(that) Paramored weekend, Day 2

2 weeks ago, on March 7th to be more precise, I got to live one of my musical wet-dream fantasies by...attending a Paramore concert!!

Ah, Hayley Williams. Everything Avril Lavigne strove to be but never was. I didn't know why I used to be so obssessed with Avril before. Maybe cuz she was one of the first few to act really against the norm of a typical female popstar and was all angsty and rebellious. But onstage, Avril was bor-ring. And she was equally angsty when meeting her fans too. Guess the one thing I really liked about her though was that she tried to keep it real in the beginning, what with her own wardrobe and style, and she very much acted however the way she wanted and said. She's ended up a very long and different way from where she is now though. (hmm, you know what, wasn't she a bottled-dyed redhead too??)

As for Hayley Williams, I guess one indication that she instead has kept it real? Is her headbanging short orangey-red crop. I am glad she started out in a real band and struggled in the first few years to make it big but still has a good head on her shoulders, both literally and metaphorically. You can tell that she really is thankful with the band that she's in and the success that she's had. Still, it's kinda early to tell. She's at the half-way mark to the stage where 'she thinks about drastic transformation' like Avril did. Av took 6 years and 3 LPs to do a 360 degrees change to look and sound how she does now (that is, barbie-dollish and annoyingly perky). Hayley may or may not be on her way there yet, we don't know. But I sure as hell am loving every minute of who she is now and what she strives and stands for. That is, rocking REAL band music with Headbanging a must, keeping her fashion style simple yet a little grungy and edgy-signaturelly hers, and being grounded, real and wide-eyed with her views in interviews. Oh, and not desperately seeking media attention and publicity like many young MTV stars are constantly craving.

That is why, I faithfully followed her band Paramore since before they released their debut album in Singapore till now, and never lost interest in their goings-on. And that is why I patiently waited for the day they'd come play a show in Singapore because I just know they simply can't ignore the massive loads of fan demands going on and increasing here year after year (did u check out Eventful.com?). There were so many false rumors that they were coming 2 years ago, I knew one of them would eventually come true someday. haha.

BUT, when tickets for their gig here went onsale, I didn't immediately rush out to get my Cat 1 (standing pen) ticket. I was kinda broke. And I needed to find a concert mate first. I waited around in vain. I couldn't find anyone as hardcore as me who was willing to pay $110 for the ticket without any second thoughts. By the 3rd week, tickets for that were sold out :( And that woke me up. I was like, "Are you nuts? You're gonna miss Paramore! The band you've waited around years for you bodoh!" So I then went on ebay to check out the scalpers' prices and  they were going for at least $50 more than the original price. I felt a little doomed but still kept my hopes up. I mean, if I wanted something so badly, eventually it'll turn up for me right? (for some reason, the bands and celebs that I've always wanted to meet always eventually work out for me. But that's another story) I just have to be patient. My patience paid off. One fine early Sunday morning, I logged onto Ebay again and saw this new seller with a freaking low 'Buy It Now' price. I messaged his handphone number to ask if we could  meet up as I'd buy his ticket pronto, I'd be that reliable and sincere buyer and hoped no one else was already in the queue of buyers. Then, a moment of epiphany came to me, I thought... ... ... ... how stupid am I not to click the BUY IT NOW link first?? So I did just that and thought, there's no way for the seller to back out now and try to sell it for higher. If he does, imma give him a bad name. About 2 hours later, he replied me to ask when to meet up and also the reason why he was selling it (cuz he was going overseas that day). I met him the next day, he was this really tall and skinny young dude who looked like he belonged in a band, with floppy hair and skinny jeans and all, whose friends were with him and seemed to approve of him making such a good deal. I was thinking, 'Your loss and my gain. ha. You're so gonna regret missing a Paramore concert dude.' It felt so surreal as I handed over to him the crisp notes, the bulk of which I had loaned from my brother.

 Then, the countdown begin. Soon, the concert was here! I had a huge row with my parents the night before about coming home late due to all the waiting-out time wasted from meeting the band at the airport. So as soon as there was an interval in the stormy atmosphere in the house, I just quickly made my getaway with an even quicker promise to be back by midnight. What had been my resolve to get to the venue by morning had been thwarted. Therefore, I only reached the concert venue at around 3pm? and by then, there were hundreds of fans there (-_-!!), all seated amiably on the floor and neatly sectioned off by barriers and concert security staff looking a tad bit stressed by the extra duties and turnout. The queue was snaking around the venue, the stadium and honestly, I was quite surprised to see the security doing a pretty decent job in keeping the crowd subdued and orderly. It took like, forever to get right at the back of the queue made up of masses of teens (mostly dressed in black) to start lining up for my spot. I then called up my concert mate for the day, this cool chick Tracy who was one of my fellow airport comrade the previous night :), to suss out where she was and if I could jump the queue to join her. Turns out her spot wasn't too far from where I was because she too had arrived just a bit earlier than me after a last minute decision to attend her morning church service before making her way down. Now the problem was, her spot was considered in a different section from mine.:( This meant that the security folks having sanctioned off groups of people after they reached a certain number, were not allowing additional people into that particular group(s) as it would be sealed off and closely guarded by a couple of security peeps. Like, people needed passes for their comings and goings and you could be sure security watched their groups like hawks. However, my little prickly situation was soon solved when they started moving the groups forward shortly after (to create more space for us kiasu fans growing in numbers I suppose), and I just don't care walked along the line looking for my friend, found her, and plopped myself beside her truimphantly. No way was I going to line up all alone by myself for hours. Though my new spot was shaded, it was freaking bloody hot. Because we were packed like sardines. There was hardly space to move, let alone sit comfortably. I was like, I'm definitely going to take a few breaks to get some fresh air. I am SO NOT GOING TO FAINT OR EVEN FEEL FAINT BEFORE THE CONCERT STARTS.

So my first break I took, was to go find some fuel (aka food and beverage) because on the way, I had not spotted any convenience store at the stadium and Tracy told me I could only find one at the Kallang shopping mall which was like, 10 minutes walk away. As I made my way to the front of our queuing group, the security person issued me this wristband pass and told me to come back by 15 minutes. I was like, er, I'm gonna get my fuel and it takes some time for me to accomplish that. I may or may not make it back in time, so there. try to stop me. Well, something like that. And the security guy goes, a bit harried, well, try to make it back as soon as you can, because we have limited passes to give out. I brightly answered, Okie, and got my ass out of that controlled madhouse. At that time, us queuers could hear some band (most likely the opening band Monochrome) soundchecking and so kinda guessed Paramore hadn't arrived yet. I got my fuel and on the way back, I came across a crew member and innocently asked if THE band was here yet. He confidently told me they were not and I made my way back to my queue spot, reporting the news to Tracy. But guess what?? About barely 10 minutes later, Tracy oh so casually mentioned she could hear songs like Decode being soundchecked. And I was like :O was that crew member pulling my leg just now? I soon got antsy. Like, pretty antsy, as before I had arrived at the venue, I was scheming of meeting the band and passing my stash to them. I am not one to be defeated easily, you know? lol.

Less that half an hour after my first break, Tracy declared she needed a break herself, a toilet break, and I as she stood up, I said out loud, 'I'll go with you'. But hung back because we had previously discussed that we didn't want to draw the attention of other fans with our other intentions of looking for the band and also the suspicions of the security person.But after thinking it over for like 2 seconds, I just stood up, told the person next to me to take care of my fuel and hauled my ass out of there for this second 'break'.As I made my way to the front of the group again, there was a sizable number of people lining up and waiting for their passes to be let out. I tried to keep a straight face and played it cool like I'm so bored I just need to go to the loo, when inside, I was like, I can't wait to get out of here fast enough to recce the venue and see if any Paramore members were milling about outside. You can be sure the 15-minute rule was the last thing on my mind. Tracy was already way up front so I told her I'll meet her out by the the toilet a bit later. When I finally got myself a pass and walked to the loo some distance away, Tracy was just coming out, and I was like, I'm not gonna waste any minute longer loitering in the toilet, the suspense is killing me, so let's just go scout about for Paramore first :) So we walked and we walked, and then Tracy oh so casually mentions again 'Oh, that's Justin (one of the guitarists)'. And I'm like, 'omg where?? are you sure??' She gestures in the direction of a man in black with his back turned to us. We walked towards him and he looms closer. I'm like, 'omg, it ao is (he's the same person we saw at the aiport yesterday)! what's he doing??' It seemed he was by himself and talking to someone, who we assumed was probably like, a concert or record label person. While trying not to freak out and gaining on him, I thought, 'no way! what kind of luck have we?? i'm sure any minute he's going to walk off...' ...Suddenly, he was right in front of us! and we saw he was talking to this Asian chick with an american slang and who was like, mere inches away from his face. I thought, 'eww, she's so flirting with him, whoever she is'. We didn't quite know what to do, not wanting to interrupt them, but Justin lifts his head up and sees us and I think Tracy goes, 'hey, could we take a picture with you?' or something and he says hey back and 'Sure!' or something like that. lol.And then the Asian chick suddenly goes all silent and grim and like, backs off from him. I was so expecting her to tell US to back off, but she didn't. So Justin chats with us for a bit first, and I was quite dazed thinking, this is so not happening, i mean, compare this bizarre surreal situation to yesterday's mayhem at the aiport, this is so not happening. Like seriously, there were only the four of us right that. It was like time had stopped. And here he was just chatting to us like it was the most normal thing in the world. Another thing was, he looks kinda different in person than from his pics online, so all the more I was thinking, 'this is so not happening, somebody pinch me'. And I think Tracy was so thinking the same thing, because she suddenly went completely silent. But you know what?? At least I had the sense to pass him my card and book I was lugging around in my backpack. Sweet victory man. I was holding my breath and thinking 'don't let this moment pass me by' as I took them out. Anything else that resulted after that was a bonus. So Justin did mention he saw me twitting pics of my gifts online. And I thought that was cool. And he seemed impressed by the pop-up effect of the card :D Cuz in the pic, I know it looked kinda 2D-ish. Then after that, we took pics. I wanted to take together with Tracy and half wanted the Asian chick to help us, but she was now wearing sunglasses and standing a bit off now, still all silent and standoffish (which Tracy was the first to mention later), so Tracy and I just took pics for each other. Overall, can I just say that he is a really nice guy?? :D

After our Justin encounter and seeing no other Paramore members in sight, we hurriedly made our way back to our queue spot with our adrenaline pumping man. And then we recounted what just happened and were saying, 'we should haves' and 'could haves' of which were a couple were we should have asked him to sign our shirts (she had brought a beautiful self-designed one which she had squished in her tiny pouch, and Justin had said mine was awesome or something though Taylor wasn't on there I realized later, lol) and we should have asked him more questions. lol! BUT, we were immensely grateful we got to have that experience at all, and both agreed it was the grace of God man. :D Sometimes, God does work in mysterious ways. It's like, everytime after I work so hard to meet my favourite celeb, God throws a token encounter with them my way. And knowing how HUGE, like HUUUGE a fan of Paramore's Tracy was, like she has all their albums and a couple of magazines and such which she had brought to the airport, had bought her concert ticket the day it went out onsale, and had wanted to line up at the concert venue at 7am that day but decided at the last minute to just attend church first, it was truly, a miracle essentially. I think I had exhausted my breaks by then, because even if I had tried to go for one more (I hadn't actually made use of my 2nd toilet break properly did i?), it would have been difficult, because they made us stand up to get into the venue soon after.

Once we got in, I had wanted to stand at the side cuz there were way lesser people there, but Tracy seemed adamant to stand in the middle where most of the people were congregated (but you know what's the funniest part? when the concert started, both of us ended up the opposite places of where we wanted to be. She ended up at the side while I stayed in the middle). She was looking out for that Holland girl we met the previous night who had recounted and encouraged us to punch people with our elbow to get to the front when the concerts starts. She seemed like such a pro at doing that, boasting that she could make it all the way from the back to the front in her own country and didn't give two hoots about those standing in her way, so she seemed like a cool person to have around at a gig like that where there were a lot of tall guys around. But alas surprisingly, we couldn't spot her tall blonde figure among the sea of black hair in the moshpit. Surprisingly, Paramore's concert didn't have that many ang mohs! I thought they would turn up in full force but one could see a lot of Malays and boys.

But, there were these two short ang moh girls near me the whole night and who told everyone they were from some neighbourhood primary school (but looked nothing like primary school age), so cute. There was one point where these girls were chatting up a boy and this Singaporean girl in front of me turned around and declared loudly 'You're making conversation in the moshpit!!' I'm like, er, so? This old friend of mine, Gerald who had a paid seat upstairs had also messaged me saying how jealous he was of me now that he saw the moshpit crowd. To cut short my moshpit experience at Paramore, summarily, it was a night of many firsts for me:

1) First time I found myself able to make my way like, ten rows back to be 2nd row center right before the concert started (but I got separated from Tracy though). Like, you could see all the photographers running around. How I accomplished such a feat as this is a secret but Determination has a lot to do with it. *big grin*  Check me 3rd row from the front during the opening band's time:

2) First time I found out being in front at a moshpit was a big mistake. Prior to this, I had always LOVED moshpits simply for the fact that I somehow always am the person in front, getting a full front row view of the performers and enjoying myself thoroughly. Seats are not for me. Front row moshpit positions are. But for Paramore, it was not meant to be. Look at the ONLY full-song vid I took while out front, even then, it wasn't as good a vid as I had thought it would be...look at Hayley posing for the photogs in all her glory :S

3) First time I found out boys can be so fucking inconsiderate to girls in a moshpit and smoosh them, fling their arms smack to your face, elbow you countless times, smash your glasses, drag you to the floor, pull your hair, not give a fuck if you're on your way to falling flat on the floor. THEY WILL JUST KEEP JUMPING AND BE IN THEIR OWN WORLDS. AND I SWEAR, THIS PRC BOY BESIDE ME WAS GIVING ME HELL WITH HIS DEVIL-MAY-CARE WAYS. THOUGH I SHOUTED AT HIM TO STOP SMOOSHING ME DOWN WITH HIS HAND, HE TURNED HIS HEAD TOAPOLOGISE QUICKLY TO ME BUT WAS BACK TO JUMPING AGAIN THE NEXT SECOND AND HAVING THIS LOOK OF SHEER JOY ON HIS FACE TO HAYLEY ONSTAGE THE NEXT. And those two Ang Moh girls' looks of sheer uncomfortableness from trying to keep their faces away from those adolescent boys pretty much reflected MY state.

4) Therefore, first time I found out only if you have a big strong/tall/solid boyfriend covering your back in the front row can you then think of staying around for the whole concert. There were these two girls in front at the barriers who had their boyfriends snugly positioned behind them and who didn't budge an inch no matter how we tried to shove them out of the way or make ourselves more comfortable.

5) First time I couldn't stop swaying in the moshpit crowd while out front. In a negative sense. I think I couldn't stand up straight for the first 3 songs. I was fighting for survival right there. I was trying to keep my camera out of harm's way with one arm, and fighting to keep my balance with the other arm. I had even resorted to standing sideways as it was a more stable position to anticipate when the crowd was shifting and then shoving the people with my one arm in the other direction to keep myself from falling down. Fucking sprained my back more than once during this period and couldn't keep my body facing the stage at all, and had a really really hard time catching for air. The swaying was especially bad for the people our front center. There were a couple of people who fell down but no one cared and everyone around just stared and stepped on them till only their friends could save pick them up. Look at this blair-witch type vid I took:



6) First time I realized that I paid a concert to have a crash course on how to survive a moshpit and not to watch a show.

7) First time I bitterly felt my body going into fight or flight mode. First time I wanted to get myself the hell out of a moshpit.

8) First time the guards were not doing their jobs. They didn't bother to shout warnings at the crowd or attempt to carry any of the people out front center at all. I was raising and waving my hand frantically at one point to be carried out, but they couldn't care less. I was thinking, 'that's it man. I'm gonna be one of the numerous fatal casualities tonight. God help me.'

9) But in the end, I could only help meself. Because finally first time I had to fight my way from the front to the back of a moshpit.

One thing stuck out in my mind while all this was going down, why did you turn a blind eye to all these goings-on in the moshpit Hayley?? She so saw what was happening, but she just chose to move to the sides of the stage and continue performing. I was like, 'Stop the bloody show and step up and tell off those stupid boys and incosiderate concert newbies in the moshpit! Tell them to take care of others! Argh!' This was what happened at the previous concert like My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte when the lead singer voiced his concerns for his fans. Yes, I still had time for these thoughts as I was staring at Hayley and her nonexistent concern for us fans. You know what, I think she herself was pretty scared shit of these overenthusiatic boyfans from Singapore, I could see it on her face. And yes, I was that near. I lost a substantial amount of respect for her around that point. I looked at her prancing around onstage and smiling and pretending everything was alright even though she knew something was not quite right in reality. She was indeed living in her performer's fantasy world. Therefore, all the cool rock posturings she did onstage felt pretty contrived to me for those first few songs.

No amount of hardcore headbanging from her could make up for it. I knew that it the end, she just might have felt a little helpless but still had to put on a bravee front for all the other fans present at the stadium that night. I did feel a little sorry for her too. Because still being young, she has these pressures to live up to and learn along the way, like making sure she was looking damn good for those photographers congregrated upfront. And at the same time, I knew that she was actually a sweet girl-not cocky, aggressive or showy, but having to appear so. It didn't help that the sound system was pretty sketchy and bad and she was trying her best to singalong and sound good with the band. You know one of Paramore's songs even had her singing this line 'No oneee, is as lucky as usss' (for the song Where The Lines Overlap), it really felt like so ironic and like she was gloating. hmmph.


[Just for laughs, I'll include this premonition of seeing myself at a moshpit again after so long and which I had emailed Gerald on facebook a couple of weeks prior to the concert:


Uni: ... ... ... i'm just afraid i'm getting too old for moshpits. :P but then again, i decided i can't miss paramore.


Uni: argh, the thought of being in the mosh pit is really putting me off. dunno if i'll really go through with this. :P

Grerald: Why not? What's wrong with the mosh pit!? 

Uni: the moshpit is bloody sweaty, bloody hot. ull like, really die of thirst or just collapse if u don't have a strong constitution and mentality. and the music is damn loud. and u get squashed really really badly. if u fall over, ppl will trample on u (hasn't happened to me before though, but i have phobia of that). not only that, if u fall, it's a domino effect. really scary. u get touched, pushed, shoved, especially by perverts or little brats. U get screamed in the ear by some fangirl the whole night. and lastly, ur toes get stepped on whereby your toenails turn black which last for months and they become so unsightly-looking and eventually drop off. enough said? lol

Gerald: LOL. Pretty awesome sum-up of a mosh-pit. I'll gladly swap tickets nonetheless if you freak out at the last minute though! Hahahahaa :D

Just chill and look forward to the concert!! 

Uni: if i freak out, i'll sell my ticket. i wouldn't settle for anything less than being in front :P i THINK the last time i was in a moshpit was at singfest last yr. my friends and i were staking out the moshpit area the whole day. none of us wanted to buy food or drinks because then we would lose our positions in the crowd. it was a very horrible experience. promised myself i would never hang out in a moshpit again. that my life was too precious. lol.

Gerald: Oh man, don't do that to me :P

Moshpits are still pretty awesome things!  

Uni: no they're not. they seem glamorous and ppl get high but they can be wht nightmares are made of too :P]

But you know what, as soon as I found my sanctuary somewhere near the back of the moshpit, it was like finding the eye of the storm. There was so much more space and actual real air to breathe. Hell, I could even feel that was actually air-conditioning going on at the venue. The people were way saner and tamer but still having a good time (check out the first vid I attempted to record while still being half-alive...). Thankfully, I was able to enjoy the rest of the gig. I stopped freaking out and instead started chilling out, actually enjoying and appreciating Hayley for her undeniably impressive and emotional powerful vocals after that. Especially evident for Paramore's songs: Pressure, Let The Flames Begin and Decode :DD My favourites of the night. And also the fact that she was really making an effort to reach out to the loving crowd and interact with them in her banterings, see an example in this vid for the song Never Let This Go. Yes, I even managed to record somewhat decent videos (though from where I was, the light interfered a lot compared to the actual sight we saw onstage):over here on youtube :) and most of which make me look like I'm at a rave party or something. Told you the fans were way loving that night. Also, getting to relive the concert that night with this chick's darn good videos of Hayley (and that's because as you can see somehow that lucky chick managed to find herself positioned in front of the barriers), you can see that Hayley, ladies and gentlemen, is not a force to be reckoned with onstage. She is an amazing force of energy. Puts all the other lame rockstars to shame. They haven't got a strand of hair on her. Enough said. Watch her at least once in your life live. You'll be spellbound.

And that hair of hers. Now that's another topic for itself. It's just an amazing spectacle. I believe she cut it in such a specific way to make it flow headbangingly perfectly. No scratch that, I think she has a personal hairstylist on tour with her to maintain that cut is just perfect for every night she goes onstage. You gotta see it to believe it. I very well think if a wig was made of Hayley's hair, they would be flying off the shelves. For girls, it's all about the hair. Guys will love you and girls hate you for it.

All in all Paramore, you came, you conquered the scene real quickly in an hour, and left a blaze. And me? I'm glad I got to experience the phenomenom that is Hayley Williams for once in my life. Despite my unforseen misgivings at first, I HAD LIVED OUT MY DREAM OF CATCHING PARAMORE IN ACTION!!  I think I can pretty much die happy. Paramore (catchy, anthemic, dramatic live rock-pop act) simply rocks. Like you promised, see you in 5 years' time or less.

To finish off, I dedicate this next song to Hayley, THE headbanging queen. She's the man. Whoever came into the concert that night not knowing who she was damn well knew her and all the strands on her hair by the end of the night I'm sure ;) And you can be sure imma get their Final Riot! concert DVD...soon.

Kris Allen!

After my illness and Bali trip, I'm finally able to settle down and do this Kris Allen concert review :) I'm still ill, but what the heck, I figured I might as well get this entry done first thing in the morning today.

Has it been one whole week since the concert?? It was held last Wednesday at Zirca club but it seems like only a couple of days ago. Everytime after I attend a concert, the day and memories actually last for a few months, several months if the artiste is one of my favourites. Is this why I keep allowing myself to suck it up and hang out in moshpits to get that once-in-a-lifetime concert experience, even if I AM getting a lil too old? Even if I need a day or so after to recuperate having been totally exhausted the night before?

Let's get back to the subject. Kris Allen. My favouritism for Kris started since watching American Idol last year (duh!). When he was in the top 13, I really started rooting for him. I guess because in a lot of ways, he reminded me so much of Jason Mraz, plus, it made me mad that people kept brushing him off as like, the person very likely to get eliminated every week. So I was rooting for the underdog. But a talented underdog in my opinion. A REAL MUSICIAN, who was so unassuming, and looked very cute on camera. My weekly guilty pleasure was watching him perform on TV. Have you ever just  watched Kris's face onscreen when he's performing? The expressions he emote are so subtle yet endearing. I've never cared to notice such a quality in a performer before till Kris came along.

When he performs, it's like he's saying in his body language, 'This is how I interpret the song, just hear me out as I bashfully let you hear me sing and save your comments till I'm finished.' How not to like a guy like that you tell me? :D In the first place, I already have a thing for musicians. Then you make him out to be a younger, humbler and cuter version of Mraz. Plus, he's a Christian and married to his longtime girlfriend. Hello? Isn't he like, the ideal guy out there?  His whole persona had me fall hard for him and he pretty much filled the place of my New Favourite Artiste. I digged his version of Heartless on AI and LOVE the song No Boundaries on the radio. Everytime I hear it, I smile, cuz I think of all that Kris Allen stands for and how he ended up being the winner. Not only is he inspiring, but the song is too. I can't imagine anyone else singing it. I also can't and don't want to remember Adam Lambert singing it. lol.

So anyway, after he won AI and did the tour, he got down to working on his album. In the meantime, I never got tired to listening to No Boundaries everytime it came on. :D When he released his first single Live Like We're Dying, I was, get this, rellly disappointed. I thought he was trying to sound like the band The Script or something. It didn't sound like Kris at all. I later found out it was written by The Fray so it was a cover of a Fray song? So that explains why. I wanted to wait for more of Kris's singles to be released to get an idea of his album. No other song was released. So when it was announced his album was finished and onsale, I didn't bother buying it. I felt pretty bummed and unethusiastic about the musical direction of it. I'm such a bad fan huh? I had also went on his Myspace to check out other songs and I was quite horrified with how Heartless sounded like on the album. Too R n B-ish and not soulful and personalized anymore. Anyway, another friend of mine who is apparently a fan of Kris's too said till I met up with her last week, she didn't even know he had already released an album after winning AI. We both agreed the publicity for his album leave much to be desired for (Singapore Sony Music Group, do you hear that??). My friend said she only had songs from his debut album pre-idol and promised to send them my way asap :)))

Speaking of publicity, Kris's gig was only announced like what, 2 weeks prior to the actual date? Only after I had just purchased my Paramore concert tickets. With money a large part of which I had borrowed from my brother. So I was like ... ... ... ... ... after I heard about Kris's gig. I entered all sorts of contests to win tickets: Starworld, Sony and 987fm. I had no idea when the Starworld one would end so I sent in a few sms entries every single day and crossed my fingers. I know tickets are incredibly hard to win through contests but it doesn't hurt to try. That's how I've been able to win such awesome tickets, albums and backstage passes in the past. But that's for another blog entry. All my efforts and still nothing was reaping.

The day before the concert, I was in full contest alert. Because I had heard from the radio stations that he was going to be visiting in the afternoon and that they may give out tickets. His interviews were fun, he has such a deep (sexy?) speaking voice and the stations played all 3 of his songs. That's when the song LLWD clicked with me. Kris chose to sing that song because it is inspiring. The lyrics reeks of energy and positivity. So why can't his fans appreciate that just like they did with No Boundaries? I went to read up his Wiki page (surprise surprise, I never did before) and learned it seems singing was what he always wanted to do. It made me yearn all the more to see Kris perform. So then at night, I was fooling around on Twitter and I came across this person's profile just 4 minutes after he tweeted he will give a ticket away to the first person to tell him the names of Kris Allen's band members. So what did I do? I immediately clicked on this webpage I had bookmarked for a similar occasion like this! I had actually anticipated the Kris Allen Band page to be asking the same thing because they had did this in Malaysia. I then tweeted my reply to that person and held my breath. In about 5 minutes, he (Anthony) replied to congratulate me and to tell me the details!! Is that not epic or what?? If you asked me whether I actually trusted such a kind random stranger like this, I would say 101% yes. why? Because I have come across people like him a couple of times before. But, those encounters will be saved to be recounted in another blog entry eh.

So the next day arrived, I spent my morning blasting Kris's album on Myspace, trying to see if I can memorize some choruses here and there. Prior to this, I had also went through the album a couple of times while I was trying to win tickets over the past week. Two songs I knew I wanted to hear for certain: No Boundaries and I Need To Know (cuz it's the only song on his album with just a solo piano accompainment). But all in all, I just wanted to see him perform live in person. I also made sure to wear a plaid shirt (a large old one I pulled from my brother's wardrobe) as fans were saying that is part of his image. Funny how I didn't bother about these kinds of details before as a 'fan' huh?

So I made my way down to the venue early in the afternoon at 2pm, as agreed with Anthony. There were two other fans already starting the queue and they told me about 10 others will join them later (actually, it turned out to be twice that number, which made us a little mad) as they were part of this online Kris community. They spent the whole day making countless banners. Kris and his band arrived at around 4pm and what 20 of us who were there were like, butt-lazy to get up from our positions in the queue to rush to him. So when Kris was the last to get off the bus, he turned around, waved heartily at us with both arms flailing, and we ALL JUST COOL-LY SAT THERE, CHEERED A LITTLE AND WAVED BACK. Catching a glimpse of Kris, like, he is the smallest person in his entourage?? And he is quite skinny too. He is what I would call a petite male. (He looks like he could be my younger brother, haha. He is prob around 1.7m or shorter.) They soundchecked a few songs, we could so hear it from outside, and then they came back out to board the bus again to leave for some appointment. This time, Kris had some security people around him, who told us he would come back later. There wasn't any second chances to redeem ourselves, lol.  I had prepared my ipod and ticket to be signed, but whatever, I wasn't expecting much as I have the worst luck with celebrities (I'm not even kidding). Can I just mention  here also that his two guitarists are so tall, young and hot-looking? :)

One hour before the gig, the doors were opened and by then, there were like, 25? other young girls lining up in front of us (dang those little groupies), many wearing plaid shirts. Some of us were pretty mad at these girls for so easily jumping the queue but we let them be cuz I think we rather they do their thing screaming and holding placards to Kris, and they're relatively short too :) so no worries for our views being blocked. Once inside the venue, it was more waiting, but we got such a crazyawesome clear view in seeing the stage being set up. Why? Because there were no barricades whatsoever. We were literally right in front of the stage. Hmm, like when has that ever happened before? Like never? Only at MTV awards on TV? And only at this Kris Allen concert at Zirca. There was a little runway protruding out in the middle of the stage and I staked out my position there. If it's one thing I've learned, it's better to be in the center when you're in front, than anywhere else. So we got to see the crew people taping down the markings for positions......and then the setlists! The fans went crazy for that, pasting photos and writing words like 'I/SG <3 U Kris'  and colouring on them. Just barely containing themselves from ripping it off....and then the mics! I was supersuper thrilled to see the crew guy taping down a mic stand right on the freaking runway itself!! That means who else other than Kris himself will be positioned there the whole night. Cue more hysterical twitters ensuing in my area.

And the other fans around me...let's talk about them. Kris Allen's moshpit fans were not only tame, they were nice! Kudos to them. One voluntarily helped me put my aunty plastic bag of library books on this step in front of the stage while another helped me pull my bag strap up quickly on my shoulder when it repeatedly fell down during the concert. When moshpit fans look out for each other, even the littlest things count. So I'm really grateful to them. But despite the tame crowd, I actually sprained my back a little during those moments when Kris was interacting with the crowds, and everyone wanted to touch him, and they squish up against  you like crazy.

About the concert, well, do you know Kris's music live is actually more leaned towards soft rock?? His first song of the night was Heartless and I was so glad he rocked it his own way. Not that R n B karaoke-like shit on his album, but old school rock and roll and even a little gangsta rap but done in a soulful vocal way. The outro for Heartless with another song Gangsta's Paradise was perfect, with his band members synchronizing their vocal harmonies and bringing out the theme of jilted love so perfectly. Watch it:



Kris's arrangements of his songs for live performance are strong man. Here's a funny testament, right when the first note was played, I could strangely feel like, the vein in my neck straining and throbbing. Isn't that weird but cool? You just know the band is going to give the audience a good time. Though the sound system was baddd, it sounded like Kris managed to keep a clean record throughout the whole gig of being vocally in tune. That is pretty impressive. Even for classics like Ain't No Sunshine and Man In the Mirror, Kris rocked it, like literally, Kris-style. Kris's got talent yo.

One last thing I was super satisfied of, was that I got such a fantabulous front row view of Kris rocking out on his acoustic guitar(s) like, 80% of the time. Pure eye-candy mannn! :D The other 20% was when he was rocking out with the audience themselves. His face didn't look that cute as I expected, from my position of below-looking-up compared to the traditional camera view of straight-ahead frontal view, but seeing Kris let go and rock out at an intimate venue and small stage with his fans and the mic alternately was priceless. Also, gotta thank Kris for picking such young good-looking band members. The bassist was sexy with his curly hair and moves, the other two guitarists, nothing more to say, they're model-ly good-looking in the first place and his drummer is the cutest thing. He really looks like a little kid with his  nerdy glasses and messy hair.
 

Annnd, watching other people's vids of the concert and reliving the songs, I suddenly remembered when Kris was playing Falling Slowly (my vids with retarded sound because of my position in the crowd is here: Part 1 and I was so engrossed in the song I accidentally pressed 'stop recording', so here's Part 2). It sounded vaguely familiar to me at that time because I had loved that song last year!! It's a soundtrack from this indie foreign movie entitled Once and I remember watching the DVD last year and kept replaying the parts of the movie wherever the songs were featured. I thought the movie was crap but the music Beautiful. I THOUGHT I knew the words to that song during the concert but didn't try to singalong much because I'm not one for memorising lyrics (I was content to video and enjoy the music baby!). I mean, I used to call myself such a hardcore Mraz fan and have 500+ songs of his on my ipod but I can't really sing a song of his right down to the last word because I always mix song lyrics up. lol! The same thing used to happen when my friend tested me to sing Avril songs (back when I was similarly obsessed with her) and I always fumbled them up like in the 2nd verse or the bridge. I'm a dork that way.

But don't you adore Kris's version of that movie soundtrack?? It builds up simply, acoustically, slowly, crescendos and comes to the thumping climax which is actually a mash-up with another song With or Without You by the band U2.

I must say, I'm quite impressed with you Kris. You know what, I've never actually had this much fun at a concert before. :O Kris gamely made this whole experience something for us fans never to forget in a long time. I would like to think this is only the icing on the cake for Kris? If you want to talk about his music career prospects, I say he has LOTS of potential. He sounds different and better live (even with a crappy sound system you hear?). He strives hard as well for showmanship and interaction with fans and his efforts are appreciated. I hope he sticks around in the music industry for the long term and have a career something along the lines of Mraz. Produce his own music, write and play his own music, I'm really looking forward to that. He's not looking into entertainment, shock or fad value, he's around because he genuinely loves the music. All that publicity as an AI winner is good for him now, but I think in the long-term, he will simply let his music do more of the talking. And I don't get all the Adam supporters-cum-Kris haters out there. They are so unhappy with Kris fans, trolling everywhere on the web just to attack them. What's up with them man. Both Idols alumnus are very different so let them both do their own thing. Besides, aren't both of them supposed to be good friends in real life too?

With that said, Imma bug my friend to send me his pre-Idol album soon. Just heard one song, Wastin' Time on youtube and omg, he sounds so much like Mraz in his early works. No wonder I like him so? :DDD aaah!


PS: Er, like I'll definitely pay to watch his next gig in Singapore yeah. No second thoughts. No boundaries the next time.

 

-Update-

Just uploaded the rest of my vids of the concert: Can't Stay Away, Before We Come Undone, The Truth, Is It Over, Alright With Me and Come Together . Also, posting up the pic of the setlist taken by this cool chick whom I met at the concert and is in the pic with me above :)

PPS: I'm gonna update this post soon with me covering a bit of my fav Kris song, which does not appear on his album and which he did not sing that night. After my throat recovers, that is. :D

-Update-

Me attempting to rock out on some Kris Allen after not being able to sing even just yesterday, 19th Feb. Since I'm still recovering, my vocal range is lower than normal. ha. Enjoy, No Boundaries: