Keane live in Singapore @ 13 Aug 2009

Bah. You. Lucky bastards. I have nothing else to say to you guys. Hmph.

Date: August 13, 2009 (Thursday)
Venue: Fort Canning Park, Singapore
Ticket price: SGD75 (limited early bird, on sale from June 24); SGD95 (standard ticket, after pre-sale period); SGD85 group ticket (min 5 pax)
* Early bird tickets include priority entry to concert grounds

Tickets will be on sale from June 24 at TDC. Ring up their hotline at +65 6296 2929 (from 9AM-6PM), or stop by one of their outlets in Singapore. Log on to their website, or check out LAMC Productions’ website, the organiser who is responsible for bringing Kaiser Chief, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Nine Inch Nail to Singapore.

Doing pilates

Pilate was one of the bands that rotated on my Pandora playlist (back when they were still available to listeners across the globe), which I had marked as a favourite. I just loved the way Todd Clark, the lead, carried the vocals at the bridge like a fragile glass: “Please don’t you ask / Please don’t you ask me how it feels / She was the last / To light up my night and make me sing”. And then floated over so seamlessly to Chris Greenough’s guitar solo that was not too heavy nor too little for a climatic peak of the song.

It was a perfect moment in the song to close your eyes, have your emotions drink in the feel of the music and come undone with the solo, like a box of confetti bursting in the middle of a clean white room.

Upon listening to their debut album Caught by the Window, I learned to get used to the lightness of the band. They sauntered across their album quite alike to a bunch of lazy bums: Keeley’s lazy strokes on the snare, Clark’s vocal slurs that drag, Greenough and Bumrah’s riffs that, try as they may, could not really hit it properly when they do fast tracks like Perfect Thrill, Into Your Hideout and Overrated.

With this, it contributed a lot to making their ballads shine and choked with emotions, especially the abovementioned song, Alright and The Travel Song. Also the fact that they had the album perfectly wrapped with Endgame and A Reprise;  from a meticulous wrapping with scotch tapes, and a carefully selected ribbon of the right length securing the package.

Pilate has since changed their band name to Pilot Speed and adapted a heavier outlook for their music in Self Control for Life’s Speed and Wooden Bones. I still prefer how they started off.

Download another nice song from their debut album, Alright, HERE.

Aimee Mann live in Singapore @ 29 August 2009

Excuse me while I try to remind myself that Aimee Mann is not Fiona Apple, although they are vastly different.

So, let’s be over done with the whole why-is-Singapore-getting-another-good-act-while-Malaysia-is-left-with-nothing banter, and go straight down to business.

Thank you, Mojo, once again for giving us the heads up on the Grammy award winning folk singer swinging by Singapore for a gig at the Esplanade Concert Hall.

If you are not a hardcore fan, you would certainly have heard her peppered in soundtracks like Magnolia, I Am Sam and the more recent The Last Kiss. And you would all agree that she has one of the silkiest and most honey-coated voices out there. Her voice flows like a current-less river down the bank, like clouds drifting painlessly through the breezy sky.

So, feel free to check her out.

Date: August 29, 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 7.30PM – 10.30PM
Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore
Ticket price: SGD118, SGD98 and SGD68 (excluding SISTIC fees)
* Fans of the Greenhorn Productions facebook page will receive a password for early bird booking/discounts. Details to be announced at www.sistic.com soon.

Vern suggested the uninitiated to check out The Forgotten Arm. Here, I give you a nice song I have on my iPod – It’s Not from Lost in Space.

Coldplay parachutes their way into the hearts of Singapore

Coldplay live in Singapore Indoor Stadium, 23 March 2009: A Review

Music critics, fans, groupies and radio announcers have always made claim that the Bono-led U2 is the biggest band in the world. Tonight, 23 March 2009, Coldplay made it known to Singapore that that is indeed false. Chris Martin is a fucking wizard. If magic truly did exist, he’d be holding the wand.

I walked into the stadium at 8:15pm and was greeted instantly by the melodic guitars of Mercury Rev. As I stepped into the stands trying to find my seat, Jonathan Donahue’s soaring vocals sent shivers down my spine. When they played my ultimate favourite Rev song – The Dark is Rising, I felt something move in me. After a short 5 song set, they humbly made way for Coldplay to begin. I felt their timing was just perfect, ending their set with only 5 songs – being very careful not to outdo Coldplay. The crowd were assholes though, especially the row of people seated in front of me. They chattered constantly oblivious to the fact that Mercury Rev is perhaps the greatest Art Rock band to ever grace the airwaves.

Lights dimmed, curtains slowly raised and out walked Chris Martin, Johnny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion each carrying firecrackers in their hands. They took place on their respective instruments and started the night with Life in Technicolor before bursting into Violet Hill. The seated crowd rose to their feet and as Clocks followed after, the 12,000 strong crowd were in awe. Yellow came soon after and gigantic yellow balls were let loose to the crowd as everyone sang along to the immortal lyrics of the song.

Chris Martin was without a doubt the star of the show. He ran tirelessly from left, to center, to right, back to left, straight to right – across the entire stage. Teasing, acknowledging, addressing the crowd – making the girls squeal and the boys dumbfounded. You can tell he is an experienced performer, and extremely confident of his talent. He knows with humility that he is the darling of the crowd and uses that knowledge to give Singapore a good time.

You have to thank the Coldplay roadies too for tirelessly working throughout the 2 hour show to give us a seamless performance. In between songs, they moved the piano all over the place to create a sense of dynamism with the audience. Martin showed us how riveting a performance can be with just a solo instrument when he ran to the far end of the stage, solemnly singing The Hardest Part accompanied only with a piano

To everyone’s delight, the entire band moved to the other corner of the stage leaving their electric equipments behind. Will Champion swapped his drum kit for an acoustic guitar and accompanied Martin on vocals and the harmonica to re-create an acoustic rendition of Speed of Sound. Martin surprisingly has a sense of humour. Now, we all know how dry English humour can be but Martin came up with a delightful tale of how he lost a game of monopoly forcing him to take on the abuse-prone role of lead singer. He proclaimed further that Will Champion was a way better vocalist and Coldplay would have been bigger if he had lost the game. With that being said, Champion took the mic and sang I am a Believer – the song that The Monkees will always be remembered for.

They pranced back onto the main stage and performed Lovers in Japan – complete with projector visuals of Haiku, Sakura, Kanji and everything Japanese you can think off. Confetti fell from the heavens and I closed my eyes and savoured the moment. As they went into the dressing room, the 12,000 strong crowd went wo-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, singing the tune to the controversial Viva la Vida to coax the band to come out for the encore.

Sure enough, Martin appeared first and sat gracefully on the piano to sing us the majestic Scientist. The band joined in the 2nd verse and they closed an explosive night with Life in Technicolor 2, completing the most beautiful Monday night of 2009.

I’m not an easy man to please. But tonight, Coldplay did no wrong. They were perfect and I mean it in the most dazzling sense of the word. It was hands down the best concert I’ve ever been to. And i promise you, that is no exaggeration.

Coldplay might not be my most favourite band in the world, but when it comes to live performance, they’re king of the hill.

Best 400 bucks I’ve spent all year.

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Complete Play list:-

1. Life in Technicolor
2. Violet Hill
3. Clocks
4. In My Place
5. Yellow
6. Glass of Water
7. Cemetries in London
8. 42
9. Fix You
10. Strawberry Swing
11. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face/Talk
12. The Hardest Part/Postcard from Far Away
13. Viva La Vida
14. Lost
15. Speed of Sound
16. I am a Believer (Monkees Cover)
17. Politik
18. Lovers in Japan
19. Death and All of His Friends
Encore:
20. The Scientist
21. Life in Technicolor II

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//Images courtesy of Celeste from smalltimetraveller.wordpress.com//

Coldplay live in Singapore @ 23rd March 2009

Well, looks like the Singaporeans trumped us once again. While we Malaysians are still hanging by a thread to see if the 2009 Sunburst KL Music Festival is that awesome to get Coldplay as a headliner on March 21, the Singaporeans have zipped right past us and got them to play a full-blown concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on March 23.

Coldplay has just announced Singapore as their latest concert stop on their Viva La Vida world tour, alongside Hong Kong (March 25) and Abu Dhabi (March 28). Tickets will go on sale via Sistic on February 16 (Monday) at 9AM, however, according to some sources – whom I will keep unnamed to spare them the embarrassment if ever it were not true – that tickets are already on sale at the Sistic booths. Would all you Singaporean fans be a doll and go check it out for us in Malaysia?

Here are the details:
Date: March 23, 2009 (Monday)
Venue: Singapore Indoor Stadium
Tickets: SGD$248, SGD$188, SGD$158, SGD$88

In the meantime, the organisers of Sunburst have better step up, man. Malaysians’ tolerance is running way way thin.

Ed Note: Times like this, (now mind you, i’ll be crucified for saying this) I wish i was born in Singapore.
Image courtesy of http://fuzzythoughts.files.wordpress.com

Yoshimi Battles These Depressing Times!

Aren’t these trying times? Everywhere you look, you see somber news hitting us from all corners. In the Western Hemisphere, finance house goes into bankruptcy and big time insurers are begging for help from federal reserves that magically conjure up numbers with the whip of their pen. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword.

Closer to home, our neighbours aren’t faring too well themselves. Our cultural brothers, the evergreen Muay Thai championeers are just fresh from a civilian coup to see themselves under the rule of a new premier. The Sinawatra dynasty is indeed a powerful one.

In our own backyard, things are not as peaceful as they should be. I don’t know whats the deal with these fuckers. Since you have the gun and the bullets, open fire already. Faith and hope only lasts that long without anything concrete to back it up.

So what does one do to feel better in these trying times? Why you snuggle up in bed, marshmallow hot choc in hand, with the love of your life of course. Oh wait. I don’t have a love in my life.

Next best thing. I listen to the Flaming Lip’s epic comical tribute to Japanese manga/anime pop culture.

Download Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot Pt 1 HERE.

Top 5 Desert Island Covers of my Life: #2

Most purists will tell you that Led Zeppelin is perhaps the most influential rock outfit in their lives. Their very existence shaped the way the world looks at artistic rock music in a whole new damn.

I tried listening to them. Gave their most critically acclaimed songs a spin from Kashmir to Dazed and Confused but I just couldn’t connect. The only song that truly stands out from them remains and forever will be the majestic Stairway to Heaven.

Robert Plant, however transcends the band he used to front. Most rockers seem to fade into time with age. Jon Bonjovi is the most famed example. From his mammoth days of old school Bonjovi with songs like You Give Love a Bad Name, Living on a Prayer, Blaze of Glory, he goes to write tracks like Thank You for Loving Me or even that god awful Make Me a Memory.

Robert Plant, vocalist extraordinaire has gone soft from his hard rock days but his mellowness seeps of brilliance, not corny mellow like my ex hero Bonjovi does. A sweeping example of this is his take on the legendary Tim Buckley track, Song to the Siren.

The simple instrumentation couples with his soft sweeping voice does wonders to the soul. It breaks, it shatters, it heals, it mends, it tugs, it pulls and it ends with a kaleidoscope of awe.

TIm Buckley is legendary just as much as his son. But Robert Plant took his song and brought it to my knees and made me bend to every emotion he could possibly invoke with his careful tender voice.

#2 of the my top 5 cover songs ever: Robert Plant’s Song to the Siren

Download the song HERE.