The MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2013 can be summarised like this: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! BRING IT ON WORLD STAGE 2014!!!!!
Despite the varying degrees of rain throughout the taping of the whole concert, the energy of the crowd never waned and I had a totally rocking time singing, fan chanting and dancing along to Joe Flizzow, EXO, Far East Movement and Robin Thicke.
I’ve been to countless number of concerts and music festivals and awards/concert recordings so I know what kinds of delays are normal and overall, I have absolutely no complains about the MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2013 at all.
And for the record, I’m not saying all these good stuff because the cool people at MTV Asia gave me the media pass + VIP tickets for the event. In fact, I went out of the VIP area to squeeze with you guys near the front of the stage. So it is what it is.
My only gripe about the MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2013 was the rain and the number of people smoking in the audience (which MTV Asia cannot control sadly). Other than that, it was pretty flawless as an event. Quite close to the standards (and delays) I’ve experienced at the concert recording of the Eminem’s Shady Convention in Roseland Ballroom, NYC back in 2004 for Sirius Radio.
Malaysian homeboy Joe Flizzow opened the show at 7.30 pm with his set of about 20 minutes or so. I must admit that I have zero knowledge of Joe Flizzow but I was impressed by his stage presence and showmanship. Even though I had absolutely no idea what he was rapping about in Malay, I was bopping and grooving along to the beats. Pretty infectious man. Well done!
Joe Flizzow’s set list:
- Iller Iller
- Untukmu
- All Around My World
- Havoc
- Who Do It Better
At around 8.10 pm, South Korean – Chinese Kpop Idol group EXO took to the stage much to the happiness of all the kpop fan girls and boys in the audience.
I won’t deny that I kinda like EXO (but I still love my Super Junior boys way more). This is my second time watching EXO live and once again, I thank the cool people at MTV Asia for giving me this opportunity to watch EXO at such proximity. I was too far behind at SM Town Singapore to get a good look at EXO’s performance.
EXO has definitely got all the slick moves and all which they delivered no less from what I expected from them during their 20 minutes or so set. However, I find that they still lack the stage confidence and experience when it comes to interacting with the audience. It was especially obvious (to me) during their ment and when they were performing 365 (which doesn’t have any choreography). Regardless, it is perfectly normal since they are still rookies who have only been around for 1+ year. No big deal. I definitely expect to see improvements from them the next time I see them live.
EXO’s set list:
- Wolf
- History
- 365
- Growl
Far East Movement then took to the stage at around 8.45 pm and practically did a 12 song medley as follows:
- Ain’t Coming Down X Wild Things,
- Like a G6,
- Illest
- So What
- If I was You
- Jello
- Change Your Life
- Rocket
- Get Up (Rattle)
- Rocketeer
- Live My Life
The moment Far East Movement hit the stage, it was just one big party and everyone was just dancing and jumping throughout the entire set. Even though it was raining, all the rainwater did not cool everyone much in the massive crowd with all that body heat.
I thought it was pretty cool when J-Splif did something with the iPads. I couldn’t see very well what was going on from where I was but I just saw the iPads. Haha. I guess I should watch the broadcast of the MTV World Stage again on MTV Asia when it airs (like tomorrow, 11 September 2013 at 10.00 pm (SG/HK/PH), 11.00 pm (MAL) and 9.00 pm (TH/WIB)). I also saw a huge rubber ducky being tossed around in the audience as well. So random. LOL.
The Far East Movement dudes also did a tribute to the Beastie Boys in their set before closing their 45-minute set with “Turn Up The Love”.
So damn awesome fun!!
And then, HEY HEY HEY!! The hottest man of the the Summer of 2013, Mr Robin Thicke came on to burn up the stage at 10.05 pm.
Robin Thicke kicked off his set with “Give It 2 U” but barely 4 bars into the song, he suddenly stopped his performance because of some technical issue. I’m not sure what the issue is because everything looked and sounded perfect to me.
And while waiting for whatever issue it is to be fixed, Robin Thicke worked the crowd and sang “Blurred Lines” a capella. Whoooo!! I’m not sure if that bit will be shown at broadcast but here’s an Instavid I took of the a capella performance: Robin Thicke singing Blurred Lines a capella. (They didn’t allow even compact cameras so my iPhone was all I had. Sorry!) How AWESOME does he sound?!?!
Fortunately, the issue was quickly declared resolved shortly after and Robin Thicke’s set restarted without any further hitches for the rest of his flawless 50 minutes set.
I think that Robin Thicke is truly deserving of his success with “Blurred Lines”. He has clearly worked hard and is enjoying the fruits of his hard work and perseverance now. It was pretty touching when he said, “I’m prove that dreams do come true… It just takes a little bit longer for some people… Don’t ever give up on your dreams people.”
To side track a little, while I was exploring Sunway Lagoon the night before the concert, I found a corner where I can see the stage and I saw something going on and being the stalkerazzi that I am, I whipped out my camera and zoomed in for a closer look. It turns out that it was Robin Thicke doing sound check.
What I saw was amazing; I saw Robin Thicke in a black(?) t-shirt and jeans talking to everyone on the stage and directing people around on what he wanted and I even saw him picking up the fans on the stage and rearranging them around personally!
It was from that few minutes of the sound check that I watched which made me realise how hands-on Robin Thicke is and how much of the work and music that we seen of “Robin Thicke” is from the man himself. KUDOS!
Robin Thicke’s set list:
- Give It 2 U
- Take It Easy on Me
- Feel Good
- Dream World
- Oh Shooter (with a mash up ending of Bob Marley’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright)
- Lost Without U
- Shaking It For Daddy
- Blurred Lines
- Clique (a bit of it before he left the stage)
This is the low down of the MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2013 and I truly had a great time. I’m already looking forward to the 2014 edition. 🙂
You can catch the “Live Cut” of MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2013 at MTV Asia on 11 September 2013, at 9.00 pm (TH/WIB), 10.00 pm (SG/HK/PH) and 11.00 pm (MAL). This is a ONE TIME broadcast so don’t miss it!!
The full show (ie edited version) will premiere on 21 September 2013 at 10.30 am (TH/WIB), 11.30 am (SG/HK/PH) and 12.30 pm (MAL).
I’ll upload the large resolutions of the concert photos to the Facebook page in a while. Will update this post with the link when it’s up.