Para-MORE!

I'm about 24 hours removed from one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

As some of you know, I attended Paramore's live concert yesterday, and the first word that comes to mind is 'Wow', and the second word is 'awesome'. I gotta hand it to Hayley and company, they sure know how to put on a great show.

The crowd was massive, even Hayley was impressed. She said that she didn't expect such a huge reception, and that the band should have come to KL a long time ago ;) Not only was the crowd huge, they were very loud and loving every single moment of the show.

I got to the stadium just before 7 p.m., and everyone was already lining up to get in. It took me 20 minutes just to get past the gate. Then after a toilet break, I took a seat. It wasn't the best seat, but it sufficed. About 7.30, the opening act started. A local band called Y2K (never heard of them) took the stage and did about 5 songs. They were okay though.

Then at 8.25 p.m., everyone saw three MPVs drive into the stadium grounds and the screaming began. The lights went out, a big curtain came down on stage, a light came on behind it, and we saw shadows of the band taking their places (the screaming got louder and louder, I swear I was going deaf haha). Finally the curtain came down, and Paramore began with Ignorance.

Embarrassingly I must admit I didn't know some of the songs they performed, but it didn't matter. Hayley was awesome, even when the crowd drowned out her vocals many times. They also belted out Emergency, That's What You Get, Crushcrushcrush, Playing God and Where The Lines Overlap.

After 30 minutes, Hayley and Josh decided to slow things down and do acoustic. They performed Never Let This Go. Then Hayley got this huge sofa in the middle of the stage (saying she stole it backstage :P) and performed a few more slow numbers. One of my favourite moments finally came when they did Decode ;) I almost thought they wouldn't do this song.

Then halfway through Pressure, Hayley did the introductions: first the keyboardist (couldn't get his name with all the noise), then Jeremy, then Taylor (Hayley calls him the Justin Timberlake of Paramore :P), then Zac and finally Josh. Josh takes the mic and introduces Hayley (though it wasn't necessary because at that moment, everyone was screaming her name).

The best part of the concert came when Hayley asked all of us to take out our cellphones or anything that lights up, and hold it in the air, and wave it. Then they did The Only Exception, and EVERYONE sang along. It was a surreal moment, and I loved it.

For the encore, the band performed Brick By Boring Brick, before ending with Misery Business. The latter song had Hayley getting a guy from the audience to come on stage, and she got the opening act earlier to dance with her as well. They shot confetti in the air as the song ended. I tried videoing this on my cellphone, but the sound was bad because the people around me screamed a lot. (Rhea, I think you know what I mean :P)

Overall it was a great show indeed. Hayley has great showmanship throughout. She was like this big ball of energy that never burns out. She just kept moving and jumping all over stage, clearly enjoying herself and getting us to do the same. A couple of times she laid back on the floor speakers on stage and got big reactions for that. She's just awesome, what can I say?

I did try taking some pictures, but my camera phone can only zoom for a distance, and the pics don't look great. I haven't uploaded any yet, so when I do, and if I find any good ones, you'll see them. Unfortunately, I wasn't on ground level, I was one floor up at a distance, so yeah, that sucks.

I do have a few complaints, none of them are related to Paramore of course. There were smokers (why in God's name would you smoke when the band is performing? Get lost!) around. There was this girl behind me that kept screaming 'We love you Paramore!' at the top of her lungs, and when I turned to her she would look embarrassed haha. And then there were people selling Paramore T-shirts outside, they cost RM90! It had to be imported, I think. I wanted them badly, but decided not to buy any. I think there were cheaper ones made locally, but missed them.


Thank you Paramore, for coming and being awesome.

Eleven and Eight

Eleven years since this was made. Eight years since they were gone.

I'm Doing This

Okay, I finally have the time to come in here and say this: I have a ticket to go watch Paramore live in concert next month.


Exciting eh?


Mind you, I did not make this decision easily. At all. In fact, I had initially decided not to go. Not that I didn't want to see them. Of course I do. It's just that tickets are expensive and I didn't want to dig out my savings for it. But I asked some of my friends for their opinions, and everyone said I should go. Besides, Paramore is not going to any other Asian city besides KL, so I had a feeling they wouldn't come back after this. So I thought, okay. Let's do it.

I'm not a big fan of live performances, or going to concerts. I kinda dislike concerts because of the crowd. I hate crowds. When you're in a crowd, bad things happen. There's a lot of noise and a lot of uncivilized people to weave through. One unpleasant encounter during an M2M autograph signing session is proof enough.

But concerts can be good too. I haven't been to many concerts in my life, but the ones I went to were pleasant experiences. I've only been to three that I can recall. The first was Hootie & The Blowfish, which was so long ago I can't even remember what year that was. It was an indoor theatre, and the acoustics were excellent, so I had a great time. The band did very well then.

The second was Michael Learns To Rock, a Danish band known for sappy pop ballads. They're big in Asia. I remembered that the arena wasn't full that night, but they still played and put on a good show.

And of course, the third was Linkin Park. Oh yeah. Open air stadium. Big rock band. Thousands of fans. They're still one of my favourite rock bands, even more than Paramore actually. That night, I could barely see the band from where I stood, but the energy in the air was unmistakable. When you see thousands of fans jumping up and down at the same time to loud rock music, how can you not get sucked into all that? It was incredible. My heart was still pounding as I was on my way home after it was over. It was just awesome.

And now, I have a fourth one to look forward to. I had already passed on a few concerts before Paramore. I passed on Daughtry, Incubus and The All-American Rejects prior to this, so this time I think I ought to just go with the flow and see what happens. My only hope is that it doesn't rain on that night. It's an outdoor stadium, so I am praying I won't get wet, and that Hayley and company show up on time and give me my money's worth.

Hope everyone's doing great, keep visiting my movie blog please. Cheers ;)

TIFI