Rock (and rolling) on!
By CHESTER CHIN
With wild stage histrionics and screaming adulation fans, last Sunday’s MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia concert was a rocking affair where psychedelic LED visuals and bold live music took center stage.
Despite being held at a new venue and featuring rather lackluster artist lineup compared to last year’s one-two punch list of performers, that did not deter music fans from having one hell of a carnivalesque experience at this year's World Stage installment.
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| The energetic crowd cheered and roared throughout the concert. |
“I want you to jump. I want you to jump until you touch the stars,” Jared Leto, frontman of the evening’s headlining act, 30 Seconds to Mars commanded the ecstatic crowd that thronged the i-City precinct in Shah Alam.
And oh boy, did the crowd concurred and went completely hysterical!
The concert pit became a mass orgy of writhing bodies as people jumped and waved their hands into the air to some of the band’s hit songs such as A Beautiful Lie, Attack and Search and Destroy.
It was evident who the man of the hour was that night when Leto took off his sunglasses and revealed his piercing blue eyes, much to the screams of female fans.
There's just a primal savage quality in those pair of eyes which added an enigmatic depth to the band’s dramatic music.
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| Jared Leto, frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars, emoted raw emotion while performing one of the band's songs. |
Superficiality aside, Leto was every inch a true rocker as he belted the songs in ridiculously near-impossible voice frequency.
He also displayed a more sentimental side when he emerged solo onstage and performed a stripped down acoustic rendition of The Kill and Hurricane. I was slightly dejected that the song Alibi wasn’t performed, but given the time crunch, the band did good with their song selections.
The Los Angeles-based rock outfit didn't held back as they went all out to please the crowd that night. They returned for an encore performance of Kings and Queens and even invited over a dozen fans onto the stage.
Earlier, alternative rock band Neon Trees brought the house down when they performed half the track list of their debut album, Habits.
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| Neon Trees lead singer, Tyler Glenn charged through the crowd before hitting the stage. |
The band’s frontman, Tyler Glenn had an awful grating live-singing voice. At times, his voice even sounded nasally.
But this little glitch was disguised by his larger-than-life stage antics.
It was a real treat watching him unravel wacky expressions and indefatigable dance moves, although at times I do have a suspicion that he was high on crack.
Glenn’s enthusiasm rubbed off on the crowd with everyone going into an euphoric state when the band performed Animal and Your Surrender, two of their more well-known songs.
Neon Trees definitely injected adrenaline into the crowd that night and emerged as the concert’s highlight.
While we’re at it, I should probably give a special mention to the band’s drummer, Elaine Bradley. The sole female performer of the night, she performed miracles with the drumsticks while looking like a million bucks.
Even the crowd approved when they gave her a roaring cheer during an introduction by the lead singer.
In matching white outfits, Korean sensation Beast came on stage amidst stunning background visuals and frenzied screams from thousands of K-pop fans.
I was slightly surprised to see that they made it to the concert.
Well you know, given our authorities and a portion of society’s conservative intolerance towards anything that remotely alludes to homosexuality, one would have thought that they’d be stopped at the airport.
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| The Korean boy band Beast showcased some slick dance moves while performing Beautiful. |
The fans hollered their head off as the androgynous-looking boys executed polished dance moves and lip synced to some of their catchy hits like Shock, Fiction and When it Rains.
After a costume change that took like forever, the band returned and wowed the crowd with a performance of Special and Breath before concluding with their smash hit, Beautiful.
Scathing remarks aside, Beast seemed intent on pleasing the crowd and I’m sure they’ve satisfied the depraved wet dreams of all K-pop girl fans who were there that night.
Oh alright, I guess their lip syncing skill is not too shabby either.
Our local act, Pop Shuvit was also there to kick off the event with a very solid performance of their smashing hits Ol Skool Rocka and Oh! Sizuka as well as their brand new song Running Away.
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| Moots, lead singer of Pop Shuvit diving into the mosh pit. much to the delight and chagrin of the crowd. |
Later on in their performance, the supergroup Project E.A.R. (East Asian Revolution) and Malaysian music legend Man Bai joined the local rockers on stage.
I was mortified, to say the least, when Man Bai sang Seperti Syurgamu with the band. His voice was horrendously pitchy and he even went out of tune at one point. It was a shame really because I count Kau Ilhamku as one of the best local songs out there.
Pop Shuvit concluded their performance and went out with a bang when the band’s lead singer Moots dived from the stage into the mosh pit.
But if you want my honest two cents, I’d say the crowd would rather grope Jared Leto than him.
Now, I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of rock music, preferring to stick to the likes of Adele and Rachael Yamagata.
However, this year’s third instalment of the MTV World Stage concert which was hosted by MTV VJ Utt and VJ Holly had enough vivacity and live temerity to excite even the most rock illiterate music fan.
It was definitely a head-banging session that provided fans with a thrilling concert experience that nears epic proportion.
A two-hour version of MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2011 premieres August 8 throughout Asia on MTV Asia channel (Astro Channel 713).
> Follow Chester Chin as he tweets about music and random musings at www.twitter.com/chesterchin
