there is no doubt about it - Gwen Stefani kicked ass last night at Stadium Putra. i exaggerate not when i say it is possibly the best concert i’ve ever been to in KL.
everything was great from start till finish. parking was easy peasy, and surprisingly we didnt have to queue for entrance. we’d originally planned to go a little bit later so we didnt have to sit through all the boring opening acts we had no interest in seeing anyway, but thankfully we didnt do that! BECAUSE! there were NO boring opening acts! no sponsor gimmicks! :O and best of all, there was no wait. it was so unbelievable but true - after a cute opening gambit of a cops-&-robbers chase, Gwen came onstage immediately at 9pm.
dressed in a b&w prison-striped suit and black leggings, she opened with none other than The Sweet Escape, which of course drove everyone wild. everyone leapt out of their overpriced arranged-seating seats and sang along, cameras a-flashing and hands a-flailing. hehe i couldnt contain my excitement either! then she did Rich Girl, after which she reappeared on stage clad in a cute apron outfit - complete with chef-hat - her first wardrobe change of many to come.
Gwen is an awesome live performer. she had so much energy and zest, and her vocals were always intact. i grew up listening to her voice in those obsolete but cherished No Doubt songs, so it was really nice and strangely nostalgic to hear and watch her live, performing all these new songs with her same unique voice. there were times during the concert when i closed my eyes, and it was like i was back in my primary school days listening to Don’t Speak on the radio :)
i really liked that she was so charming and charismatic and sweet to her fans. she interacted with us, blurted some random phrase in Malay before she sang Hollaback Girl (with reference to a placard at the bottom of the stage, haha), thanked us, gave us lots of love, and told us that Gavin Rossdale’s stepmother is Malaysian wtf. at one point during the show, she ran off the stage and around the arena, blowing kisses and slapping hands with overjoyed fans, and then sang Cool right from the bleachers in the midst of the 9000 fans in the stadium. it was awesome lah. i heard she’s been doing this throughout her tour, but i didnt expect that she would do it here, especially with the flimsiness of the barricades and the fact that certain parties have been giving her so much flak and even called for her concert to be canceled.
Gwen running around the arena
also, she gave her 4 Harajuku Girls, 4 male breakdancers and her band their own moments where she introduced them one by one to the crowd. how nice is that lah. i remember when i went to watch Oasis in bangkok, and they were just being such asses to the audience. Gwen Stefani, on the other hand, exudes such a genuine and comfortable vibe, and also recognises that the show is not just about her, but also about her team and her audience as well.
the band, the dancers and Gwen Stefani
the show lasted about 90 minutes, a good deal i think. oh and can i just say that the light engineering was AMAZING!! i think that any concert’s lighting is such a crucial part of the experience; it’s what provides the kick during the chorus climaxes and is what determines the vibe of the crowd. intuitive and varied lighting is so rare in concerts for some reason, so i was pretty pleased that last night’s was actually pretty damn good :) wish there had been a better backdrop though. there was nothing but black and white drapery and a wide-screen telly with random but relevant clips playing throughout the show.
Gwen said that Malaysia’s right up there among the best audiences. hahaha why tell such lies! if anything, the crowd was rather lacklustre last night. we could have been louder, stronger, more excited, but we just weren’t. collectively, we were noisy but reserved. we just held back from going all out and totally crazy. but that’s fine lah, this sorta culture takes time i suppose.
happy fan beside us
Gwen’s wardrobe was pretty cool - nothing too revealing but still sexy sexy sexy at the same time. take that, PAS and National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students -___-
because the theme is black and white Harajuku, i donned a schoolgirl outfit for the concert, haha. i seriously thought lots of people were going to be dressed up, because that was the case for HK and Singapore, but i was sorely disappointed :( also thought ginny was going to turn up in her b&w french maid costume but she didnt!!! wtf lah babe. think of all the camwhore moments we missed!
a few pictures :
with bernard and his pretty gf suet ling who had damn good seats!! better than the media & vip seats -___-
with azlan!
the girls from college
my schoolgirl outfit, haha!
so overall, an excellent concert :) eeeeeexcellent. here’s to hoping more concerts in Malaysia are organized like this one.
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