Michael Veerapen @ Alexis, KL

Weekend of 19th & 20th January

The highlight for this weekend was to attended Michael Veerapen’s performance at Alexis Bar & Bistro at Menara Great Eastern. If you don’t know much about him, he is basically one of most renowned pianist in the Malaysian Jazz circle and his lively and brilliant showpieces can really entertain you until your heart is content. For a solid 2 hours that night, he gave his usual best with a superb show of melodic talent, wonderful chemistry with his live band members and bodily movements to rival Michael Jackson. OKLAH, he did not dance but the vocalist did dance and he was boogie-ing all over the stage floor. I honestly forgot his name but he had a row of ear-rings all across his right ear. Anybody can tell me he is? He was superb as his vocals were top-notch and he was so energetic he nearly stole the show from Michael. But of course, the star of the night will not be deterred away from him as his talent, reputation and chemistry with his band members will everlastingly elevate him to the altars of the Malaysian’s greatest jazz performers. More info about Michael Veerapan and Alexis' performer schedules can be obtained here.

Oh yeah, and the Tiramisu at Alexis is to DIE for. In-house made apparently with a generous dash of their in-house red wine, it is prepared to perfection. Yeahlah I have to admit I was abit hungry that night but what the heck, just to try it if you are dropping by there soon. Enjoy!!! Here are a few photos I (tried) to catch at Alexis:

Yummy drinks by the candlelight. Very romantic!!!

The crowd enjoying a blistering performance by Michael Veerapen and gang.

It's so good, even the waiters can't help themselves to admire the performance.

...and yes, it's absolutely free!!!

The 988fm Concert @ Sunway Lagoon

Weekend of 7th April & 8th April

Saturday

The 988fm concert was held on this weekend & I had tickets. MANY tickets. Actually one person is entitled to only 4 tickets, but I got hold of almost 20 tickets haha. So I gave them to my friends. Each ticket also entitled a 50% discount for Sunway Lagoon water/theme parks; hence me and SL took this advantage and stripped for our swimsuits to soak yourselves in waist-deep waters overlooked by a welcoming sun. We enjoyed the sun and waters until the concert started, enjoyed some more until the concert ended.

There were loads of people already near the stage to get good views even before the gates opened. This is because those that bought the 50% discount on the theme park tickets can get into Lagoon early to enjoy the water park and stayed there without queuing outside!!! Luckily I was these smart people (*ahem*) and got good views of the entire concert. But because it was hard for us to get back our clothes from the lockers (some lockers were blocked by stage security, some lockers had to charge money to re-lock etc), a lot of people (not me though) were in their swim suits: guys were shirtless and gals were sexy!! This fits the concert so nicely as it was a BEACH CONCERT. Needless to say, the scenery, music and backdrop of Sunway Hotel was spectacular for a fantastic night of enjoyment and entertainment ~~~~

The concert was entertaining with loads of Local and Taiwan starts performing: Gary, Janice, Ah Niu, and Danny to name a few. Each artist sang 2 songs initially, and for the encore EVERY artist gave a song. So the encore part was so long until no mood already haha. But it ended nicely and everyone left happily.


Sunday

Me and SL (actually me only la) were all excited for this day as I got free F1 tickets!!! Although it cheapo tickets (RM 50) I thought it would be fun to just go there and get some pictures and leave early since it’s free. Alas, if only I can foresee the future. Everything was set perfectly: the camera fully charged, I got the hats and umbrellas in case it rains, I even got a mini mobile fan in case the heat gets unbearable! So the journey to F1 was problem-free until at a turning to Sepang, we were met with a gargantuan traffic jam that stretched like the River Nile in Egypt. I tried my patience to overcome this jam, however, after 2 hours in the jam and moving slower than a 100-year-old turtle with backside problems, I did a Michael Schumacher U-turn and drove to my pit-stop (i.e. my home).

Bringing Hom the Music: Lee Hom Concert @ Bukit Jalil

Weekend of 3rd & 4th March


The day has arrived for arguably the concert of the year: Wang Lee Hom’s World Tour at Bukit Jalil!!!! Many discussions were held conversing about this day, many nights were spend dreaming of this moment, & of course many cash were spent for those small pieces of paper with weird words on it called ‘concert tickets’. Yes, it is this day, and he has arrived for maestro Lee Hom to swagger his flair for entertainment and charm his way into the many fluttering hearts of love-laden girls (and some guys. *Ahem*).

Sourcing Wikipedia:

“Lee Hom is a Taiwanese American singer-songwriter, actor, and commercial model who has achieved highly recognized success in Taiwan, Mainland China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia. As of 1995, the beginning of his musical career, Lee Hom has contributed in over 25 albums, totalling to nearly 13,000,000 original sales. In addition to his album sales, he also set a new attendance record at the Taipei Arena for his Heroes of Earth 2006 Concert on March 2006 as the concert had broken over six national records. He was also the most earned celebrity endorser as of 2006, defeating other hot competants like Jolin Tsai, S.H.E, and Jay Chou, who was the top earner in the last three years. He also participated in several films, his latest role in ‘Lust, Caution’ directed by Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (which has scenes filmed in Malaysia), gaining the most attention. He has albums in Mandarin & Japanese, and had a duet with Kenny G in Malay (The One and Only).”

Needless to say, he is multi-talented, multi-lingual and a multi-award-winning artist that has over-powered the Chinese music industry with his revolutionary infusion of Chinese and Traditional music, Rap, R&B and Rock. Arguably no individual has achieved what he has achieved, and no individual has left such a landmark in the industry like Lee Hom.


"Lee Hom: Heroes of Earth" World Tour - Malaysian Stop.


After suffering 1 hour in traffic jams and scouring all terrains for a car-park (finally managed to get one near Carrefour), the concert opened just as I was about to sit down. Although me and SL were separated at first (before I went looking for car-park, SL left my car to look for good seats), no moment was missed as the concert started with immense energy and verve. This energy was maintained well into the night; his dance moves were intense and his back-up dancers were in-line with his good intentions to give the reportedly 11,000 crowd a spectacular show. Even when he was belting out his ballads of love songs, his voice and force was unrelenting. Mixing this with his ability to mesmerize his audiences by abundantly performing ‘live’ on prominent music instruments (violin, piano, violin, guitar, drums, etc), he truly is a talented individual endowed with exceptional musical abilities rare to most men and women.

Another individual capable of challenging him musically is definitely his special guest artist for this evening: JJ Lin. Originated from Singapore, JJ Lin challenged & faced up to Lee Hom on stage; JJ Lin performing Lee Hom’s ‘Ni Bu Zai’ and Lee Hom reversely performed JJ’s ‘Jiang Nan’. Both complementing the ballads on piano, the two were outstanding winners in the end as both performances complimented each other superbly. It was a unique union of talent and a rare collaboration that no doubt gave the audience the highlight of night.

As an act of unification, both Lee Hom and JJ Lin performed together, singing ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ as a celebration for their friendship and partnership, and may this collaboration continue for many years to come.

The songs, dance and fireworks rained on the audience continuously throughout the 2-hour-plus show, many landmark favorites and unique compositions of Lee Hom were presented with satisfying effort. It was a great night for Lee Hom fans, and generally a great night for music fans overall, as everyone enjoyed and celebrated the revolution and evolution that Lee Hom has crafted throughout his musical journey with satisfying aplomb.