Me Like to Rock

Just woke up not too long ago. Had myself a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. Feeling satisfied with the concert I had just been to last night. September 5, 2009 is when Michael Learns to Rock returned for a one night only concert at Genting Highlands. It was held in the "open air" Arena of the Stars.

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We traveled with Marc and his sister, who were nice enough to drive us there as well as his other sister helping us to get good seats! Thanks again!

For some reason, it felt kind of fun traveling with them, especially the part where we stopped to get foodles.

On the way there, we stopped for a while to get some breaths of fresh air.

Once we arrived there, we noticed there were a lot of barricades and police around. I guess they were there to prevent from anything that would disrupt the show. We took a Coffee Bean break before entering the Arena. LOL bean break... Now it is very rare I order hot drinks at these places. I noticed that they topped our drinks with around 2 inches of foam. What a rip.

We got into the arena and waited a bit before the show actually started. When the lights went out and the voice over was making the announcement, welcoming us to the show. When he was about to present the performers, everybody was cheering so lively with anticipation when the announcer finished his line by introducing some Andrew Tan or something like that.

The crowds' cheer then gradually turn into jeering of boo's. I wonder how that guy must have felt. Obviously by now he was the opening act for the night. He sang a chinese song which most of us did not really care for.

All I noticed was that he was wearing something that looked like a blue rain coat. It was glossy and had a hood. It was bright blue!

The crowd did give him a good applause and cheering when he was finished. I guess we're all quite supportive of the local scene. Most of us anyways...

After that, we waited for a long ass while before anything happened. During this wait, they were playing some classical music(still identifying) which was pretty frickin' long. And only towards the end of that did Michael Learns to Rock finally appear. I was wondering if they were stopped by a certain political party or something.

Oh if you haven't already noticed, yes my phone camera is crap for capturing objects far away as well as with poor lighting. At least I have proof I was there. They started out with My Sleeping Child to everybody's delight. The lead guitarist, Mikkel Lentz was quite jovial and happy. We thought he was high or something.

Somewhere a third of the show, lead singer and keyboardist Jascha Richter went on a break while their new lady bassist, butchered one of mine and Rayn's favorite song, You Took My Heart Away. She sang too high and I predicted she could not do the bridge because it was even higher and I was correct. It was a teeth gritting experience. Oh well, I guess they wanted to give her the opportunity or something. We cheered for her nevertheless.

Jascha came back wearing a t-shirt with a leopard on it. Before this was wearing a suit. I guess he found out it was too formal and warm for our kind of weather. They proceeded to introduce to us newer songs from their latest album; Eternity. They were alright. I'm sure the fans were more interested in the older songs. It was then the bands' turn to go in the back for a break while Jascha did some solo songs with his Korg, which was quite good.

Somewhere towards the middle until the end of the show, there was this stupid reporter bitch who was sitting 2 rows in front of me (GD 101) . She was so busy taking pictures of herself and her friend. Pointing the SLR towards our direction and constantly blinding us with the flashes. Hey bitch, if you're reading this... you were there to cover the show on Michael Learns to Rock and not yourself. Also, how many photos do you need of yourself and friend? You were there for the fucking show. She even had 3 different cameras. A DLSR, a compact and her phone camera.

Speaking of cameras, many people brought theirs and were either taking photos or recording video. It clearly stated that no image/video capturing devices were allowed. The attendants were poorly equipped to handle such mass of pirates. Towards the end, they just didn't give a shit anymore which caused a whole lot of the fans to crowd at the foot of the stage for closer shots. Some retards actually took pictures of themselves a distance away with their backs to the stage. They were going for that pose "Hey look I'm at a [geographic location]!" Only that it was a fucking concert. Such respect to the performers...

There was one song which I couldn't remember, that Jascha confessed that was the only song that was of rock genre that they ever had in their repertoire. Jascha was pretty funny throughout the night while introducing songs every now and then.

Rayn and I were waiting anxiously for one of the songs which we noticed had not been played. Much to our excitement they did it as their finale; Paint My Love. Of course in most concerts it doesn't end just like that. They came back to do a couple more songs for the encore.

They did 25 Minutes much to the wild cheer and approval of the crowd. Towards the end of the song, Jascha did something funny where after one of the repeat of the chorus, he switched to Air Supply's All Out of Love chorus and said that it had the same progression, then switched back to the 25 Minutes chorus.

They then did Wild Women which I was hoping for because it was one of their more upbeat songs. They managed to make it more rock'ish whereby at the end they had just the drums and the crowd chanting the chorus.

Their final-final song was That's Why (You Go Away). Jascha tried to be funny saying it was a new song when he proceeded to play the piano intro. The crowds were going wild and then he said he was surprised that they knew it when the band didn't even know it. He continued to tease the crowd by playing a variation of tunes with the chord progression of the song. He finally started the song where everybody was singing along louder than everybody.

Needless to say, it ended wonderfully.

We were then herded out of the Arena like cattle. All in all it was good, there weren't any shitty people that were pushing around within the moving crowd.

The trip to Genting this time around felt more pleasant. I guess it is experiences like these that make people want to always return to the highlands.

If you are my age and listened to music. You would definitely have listened to a fair bit of their songs while growing up, especially during early high school days. Back then, I felt their songs were too clean cut. But now listening to their songs again, I have a new sense of appreciation for the songs, especially when listening to the lyrics. For me, their songs will be considered evergreen.

Hopefully for eternity.