Rockaway '09 @ Capsquare Mall, Jln. Dang Wangi

It’s not everyday you get to see a show inclusive of big homegrown bands like One Buck Short, Pop Shuvit and Estranged... for free. But this was indeed the delicious taste sponsored by Jack’nJill Roller Coaster that was greedily indulged by the crowds of Rockaway ’09. An event in courtesy of punk-rock band One Buck Short held at the easily accessible Capsquare Mall, which is one of the blooming gig-houses to date; the rumors that crowds would’ve flocked to the Pesta Malam Indonesia concert was stamped out, when the gates were (finally) opened for the attendees and a stampede of blurred skinny jeans and band t-shirts rushed through towards the stage. The place was filled in just a matter of seconds. Havoc was everywhere, potato chip packets popped and contents scattered, fire crackers randomly bursting and the smell of cigarette burning up the open area. I arrived about two hours before the show actually began, sitting around finding the place to get my media pass and meeting up with my friend One. Arul was there to with his group of friends.

The stage came alive to an impatient crowd therefore opening act Car Crash Hearts was eagerly accepted with wide open arms. CCH was a kick starter and it’s only fair to say they did a pretty kickass job in bringing up the hype to a higher level. They performed 4 songs, all equally power packed, and perhaps it would’ve been a nice round-up to their performance if they’d switch around their last song with the second last; ending with a slow song kind of pumped down the energy of the crowd. Their second last song had a funky dancerock end to it, which would've coalesced with the crowd's energy.

Medusa roared through the next set, with rather confusing arrangements of instruments and vocals. They seemed to already have a solid fan base, like any other hardcore ban, really, but they stuck out as being new to composing songs that work. The drums were tight enough to bring on the headbanging and moshing up to a slight craze, but there was no need of comparison if you put them besides the other two hardcore Malaysian bands who were there at the event, too. Cassandra was officially announced as “the best hardcore band in Malaysia”, and they proved themselves worthy of the title, indeed. Everybody joined together to witness Cassandra give a full-on performance, and no doubt to venture within the circle pit; including girls who wore shorts and tight-fit t-shirts. 

Similarly to this was Restraint, an ever-growing band with an ever-growing fan base enough to storm the place down. The mosh pits kept splitting and joining up, and the signature “Wall of Death” pit was enacted by the fans, leaving people bruised and even some to the point of almost fighting with each other; one group of men kept trying to fight throughout the whole event – pointless. They played two encores for the yearning crowd - the peak point of the event. I almost got suckerpunched by those fighter cocks; I had yelled "Ey, korang datang sini gaduh ke nak dengar musik, kalau nak gaduh pegi dekat Chow Kit ke ape la!". Yes, my mood was extremely utterly bad that time.

By that time, I was with Moshi, Chaom, Ayen, Alif, Azam, Kolep, Sher, Din... etc etc. It was not a very usual hangout group that I would mix together, but it was pretty nice. Moshi was like "Relax, relax..." Bahaha, weird hearing that come from a guy who's always ready to bite someone's head off.

Love Me Butch was, as usual, a great set to watch and gifted us with three new songs from their upcoming album. Unfortunately, the majority of the crowds were exhausted from the aftermath of Restraint and Pesawat, and it was more on the headbanging and less on the moshing. Love Me Butch deserved much more than that, though. But I did my part in singing along whole-heartedly to Barricade and Reconcile. Estranged was luckier on that point, having their set midway through the list, drawing the crowds in with tracks from their old album, like ‘Velocity’.

Pesawat’s also one band we watched grow up throughout these years, having recently done a video shoot at KLIA airport for their hit single ‘Mirage’. Playing a solid set of 4 songs, they rocked the house down the best they could, despite the several faults with the sound system; the speakers were a little problematic, a fault we could depict clearly as well through the performances by The Times and Sevencollar T-shirt. However, mere system errors are not enough to pull back The Times from getting their fans to rock out and shout along to the songs with full force, this time playing a new song “Spektakular”, which they dedicated to their fans. I watched Pesawat on the screen in the VIP tent, and heard Sevencollar from afar. The technical problems were depictable, but their performances still sounded and looked 'wow'.

Indie favourites like Couple, Bittersweet and Bunkface pulled it all off easy, being the ones in most demand (A lot of people came just for Bittersweet’s set, leaving straight after), and they did their share in adding catalyst to the event. The crowds were fanatical throughout their performances. I could see the fans from beside the stage through Bunkface's performance. I curse Ayen for getting all lost around the area! I missed Bittersweet because of him, doofy! Grr. Me and Chaom walked back into the venue to witness the fans leaving. Sucks. And for the first time in my life, I had to say "fuck Couple!"... not because they were bad, hey, I LOVE Couple, but after the fall out with my boyfriend (personal infos whoops), I ventured back into the crowd only to have Couple sing "Pergi, jangan kembali, sampai sini saja, kita berdua". Oh GOSH!
For the non-Malay speakers: "Go, don't come back, this is where the both of us finish"... Ouch, right?

Pop Shuvit were the ultimate entertainers of the night before One Buck Short’s performances; they’d been busying away from the scene for a while now, therefore everybody had to admit Pop Shuvit was greatly missed – the crowd was crazy and every song was sung along with whatever was left in the audience to split their throats for. One Buck Short finally came out and launched onto a big thanksgiving speech to the audience and sponsors – we’ve heard it all before, now bring on the music!

Performing favourites like “That Day” and “10:04”, OBS knew how to pull the crowd up out of the exhaustion clouds to plunge straight back into the fresh wave of energy that wrapped the crowd up tightly with the music. The crowd finally dispersed with the background music of OBS playing a final song to send the crowds back home.

This day was the day we Malaysian rockers went all out in front of a surprisingly large number of foreigners who had attended and found an equally surprising amount of fierce energy in the crowds, proving that our love for music is a die-hard factor. Anyone who walked out of the gates that night un-bruised or un-sweaty just did not rockaway hard enough. As for me, I headed to Bukit Bintang for a night chill with friends that matter when the stage lights turned off.

Celine hated and loved this day altogether.