[reblog] [migrated] Incubus Live In Concert – 7 march 2008

originally posted on my deleted blog

Rock Under the Stars
1,5 hours of musical orgasm

Sejak lama gue mengidamkan untuk bisa nonton konser Incubus. Dari pertama kali gue mendengar musik mereka di sekitar tahun 2000 ketika album Morning View di rilis. Mulai dari situ, gue mencari dan mengumpulkan album mereka, menjadi fans yang bisa dibilang cukup fanatik.

Berita gembira diawal tahun 2008, ketika gue mendengar kabar kalo mereka akan manggung di Jakarta tanggal 5 maret, sangat excited… dan tentu saja menjadi moment yang paling gue tunggu. Sayang, gue harus pindah ke Singapura di awal tahun 2008 ini. Sempet kecewa karena dengung konser mereka gak terdengar disini (atau mungkin gue yang kurang cari info?). Namun, beberapa minggu lalu, gue dapet info, kalo mereka juga bakal mengunjungi Singapura, wow! gue harus nonton… tanpa ragu, gue cari tiket lewat sistic. Yups! Dapat… seharga S$ 127, well what the heck lah… once in a lifetime moment!

Dan saat yang dinantikan pun tiba, tadi malam di Fort Canning Park, konser Incubus digelar, dengan band pembuka SAOSIN. Malem itu cukup cerah, tanpa awan dan langitpun dihiasi oleh bintang gemintan, perfect night in the park for a concert worth waiting for. Tempat konser yang di taman, menambah sempurna suasana. Outdoor dengan minim security (unlike Jakarta, kalo di ruang terbuka, pasti dengan barikade, gue yakin kalo di Jakarta, penonton pasti membludak, dan sebagian besar tanpa tiket).

Opening Act

SAOSIN membuka konser dan memanaskan penonton dengan lagu-lagu mereka, sayang gue ngga terlalu ngeh dengan band ini, jadi lagu mereka tidak terlalu menjadi perhatian gue. Hanya satu lagu yang gue ngeh dan tahu, yaitu seven years, selain itu, gue gak terlalu memperhatikan. Sibuk mencari tempat yang enak dan pas untuk menikmati malam itu.

Penampilan SAOSIN cukup memanaskan suasana, dengan membawakan kurang lebih 10 lagu dari album mereka. Sang vokalis pun mencoba berinteraksi dengan crowd, dan lumayan berhasil. Penonton yang terdiri dari beragam usia bisa cukup interaktif dengan mereka, terlebih mereka yang masih tergolong abg.

Sayangnya gue datang agak terlambat dan worst thing is ketika gue mau masuk, kamera gue tertahan security dan terpaksa harus ditinggal dan dititipkan di meja deposit counter.

Incubus Rocks!!

Selesai pembukaan oleh SAOSIN, 45 menit kemudian tepat pukul 9.00 malam, Incubus menaiki panggung, Brandon, Mike, Jose, Kilmore and Ben… Diawali dengan countdown, konserpun dimulai dengan lagu pembuka Quicksand dari album teranyar mereka Light Grenades. Penonton riuh bertepuk tangan dan berteriak… great!! Selama satu menit lebih, Quicksand menjadi pembuka konser mereka, yang langsung disambung dengan A kiss to send us off masih dari album Light Grenades, penonton termasuk gue semakin menggila, berlompat, jejingkrakan sambil meneriakan lirik “a kiss to send us off!” dan tanpa perlu komando dari Brandon, penonton ikut bernyanyi. Suasana pun semakin panas, awal dari perjalan musik Incubus sekaligus musical orgasm.

Selesai membawakan A KISS TO SEND US OFF, Brandon jeda sejenak, sementara Ben, Mike, Jose and Kilmore, jam session sebentar, yang ternyata menjadi intro lagu berikutnya, Nice to Know you, dari album Morning View, yang I personally think is the best album of Incubus. Gue sendiri makin terbawa suasana, begitu juga penonton terutama yang young adults, yang abg ada yang terbengong, karena mungkin mereka belum pernah mendengar album ini. Bernyanyi, berteriak, mengikuti Brandon, tanpa perlu komando, menikmati. Brandon sendiri tak perlu berinteraksi dengan kami, cukup bernyanyi, karena itulah mereka datang kesini, bermusik, bukan bercengkrama dengan crowd. Beberapa menit kemudian, selesai lagu Nice to Know you, dan disambung dengan Wish you were here, one of their hits from Morning View, penonton semakin histeris, puncak orgasm semakin dekat… kami semua terbawa dalam kenikmatan sendiri, apalagi sambil menengadah, melihat bintang… just perfect!

Musik terus dimainkan, Anna molly menyambung Wish you were here yang selesai dimainkan. Penonton tetap menggila, berjingkrakan, berteriak sambil ikut bernyanyi. Selesai Anna molly, gesekan kasar Mike membahana, gue tahu lagu ini, dari album S.C.I.E.N.C.E, gue liat abg disebelah gue bengong… seolah gak ngerti lagu apa ini, bener aja… VITAMIN dari tahun 1997, mereka mungkin baru berumur 7 tahun waktu itu… ah gak peduli, gue berteriak, berlompat, bernyanyi. Suasana bertambah seru, selesai vitamin, kembali dihentak dengan Favorite Things masih dari album yang sama…

Drive, the anthem of Incubus fans

Cukup dengan hentakan dua lagu yang cukup keras dari album S.C.I.E.N.C.E,  Brandon istirahat sejenak, sementara Chris Kilmore berulah dengan turntablenya, gue langsung connect, mencoba meraba lagu apa berikutnya, bener aja, lagu berikutnya The Warmth dari album Make yourself, lagi-lagi, penonton tanpa komando bernyanyi bersama,”don’t let the world bring you down, not everyone here is that fucked up and cold…” bener-bener menghipnotis, terutama yang satu generasi dengan gue, yang cukup ngeh dengan lagu-lagu dari album2 sebelumnya.

The warmth pun selesai, tiba-tiba musik berhenti, Kilmore diam, begitu juga Ben dan Jose… Kemudian Mike mulai petikan gitarnya, kami semua histeris saat itu… Yups, Drive, the anthem of Incubus fans… Brandon bernyanyi hanya diiringi petikan gitar dari Mike, kami semua terhanyut dan ikut menyanyi… luar biasa, gue merinding… “Should you choose water over wine… hold the wheel and drive… whatever tommorow brings I’ll be there with open arms and open eyes…”
AMAZING, kami semua seperti dihipnotis oleh lagu ini… direfrain terakhir, Ben, Jose dan Kilmore join in… hmm wonderful…

Yang membedakan adalah, Brandon gak perlu mengajak audiencenya untuk ikut bernyanyi dan berinteraksi, he just sing and scream and everybody will follow…Truly a great singer and front man…

Close to the End…

Setelah Drive, disusul oleh Oil and Water, dari album Light Grenades, kami masih terhipnotis dan terus menikmati musical orgasm ini. Kemudian sambung menyambung lagu dari album A Crow Left off the Murder, Pistola, Talk shows on mute, Sick Sad Little World dan tentu saja MEGALOMANIAC, the crowd just went crazy ketika lagu ini dimainkan, semua berteriak, berlompat dan bernyanyi sambil mengacungkan kepalan tangan ke udara. It was just crazy!

Habis megalomaniac, jeda sejenak, dan suara yang sangat familiar ditelinga gue terdengar”stellaaaaaarrrr….” I just went crazy, dan yup, stellar dimainkan… wow, bener-beern gila…keren abis… “You’re stellar… How do you do it, makes me feel like I do, How do you do it, It’s better than I ever knew… oooo”. Gue sudah kehabisan kata-kata buat menggambarkan suasana dan kepuasan gue saat itu. Selesai lagu Stellar, mereka turun dari panggung and as always in every concert, the crowd was screaming “WE WANT MORE!!” Yup, definitely we want some more of INCUBUS.

Closing, it has to end now…

Beberapa menit kemudian mereka naik lagi ke panggung, they are giving us some more of their magical music, bersiap untuk menghentak kami lagi, menghipnotis kami di Fort Canning Park, benar-benar Fort Canning Park hidup oleh hentakan music Incubus dan teriakan para fansnya. Circles dari Morning View membuat penonton terkesiap. Mereka kembali bernyanyi, melompat dan berteriak. Selesai membawakan Circles, mereka diam… owh tampaknya hampir berakhir… dan kemudian, Mike datang, membawa gitar atau Sitar? ah gue gak gitu jelas ngeliatnya, dari petikannya gue hafal lagu ini… Aquaeous Transmission…. Ah… vokal Brandon diiringi petikan sitar Mike, membuat malem itu semakin terasa menakjubkan. Aquaeous Transmission pas banget dijadikan lagu penutup… satu persatu mereka turun, Jose, Kilmore, Brandon, Ben, Mike masih memaikan bagian akhir dari Aquaeous Transmission… Ah… AMAZING. It was just FREAKING AWESOME!! Malam itu mesti berakhir, tersimpan di memory gue, 1.5 jam musical orgasm. It was just AMAZING, no other words.. AMAZING journey of Incubus musical experience. Thank you Incubus… You guys rocks Singapore tonight!!

Meminjam iklan dari mastercard

Concert ticket…. S$127
Concert T-shirt….S$40
A can of beer…. S$6
Losing your voice screaming at Incubus concert… PRICELESS!

Manics at Fort Canning

They’ve been around for two decades,

They are from Wales

They’ve performed in Cuba and met Fidel Castro, the first band from UK to do so

They have released eight albums

They sing about peace, freedom, the working class, social critics,

They are regarded as the working class heroes

They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, and Sean Moore

They are Manic Street Preachers, and they are coming to Singapore!

I’ve been waiting for this moment since I heard that they are coming to Singapore couple months ago. I even got my ticket way back then. Manic Street Preachers, often known as MSP or simply Manics, the welsh alternative rock band. I’ve come across with manic in my high school years with their single A Design For Life. The single which mistakenly regarded as drinking theme, probably because part of the lyrics said :

We don’t talk about love

we only want to get drunk

And the day finally came, November 24th, Manic Street Preachers will be performing in front of their fans at Fort Canning Park. The same place where I overwhelmed by the musical orgasm by Incubus on March. Dark clouds were hanging in the sky, spread a little worry that it might rain in the night. Oh yeah, it was rain or shine event.

So, 6 pm sharp, I hurried my ass back home, unfortunately I had to make a stop at 7/11, so I walked down the hilly street from my office to the nearest 7/11 on Pasir Panjang road, and waited for the bus at the bus stop nearby. It was 6.28 pm already when the bus arrived, it took about 20 minutes to get me home from the office. When I reach my house it’s already 10 minutes to 7 and the concert was scheduled at 8 pm. After Maghrib pray, I get down the street waiting for the bus to take me to Dhoby Ghaut, the closest bus stop to Fort Canning.

I arrived at Dhoby Ghaut at 8, with a little run, I climb the hill to Fort Canning Park, when I get there, the opening act just finished, one local band, don’t really care since I am not following local music scene. It took about 45 minutes for the crew to prepare the gear and everything related to the performance. And it’s 9 pm sharp… James Dean Bradfield, followed by Nicky and Sean enter the stage… the already restless crowd start cheering for their idols.

And Let the show begins!!

Without further ado, James Dean Bradfield started to rock Fort Canning with “Motorcycle Emptiness” from their debut album Generation Terrorist.

The crowd itself was a mix of multiple generation, from teenagers to 40 something. For most of the teenagers, this was like “what??!!” since some of them was just born by the time this song was released almost two decades ago. James was quite attractive with his guitar (somehow I personally think he was over doing it…). After this opening song, the next song was Autumn Song (latest album Send Away the Tigers, followed by La Tristesse Durera (2nd album, Gold Against the Soul) and Faster (3rd ablum, The Holy Bible).

A very short break, James try to interact with the crowd, one of the fans hands Nicky the flag of Wales. They start kicking back with Everything Must Go one of their hits from their 4th album titled the same.

Followed by You Stole the Sun from My Heart from their first ever chart topping fifth album “This is my Truth tell me Yours”

Again, James was pretty much energetic with his guitar through out these songs. This sixth song was quite familiar to most of the crowd and they couldn’t help to sing along with it, well not exactly singing but rather screaming. Followed with Ocean Spray from their 6th album “Know Your Enemy” and The Masses Against the Classes a single released in 2000 which draws the attention of the Cuban leader Fidel Castro and he was one of the attendance when MSP performed in Havana at Karl Marx theatre on February 2001.

You Love Us from their first album was the ninth song of the night, and the first half of the show was closed by a cover version of Nirvana’s Pennyroyal tea.

After a short break, the trio plus two additional player continue to mesmerize the audience with Send Away the Tigers from the latest album with the same title. Coming up after wards was my introductory song to Manics, A Design for Life from their fourth album.

Finished with A Design for Life, Nicky and Sean step down the stage and letting James takes the stage for his own for a while. He change his guitar with an acoustic one to perform Small Black Flowers that Grow in the sky from Everything Must Go and The Everlasting from This is My Truth Tell Me Yours.

After taking a break for about 10 minutes, Nicky and Sean with two additional musician step back to the stage to join James continuing with their performance with the latest hits from their latest albums, Your Love Alone is Not Enough, the original version of this song featured Nina Persson from the Cardigans. It would be whole lot better if Nina was touring with the band, but it seems to good to be true .

I was pretty much looking forward for the cover version of Rihanna’s Umbrella and my expectation didn’t fail me. I don’t know why, this song probably the most covered song of the year, from Alejandro Manzano with his acoustic version, All Time Low in punk version, Tegan and Sara did one too, and of course Manics version of the song. In my opinion all of those cover were much better than the original version. And they did play it after Your Love Alone Is Not Enough.

Time surely fly really fast, it was an hour already of the show so far, the crowd seems tireless and still pretty much energized. They continue to jump, sing and scream all the way. The manic take another break for a while. Five minutes later, the show continues with Little baby nothing from Generation Terrorists, 1985 from Lifeblood and Motown Junk the early released single prior to Generation Terrorists. If I did my count correctly it was the nineteenth song of the night. The next song, probably the most famous song of the band, the twentieth song of the night, If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next from This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours.

The song was about the Spanish Civil War, and the idealism of volunteers from around the world who joined the International Brigade fighting Franco’s military rebels against the Spanish Republic. The song takes its name from a Republican poster of the time. A photograph of a young child killed by Nationalist bombs is shown under a sky of bombers with the stark warning “If you tolerate this, your children will be next” written at the bottom. Various works on the Spanish Civil War were the inspiration for this song, most notably George Orwell’s first-hand account, “Homage to Catalonia”. Wire has acknowledged that he was also inspired by a song by The Clash, “Spanish Bombs”, which has a similar subject. [1]

And that concluded the show, it was a brilliant song choice to end an awesome night. The crowd still hungry for more and as usual, in every brilliant performance, they were screaming “we want more!”. I was also hesitated to leave the venue, hoping that they would play us some more of their music. But, it was just a hope. I walked home, overwhelmed and amazed.

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DISCLAIMER :

The videos on this post were not the actual footage of the show. They were put there to give an idea of the ambience of the night. Photos are not available, since my SLR was held by the gate keeper.

Footnote :

[1] From WiKipedia