The Trials, Victories & Adventures of Los PaulOS

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ~ 1 John 4:18

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Stunned, Stung & Sting - Part 1

Last night, I attended what you might say my 1st ever concert that I ever attended. (Not counting Jazz Festivals and Hard Rock Cafe)

I left my house at 1615 hours to go to Kerinchi Station to pick up Chris a.k.a Surfgod .. hoped to clear the perrenial jam on the Roads of Kuala Lumpur.

So after picking up Chris, we dropped by Ticket Charge at Mid Valley to pick up the tickets. I had only bought the tickets (via phone just the day before. Why? Go read it up at SurfGod's) . So as I "stood" (meaning "Not parking but leaving my car while Chris waited) my car in front of Ticketcharge, there was a Putra "standing" in front of me, I assumed they were also picking up tickets for Sting. So up I levitated (in a lift) to the first floor. Walked into ticketcharge and saw this gal standing in front of me. Waited for her to pick up her tickets.. I caught a glimpse of the ticket price and who it was for.. none other than our local comedian, compere and artist, Harith Iskandar. So after she left, I then picked up my 2 tickets and bought 1 more for Kingston.

Not wanting to dis' TicketCharge, but it seems their staff did not get any concessiory tickets or even a special discount. Sad, sad.

Chris and I then drove to Carrefour "Mall" near Bukit Jalil stadium , fully anticipating the JAM. Surprisingly at 530pm there was no jam at all. So Chris and I roamed the anals of the aforesaid mall. (I forget the name of the mall). The place was a bit Ah Beng, so it didn't really suit our taste, except for Chris he got his dose of browsing and scouting for video games, Gamecube, Xbox,PS2 etc.

We had dinner and then left the mall to meet up with Chris Khoo, Adeline (his wife) and Kingston (his brother). So there we were outside, waiting for the concert to start, Chris, Adeline, Kingston, Paul and Chris (aka SurfGod). I had parked my car on the culvert of the road about 50 metres away but it was hidden from my sight.

I didn't buy any Sting memorablia, it didn't seem that they were really pushing it either.
Progam Souvenier - RM40
T-Shirt- RM50
Picture of Sting when he was a kid - RM150

We entered the hall at about 8pm, hoping that the concert would actually start on time.
Kingston, Chris and I were seated in section u2. (Incidentally U2 is another group that I wanna see in Concert.. Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry come quick!). Kingston sat about 5-6 rows in front of us. We teased him about meeting "somebody" who might suit him. Trying to teach him pick up lines like "So you like Sting huh?" ... ha ha.. Indeed a gal did sit next to him. So I sent him an SMS asking him if she was his type. His reply came .. "Definitely not my type.. but then again.. when sting starts playing and love is in the air.. who knows! he he"

King, you're joker man!

There were a few "orang putih's" behind Chris and I who were complaining "They don't serve beer here", "If Sting's not coming in 5 minutes, I'm leaving", "I just got here and I am already drunk"... He he.. you must be sure that it's entertaining hearing such conversations. You just never know what's gonna happen next.

A funny announcement was made at approximately 835pm, "Would BMW car owner Wep3128, kindly make your way to meet with the police." (I paraphrased) We were ALL quite tickled by it, coz we thought it was a joke. Someone behind us quipped a joke "Yeah, meet 'THE Police' ". We dismissed the announcement without much thought of what it might pertain.

Anyways, the concert started at approximately 9pm, with the crowd "Woo"-ing as the hall lights and stage lights dimmed..

And man... there was he, the man, Sting, Mr Gordon Sumner, in his black pants, white broad collared shirt and snug fitting jacket. Cool as ever, and youthful as ever. He posed with a stance, that looked similar to that of an Indian classical dancer, with his left foot forward in the same direction of his left arm. With his right hand his was gesticulating some movements from above the back of his head to the front according to the beat of the drum.

The lights display and rear projection screens were quite clear. Must say kudos to the video team. The sound system was quite good as we had low expectation about the acoustics in Putra Stadium. The sound was reasonably crisp and clear for a concert. I wonder who was on the Sound and Video crew for this event. They did a good job. There were approximately 6-7 Cameras covering the event. The video cuts were good. Sound had hardly any problems. We were way up in the stands and we could actually hear virtually every instrument. But I must say that Sting's vocals were slightly eclisped by the backup singers.

Will continue more on the rest of the night in the next blog. I've got so much to write as you can see.... More coming soon...

PauLOS Blogging Off!