I’m dumping all the photos I’ve posted in facebook here. Sorry folks about the arrangement of the photos. There’s a bug with my wordpress that causes it to go haywire with galleries when there are more than 30 photos. Photos contain shots at the VIP tent and performances by Labrat, Pesawat, Joanna & Co, Couple, Stonebay, Yuna and Liyana Fizi.

Totally unrelated but bumped into Liyana (ex Estrella) during lunch time. Here’s her giving her sultry pose.

Kudux of Pesawat

Sam of Bunkface

I would like to personally thank Yaniz, Pop Shuvit’s manager for letting me crash in for the night – beats than having me to find another resort else where The next day we and the rest of the Pesawat crew left hotel some time around 2pm, drove up to Kemaman to have delicious Satar before making our way back to KL. Wish we had stayed longer, I would have loved to snapped some shots of the sunrise/sunset and play at the beach. Next time? Hopefully.

Enjoy the pictures. I especially love Stonebay’s set.. the lighting and the smoke was just perfect!

Oh by the way, my business cards are ready – yay! They’re rather tiny… just something I’m experimenting with. Maybe I should get one of my talented graphics designer friends to design it next time. Hehe

Of course it also helps that the vocalist is an eye-candy. Oh my, I didn’t just type that did I? Gonna get whacked by the boys for this.

This gig was held as part of the Kuala Lumpur Bike Rally 2009 where (I assume) bikers from around the ASEAN countries (I remembered there was an Australian team – if I’m not mistaken) gather around to… err..parade their bikes? Anyway, I’m not much a fan of bikes even though dad did had one when I was growing up. I think it was a Gold Wing and Ducati. Ah good times. Anyway. The stream of bikes came in some time around 9pm when the rain halted. It’s been raining every afternoon in KL and for this day it was no exception. The rain began pouring at 5pm and thankfully stopped in time before the Indie bands started their show.

First impression of the stage: lighting was much much better than the Search concert. Sounded better too but according to the Pesawat boys, the monitors were a bit on the low side. There were two screens on each side of the stage where a video of bike rallies from other countries (most likely the States) were on replay. Here comes rant number two. So Beyonce was not allowed to perform 2 years back because she wore sexy clothes and it was derogatory to the Muslim image of the country. But here, in full view (or should I say sebesar alam), girls were clad in skimpy bikinis or butt-cut-out pants parading their assets on the video. I kid you not, the videos were very distracting.

Turn out was pretty small. Again, obviously due to the rain but it slowly picked up towards the end of the night. When me and the boys first arrived, I swore the ratio of photographers (i.e. those with a dSLR) was 5 to 1. *chuckles* There were no barriers set up in front of the stage so that made easier access for the photographers to get up-close to the performers. A good thing I guess if you have the crowd under control – which was not really a problem if the crowd is small. My intention was just to shoot Pesawat but I can’t help get hyped up by the energy of Incarnation – head-banging music almost always produce good photos.

Here ya go peeps!

His first solo act however was an impromptu one right after Hunny’s performance in No Black Tie. Most of the crowd had left. It was passed midnight, but the remaining people there were a group of Singaporeans who obviously had a wee bit too much to drink but nonetheless their happy spirit was entertaining. Bo went up the stage, took his guitar and started singing – randomly. Like seriously, you can’t get any random than this. Bo can diss about a woman (in mind you, swearing at the same time), and make it sound so romantic. I can’t post up the lyrics here because well.. let’s just keep this blog clean but if you do get a chance to watch Bo perform, you’d know what I mean.

So with that experience in mind, I made myself once again to No Black Tie last thursday. Got myself a good cup of hot green tea, had my beloved 50mm and shutter-clicked away.

What I will post are photos from the Homegrown Space showcase last Friday at Bentley music, The Curve. This is their second round and they had bands Stonebay, Couple and pure-wholesome-goodness voiced Yuna. I’ve met Stonebay through a photoshoot which I assisted Azwaa about 2 months back but never really had the chance to listen to their music. So I thought, why not check it out? On top of that, I’ve missed listening to Yuna since I last saw her at Urbanscapes.

So what is Homegrown Space? This is a direct extract from their website,

The Homegrown Space is part of an on-going project to encourage undiscovered and budding talents to join the Homegrown movement to promote and grow the local art scene. It is a dedicated “space” for artists from all walks to nurture and showcase their art.

It is a way for the company, Homegrown, to give back to the community by providing a positive and conducive environment for performances and giving artists a platform to showcase what they can do and what they are about.

The setting of the performance was intimate; organizers placed a few bean bags around the tiny stage, a few chairs and one large sofa. The crowd was small too…well till it was Yuna’s turn to perform – that was kind of expected. That girl is MAJOR talent!

P/S: Waa makes an appearance too!

Much to my surprise, Mado came over to join the gang (yay! Didja know it was so hard to convince him to get out of the house to accompany me to the concert? Pft). Good thing was, we had some time to kill before the main show started at 9pm. After surveying the stage, we agreed that a wide-lens would be useful and hence we went all the way to Subang Jaya to borrow lens from our good friend, Mail. As you know, I only own a 50mm 1.4; Mado has his 17-55 but his entire gear is at the Nikon centre. So anyhow, we made it back at Kiara just in time for the show.

Not gonna blog much. Perhaps I’ll continue tomorrow…considering..oh my god. 5 am!

Let’s see. *puts on her thinking cap*

Lighting
As a photographer, this is the first thing I would judge about a particular gig or concert. I’m not good at describing lighting but to me it was just normal. Yes, lighting was sufficient, but it was normal. It did not highlight the performers, it did not match up to the rock mood. I’m the type who likes to play with flares and back-lighting but I just couldn’t achieve it at this show. I was trying so hard to figure out how to get the lighting to work with my shots and I caught Amy’s eyes a few times when I was just staring up and looking blankly. Haha. Look at the shots below; the lighting was just everywhere (or what in malay we say bersepah). Best lighting I have to date was at a free (yes! free!) concert – Rockaway 2009. The lighting was just superb and enjoyed shooting the show tremendously.

Sound
Ok. I’m not qualified to review this part but all I can say is the sound is bad. Not bad… but again flat. It lacks…clarity…it lacks the oommmph.

Showmanship
I couldn’t feel the rock in the air. In my opinion, Amy could have interacted more with the audience. He also seem to have a troubled-look on his face through out the show. Probably he was worried a of a second power-trip. (Yep, there was a power trip in the middle of the second song)

Seating
If an audience had paid for ‘VIP’ tickets, they would have been greatly disappointed. If you’ve been to the polo field at the Bukit Kiara club, you would note where the grand stand is. Now imagine paying for ‘VIP’ tickets, but the stage is placed at the other opposite end of the field. You could bareeeeely see the performers. Actually I take that back, the performers looked like ants from that distance. I know that for a fact because I had to walk all the way to the back, in search of some drinks (drinks supply backstage was zilch except 2 flask of Austin Chase coffee which has been left out in the open since morning).

My purpose is not really to complain, but more of towards a reminder that there are so many things that the organizers can improve on.