FORMULA 1 AFTER-RACE CONCERTS

MUSE

(02 Nov 2013, Saturday)
Venue: Du Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

This is the first time I have ever seen MUSE live in concert and, wow, it totally blew me away!!! Jaw-dropping!!! This is one of those times I would honestly declare being 100% unbiased in saying how brilliant a band is. 

Matthew Bellamy is so damn multi-talented, I don't even know where to start! That crazy high-pitch screaming vocals alone would give you the chills— now picture him playing lead guitar at the same time, in epic style— jumping about the stage, swinging his guitar, dropping on his knees (and at one point bent down, forehead touching the floor- still playing), and the best part- playing the guitar on his back! (behind the head), check out the footage below for “Plug In Baby”. Seriously, there’s a moment you’d think you’re watching a battle-of-the-bands segment, ha! I am so amazed! (Oh, Kate Hudson, you lucky lucky b*tch! ;p) He also played the piano wonderfully on “Prelude” whereas on “Hysteria”, he smashed his guitar twice on that stage equipment—(an amplifier, I reckon), which, I hear, is quite of a concert routine for him.  

Let's not forget, he's also a prolific songwriter. 

The bass guitarist Chris Wolsternholme (hmmm, he's sexy, does he know it?! :p) and drummer Dominic Howard (with such boyish charms) are just as impressive and exuding with intense energy the whole time! (oh yeah, both are known to play other instruments as well). On “Knights of Cydonia”- the last song for the night, Chris played the harmonica beautifully. 

Songs played (I’m missing some):

Unsustainable

Supremacy

Panic Station

Supermassive Black Hole

Hysteria

Monty Jam

Plug In Baby

Prelude

Survival

Follow Me

United States of Eurasia

Madness

Time is Running Out

Uprising

Starlight

Knights of Cydonia

DEPECHE MODE

(03 Nov 2013, Sunday)
Venue: Du Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

I’ve waited more than 20 years to see Depeche Mode live onstage! Yes, I’m a long-time fan and all I’ve been wishing for that night was to hear them play some of their best (classic) songs – my favorites from their 1984 album “Some Great Reward” (i.e. People are People, Somebody, Master and Servant, Stories of Old, Blasphemous Rumors)… So, I was a little disappointed that they didn’t… and it left me a bit hollow inside :(  

In fairness though, they played “Just Can’t Get Enough” (who wouldn’t know that song after all, eh? The crowd went gaga over this!) and several songs from their 1990 “Violator” album (another one of my favorites) such as “Personal Jesus”, “Halo”, “Enjoy the Silence”, and “Policy of Truth”.  I felt very proud, wearing my Violator t-shirt that night, haha!  ;p

David Gahan’s voice is still as great as it ever was!, what a dazzling performance!, made me laugh though every time he would shake his hips and twirl round the stage (at some point reminding me of the late Freddie Mercury’s antics particularly with the way he would carry the microphone stand). 

Martin Gore was likewise simply marvelous! I so loved it when he sang “Shake the Disease” and “A Question of Lust”!... and obviously, the crowd adored him too! 

Andy Fletcher’s sophisticated moves while manning the keyboard was just as engaging… and while I would admit that the tour drummer was at par with the trio, at the back of my mind, I was (understandably, right?) wishing it was Alan Wilder pounding  on those drums... Oh well.

Check out the video for “Never Let me Down Again”- that’s where they got the biggest crowd participation (about midway to the song) when people had their hands up swaying from side to side, singing along loudly like it was a karaoke night!… Lovely sight.

Here's the SETLIST (courtesy of Gulf News' Mark Pendergast) 

	Intro (Excerpt from ‘Welcome to My World’)
1	Welcome to My World
2	Angel
3	Walking in My Shoes
4	Precious
5	Black Celebration
6	Policy of Truth
7	Should Be Higher
8	Shake the Disease (Acoustic; Sung by Martin)
9	Home (Acoustic)
10	Heaven
11	A Pain That I’m Used To (‘Jacques Lu Cont’s Remix’ version)
12	A Question of Lust
13	Enjoy the Silence
14	Personal Jesus
	Encore:
15	A Question of Lust (Acoustic)
16	Halo (‘Goldfrapp Remix’ version)
17	Just Can’t Get Enough
18	I Feel You
19	Never Let Me Down Again

Side note: Du/Yas Arena deserves huge props for the fantastic stage effects during both shows! They definitely magnified the experience- the presence and performance of the bands more special, more striking, more memorable!- the smoke cannons, the giant screen onstage, the stunning futuristic light effects, and the top sound quality. The best concert venue I’ve ever been to, by far!, hands down.

RANDOM STUFF-- SPOTTED IN and AROUND DUBAI / UAE

Time for some laughter... or confusion.
Or both.

                                                              

                                  okaaayyyy!

  

            

what's wrong with this picture? LOL!

                                Whoah!

                                                          * really?

                                        (makes you wonder who parked first, eh?)

Concert Review: The Wailers, Of Monsters and Men, The Killers [SANDance]

Date: 11 October 2013 (Friday)

Venue: Nasimi Beach, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai

Line-up: The Wailers, Of Monsters and Men, The Killers

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Ok, I’ve been to several Sandance fests in the past, but this is the only time I ever made it early! (that’s before 6pm- congratulations to me, yay!)… and that's only because I wanted to make sure I don’t miss “Of Monsters and Men”! 

I was thinking if I make it to “The Wailers” set, it would be cool! I wasn’t that eager about it, as I wasn’t sure if they’re the same guys who play Bob Marley (& the Wailers) tunes or just some other band who happened to have the same name and play crappy pop music or whatever (I didn’t bother checking). 

I just couldn’t risk missing so many of the acts (I once arrived so late during a “Travis” sandance concert that I only caught the last song- “Why does it always Rain on me” while on queue at the gate. By the time I reached mid-way, closer to the stage, they were finished. I was already kicking myself then! Argh! Lesson learned.)

Anyhow, what a delight it was to discover that “The Wailers” are indeed the “reggae” band I was hoping for. Hooray! Of course, they played Bob Marley (& the Wailers) classic tunes then such as “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Buffalo Soldier” “Could you be Loved”, “Jamming”, “Exodus” and so on… as the sweaty crowd danced and sang along, you could strongly feel the festive mood building up... and at one point, an image of Bob Marley was flashed on the screen! Nice.

“Of Monsters and Men” appeared onstage at around 07:45pm. They belted out melodic folk-inspired ethereal indie rock goodness, opening up with “Dirty Paws” off their lovely debut album “My Head is an Animal”. I must mention how good they sound live, I dare say, even better than their studio-recorded songs!, and it was great to see the crowd heartily appreciating their songs- most notably “From Finner”, “Yellow Light”, “Mountain Sound”, and of course, “Little Talks”. 

Looking at Nana, images of Bjork started swimming in my head. It must be that Icelandic beauty and atmospheric vocals they have in common (makes me then wonder if I’ll ever get to see Bjork play live! )

By the time OMM was done, it was not even 09:00pm yet, so we were told that ‘The Killers” will follow in 45 minutes more! Ouch. What a long wait…!, and music playing in the background wasn’t all that great- but that's probably just me (I did like it when the DJ played “Erasure’s A little Respect”; made me want to dance!)

Fast forward. Enter the band, kick-starting with “Mr. Brightside”, Brandon Flowers sporting a leather jacket. The now-drunk and some-of-them-getting-unruly crowd, even more so- the women!, in such high spirits (pun intended!) and more of them forcibly pushing to the front, with this one girl even leaning towards me and getting unreasonably erratic, messing up my video-recording, the b*tch! I wanted to punch her! (LOL, excuse me, I'm just human!)

As expected, “The Killers” killed it! I’ve seen them play in Abu Dhabi in 2009 and they were unquestionably oh so awesome! Brandon’s vocal prowess and strong stage presence is mesmerizing. He definitely knows how to please the crowd and inspire them to put on their "dancing shoes", so to speak. 

Both Dave Keuning’s (lead) and Mark Stoermer’s (bass) high-calibre guitar-playing add to that distinctive Killers sound (despite the glam rock look, unfortunately ;p)… not to mention Ronnie Vannucci Jr.’s masterful drumming and unwavering stamina (he reminds me of an actor I just can't quite put a finger on ;p). Thumbs up to the excellent session guitarist as well.

Other songs they played, as much as I could remember (I'm missing 3-4 songs or so), were “Spaceman” (this is where Brandon finally got rid of his jacket, whew!), “Smile like you mean it”, “Somebody told Me”,  “Human”, “From Here on Out”, “Can you Read my Mind”, “All these Things that I’ve done”, “Dustland Fairytale”, Encore- “Jenny was a friend of mine” and “When you were Young“. 

2 cover songs- Joy Division’s “Shadowplay” and Tiffany’s “I think we’re Alone Now” (ok, the original was really by “Tommy James & the Shondells”, which I just found out recently! :p)… I love the way they covered those 2 songs but somehow made them their own, creating a masterful effect that bears the Killers stamp. Purrfect!

Photos:

*photo grabbed from Sandance page, with thanks!

*photo grabbed from Dubai night, with thanks!

                                VIDEOS:

Concert: The STONE ROSES - Live in Dubai

Concert Date: 21 February 2013 (Thursday)

Venue: Dubai Media City Amphitheatre

Since the time I found out that the Stone Roses had reunited in 2011 (cheers to the mighty powers behind that!), I’ve been wishing to be able to see them live! (but never really got the chance to fly to UK that time). So, yeah, how awesome is it that they actually came over to play to Dubai!? Oh heck, it’s just too cool for words, I tell ‘ya! ;p

So, I’ve reached the venue just several minutes before 9pm and did not really expect to see waaaay too many people already there! Who would’ve thought that The Stone Roses actually has a big enough following in Dubai? What a nice surprise!- most of them Brits, of course, but still, hard to believe that many of them are actually here in camel land! LOL... and some of them (like myself) were proudly wearing Stone Roses t-shirts! Alright! :D

Just after entering the gate, I saw a long-ass queue of peeps blocking my way and I panicked that it could be for the gen. admission ticket holders (er, like me) and that I would fall to the end of the line, then miss the first song (if the band goes onstage at that moment, oh no!). What a relief to find out that it was only for the food/bar! (but I still do feel sorry to those who had to endure that long queue just to grab some beer. I heard it went on for about 2 hours, yikes!) The organizers sucked in that department, for sure.

Anyhow, at around 09:20pm or so, the band finally appeared onstage and kicked it off with “I wanna be Adored”! Ahhh,  I almost died!  It felt so amazing watching them live onstage- for the first time! A band I absolutely adore since high school!

Ian Brown gained a bit of weight, thankfully! (I saw him perform in 2009 and he was quite thin, you'd reckon he's ill or on drugs, or something) Oh, I just love the guy nevertheless! He makes all these crazy poses while singing, it’s cute, teehee!

His voice would go flat once in a while—no surprise there (esp. when he sang “Made of Stone” – a favorite of mine, no less), but that didn’t matter… it’s as if no one noticed! We were all just enjoying the show, singing along and dancing silly! Even more when they played “Fool’s Gold”- extended version, it was phenomenal! I didn’t want it to end!

 

*grabbed from TimeOutDubai (with thanks!)

 

Off the top of my head, they played:  I wanna be Adored, Mersey Paradise, Sally Cinnamon, Shoot you Down, Fool's Gold, Waterfall, Made of Stone, She bangs the Drums, Love Spreads, This is the One, Sugar-spun Sister, Ten Storey Love Song, Don’t Stop, and I am the Resurrection (last song). Nope, they didn't play "Elephant Stone" :(

I never realized Reni is such an awesome drummer until that night! Man, he was on fire! One of the best drummers I’ve ever seen! Oozing with energy. Truly amazing.

 

Mani, on the other hand, was having some real fun playing his uber-cool bass guitars! Check these babies out, whoaah! 

 

John Squire is a certified “shoe-gazer”. I barely caught a glimpse of his face the whole night… He was busy in his own world, engrossed with his brilliant guitar-playing... at times simply facing the back of the stage.  (I still love him to bits though! ;p)

 

* photo taken from TimeOutDubai (with thanks!)

I’m still a little disappointed that there wasn’t an encore, but, oh well, we can’t have all the luck in the world in one night, can we? :D

One of the night’s highlights was the presence of another big Stone Roses fan—Liam Gallagher (Beady Eye/ex-Oasis) sitting in the VIP lounge and for whom Ian Brown gave some well-deserved props after the song “Shoot you Down”. Too bad, he wasn’t caught onscreen though.

After the show, my friend and I wandered about, looking for Stone Roses posters/placards or whatever, where we could take pictures on… but we didn’t find any! Nothing posted at the entrance nor inside the venue! Instead, what we saw were glaring posters of Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber! Mehhh! Even the gate didn't bear the band's name!—all it said were the labels Gen. Admission/VIP/Front Pit! What’s up with that?

We went for the “Step On” indie night party just across the street in Media One hotel and by the time we returned, passing the concert venue again, we saw at least 1 trampoline of the Stone Roses! I wonder if anyone else even noticed it! (or maybe there's a few more at the other side-- outside). Here 'tis:

Anyway, to sum it up, the night was priceless!… I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Unforgettable.

 

OTHER VIDEOS:

I wanna be Adored-

Sally Cinnamon-