Neon Lights Festival 2016!

A week ago I was having one of the best times of 2016 at Neon Lights Fest in Singapore! So as promised, I'm going to blog about my trip there. Anyway I flew into Singapore on Saturday (28th November) at 9 AM and reached Singapore at about 11:30. Went straight to my hotel (Peninsula Excelsior) to try my luck in getting a room before the check-in time. Anyway I chose this hotel cause it was so near Fort Canning and I'm so glad I chose it because it was truly convenient.

It was about 12:30 PM when I reached the hotel and thankfully I got a room! I couldn't get any sleep the night before, since I left my hometown at 2:30 AM heh. So I decided to take a nap. Woke up to realise it was raining so heavily. But I braved myself to go to the festival ground.

 Disco Hue, Gotta Find You~

The first act I watched was Disco Hue! Awesome band from Singapore that I discovered through my friends on Facebook and also from a local music channel here. I'm glad to have caught them live, Gotta Find You is such an awesome song haha. After that I went to seek refuge from the rain to catch a poetry slam show called "The Poetry of Unlove" by Marc Nair. I enjoyed his poems! Especially the one about Kenny G, it was so hilarious haha. Truly brighten up the mood despite the downpour.

 Lucy Rose on stage, still enjoying the rain!

The next set was Lucy Rose but due to technical difficulties, it was being pushed forward a bit. So I grabbed myself some lunch. Thankfully there are vegetarian/vegan options around! Got myself some falafel pita bread which is so good. The set started and we were having such a great time dancing and listening to her in the rain. I know Lucy Rose but I haven't given her albums a proper listen. But damn, I really really fell in love with her music. When she played Shiver, I almost cried :(

 Shura was so so incredible

After Lucy Rose was Shura! The act I was looking forward to the most in the festival. I went to wait for her set and thankfully got a good place haha, wished I was in the middle though, I was on the side. Nevertheless Shura's set was so so amazing. I am so honoured and happy to have the opportunity to see her live! Despire her set being cut short, it was a wonderful wonderful performance.

 I was 2shy really

And... I also got the chance to meet her in person! Some of us went backstage hoping to meet her. We saw her move out and she was like "Give me 5 minutes!" and we waited. Oh man I was so excited and happy and 2shy to meet her. So sorry if you couldn't get what I was saying haha. It was such an honour to meet her and thank you so much for signing my album! Thank you also to a fellow fan who helped me take the photos. It was definitely a night I will never forget. What a great first night!

Okay then I headed out to meet Jes, but I'll talk about this on another post! My plan was to head for dinner with Jes and then return back to catch Neon Indian. However I was feeling really really tired that night. Well like I said I didn't sleep at all. So I went back to the hotel and crashed.

 Linying!

Day two started with Linying! I wanted to catch .gif but I was late T_T when I reached Fort Canning they were playing their last song. Oh well I was quite bumped but it's okay, I hope to catch them live again. I discovered Linying through YouTube. Her video for "Paris 12" was on my recommended tab and wow she's such a talented singer! Her set was great, glad to have discovered her :)

Went for Linner with Saeyeoh and Yoyo before heading back to the finale!

The last two acts that I went to see were Yuna and Sigur Ros. I did catch Blood Orange for a while as well and it was a good time dancing to their music in the muddy field haha. Alright let me tell you an interesting story. In the afternoon, seeing the muddy situation, I knew I had to go get slippers because my shoes are already ruined by the mud haha. So I went to get (cheap) slippers before heading back.

 There's a first time to everything

But to my _______ I realised the slippers doesn't help. In fact it made things more difficult because they will get stuck in the mud and it was harder to walk. So I ditched the slippers after Blood Orange. I went to the beer stand and asked this lady in the stand if I can keep the slippers at the stall and come back to retrieve it. She said I can put it below the stand but she couldn't guarantee that it'll still be there. I said I'll gamble and... It pays off, it was still there when I was heading back to the hotel haha.

 The visuals at Yuna's set was amazing too

Yuna was so amazing! She's truly a Malaysian pride (or Southeast Asian pride!) and gosh her voice is so good haha. I was just grooving and dancing around to her music together with this random audience who happened to go alone as well ahaha. Fun fact: I actually saw a mak-cik and pak-cik couple dancing to her music as well, despite the muddy condition. Truly a #couplesgoal haha.

 Magical, as always

I wanted to see Jose Gonzales before Sigur Ros but seeing how people are rushing to fill Fort Green, I decided to give him a miss and secure myself a good spot haha. Sigur Ros was incredible. The set felt a bit "empty" because the last time I see them they were accompanied with strings and winds. But wow, the three of them can give such an incredible performance! I was mesmerised as usual. It was another truly magical and wonderful night. I am so happy that I get to see them live again.

I caught them for the first time at Fort Canning four years ago with Joel. And this was my third time, and it was as magical as ever. Takk Fyrir Sigur Ros! I hope to see you again one day.

That's all for my Neon Lights experience. To be honest Neon Lights is probably the best music festival that I went to. Everything was run well in my opinion. The waiting time is alright, and the art performances in between the waiting time is great. I really hope to return next year and I hope the lineup will be awesome! And also I hope the weather will be better haha. But well, Mother Nature....

 Takk!

You see... Music has always been my escape. But the two days spent at Neon Lights was truly an escape. Spending two days losing myself to music, enjoying the sounds and the vibes. Literally dancing like nobody (I know) is watching. It was definitely a much needed break for me.

But most importantly, it was a much needed time to be alone.

Thank you once again to Neon Lights for the great time! And to all artists and musicians for their hard work and incredible performances. I hope to return next year! Cheers guys.

Route One

Sigur Ros just ended their 24 hour live stream of them going around Iceland via the famous Route One! I didn't follow the whole stream, just the beginning last night and the end of the stream just now. It was such a total Deja Vu moment for me. Passing through the roads I once drove on, the streets of Reykjavik, near Loft Hostel and so on. Thank you for the magical ride! It's amazing.

 I had hotdog here in Borgarnes!

Guess what, in fact, the bus stopped at a stop in Borgarnes, which is a place I stopped by too 2 years ago for toilet break haha. I even bought a hotdog and some drinks there hahaha.

Anyway sorry for not blogging last week. I've been pretty busy and I didn't have time to blog! Nevertheless here I am now. Things are getting pretty exciting because Hari Raya is nearing. It is always a busy time for us here haha. Right now I'm finalising stuff. 

Kinda stressful but well I'll get through everything.

 Takk Boogie Trouble!

Talking about Iceland - I was pretty surprised to receive a package from Iceland about 2 weeks ago. My sister Whatsapped me saying that I have a package from Iceland and I was like what? Since when did I have a friend there haha. Turned out it was the debut album of Boogie Trouble! Which is a band I discovered about 2 years ago. I joined their crowdfunding campaign for their debut album and alas they sent it to me. Pretty amazing huh. And I love their album as well :D

Still a bit sad with the fact that I missed their gig at Loft Hostel by one day!

The past two nights have been pretty sentimental to me. I miss Iceland! I wish I can go back there. Passing through the same streets I once walked on and roads I once drove on, pretty amazing feeling. Sigur Ros is such a genius. I love Jonsi's concept of the project. Which goes like:

"In a day and age of instant gratification and everything moving so fast, we wanted to do the exact opposite. Slow tv is counter-active to the world we live in, in that it happens in real time and real slow.”

Yup. I feel that time is moving way too fast too. 

Music words and photographs

 My holy trinity

Music, words and photographs combined

Music credits to Sigur Ros on their new album, Kveikur

I must say the three words above are the holy trinity of the joys of my life. The three words are what I want to do, when I'm free and yeah, they revolve around my daily life a lot. I keep a diary, I blog, I take photos, and of course I listen to music. In fact everyday, I did all these. Not blogging and writing but I think of words in my head like a story. And I often take photos using my phone. Be it instagram or not (yes I know I can spam photos at times).

Well Sigur Ros' new album is going to be released this MONDAY! Can't wait for it cause I already pre-ordered it in iTunes. I really can't wait to get my hands on the CD. I wanted to pre-order but I realised I'm left with like uhh $3? On my POSB card and being a grown up now I am going away from asking my relatives to use their credit card. So I will patiently wait for August when I can get my hands on them in Singapore. Or maybe in Jakarta.

They have been really kind and nice for giving us a free streaming of the new album on their website. Thanks to this I really can't wait to get my hands on the album because the songs sounded REALLY GOOD! I had to argue with myself to whether I can say it's their best album. After 3 days of listening (now 5) I really agree that this is their best album so far. Hoppipolla will always be my favourite, but Stormur may take its place haha.

And their songs are really nice. As I listen to their song every night, usually in the late nights like 2 AM or so, images start to pop in my mind of the songs. Images that I have seen before, and some that I have not. I feel the music, I see and I hear the music. So I begin to write and for the first time, I actually express my thought of songs through photos. It feels rather therapeutic and nice to do this. Expressing your thoughts freely and expressively.

I really love the new album. It's definitely an anti-valtari like what Georg said in the interview. I love Valtari's ethereal-ness and also Kveikur's strength and darkness. To be honest when I listen to the album it feels like I'm in this huge cliff overlooking the sea. And somehow everything is in black and white haha. Dark and powerful, electrifying and soft, cold and warm. It's a mix of feelings. Stormur seems like a happy song but I feel sad listening to it.

Oh well, my holy trinity. It's my escape from reality.

Sigur Ros Live in Jakarta!

 Sigur Ros JKT

Amazing, beyond words

Once again it's 4:06 AM and why am I here? Cause I want to blog about the most awesome concert I've been in my life and that is yes, Sigur Ros Live in Jakarta last night! It was just a truly amazing concert. I've been to their last year's concert at Singapore but I really feel this concert was better than that one heh. It's just amazing! I can't stop thinking about how awesome it is. If I were to dream about it, I won't be surprised either. I wish!

Anyway yup it's my first time watching a concert here in Indonesia. I really didn't know what to expect. And best part is? I'm watching it alone! Yes since no one at home likes this kind of music, and I know no one here who does anyway hah. And it's my first time watching a huge-scale concert alone as well. It was a good experience. Wasn't bad at all, just that waiting alone can be a bit depressing (lots of delays today) but it's alright.

Best part about watching concert alone: You can do whatever you want when watching the concert without anyone-who-knows-you judging you. If you know what/how I watched the concert, you'll find me a lunatic maybe. But tralala. There's no rule to enjoy music.

But anyway yes it was such an amazing concert oh gosh. I love the setlist, and they played new songs from their soon-to-be-out album Kveikur as well. Which some I've never heard of hehe. Kveikur and Breinnstein are lovely though. Was hoping they play Isjaki but oh well no worries.

And of course the highlight (to me) to Sigur Ros concert is Hoppipolla! And this time round, it's more amazing cause seems like the whole of Istora sang along with Jonsi to the song. It sent shivers down my spine listening to it and singing along at the same time. It's so scary and so good that I cried when the "climax" of the chorus hits. It was just so amazing. Thankfully I have immortallised the (I call it) Hoppipolla moment once again.

It's so amazing. I really hope I can see them perform again one day! :')

And I even got inspired to write a puisi (poem in Indonesian)! Here it is...

Malam ini Indonesia bernyayi
Bersama Sigur Ros di malam yang sunyi
Istora berubah menjadi sebuah mimpi
Mimpi yang selalu ku ingin hidupi
Hidup  ku lupakan
Rasa takut ku ancurkan
Hari esok ku hapuskan
Malam ini Indonesia bernyayi
Bersama Sigur Ros di malam yang sunyi
Istora berubah menjadi mimpi
Mimpi yang tak ingin ku akhiri

And once again,

Here's to to me, the greatest band on earth

TAKK!

Sigur Ros Live Singapore!

 Takk Sigur Ros!

I'm cheating now. It's 12:51 AM but who cares, 23/11/2012 has gotta be one of the best days in my life. Cause I finally get to watch Sigur Ros Live with my own freaking eyes, listen to them with my own freaking ears and just right in front of me! No longer separated by a screen or a wire. So yes it was truly a wonderful and enchanting night. It felt so ethereal and everything was like a dream. It's so wonderful! Words can't describe it really.

Okay I won't go into details but well, I met Joel (thank God he can make it!) in Funan first for dinner and then we walked over to Fort Canning. I don't know why, we reached there at 7.30 and had to wait for 1.5 hours for the concert to start. Well whatever it is, when the band came on stage, goosebumps came through me. It was just an amazing feeling.

ESPECIALLY WHEN I SAW JONSI!

Oh man it was beautiful. I must say the highlight of the concert is none other than Hoppipolla. My favourite song from the band! So you can say, I've been waiting for 3 years for this moment of listening to this song live. It was just amazing... And then they played Meo Blodnasir as usual after that, and the crowded started singing the choral part! So beautiful!

And last song. Popplagio. Just effing awesome. Okay so after they played the last song (their new song which is awesome too!), it started drizzling. They played Ekki Muk (I think) for their encore and it started drizzling. Then they played Popplagio and the rain got heavier. And people started opening their umbrellas. And then well Popplagio has a progression where the drums get louder, faster and the rhythms more complex and just... Crazy.

And the rain got heavier as the song gets crazier too! I was like screw it, I took off my umbrella and just lost myself in the music. It was just great. Everyone was dancing, clapping our hands and dubbing outselves to the beat. Just wonderful experience. It's like getting high without alcohol or drugs. Just purely by music! So nice...

I will not forget tonight. So beautiful...

And here's to (to me) the greatest band on earth.

Thank you for making my life more beautiful

You've changed my perception of music and life

Your music has inspired me where no music has inspired me before

Thank you

Takk