Category — Concert Review

If you were walking along Clarke Quay last night, you’d probably be shocked at the number of obviously underaged teens in the queue outside Zirca. No, Zirca had not decided to lift the 18-and-above only policy. Take a closer look, and you’ll notice groups of them wearing kitty ears and eyeliner-drawn whiskers. Strange? Not really, they were all there for Pixie Lott’s showcase, and the cat getup? Fans of the Brit singer are called “Crazy Cats” so it was kinda expected for them to turn up like that.

Pixie opened the gig with the lead single off Young Foolish Happy, All About Tonight. While the crowd was jumping and pumping their fists to the dance track, the singer herself looked rather reserved, almost as if she was restraining herself. Her vocal delivery was still brilliant though; it was hard to believe she wasn’t lip-syncing.

Next up on the setlist was Boys & Girls (which I thought was rather apt, since a majority of the club that night were just, well, young boys and girls). Right after that, she invited Kevin Lester of local band Sixx on stage to rap on Dancing On My Own, originally done by GD & TOP of Korean pop band, Big Bang. I’m sure Kevin is a really good rapper, considering the fact that he was chosen to perform for Pixie, but he was barely audible. It wasn’t his fault though; the sound system was a bit dodgy for the leading lady as well.

Don’t be fooled by her nickname “Pixie”. She was towering over Charmaine Yee and Boy Thunder, the hosts for the event (partly because of the killer block heels she had on). While the two DJs from 91.3FM were bantering away, it was pretty clear that Pixie was feeling a little under the weather, as she replied questions with short sentences and a bit of a forced smile. You okay there, sweetcheeks?

It’s possible that she was getting into character for the next song, Cry Me Out, stripped down. Not her though, I meant the song. Forget the beats and piano melody, she sang this one with just an acoustic guitar backing her up. The emotions she put when she sang this was scarily goosebump-inducing. The girl even had tears peeking from the corner of her eyes (no, I am not exaggerating). If I didn’t know better, I’d think she got dumped right before the show. But of course, who would dump such a lovely young thing?

BT and Charmaine then welcomed the big guy of Universal Music Singapore on stage, to present Pixie with a plaque for reaching the Gold status for combined sales of Young Foolish Happy and Turn It Up albums. Well done, Crazy Cats! A (really) short thank you speech later, she started on the final song of the evening, Kiss The Stars. This time, she injected a little bit more energy, to end the set on a high note.

Fans were still hanging around after she left the stage, convinced that she would come back for an encore. I, too, expected her to burst through from stage left for a second round. I mean, she skipped Mama Do, her breakthrough single! You can’t do that at show in a country you’ve never played at before! That’s like, the rules of feminism.

I kid, I kid.

All in all, the showcase was mediocre. She has the talent, but the less-than-stellar sound system held her back a little. And not to mention how rushed everything was; there was an insignificant “breathing space” between the tracks, and minimal audience interaction.

Come back soon and put on a better show, Pixie!

Setlist

1. All About Tonight
2. Boys And Girls
3. Dancing On My Own (ft. Kevin Lester of Sixx)
4. Cry Me Out (Acoustic)
5. Everybody Hurts (Acoustic)
6. Bright Lights (ft. Kevin Lester)
7. Kiss The Stars

If you’ve watched Greyson Chance’s first appearance on the Ellen Show, back when he was just a YouTube celebrity, you’d know how much charm and vocal prowess the kid had, just casually pouring out. It was pretty clear the audience loved him, judging from the wild cheers that tailed his performance.

I had the privilege of experiencing that madness live, during his one-night-only show at the Festive Grand, Resorts World Sentosa. Though the venue downgraded (in terms of audience capacity, not quality!) from the Indoor Stadium to the Festive Grand, there were still plenty of unoccupied seats. Not that it mattered, since by the time the opening act arrived, the fans vacated their seats, forming a makeshift moshpit of sorts.

Camryn, who started out as a YouTuber like Greyson, did a great job at hyping the crowd up. Despite the less-than-stellar sound system, she pulled through, and even managed to bring a little of that Hannah Montana vibe. She’s got all it down, from the pop-rock sound to the blonde hair with bangs. Halfway through her seven-song set, she sneaked a cover of Stronger by Kelly Clarkson. Smart move, I say, because the restless bug was starting to fly through the crowd, since they barely knew her originals.

After picking out the girls that would be hanging out with Greyson after the show, the man (or boy, rather) himself finally graced the auditorium. And as a little form of PR, I suppose, he pinned a Singapore flag on the back of his blazer. Aww, G-man, you shouldn’t have!

First on his setlist, the anthem of online relationships, Unfriend You. Screwed sound system aside, I was stunned by how his voice came out. It could be the strenuous vocal activities (busy boy’s got so many stops on his tour!) or voice breaking, but there was a husky tone to it. Whatever the reason is, it’s definitely working well for him!

With two songs down, Greyson pulled his first, of many as I found later that evening, surprise. Bringing us back to 2010, when he was still just another kid from the internet, he played Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi. It was just like how he did it on Ellen, although it was evident that he has developed his own flair over the years.

One pop song to another, the second surprise was pulled out after a couple of his own. This time, he injected a little British flavour by performing an acoustic version of Rolling In The Deep. Of course, the crowd loved it. Even the adults around me who were probably the most lifeless concert-goers ever were singing along.

The final surprise came in the form of a tweaked version of 2011’s sole indie hit to make it big on mainstream radio; Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks. Forget the electronic beats, Greyson had his own smooth take on the song, which showcased his powerful lungs. Song choice wasn’t gelling very well with the folks behind me though, who exclaimed “Did he just say fucked up kids?” Now, now girls, control your parents.

He closed the show with Hold On Til The Night, followed by Waiting Outside The Lines, but came back barely five minutes later, much to the relief of the girls demanding an encore.

Greyson Chance’s stage presence and talent was simply a joy to experience live. I kinda wish he’d pause between songs to squeeze in some audience interaction, though, because the entire set seem a tad too rushed for my liking.

Setlist

Unfriend You
Heart Like Stone
Light Up The Dark
Paparazzi
Fire
Running Away
Little London Girl
Home Is In Your Eyes
Rolling In The Deep
Purple Sky
Summertrain
Cheyenne
Pumped Up Kicks
Hold On ‘Til The Night
Waiting Outside the Lines

Encore

Take A Look At Me Now

Photo credits: Dan Walsh Studios

James Morrison is easily one of the musical acts in today’s world that I had to catch live in action before I die, so was I excited when it was finally confirmed that I was going to attend the showcase, which was also the recording of the second installment of MTV Sessions, held at the Resorts World Sentosa’s Waterfront Studio.

The studio was packed to the brim with approximately 200 people – it was squeezy yes, but the ambience made up for it. MTV VJs Holly and Rich did a great job in warming up the crowd by posing questions about James Morrison, and promptly at 7pm, they made way for James Morrison and the band.

The stage set-up was simple because it was an acoustic show – James Morrison was accompanied by a guitarist, a keyboardist, a drummer and 2 back-up female vocalists. The first thing I noticed when he came on stage was how nervous he was. In a completely adorable way. Being his first show ever in Singapore, it was only expected that everyone was tremendously excited when Morrison and the band started off with In My Dreams, a song off his latest record, The Awakening.

Morrison is known to be a charming man when he is not singing, and that was very apparent when he was interacting with the crowd in between songs. Everyone knows that the Singaporean crowd is always a tough cookie to crack because most of the time, most of us go to a concert, stand still and then rave about it online ha. So for Morrison to actually elicit a response from the audience that night – kudos to him.

He played a nice mix of songs from all of his 3 records, including hits such as You Give Me Something, Nothing Ever Hurt Like You and my personal favourite, I Won’t Let You Go. There were 2 high points throughout the showcase – the first being his duet with one of his back-up vocalists (whose name I cannot recall, unfortunately enough) on Up. Her voice was different from Jessie J, thus bringing a different kind of vibe (soulful, I daresay) to the song. The combination of her voice and Morrison’s raspiness was impressive, and definitely did justice to the original song, which is already pretty good.

The next highlight was during Slave To The Music. Morrison gave the audience a back story of the song (which essentially involved him writing the song while he was drunk and how he had always wanted to be Michael Jackson) and that helped all of us to appreciate the music more. Put that with a bit of a sing-along session with the crowd, it was definitely a plus point.

Now, not everything in this world is perfect – and so is this showcase. I have got a few rues with the showcase. Firstly, being the sound. While the band definitely sounded tight and good, I felt that something was a little bit off – I was sitting right smack in the middle of the room (where sound is supposed to be at its best). Maybe its the acoustics of the studio, I’m not exactly too sure what is the problem. The back-up vocalists were struggling with the sound on-stage, they kept putting in and taking out their in-ear monitors. Even Morrison had to tell the sound engineer to correct the on-stage sound during the first song. Not a good start, hey.

The second problem I had was that, the showcase was waaaay too short. I know, it was a TV show recording, but come on! The audience came all the way to Sentosa and the showcase lasted slightly short of an hour (only 10 songs!). We need more. At least, I do.

Nonetheless, James Morrison has the vocal pipes and musicality, and he is not afraid of flaunting that (in the most unpretentious way) when he performs live. If there is any chance of seeing James Morrison perform live in the future and you’re undecided, please don’t hesitate and just purchase the tickets. He is fantastic.

***

MTV Sessions: James Morrison will premiere on MTV SEA Saturday 28 April at 5pm (WIB), 6pm (SG/PH) and 7pm (MAL).

Photos courtesy of MTV Asia/Aloysius Lim.

It was hot and humid at Fort Gate at Fort Canning Park last night. The 5,500-strong crowd was complaining about the heat and people were pushing around so much to get to the front. Needless to say, no one was exactly very cheery. But at 8.30pm, as Death Cab For Cutie walked on stage and dived straight into A Lack of Color, taken off their Transatlanticism album, everyone seemed to perk up. Although the song was not an upbeat one, it set everyone in a good mood for the next song: I Will Possess Your Heart. Everyone, even if they didn’t know the lyrics, was singing along. Ben Gibbard made it pretty obvious that he knew I Will Possess Your Heart was what everyone wanted to hear and made sure we could savour every second of that eight-minute song.

As the crowd was done singing along to Crooked Teeth, the band quickly transitioned to Why’d You Want To Live Here. At this point, it feels as if they were trying to rush through the set to ensure that all their songs get played. With that being said, there wasn’t much connection established between the band and the audience. The only time, in which Ben Gibbard muttered more than just two sentences, was during a slight technical glitch when they were starting on Long Division and he was telling us about how hot it is in Singapore and how there are two more legs to this tour. Also, as if like a chain reaction, the next four songs that followed too had slight technical glitches. The mike either made them sound like they were warbling or wasn’t loud enough with music overpowering their singing.  However, the sound engineers did a good job in correcting the problem quickly, so kudos to them! [Read more →]

The way Lamb of God kicked off their set for Judas’ Priest’s Epitaph Tour at Fort Canning Park on a drizzling Monday evening, you’d think they were the headliners. With a blast of coloured lights and an amplifier wall three metres tall across the stage, Randy Blythe and company played out ear-shattering decibels and quickly urged the crowd, only having just placed themselves at a spot on the hillside facing the stage, into movement. By the third song, Set to Fail, the metalheads and partyhards were already at it, moshing and jumping about.

Wearing the most casual of black T-shirts and cardigans / pants, the members of Lamb of God were cool as you like it, with Blythe taking the centre of attention by swaggering and hopping around his fellow hair-swinging band guitarists. Guitarists Mark Morton and John Campbell were, beyond the excessive hair, largely stationary, occasionally walking back to the amplifier walls to feed themselves the adrenaline. The casualness wasn’t just limited to appearance; Blythe was totally in the mood for interaction with the Singaporean horde, continually calling on Singapore, having conversations with the crowd, and even teasing the crowd with a false start to one of their songs. “You love that, don’t you…?” Blythe jokes.

And we did love Lamb of God’s set. It wasn’t just hearing the exciting, technical metal in person that amazed, it was actually watching them play as well – the sight of their insanely dexterous hands were alone spectacular – along with how the lights dim to black after every other song, so that it’s not just your ears that are assaulted when a new song plays.

Following the encore-less Lamb of God set which ended with closer hit single Black Label, a black Epitaph curtain draped over the stage, allowing time for the stage to be readied for what most people had come here for (No discredit to Lamb of God, but there were calls and chants for Judas! Priest! by 7:45pm). The thin screen did well to block the anticipating crowd from witnessing the construction of the stage, and imaginations ran wild – Having been the band to introduce and popularise the image of chains and leather for heavy metal, Judas Priest’s stage setup promised to be absolutely stunning.

Make no mistake, it was. When Black Sabbath’s War Pigs finished, the curtains dropped and there was the elaborately built set, large hexagonal shapes with chains wrapped over them, and in between, Judas Priest, old and new, glorified and sadomasochistic – Vocalist Rob Halford and his similarly-but-not-as-flamboyantly gang of metal musicians dressed in black leather, rocking out to starter Rapid Fire. With the sudden start, the crowd went, most aptly, apeshit.

Now surely Judas Priest, for all their worth, couldn’t have been as volumetrically loud as Lamb of God. But did it matter? With everyone shouting their hearts out to a band they’ll never ever see live again, the atmosphere grew more tense as each song went. Nostalgia reached strained levels as some songs were introduced by Halford with a little bit of detail on its album. It truly was, as Halford put it, a concert that tried very much as hard as possible to cram more than forty years’ worth of music into just a bit more than two hours.

But they couldn’t cram everything, could they? Admittedly, Halford was getting by with age and he couldn’t have yelped and screamed as he did in his heyday (note the exclusion of tracks like Touch of Evil). It was still a pleasure to see Judas Priest rocking out as much as they could with whatever they could, though. Halford came into almost every song with a new piece on (including the Singapore flag!) and the guitarists contributed to the onstage antics with synchronised bopping and crowd interaction.

What made this concert so dazzling, too, was the fantastic stage effects that accompanied Judas Priest. The strobes, lasers, smoke and floodlights galore gave the concert a psychedelic feel, especially when just looked at when taking a breather from all the fist-pumping and head-bopping. As the night progressed it was easy to get lost in the sweaty, moshing atmosphere with all the noise and visuals hitting the very extremes of the senses.

The intensity of crowd reached its very apex as Judas Priest entered its last run of tracks. What did they expect, playing Breaking the Law, Painkiller and Hell Bent for Leather back to back? Crowdsurfing was at its most frequent, and my friend and I soon found ourselves in another part of the Fort Canning hillside with the convection currents of the moshpit. Good things must come to an end, however. As soon as Hell Bent for Leather (including a call-and-response segment) ended, Judas Priest began their last words and played You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, which progressed into an extended jam session that was not so much technical as rhythmic. Nobody was there to outshine anyone but music itself.

After five hours at Fort Canning Park listening front-row to heavy metal and having gone home to rest and write a review, I swear I could still hear an endless guitar solo ringing out melodiously in my left ear. It was a phenomenal experience and a phantom limb of a guitar solo was a nice parting gift. The rest of you probably got picks and sticks.

It was an overcast Sunday at 12 noon and the skies threatened rain. But even though there thankfully was no repeat of last year’s torrential outpour, not even the rain would have stopped 2012 St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival from rocking itself out. With the country’s most colourfully dressed hipsters all in one packed hillside and dancing all the way around the clock, Laneway was an absolute blast.

1:50 – Cults

So Laneway kicks off with Cults, the breakthrough band of yesteryear. Beginning with a slow, progressive intro, pulsating and grinding, Cults soon segue into their famous Abducted when they think there’s enough early-birds filling up the then rather empty Fort Canning. With enough space to get dancing along, the crowd responded well, and so was Cults frontwoman Madeline Follin, who, like on the album cover of their self-titled debut, was in a black dress and bopping about wildly.

The rain at the middle of their track You Know What I Mean mattered little as the initially restless crowd soon got into the groove and atmosphere of their gig, and no surprises that, right after they ended their closer Oh My God in a haze of feedback and epileptic lights, the Cults merchandise was the first to sell out. [Read more →]

Sucks to be you if you’ve missed this – the biggest musical event of the year, 2012 Laneway Festival, has gone by and you’ve nothing but pictures and words to take from it! To have the likes of The Horrors, Feist, M83 and The Drums all in one place and in one day, Laneway tore Fort Canning for twelve hours straight up into shreds with waves of intense music.

It was great fun (and a serious test of endurance) and the Spin or Bin Music crew has covered this wonderful event with much enthusiasm. Be sure to check back later today for a full, in-depth review of every band, inclusive of exclusive photographs of each band!

Shortly after I arrived at Fort Canning, I was greeted by a very efficient ticketing system, which saw my friends and I amongst the other 6,000 fans in front of the stage within 15 minutes. The organizers really outdone themselves too as the show started only 10 minutes late, which was ridiculously punctual for a concert.

Expectations were high as The Vaccines took the stage. After all, as they get more and more popular with each passing day, it is hard to view them as just another opening act. I saw them as a huge reason to invest in a ticket, as it was basically two solid bands in one show.

However, it seemed like a case of ‘opening act’ syndrome, as they put in a somewhat lackluster showing. The boys just fell short of achieving a good show, which I was sure they were capable of.

There was a lack of stage presence and Justin Young didn’t really ‘own’ the stage. This could probably be because of inexperience as after all, these guys only came onto the scene in 2010 and haven’t exactly done a lot of touring with only their debut album to show for.

There was also the age-old issue with their set that the sound quality just wasn’t good enough. This seems to actually happen with a lot of opening acts that I’ve seen. The sound was distorted at times and made it hard to appreciate their technical ability.

Despite all that though, I’m still pretty stoked to see where these guys will be heading because it’s clear that there’s loads of potential. They seem like genuinely nice guys too, with Justin Young deciding to mingle with the crowd after the show to allow fans a couple of pictures.

After The Vaccines cleared the stage though, there was a half-hour buffer as the crew had to clear their set and set up for Kasabian. I, like everybody else, am not usually big on the waiting at concerts but these guys were really efficient with the show being able to start on time. They could have played more relevant music to keep the crowd entertained but that’s beside the point.

The fans have also got to be one of the nicest concert-goers I’ve seen in a long time with a group of random strangers overhearing that I was thirsty and deciding to share their drinks with my friends and I. Others made small talk as we waited for the show to begin.

When Kasabian eventually took to the stage, they decided to kick off the show with the high tempo track, Days Are Forgotten. Which was probably a good idea too, considering the tittering crowd being a bit lethargic after waiting for quite a bit.

They sort of faded away for a while in the middle though as they put in a pretty tentative performance, as if unsure of how enthusiastic the fans were going to be.

That soon all changed though as the crowd eventually got warmed up and began getting involved, with a particular female fan in front of me deciding to flash her assets to the band and to the crowd as well. It also helped that Sergio Pizzorno was constantly applauding the audience, which really kept the crowd going.

The band dished out many hits from their latest album, Velociraptor! which have been racking up the views on YouTube while also peppering their set list with old material from West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

What really impressed me was the versatility of the band, which was on display for everybody to see. Tom Meighan has said that the band would never release an album similar to something they’ve done before and it was easy to see what he meant as fans were treated to a large diversity of music. The main factor has to be the chemistry between Tom Meighan and Sergio Pizzorno as well.

It was easy to tell that they’ve been playing together for a long time and I thought it was really cool how both of them take turns at being the lead vocalist with Sergio even doing all the vocals on tracks like, Take Aim.

The party really got started though when Fire came on. For those of you who don’t know, this is the song that plays during the weakly English Premier League highlight reel. The crowd went crazy as everybody started jumping and before I knew it, I was all the way in front against the barrier moshing with a couple of guys that I was pretty sure were drunk.

It was all over too soon though, and I felt that while it was still a great show as a whole from the two bands, there could’ve been a bit more energy from them. As a whole, I would definitely go again if either of them returned to Singapore.

Setlist (The Vaccines)

Blow It Up
Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
Tiger Blood
A Lack of Understanding
Wetsuit
Under Your Thumb
Teenage Icon
Post Break-Up Sex
All In White
Wolf Pack
No Hope
If You Wanna
Nørgaard

Setlist (Kasabian)

Days Are Forgotten
Shoot The Runner
Velociraptor!
Underdog
Where Did All The Love Go?
I.D.
Take Aim
Club Foot
Re‐Wired
Empire
La Fée Verte
Fast Fuse
Goodbye Kiss
L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)

Encore:
Switchblade Smiles
Vlad The Impaler
Fire

I think it’s safe to say that SPAstronauts left Fort Canning Park blissfully deaf when Simple Plan, played their one-night concert for Singapore fans on Sunday. Made up of lead vocalist Pierre Bouvier, David Desrosiers (bass, backing vocals), Sebastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar) and Chuck Comeau (drummer), the Canadian pop punk band delivered a hell of a show boasting their greatest tracks and new songs from Get Your Heart On!.

The concert follows their success from SINGfest 2008 (which is like way too long ago) and an invite-only event at Music Matters Live in May last year. So thankfully, the boys didn’t keep us waiting for too long!

Bursting onto the stage at 8.25pm and greeting us with arms raised open, Pierre Bouvier shouted “What’s up Singapore! We are Simple Plan!”, before promptly jumping into a rousing performance of Shut Up and Can’t Keep My Hands Off You.

Singing a few lines of I Gotta Feeling, Pierre smoothly transitioned into Jump – a song, which of course only served to heat up the atmosphere even further with everyone in the crowd jumping, screaming and holding their hands up high.

Considering that the band came out fresh from another show in Malaysia the previous night on Saturday, it’s amazing how well they could remain on form and so energetic throughout the show.

They did epic leaps on stage, lifting mic stands, while David did this neat trick at one point in the show, where he managed to throw a guitar pick in the air and then catch it in his mouth.

Simple Plan definitely didn’t forget to to “kick it old school” and performed Addicted and My Alien to loud cheers. The band bantered frequently with the audience as well and the latter song led David to lament about not having a girlfriend in Singapore while a fan offered to make his “alien babies”.

Deciding that we were ready to party, Simple Plan broke up their medley of Fuck You, Dynamite and Raise Your Glass. At Astronaut, the band asked everyone to light up their handphones as they sang while Your Love Is A Lie, from the more mature and beat-driven self-titled album, which was also a bit of a break from the up-tempo songs in the set.

It was a generous repertoire of songs (19 in total!) that they played – an even mix of their chart-topping hits from the last 4 albums – which basically means everyone got to hear their favourite songs!

Taking the time to thank their fans, they said to the crowd, “Thank you so much, our heart is not jetlagged tonight!”

“I’ve gotta say, we’ve got a lot of fans out there and we really appreciate everyone being here tonight, and supporting us through 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6… I hope that once in a while, our music can put a smile on your face!”

The heartfelt dedication led to another crowd favourite, This Song Saved My Life. For people who missed the show, the band also promised they will be back “over and over again.”

During the encore set, Simple Plan sang Loser of the Year and the band’s first ever song release I’m Just A Kid. And then in a dramatic dimming of lights, when for a moment everyone thought the concert was abruptly over, Pierre Bouvier strode out with a guitar and sang the one song that basically summed up the night: Perfect.

Setlist:

1. Shut Up
2. Can’t Keep My Hands Off You
3. Jump
4. When I’m Gone
5. Addicted
6. My Alien
7. You Suck At Love
8. Thank You
9. Your Love Is A Lie
10. Astronaut
11. Summer Paradise
12. Fuck You / Dynamite / Raise Your Glass
13. Jet Lag
14. This Song Saved My Life
15. Welcome To My Life
16. I’d Do Anything

Encore:

1. Loser of the Year
2. I’m Just A Kid
3. Perfect

The overcast evening skies were no match for the charm that was frontman Mark Foster and his bandmates Mark Pontius (drums) and Cubbie Fink (bass and backing vocals), as they made their debut stage appearance at Fort Gate at Fort Canning last night.

300 extra tickets were released after it was announced that it was a sold-out show, but any fears of it being overcrowded were unfounded as there seemed to be ample space to accommodate at least a 100 or more without it becoming too uncomfortable. Opening band The Auditory Effect set the ball rolling with a roughly 30 minute set that was part indie rock part electronic. The fusion resulted in an interesting head-bobbing session for me.

I admit getting a little restless waiting for Foster The People to get on stage, as it felt like they were trying to push the time back to make up for their short repertoire of songs. Indeed, with only one 10-track album under their belt, I was not expecting anything longer than an hour, and true to their word, they played all 10, including a Weezer cover and an unreleased track Ruby.

A DJ set of indie / alternative tunes blasted from the sound system in between the acts, and at 9pm, the atmosphere immediately electrified as the band kicked it off with another lesser known hit, Houdini. The thing I liked about this song was the chorus and the following zapping synth solo. Foster sounded pretty much the same as he did on the album, which was a little disappointing because I thought he could have tried to give a different listener experience.

However, I have to commend them on their beat and synth percussion performances, which set the tone for the band’s sound. The talented band engaged the audience with a number of instrument changes, never seeming to miss a beat while they were at it, which actually showed the chemistry they had with each other. Seemingly tired from playing consecutive shows across Asia the past few days, Foster nevertheless was working the stage, jumping around and singing with gusto.

His vocals on Waste pretty much sealed the deal for me, because I would think it’s a hard song to sing, what with him having to use his falsetto for most of the song. The stellar performances could not be complete without Fink smashing the bass and Pontius on the drums though, obviously.

Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls) had a moment where Foster just let the crowd do the singing, and boy was it chill-inducing. The contrast of having killer array of electronica drum beats and his voice ringing in your ears with only having a single drum beat and the crowd singing back to the band was just indescribable.

The mood went a little sombre when the usually buoyant band played an unreleased track Ruby. I thought it was a really great choice to play a song, stripped bare of the electronics and heavy bass, banking on just the sound of the keyboard, as it really brought out the inherent appeal of the band, which ultimately lies in their talent of being able to perform live.

The ubiquitous smash hit, Pumped Up Kicks, was an apt end to the roughly 75 minute set, as the crowd rose to near-hysterical levels once again and sang along to the deliciously catchy song that FTP refreshingly stretched out into a 10 minute electronic-heavy remix. I don’t believe the audience was expecting something so radical from the studio version, so it was a pleasant surprise for me.

One major flaw in an otherwise perfect session was the lighting system. Yes, I understand that it added a more dramatic effect with strobe lights flashing in sync with the beats and sounds FTP were churning out, but were they trying to blind the audience, or better yet, cause seizures and fits? All I wanted was to look up to the stage and watch Foster bust out some shuffling moves, but the annoyingly incessant flashes of white light had me looking the other way – the exit.

Call it what you want, but it was in all a very psychedelic night, filled with great performances all round and I will not hesitate to watch them live again when they get back, just choose a different venue and use better lighting please!

P.S. I heard there were some issues at the front where people started getting rowdy and many were pulled out, what’s the deal with that? (Tell us if you know anything!)

Setlist:

Houdini
Miss You
Life on the Nickel
I Would Do Anything For You
Broken Jaw
Waste
Call It What You Want
Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)
Say It Ain’t So (Weezer cover)
Helena Beat
Encore:
Ruby
Warrant
Pumped Up Kicks