Now, I've had exactly 4 concert experiences in my life & they're all jarringly different from one another.
I feel like a quick recap will add more context to this whole thing.
The first ever was Muse in Singapore in 2010.
It was in an indoor stadium with like 10,000+ capacity, I got seated seats furthest away from the stage.
I haven't even turned 22 yet, it was the first time I ever travelled out of the country, boarded a plane with friends & no parental supervision, I worked a month straight to pay for the entire trip.
So you get the gist, it was literally the trip of my life.
& then they played MOTP & MK Ultra & I met up with more friends who I made on the Muse board & we submitted our portrait for the opening collage thing & Eurasia treasure hunt happened before they released the album,
Like, I was INVOLVED.
Felt like I knew the band on a personal level at that point.
2nd & 3rd concert was both for The Used.
Rockaway 2011 was a festival, we pushed ourselves to the front of the stage & Bert was metres away from me, & then we got crushed by the crowd surge.
Then in 2013 The Used returned to KL Live, an intimate indoor show where I was pregnant with Hilwa & we literally stayed towards the back & out of the crowd the whole time.
Last Saturday we were in the thick of it all.
My memory was mostly of people's head & their body heat radiating from every direction.
But the unity was powerful.
Everyone was just respectfully vibing, belting out each song (not just the lyrics, the instruments part too lol) & being present in the moment.
It felt more of a moment where fans come together, especially Malaysians after recent events, rather than connecting with the band.
I remember turning to Lan right after WOTP & saying "macam dengar album".
It was that perfect.
Anyways, briefly circling back,
We made it on to the free standing zone at around 1915.
We stood around for a while getting our bearings then I decided to go queue for a bottle of water.
At 1928 Kyoto Protocol took the stage.
Their first three songs; Still Alive, Guilty Plea & Delta Wing; I'm not familiar with so I was just vibing from the beverage line.
Got back to Imara & Lan right as they were finishing Delta Wing.
Next was Beautiful but I was singing the Jelita version in Malay.
The crowd erupted at Tiada Lagi Kidungmu, which is a legendary Malay song they performed for Versus that really pushed their popularity back in 2012 (or was it 2013).
& then Gimme Nothing & Pussycat happened & by the time they were done at around 2005 my heart rate was dangerously close to 150bpm & I was feeling faint.
I think it was a Fuad effect more than anything else hewhew
We decided to move from our spot to a less crowded space,
& the waiting began.
The songs being played on loudspeaker was chill, party music.
I'm not familiar with most, Imara mentioned MGMT, Billie Eilish, & one which took her right back to the MOS days & we were cringing with shame lol
Every time one song ends you can almost grab handfuls of pure anticipation from the atmosphere,
& then the next song starts playing & everyone would just BOOOOO & continue vibing lol
I swear everyone there had so much adab I couldn't help but feel so proud to belong to such a classy subset of rakyats.
I used to say Muse is rock for clever people, last Saturday night I witnessed the embodiment of it.
On the show itself,
It could be because in this age of social media, I'd see each tour show's setlist being uploaded literally minutes after it ends,
That kinda took away an element of surprise,
Of waiting for the start to the next song & getting pleasantly surprised by it.
I remember the start of MK Ultra in 2010 I probably screamed for a full minute,
& the adrenaline still pumping when Starlight was played right after that moved me to literal tears.
This time it was just "yeah they're playing --- next".
The rotation songs worth mentioning was Thought Contagion & Compliance, & both aren't top of my list.
Biggest letdown was not getting Verona, & especially the confetti that comes with it.
Everything else played was either permanently in the setlist or something I've heard before.
I guess this is 35.
It's pretty silly to expect a magical life changing experience from a concert at this age,
& in the era of social media.
It makes me appreciate all the more that I did experience that in my 20s.
& of course, honorary mention to my partner for life, who was by my side through each of the mentioned concerts & trip & all the countless gigs in between,
From milestones to ordinary day-to-day life,
We shall do this again (& again & again & again) Nyiaw ❤️
(& Lan, thank you for driving & snapping amazing pics (& capturing moments uwu) & for being tall lol).
& because I will kick myself if I don't leave this here for future reference,
The setlist.
(Which I texted to my sibling group chat just so I could get the timestamp for each song lol)
2125 - Will of the People
2129 - Interlude
2130 - Hysteria
2134 - Drill Sergeant -- Psycho
2140 - Thought Contagion
2145 - Won't Stand Down
2148 - Playback of Kill or Be Killed (Felsmann + Tiley Reinterpretation)
2151 - Compliance (streamers at 2155)
2156 - Time is Running Out
2200 - Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Matt on piano)
2201 - You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween
2205 - Madness
2210 - Resistance
2215 - The 2nd Law: Isolated System
2218 - Supermassive Black Hole
2223 - Plug in Baby
2229 - Behold, the Glove
2231 - Uprising
2236 - Prelude
2237 - Starlight
Encore -- Wasn't aware of Simulation Theory Theme, people were screaming encore at this point. Or is it layered behind JFK'S speech?
2244 - JFK
2245 - Kill or Be Killed
2251 - Man with a Harmonica
2253 - Knights of Cydonia
Added here just to have this on record, since it was a festival stage they only had Will on the backdrop.
That thing moves, it's pretty creepy witnessing in real life.
There was no Baph for obvious reasons.
& no WOTP logo on fire.
I felt like the pyro was bordering on excessive lol,
I mean it was just repetitions of pillars of fire.
But we'll take what we can get.
Now I feel like I need to experience a full European stadium concert,
Something insane like the Bordeaux Man with a Harmonica light show organized by Muse France.
So I guess that's something to look forward to next.
