Stage'n'Lights @ One Cafe, Jln. TAR, KL

First of all, one big shout out to Kolep and Jaja. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Yes, a no better reason to go to a gig other than to celebrate your friends' birthdays, aside from wanting to enjoy the music, of course! Currently in love with the thrill of driving (sans license mehehe), I took Moe's car after chilling with Nindy for a bit, and drove to One Cafe with Moe hoping to god I won't crash his car. Arrived at around 2.30-ish, but of course, always expect the place to still be silent and... Stage'n'Lights [Ep.1] unready to start yet.

Found Kolep (trying to hide his face) at the table in front of the venue entrance and sat down, only to jump up in glee again at the sight of Taan! Sumpah lama gilerrrr tak jumpa dia. Over a year, man. Anyhow, sat around and watched our table get more and more cramped up as all our mates started piling in; Fahmy, Moshi, CHAOMMM, Azam, Jaja, etc etc etc etc. Malas nak name everybody. Established the hilarious fact that Moe and Taan looked like adik-beradik, HAHAHA.

Kan?

Went to collect Azri and Azam Stereosakit from the monorail station, and bought Nindy's Against Me cassette (which she totally ADORED when I gave it to her the following day!) of Azri. Got all blushy because Moe kept pushing me to his friends going "That's the singer, that's the singer!" after showing them our song. AIYO! But hell, some good news after the gig for our band ey? :)

So the gig kick starts, finally, with Kaos Beat. A little underground and unknown, their new-wave, electro sounds weren't powerful enough this time as it was in Dancepunk Party, when they had performed and drove the crowds wildddd. Crowds were still lazy here at Stage'n'Lights, lazing at the tables outside and inside, unwilling to step up and move their arses towards the front. I'm still happy KB played "Black Diamond", as I had wanted them to :)

The band after them was the real disappointment of the show. Everyone were talking about The Siblings like they really were something of substance, but when they stepped up and spent over ten minutes tuning the guitar (TUNING ON STAGE? MOE SAYS NO!) concluding with pecah sounds anyway throughout their generic and almost uncertain performance. Better work next time, guys? I was not only disappointed at the band at this stage but FURIOUS at the crowds. I even kicked my own friends' asses when they sat at the back too long. Hehe. No hard feelings, twiddywinkies.

Decided to go out and take a break from the sort of low atmosphere plaguing the usually hyped up One Cafe, and listened to Matahari from the outside, imagining the place jampacked with people. Matahari probably deserved that, what with sounds like White Stripes and a funky vocalist synching with danceable tunes. Walked back in to Brainhead (thought it was Khottal's performance, but they switched), and hell they were good! Never seen Brainhead perform ever, and only recently heard of them from Moe. Shit, they were worth my wasting battery to record two videos of them. I would upload them if Youtube isn't being a pain to me. With the escalating riffs that sounded like Coldplay's "Fix You" and superb guitar effects, my mind was already drooling with awe. Odd picture? Yeah.

And next up.... KHOTTALLL!!! :) One band I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the event, and maybe even before. One can never get sick of the mental bizarreness of ten people cramped on stage playing equally uncanny instruments and singing along like they just don't care. It's like as if what they're doing isn't performing, just having pure, downright, genuine fun. The vocalist reminded me of Ija! The twisting around the hands in the air like he was high on something. There was a twist of Coldplay and Killers as I always hear when I listen to them sing Favourite Things and The Woo Song.... Niceeeee. It was due to them that the crowd formed, so bravo to Khottal!

Nice timed, the ten-band event paused for Maghrib at exactly the fifth band, and we chilled outside before preparing ourselves for a reggae splash. Walked around with Haziq for a bit, and caught up on things (rindu wehh jalan2 ngan dia tanpa arah tuju haha!) and then went back inside to lepak with Azri and his mates. Had a go at the MC of the day, who just didn't seem to know how to handle being an MC. She talked funny, she acted funny, like as if it was so painful to just be natural at what she was doing. And she made the event seem so negative at one point! "Wow, that was a longgg set. Nevermind. Nevermind." Well... Brainhead were good, so who gives a shit if it was a long set or not? Don't say things like that man!!!

Anyway, smoked for a bit before dashing off to skank. Laughed like HELL when Faez came on with fake dreadlocks. Just... his face... BAHAHAHAAHAHAH omfg, just remembering it kills me.

Aside from that rib-splitting hysterical, Sharpshuter put on a nicely paced set, with equal mixes of slow and skippy beats that got us skanking around to Gerhana Ska-like tunes. Panji, panji reggae! :)

Getting ready for Restraint!

Restraint took hold of the stage next, and Ijam entertained us all with continuous cringeworthy love songs and unhealthily lame jokes. xD Nonetheless, there were no silent moments in Restraint's set; it was either Ijam talking or the hardcore kids asking for more. Heck, I loveddddd their set. Since when do I not, anyway? (Wanted to walk onto stage and slap the MC in the face when she went "Seconddd Combaaatttt"... DUDE, you're supposed to know which band is on stage, that's part of your job man. Geez. Don't just follow the set list. Advice to all!

Chaom shakin' his booty in the midst of Restraint

Rested, and needed it, after a hard mosh and stealing the mic from Ijam. Camwhore time again *sigh*

Lol! tembak bontot. EW!

NOW it was Second Combat's turn to go on (stupid MC). With a jump in the air and a crash of the drums, Ein and gang thundered down their set with emancipating speeeed that helped release the tightened knots in our bodies from the mosh previously. Oh Arwith, don't forget my request for when you go to Penang. Check out that band, tau? :P *secretive smile* Went to hughug Palimali after their set, and dashed back into the crowd when The Otherside Orchestra made their appearance.

Amazing stuff, The Otherside Orchestra. After a careful check on all the equipments, with Izwin (vox) constantly frowning at the amp going "vvvmmmm... vmmmm" every time she moved the microphone. Fixed all the technical problems they sought out and BAM! straight they went into their danceable "In Certain Circumstances", once an instrumental explosion. Could.not.stop.my.feet.from.moving. Haven't seen them in agesss, so it was a real adrenaline rush for me to catch them again!

Azri left before Seven Collar T-shirt, that dooooofus! Everyone was now exhausted from the mixture of mosh + dance, so my friends were all sat down in the space in front of the stage when 7CT came on. Beautiful music, per usual, they plunged in with "TET Offensive" and swifted in and out of their first and second albums, though they missed out the stereotypical favourite "Faith" which to me has now been replaced by "Summary"... or "December". Haha. I adored the guitars and the showmanship of the band as a whole, and sang along with Moe on one side and Pali on my other, both like complete juxtaposing characters (one singing manically and one just watching HAHA!). All in all, Seven Collar really know how to put on a good show and pull an event to a memorable close.

Chilled at One Cafe for a while longer, the guys all had plans to blast tepung telur at Kolep and Jaja. Haha! Kenaaaa kaw2 sial.

Happy Birthday *evil grin*

Thinking back on this brings smiles to Celine's face.