Of Avril and Barney

Avril Lavigne's concert was horrible yesterday. It was actually the most boring concert I've been my whole life, And trust me, I've been to a lot, and this is just so... juvenile!

The first time I saw Avril live was in Singapore was before I interviewed her a few years back. Back then, she couldn't sing. But her show was rocking - despite her being a major poser and a rocker wannbe. And I have to admit then it was a guilty pleasure.

But this time she just sucked.

Some people enjoyed it, but I think the only way you could have enjoyed the show last night was if you were one of those who also probably fit into the criteria below. So if you enjoyed Avril's show last night, chances are -

1. You were in the region of 13 years old
2. You haven't been to many concerts, or you just simply don't get out much.
3. You had a hot date beside you to take up your attention
4. You think the ah lian wannabe goth look is cool
5. You also love boybands and you think an artist is 'cute' therefore amazingly talented
6. The hardest thing you've rocked to is something Top 40
7. You still like Barney the dinosaur and thinks he sings live
8. You think someone playing something like four chords after years of claiming to be a rocker, actually makes the person a rocker.
9. You actually believe rock concerts have bacding dancers and dance breaks as the performer keeps stealing time to recuperate.
10. You think it's standard for someone claiming to be punk pop to be sitting through four songs straight.

So for me, the concert sucked. Avril Lavigne was just butt lazy on stage, lacking in any real movement. Her vocals sounded better - perhaps thanks to the female backing singers she had in tow. Yeap when I first saw her, only the band backed her on vocals, but now there are other female vocals to plug the holes in her singing.

The sound system was crap, and the stage and lighting set up was amateurish fun fair at best.
Yes, I have her CD, and that's worth the price. But thank God I didn't have to pay to watch her show! People actually started going back after about half a dozen songs. I kid you not. And so many people were griping about how boring it was.

And by the way, while there was word that it was to be a capacity crowd as tickets were apparently sold out, the number of people who showed up... well.. let's just say expectations would have only been half met if you thought it was going to be a full house.

Whoopie... so exciting...


If I don't sound convinced... it's because I'm not...


On the field


Poor folks on the field but way behind


With JD from Berita Harian, Yanie from Harian Metro and Radin from New Straits Times

The stage


More interesting was the drama when the PAS Youth people had their silent protest distributing flyers outside the stadium. Erm... I actually agree with their reasons behind the protest, tapi aku rasa too much la nak masuk area tuh nak distribute flyers cam orang yang gi concert tuh about to burn in hell. Seriously...

Aduh... whatever happened to freedom of choice. If the concert is on.. terima sajalah.
At any rate not very polite to the organisers or promoters for them to walt in pastu nak ply their self-righteousness. I mean, it just sends the wrong message, and the real reasons behind it becomes lost. But whatever...





Anywayhere are pics from the show. Thanks to mates in Sony BMG Malaysia. Yeap they own the pcis people and I'm only using them here on permission, so kalao nak pakai, if you really have to use them, please credit them as well ok.
















Me going to continue movie marathon lazing at home for now. Ta all.

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Now look what you made her do...

Miss Avril Lavigne, 1999

Avril Lavigne's Malaysian Concert Denied Permission

August 20, 2008 02:59:58 GMT

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry agree to Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party that her 'sexy' act will not coordinate with the image they want to create for upcoming independence day.

---

Avril Lavigne will not perform in Malaysia on August 29 as scheduled due to the opposition sent by an Islamic movement that deemed her act as too "sexy" for the event leading up to the country's independence day on August 31. The canceled gig, however, will be rescheduled by the organizer Galaxy Group, to a new date which will still need approval from The Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry.

Based on the meeting conducted on Tuesday, August 19, the ministry decide to give an all-clear to the appeal sent by Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party that fears youths in Malaysia will be influenced by Avril's performance. Speaking on the reason of the cancellation, Shukran Ibrahim who is a senior official from the department said, "It is not timely. It's not in the good spirit of our National Day. If we go ahead with the concert, it is contrary to what we are preparing for."
Galaxy Group, that have not yet given their statement regarding the ban as in press time, promoted the concert even before given permission from the government which is compulsory for foreign acts. It was reported that half of the concert seats have been sold.
Earlier this week, Kamarulzaman Mohamed from Pan-Malaysian told the Associated Press that Avril's sexy image is "not good for viewers in Malaysia." The youth party official said, "We don't want our people, our teenagers, influenced by their performance. We want clean artists, artists that are good role models."
Foreign acts have to abide to the dress code and stage rules set by the Malaysian government if they want to perform in the country which is largely dominated by Islam faith. They require that the stage costumes should cover from chest to knees and that they should not include any drug-related image. Shouting, kissing, hugging and jumping are also banned from the stage.
Last year, Beyonce Knowles preferred to move the concert to neighboring country Indonesia when the rules were applied to her. Gwen Stefani, however, raised the challenge by abiding to the rules and wear 'descent' clothes.

Fetched from Acesshowbiz

So there you go. One more international artist thinking so much more of the lovely regulations our country comes up with. And we wonder why it's so hard to get big names to come our way, or even if they do, it's way past their prime.

Only a handful conform to our high moral standards, and are worthy of our time.

Notch one more great achievement up for Malaysia.

Wonder what they mean by not in the spirit of Merdeka when the concert's 48 hours away. Oh well.. the mind boggling mysteries of the universe...

Now look what you made her do...



PS - Reuters is quoted to say that it is merely 'postponed'.

PS Pt II - Am on my own to a party. Be posting more later tonight.

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Avril in KL

It was 2003.

Sometime in January.

I was in Singapore for the MTV Asia Awards.

One of the shows I was lined up to see was the Avril Lavigne concert in Suntec City
Convention Hall 603 on Level 6.

Her singing was.. oh well... and it was a ho hum affair. But I have to say the energy was amazing. Yang pentingnya, the hall, which had a concrete floor... was actually bouncing as everyone moshed.

Amazing considering 'everyone' averaged about 14 years old and I was double the usual age of what appeared to be a stereotypical Avril fan in heavy eye make up and a tie - which was a trademark even she cast off by then.

At the press conference the next day, I was one of the few who popped a question. And I wasn't kind. But I thought my question was legitimate.

"Do you consider yourself a real rocker or merely a wannabe, considering you talk about it, claiming many things but can hardly play four chords, as witnessed in your concert yesterday, you wail out of tune, and all in all, your average fan age is 14?"

Considering she hated to be lumped in the teenyboppers of her era - Britney, Christina and Mandy Moore - she gave me an ugly look.

Her answer revolved around how she didn't play cause she wanted to rock out, that it didn't matter if she sang badly "cause if the fans wanted good singing, they'd stay at home and listen to the CD" and that it didn't matter how old her fans were as long as her music appealed.
I think she was offended (no sh*t!!!).

But the next day at the MTV Asia Awards - the second in the series at that point, Ibumped into her outside of the Press room. Since aku sudah pun ditugaskan untuk dapatkan her autograph for my now ex, who is a massive fan, I approached her.

She was lost (petite as all hell) in the midst of her security who appeared to be the missing links of evolution of mankind. Huge buggers!

Before I could even get close, and only having uttered her name, her bodyguards, I think three of them, had already pushed me aside.

I stood my ground determined to get what I came for.

The cool part?

She lunged forward almost by reflex, pushed her bodyguards out of the way and came up to me.
I asked for her autograph - and asked if she could make it out to my ex's name.
"Is it for you?"

I replied no, and explained it was for my ex who is a huge fan of hers. She reached for the pen, and tried to sign the CD i had brought. Unfortunately it was out of ink, and no one seemed to have a pen. Of course the bodyguards weren't thay helpful.

So the CD cover of her album had a scratched on effect of an autograph.

"Sorry, man..."

She shrugged as she motioned towards her bodyguards who appeared to be quite impatient.
Aku pun masa tu, just shrugged as well and decided it was better than nothing.

"Thanks anyway, Avril... and uhm... I do like your music too," I said sebelum gelak.

She gave me a blur look, and then smiled... actually it was a smirk.

Yeap... five years later, I think Avril is more pop than any sub genre of rock, but hey... she makes fun music no matter what. And the best thing? She's coming to KL finally.




Am I going? I'm hoping I can make it. The MTV Asia Awards? Couldn't be bothered.. It's just a lame excuse to give awards to second rate acts who agree to come here.

Honestly, this will be my first time I'm giving the event a miss since they started it, since I've been to the previous ones in Singapore and Bangkok.

I think this year's stars gracing the event are the lamest - and that they really couldn't get any A listers to attend.

Sorry kalao ada yang minat One Republic, Jabbawockeez, Super Junior, The Click Five and The Script. I mean, glad that Leona Lewis and Panic At The Disco are heading here, but everyone is basically a so-so act saja. Boring!

Anyhoo... the awards at least have given me much to remember, but yang paling best dapat jumpa ngan Pink (that's another story).

This year... doubt am going. But Avril is so going to rock - I can even hope she's learned more than just four chords on her guitar.

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