Get Your Heart On Adventure ! - 140112

A tad bit overdue because the concert was actually last Saturday, but you have gotta excuse me for my tardiness and lack of updates,as y'all know,i am indeed a graduating foundation student soon,and just like any other things in life (take for instance,a sprint) the nearer you get to the finishing line, the tougher the competition gets and of course, you'll start losing breath and such. ANYWAYS, not attempting to trail off any further from the point of focus, Here's what most of y'all have been waiting to hear from me, the story of one of the best nights of my life - as I'd like to call it,the "Night I Got My Heart On 140112".

The story began back in November 2011 (shut up..I'm trying to make it sound epic,hahaha) when Jason Lo randomly tweeted that Tune Talk was gonna bring in an overwhelming number of hot international acts next year. At first I was thinking, meh.. Must be some shit-ass act like the gay Nicki Mi-nasty or something, but alas, I was wrong! I have written how I jumped to his statements that mentioned two of my bucketlist of bands I'd like to see before I die: Simple Plan in January and Avril Lavigne in February! I was overjoyed, and my mind was so hyped up that I didn't even bother if I had no one to go with,I'd rock to them like a lone ranger if I need to.

GY <3 O Phase 1 : Pre-concert

However, luck seems to be on my side when this flier came out on Galaxie.

So my cousin tagged me on this flier on FB, of course my answer was YES in a heartbeat!

Well eff yeah, at least mom was less worried now that I have not just one,but TWO companions to go with. So we checked the AirAsia Redtix website every single day, until at last, the stage plan was out.

Of course, I would burn the last pennies I have to get a rock zone ticket.

I know what you're gonna say, woah.. I claim I'm broke but I can afford the VIP tickets for Simple Plan? oh hi.. there is such thing as savings :) THIS.. is what I've been saving for, that's why I cut down on other less interesting things. totally worth it guys,I didn't regret buying it even for a bit.

I only bought one ticket, the other two belonged to my cousins,btw. And I heard about the tie-up between Simple Plan & Avril's concerts, an offer of redeeming a complimentary rock zone Avril tickets for purchase of every two Simple Plan tickets of any kind. All hopes were lost knowing that I only bought one ticket and not at all eligible :( Oh well,it was good enough that I got companions to go with. I guess I wouldn't mind buying a rock zone ticket, after all, it is AVRIL we're talking about here :D I've always been a huge fan of hers since I could remember.

GY <3 O  Phase 2 : The Meet & Greet Contest

So i overheard(or.. oversaw? lol..) This giveaway  Fat Boys Malaysia was doing on their page. Sudden desperation surged out of nowhere. Under any circumstances, I NEED TO WIN THIS SHIT! hehe. I wasn't lucky enough to win the first giveaway,so I thought,ok,I'll try ALL the giveaways and only give up once all five of the giveaways belong to other people. After hours of waiting after 1st giveaway,finally the second one came.

There was nothing to lose,I spent over an hour to come up with an epic answer to win myself an M&G. After several drafts, my creative juice finally brewed this up.

I guess it was self-explanatory that I went a little too overboard, all for the sake of meeting my heroes. *disclaimer : Simple Plan is just one of those life-changing musical acts that I've been growing up listening to and learning to love.  *disclaimer disclaimer: yes,i put BJA's pic as my dp,because I felt like killing myself with pens back then.

Back to the story,I waited and waited,checked the page several times a day,anticipating the results.After what seemed like forever... I saw this!

And that's only the beginning of my lucky luck luck day!

GY <3 O Phase 3 : Concert Day - The Journey, the soundcheck & the M&G.

So finally the day came. My cousins picked me up at about 2-ish as I was supposed to reach the venue as early as 4pm although the doors would only be open at 7-ish. It was all because of the meet & greet. As soon as I arrived, which was about 4.30pm (slightly later than planned) due to the unpredictable KL traffic. I was escorted by the organizers to the top floor of KL Live where all the winners from  Fatboys Malaysia,Hitz FM etc were each given a dark blue wristband (to indicate all access pass of the venue) and this meet & greet pass.

The golden ticket NEHEHEHEHE :D

It was when we queued up that I met these lovely like-minded SP fans who happen to have M&G passes as well, and guess what, another awesome coincidence is the fact that most of us are Damansarians!

Meet my new friends  (L to R) : me, Rachelle,Huixian and Nurin.

So after what seemed like an eternity,sitting on the floor with folded legs (like a typical Malaysian) as we watched the merchandise vendors setting up,heard the technicians doing a run-through using the equipment provided while waiting for the doors to open, we were finally allowed to get into the venue with a few ground rules set by the security :
1. no pushing or shoving
2. no pulling of SP members' shirts HAHAHAHAH
3.have fun.
4.don't run, LOL.

p/s: I bumped into JD, and it was funny that both of us were equally surprised to see each other there. Even funnier when he broke the ice exclaiming "Happy New Year!" to me with a really big smile. haha.

Surprisingly, I was so calm compared to some of the other girls who had gotten the same opportunity. Admittedly, it was surreal to see the guys up close and personal. Their setting up took longer than the actual soundcheck lol. We had to wait for almost half an hour for them to get it done. Worth it though, they played "Take My Hand", "Happy Together" and my favorite, "When I'm With You"! There was some points where Pierre asked us what we wanted to hear from them, then everybody started shouting out random songs,but the awkward part was whenever I shouted, the crowd was coincidentally silent,so my voice was beyond average clarity. Among the highlights:

Awkward moment 1# :
Pierre: So what do you guys want us to play?
Crowd : *shouting random songs*
*Sudden awkward silence*
Me: I'm just a kid!
Pierre: Yeah, we can see that, thank you captain obvious!
LOLOLOLOL..

Awkward Moment 2#:
Seb : So fellers, which song of ours is your favorite?
*similar thing happened,except this time I shouted "Shut Up"*
David: hey come on kid, do we really suck so much that you're asking us to shut up?

one word,EPIC FAIL. haha

Seb doing mic test.Yes he's fucking hot :3

David & Pierre, being gay hahah.

Once the soundcheck was done, the boys came downstairs and headed towards the rock zone barrier where all of us waited anxiously to meet each and every one of them. These guys were awesome! Didn't really expect them to be THAT friendly, I always stereotyped punks as assholes, guess I gotta eat my own words now eh? So glad I got a chance to get individual pictures with them, some signatures on my Satriani guitar strap and notebook for my cousin Jue and of course, make small talks with them.And guess what, I got a self-cam with Pierre and a guitar pick of which he handed to me personally! PRICELESS!

Me and mr Jeff Stinco - lead guitarist of SP.

Pierre Bouvier! the friendliest of the bunch! He insisted to do a self-cam with me.

David - he who complains of tight schedule and being tired,followed by Pierre's reaction of rolling his eyes to David haha.

Seb, the ever-so-shy yet ever-so-charming guitarist who blushes a lot.

CHuck - drummer who enquired the location of a typical mamak stall haha.

Me in the  Rock Zone after soundcheck and m&g.

So I went downstairs where I was reunited with my ex-Convent senior, Amelia,who happened to be in the same zone as I was during the concert. We caught up for a little bit before I rejoined my cousins to wait in the queue.

Fucking excited! I can understand, it's their first concert after all :D

GY <3 O Phase 4 : The Show !

So there were a couple of technical problems with the audio and lighting, thankfully rectified while our adrenaline was still rushing. The show started off with Jin and Ryan's routine emcee-ing to introduce the curtain-raising local act,handpicked by SP themselves.

Ryan (left) and Jin Lim (right) enticing the crowd into performing a Mexican human wave.

The Revellers nailing Adele's Rolling In The Deep,rock version yo! and kicking it with a few of their originals.

Screw the waiting part and the songs they played as a transition to distract us,too typical for an international concert. The crowd went crazy as soon as this drumset was revealed. Strange enough,I didn't really feel that excited, maybe because I've met them way before the show even started.

I spoke too soon though. They appeared out of nowhere, fading into the darkness and under the limelight starting off with Shut Up and.. yes,you guessed it, my Subway song "Can't Keep My Hands Off You"! Quoting Rachelle, things gotten tad bit saucy when Pierre and David couldn't keep their hands off themselves ;)  Pierre you fucking tease! WHYYY DO YOU HAVE TO LIFT YOU SHIRT AND RUB YOUR ABS LIKE THAT WHYYYY.. hahahahaha I recalled not eating anything the whole day except for the bread and cheese sandwich I had before leaving for KL Live, then again I couldn't believe how my body managed to handle such energetic leaps I did during Jump, Addicted and When I'm Gone.Simple Plan is my energy bar :')

Cutting the story short,here's the rest of the playlist of the night,and of course the highlights :
- My Alien
-You Suck At Love (David being cheeky, and Seb running around the stage playing 'tag' with our cameras,haha)
- Thank You ( Pierre changing the lyrics to "Terima Kasih", and told us how much he loves us by saying "Saya sayang kamu semua, banyak-banyak!" so  cute! haha)
-Astronaut (well,the cliche' sentimental song wave using our cellphones to substitute lighters ,duh hehe)
- Your Love is A Lie
-Summer Paradise (David on percussion AND bass)

A few covers,since the boys were in the mood to party:
- Fuck You by Ceelo Green (yes.. we played along and emphasized the F word as we sang along)
-Dynamite by Taio Cruz
- Raise Your Glass by P!nk
... warning: cute asses were inappropriately wiggled at our direction, not at all offensive,just simply yummy, bahahah.

Then the playlist resumed with more SP songs!
- Jet Lag ( ENglish version though, wanted the French one but oh well :) the crowd had to be Natasha Beddingfield,haha)
-This Song Saved My LIFE (okay this was emo..shall not eleborate)
- Welcome to My Life ! (this was when I bumped into Yeen Yee,my ex-highschool mate.)
- I'd Do Anything (at this point,I started to think about someone and wished he was there, :')
- Loser of The Year

The stage darkened. We were a bit disheartened,but not for long. The boys showed up again singing another one of my all-time (perhaps everyone's too) favorite I'm Just A Kid! At first i thought,wow.. epic ending.. but wait.. they left out one typical song!

Once again,the venue darkened. Pierre showed up with an acoustic guitar in the middle of the stage and played PERFECT! Very touching, especially when the band kicked in.

It was epic,to say the very least. The guys totally nailed it!

Pierre rocking out Addicted.

David doing a great job backing up.

Pierre's guitar pick, added to my collection of epic guitar picks alongside Alex Gaskarth's.

Front view of the guitar picks.

My Satriani guitar strap,signatured by SP! notice how the boys signed on individual aliens..
and notice how they have a song called "My ALIEN". you see what I did there? hehehe

 

GY<3 O Phase 5: Post-gig

Of course, Saturday night will render you lifeless if you're stuck in the middle of KL City waiting for your transport to come. Dehydrated, and with the fact that the KFC opposite KL Live is closed,we had to walk a few kilometres to look for a place to get some drinks. Ended up in a shop that sells juice for RM6 per glass,well FTS,we WERE thirsty so we didn't mind. Ended up walking for a few more minutes,killed time with cousin Jue talking about Barney Stinson along the way, it helped distract us a lot! Kinda creepy to be walking by what used to be Pudu Jail in the middle of the night. So glad our car arrived. I ended up reaching home at about 2.30am. Cancelled my supper plan and grabbed a glass of milk and Singapore Laksa cup noodles instead.

TL;DR. best night of my life, EVER.

Next up, looking forward to Avril Lavigne's gig in February!

p/s: thank you Rach for 'donating' me your ticket to be used to redeem Avril ticket :)