at KAMI The Concert back in 2008). Speaking about Ceritera, it feels like a national anthem, makes you feel proud about an achievement or success. Superb sing along song. Ah and do note Pijie’s new haircut!

Hello Is This The Band? was up next but almost 90% of the crowd left after Bittersweet’s set (presumably for dinner?). I too had to go and have a bite as my stomach was empty.

When I returned, Seven was already up on stage. Arrmand, one of the guitarist was absent, but this did not make the band sound one bit weaker. Well, the cozy environment and lack of people really make their set feel very personal, relaxing and enjoying.

The Homegrown Space event is still ongoing and feature different bands every week. For updates, check out their website at http://homegrownspace.com.my/

There will be a gathering of Hujan fans, called ‘Raingers‘ at Itudio Studio, Level 2, Kelana Mall this coming Sunday (21 June 2009). The event will start at 2pm and end at about 6pm. Besides meeting up with Hujan, fans will get to enjoy performances from Jayzuan (of Free Love), Joanna n Co., Awanband and also a special acoustic performance by Hujan themselves.

New Hujan t-shirts will be on sale as well so bring some extra cash (and a silver marker if you want to get it autographed by the band).

Entrance is FREE (as all good things are).

For more information please visit http://hujan.org/ or their MySpace page at http://myspace.com/kugiranhujan/

Rockaway 2009 will be a heck of a concert and is being organised by One Buck Short in collaboration with Jack n’ Jill Rollercoaster. The line up is really great as all the heavy hitters of the music industry such as Bittersweet, Pop Shuvit, One Buck Short, Love Me Butch, Bunkface, SevenCollar T-shirt, Couple, and Pesawat will be performing.

The best part? It’s FREEEEEEEEEEE. Yes, 9 great hours of music for just RM0.00. You just have to present yourself at Capsquare on the 20th of June at 1pm to witness it all. To make it even sweeter, the first 1000 attendees will receive complimentary goodie bags. There will definitely be a free t-shirt inside along with some snacks.

There will be an after party featuring Twilight Action Girl too.

For more info, refer to the flyer or head to http://rockaway2009.com/

The festival is organised by popular Malaysian band One Buck Short, who were inspired to offer local independent rock bands the opportunity to showcase their latest music to the public. The band was recently named the Voize Independent Music Award’s Best Rock Group and has opened for international bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.

The 2009 My Stereo Rocks was also held at Zouk, similar to the 2008 one. The exciting thing about this one is that one of their official partners were RTM and that REVENGE will be performing their last and final set during the event before they go into a rest (well, according to their MySpace, but heck, they will be performing at SEARCH’s final leg of their tour at Mont Kiara this August 1st).

When we arrived, Nadia’s Picture Show was already performing with the crowd already warmed up and enjoying the tunes. Crowd turnup was really good, with the venue nearly full and with more people trickling in.

Followed by The Rhaman. At this point, I made my way to the top floor as the space between the front of the stage and the barrier was too tight for any photographing.

As soon as I got up, Maximus got on stage to rock the crowd.

At this moment, the venue was really packed and people had to squeeze their way through if they want to get from one side to another. On a side note, after around 7 or 8 rows from the the front barrier, they were some furniture and stools in place but this did not stop any bodysurfing attempts.

Couple then came on stage and opened with C’mon Operator. This time around they have more Bahasa Malaysia songs up their sleeves of which they played together with songs from their debut album and new album.

Among the songs played were Tentang Kita, Now That I Can See, Rock N Roll, Pergi and Menarilah Hey!. Through out their whole set, the crowd was singing along to nearly all their songs. Encore they had, and they delivered Hey Now to the happy fans.

Komplot also delivered a couple of crowd favorite songs such as Konflik Metropolis and Nora Zen. Speaking about smart, the vocalist was completed decked out in a full suit with a red tie. Well, if all the band members wore like that, it would have been real awesome.

And then, the moment everyone (well, quite some people I guess) have been waiting for, REVENGE! Even before the lights were turned on, the crowd was going mad and it was mad after the lights was turned on right until the end of their set.

It was not only the crowd that went crazy, the whole band was crazy as well with their awesome flair and showmanship. Their vocalist, Ayid, was the outstanding one, going all around stage ganging up with the guitarists and bassist while they played their instruments and posing to photographers. And the photographers too, all of a sudden, the whole front stage was swarmed with photographers (I don’t know where they all came from) but REVENGE was smart and kind enough to stand back a little for the photographers to move around (not to mention again they LOVE to pose for photos). There was a cameo appearance by Mr. Ted Adnan (their official photographer) there as well!!

R-E-V-E-N-G-E was in their set list along with the Japanese one, Rokku Japparena. And of course, the popular synchronized movements during Legends of Rock n Roll was all there as well. Ayid also stage dived into the crowd and returned safely to stage just before their set ended.

As with other gigs, there will always be a breather after a heavy act, and Yuna was perfectly suit for it. After all the heavy photographing in front of the stage, the photographers just sat down quietly while Yuna performed, heck the front of the stage became a sitting platform now.

The Times then continued giving the crowd sing along songs, and they started out with Disko Dansa before playing other popular songs such as Singapura Ke Kuala Lumpur and Tunjuk Perasaan among others (didn’t manage to write down what songs they played).

Bunkface was the last band of the day (well, it was only about 7pm) and they totally rocked it out with the BUNK Anthem, Situasi and their new single, Revolusi (damn, I always get it confused with Generasi).

And there you have it, My Stereo Rocks 2009! Despite the occasional delays in between bands and soundchecks (they did not have the chance to soundcheck before the event), the gig was solid. The only downside is that the stage was a bit small and the venue was too tight compared to the old Zouk. Nevertheless, the venue was way better compared to ultra small Barsonic.

It was still kinda bright outside after the gig was over (well, sun was setting) which was a delight as there was still time to eat, party, and perform whatever you needed to do before the day ended.

Looking forward to My Stereo Rocks 2010!