Yuna officially launched her debut album titled Decorate recently at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC for short) which was located at Sentul. It was a 2 day affair and was held on the 23rd and 24th of July, with the performances starting at 9pm on both days.

Upon arriving at the car park I could sense that Pentas 1 will be completely filled up as I had to park on the road shoulder. I wasn’t sure whether it was filled to the brim on the first day, but boy it was nearly filled up on the second day.

Yuna started her set without any delays whatsoever at 9pm sharp with Someone Out Of Town. The stage setup was simple. Yes, simple it was, but it was filled up with musicians! There were 2 guitarists, a bassist, a backup vocalist, keyboardist, percussionist, drummer and of course Yuna herself taking center stage behind the monitors. There was space on the left side for 3 additional string players for later in the set.

It was not really a battle of Hujan versus Bunkface but it was more of a collaboration between the two local heavy weights. It was a 2 day affair, which was held over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of July 2010 at KL Live.

It was a night of chaos, in a good way, as Hujan and Bunkface took turns to play songs from each others repertoire. Hujan was situated on the left side of the stage while Bunkface were positioned on the right.

It was a really hot day but it didn’t stop people from gathering around the Lawn Stage. The concert and music areas were not free, you needed to buy tickets to access them though. The lawn stage was where most of the live music took part, featuring acts such as An Honest Mistake and Kyoto Protocol but the charmers for noon were the ladies, Najwa, Yuna, and Liyana Fizi!

It has been 1 month since Urbanscapes, sorry for the delay, but yeah Urbanscapes 2010 was held on the 27th of June 2010 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC for short), Sentul. Last year’s Urbanscapes was also held at the same venue.

One interesting event which happened this year was the ‘Project Angkat Rumah‘ event, where approximately 250 people carried a small wooden house (a real small one, no rooms) from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sentul Utama at Jalan Ipoh to KLPAC.

There was obstacles along the way such as overhead signs and also power cables which prevented the house from continuing its journey. Luckily they managed to find a detour which successfully brought the house to the entrance of KLPAC where the almighty guard house was awaiting.

It was a relaxing and entertaining 24th of June night, as Tokyo Blue and The Rhapsody played a host of jazz, nu-jazz, and lounge tunes.

Tokyo Blue, if you haven’t already heard of them or watched them perform, is an all-instrument band, with Hiro on the bass, Josh on the drums and Ywenna on the keyboards. Ywenna wasn’t there that night though.

Tokyo Blue started out with Circle, and then going into Before Dawn and a couple of  their originals before ending their set with 3 Miles. They also threw in Jaco Pastorius‘ The Chicken into their set!

After Tokyo Blue, it was time for Rhapsody, also a jazzy band, but this time with vocals which was done by Nicole. The Rhapsody’s set was really easy going, flowing from one song into another, with jokes thrown in by bassist-cum-comedian, Kevin.

They played a few covers including Indie Arie‘s I’m Not My Hair, Colin Bailey Rae‘s Munich and then continued on with some originals, the interesting one being ‘You Look Better When You Are Naked‘. The crowd didn’t let them go when they ended their set that night and demanded for more! Good on ya! As a response, Rhapsody adhoc-ly decided to play Maroon 5‘s Sunday Morning for the encore.

Pekan Frinjan 12 was held at Dataran Shah Alam with the theme Efek Rumah Hijau. As usual, there was a host of stalls as well as performances which ranged from bands, solo artists and to poem recitals. The interesting highlight that night was the poem recital from Yang Berhormat Elizabeth Wong (ADUN Bukit Lanjan). Of course, the crowd was also eagerly waiting for the performance by non-other than Shah Alam local sweetheart, Liyana Fizi.

Local indie rock fighter, Mohd Jayzuan (vocalist for Free Love) was also there, promoting his new book (which was to be released the week after), 28 Hari Jurnal Rock n Roll. It’s a small-ish book which describes his 1 month journey across the peninsular Malaysia, across states and into towns, meeting his friends and also his feelings throughout his journey. Get it while it’s hot, and it costs just RM15.

Hey! That’s Not Your Bass! was organised in part to collect funds for Hiro (bassist for Tokyo Blue), who lost his 2 bass guitars to a bunch of mat rempits. Surprisingly, they managed to recover one of his guitars, the other, well, is still out in the open.

Held on the 3rd of June 2010, it was organised by Reza Salleh while No Black Tie sponsored the venue for the night. Tickets were RM20, but I don’t know how much went to the donation fund or how much was allocated to cover the event costs.

Bo (aka Mr Fluff), singing for Seven

The venue was super packed at about 8.30pm, people were standing at all possible locations, and the staircase was relegated to being one lane, which was really tight when traffic became 2 way. Well, that shows the support they had that night! The crowd was a mixed bunch, consisting of people of various nationalities, ethnicity and loads of ICOM students.

The Battle Protocol is SevenCollar T-shirt’s second (hmm, well, I think it’s their second anyway) concert at a performing arts theater/hall. It was held on the 21st and 22nd of May 2010 at the KL Performing Arts Center (KLPAC) at Sentul. Their first one was held way back in 2007 at The Actor’s Studio.

Veterans of the local music scene, SevenCollar T-Shirt (will be referred to SCTS from now onwards) has just recently released their 3rd album, which is titled The Great Battle and this event is partly to promote the album (hence the similarities in the naming theme). The Great Battle has the trademark SCTS unique sounding guitar lines, haunting ambience, and Duan’s draggish vocals.

David Corio, a UK-based rock and roll photographer was in town to give a talk in conjunction with his photography showcase, titled ‘Youth/Decay Iconic Rock ‘n’ Roll Photograph Exhibition‘ which was presented by Converse. The exhibition was held at the Zinc Art Space, Bangsar, from 24th of April till the 5th of May 2010.

There was a mini-launch party held on the night before the talk, featuring local DJs and bands. David Corio’s talk was on the 24th April, a Saturday, which was convenient for most people to come and attend it. Parking at the gallery was a little bit tight though, so future attendees should take note of this and perhaps park opposite the road at Dataran Maybank, or even at Menara UOA (Bangsar LRT station).

The Elevate Tour finally made its way to Kuala Lumpur on the 18th of April 2010. The event was co-sponsored by DiGi and was managed by artistscolony and was held at Astaka, Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. Entrance costed RM10, but it came with coupons where you can redeem it for stuff and drinks.

Aaron Mokhtar and Rina Omar were the emcees.

Touring for the event are bands like Robot Asmara, 40 Winks, Bittersweet, Pesawat, Love Me Butch and also newcomers, An Honest Mistake.

It was a very hot and sunny afternoon, and the crowd was gathering under the trees and shades, but after some persuading from the emcees, they started to enter the venue, braving the sunshine. Robot Asmara, had the honours of being the first band and kick started the event.