As Suanie Sees It

When? 18 March 2006 (Sat)
Where? Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Who? DJ Tiesto aka Tijs Verwest aka trance god
Why? Renault F1 Pit Party / Asian Tour 2006
$$$? RM67 (pre-sale), around 15 Euros

First of all, thanks to Spongefox for the tickets and some ‘closer’ pix, and Janice for the vids and pix.

Kenneth drove and we reached the KLIA Limousine Shuttle Bay (with some confusion) at around 8.30 p.m. Since it was Renault’s party, they had one of their cars on display but I didn’t go there to look at sexy chicks in seriously tight lycra. So yeah, no photos of them.

People people lots and all sorts of people

The first opening act was already playing — Derb and Drum Connection were bloody fantastic! Their energy level was very contagious; I wish I’d been there earlier.

Then Francis Cobb & Bass Agents came on, his ‘working the crowd’ was a bit off but oh well. Around 10.15 p.m. he made way for some lion dance show… it was a bit wtf but Tourism Malaysia probably had a hand in that…. Then some fellas lined up to play the kompang and 10.30 p.m. Tiesto appeared. Yeay!

(So the 5 hour set promise was fluff… )

The opening was great… I was just a tad stunned to see him live, albeit from a distance but better than pixelated, you know. Then something ridiculous happened — 10 minutes into Tiesto’s set, some dudes came from nowhere and plonked their fat arses beside us and konked out. WHAT THE….. shitheads who just want to pop pills, get high and get knocked out should stay in whatever ulu disco they frequent, instead of sabotaging our movement space. FFS it was only 10.45 p.m. … omg fucking noobs.

Anyway…

Tiesto played the first set from ‘In Search of Sunrise 5′, then tracks from the album ‘Just Be’ and later ‘Magikal’ then ‘In My Memory’… Halfway into the show there was this little Indian dance troupe that was meant to complement the ‘muhibah’ spirit of Malaysia, seeing that the Chinese lion dance and Malay kompang dudes already did their stuff… but these dancers, they were good to watch.

Btw I hate whistle blowers like that.

There was also a female singer whom I’ve seen in some of Tiesto’s live gigs vids, not sure of her name, she was ok,rather good and happy and lively and all that, except that I wish she’d stop massacring ‘As The Rush Comes’.

When Derb & DC were playing, Kenneth told me that he saw PassedOutBen and suggested that KinkyBlueFairy should be there as well. Sure enough, this is a photo I nicked from KinkyBlueFairy:

We kept dancing and drank some while Tiesto worked the crowd to a feverish pitch; great presentation, great lighting, great showmanship, great atmosphere and from what I could see on the big tellies, he was phenomenally happy. A++ all the way.

And if anyone remembers the name of this track and let me know, I’d be most happy and highly grateful: Thanks bobdoom from the Tiesto forums!

Something else noobish happened as well;
the organisers ran out of warm beer to sell.
Sien.
Though at any rate they were so much better
Than the Zoukfest organisers
Yeay.
There was also laser lights,
Blinding they were to my eyes,
Sien.

But I suppose they do look quite pretty
When they are not glaring directly at me.

Overall it was fun and I was happy
Even though my limbs were weary
If you think I bitched too much earlier
It’s only ‘cos I spent quite some time preparing this post for ye.

We left at around 2 a.m. just as Tiesto played ‘Love Comes Again’. I was told later that he ended with ‘Traffic’ for his encore — not surprising and I told you so

We limped out to the car
Didn’t get too far
Before we had to stop to pee
Then we got hungry
So off we went to William’s
Who was still open, bless ‘em
And all the dancing that I did
Went down the drain when I eat
Damn it Suan ‘Kate Moss’ Nie
You go all out to elude me.

More from:

Fireangel
ShaolinTiger
KY

Added:

If I had a million dollars and none of it goes to taxes, Britney Spears couldn’t be happier if she could sing.

You won’t find me donating it to charity… okay maybe a tiny bit to orphanages, what’s a little loose change? I’d make sure those kids go for therapy though, it’s never fun when you are left behind either by death or abandonment. Self-esteem’s got to take some serious knocking.

I’d buy an apartment. With the rising crime rate, I’d be daft to live in a house, seeing as how I don’t plan to get shackled for a good many years. None of those crappy crampy apartments either, but as I am not a very large person (ahem) a good 1200sq would do. Three bedrooms, the master bedroom soundproofed. I like my music loud, you see. I won’t go into decorating plans; think grey substance within the grey mass of the consumerist world.

I’d travel around the world. I know, it’s somewhat cliche to say that these days, but I’d do it. Two years and one big luggage… I don’t need to stay in plush hotels and various expensive accommodations, though the money would mean that I would never find myself lying on flea-infested beds. It also means whatever stuff I buy abroad, I can just Fedex back home. I just want to walk the world.

First stop — Bangkok. Don’t know why, but got to start somewhere and I’ve never been to Thailand before, Bangkok is a good start as any. Then Vietnam, Taiwan, then Hong Kong, then China, though I am not sure if you are allowed in China so soon after visiting Taiwan. Do they have those kind of restrictions as we did about South Africa? Don’t know… Then Korea and Japan… then L.A.

North America, Canada, South America, then on to Africa then Europe.

Then in Amsterdam I’d meet a highly successful diamond smuggler who falls hopelessly in love with me, head over heels and all that. We’d get shacked up for a while, then he gets caught and thrown into prison and I’d move on to Paris to meet a painter who should have stuck to his day job. He’d whisper incomprehensible words of love and it’d take me two months to realise that he really wanted my money, which is not a lot due to the currency exchange and all… but day job, remember? I’d scoff at his face and rip all his paintings coz’ they weren’t good enough to sell anyway.

Of course by this time I’d expect to be seriously fit from all the walking I’d been doing.

Then there’s the small matter of the second heir to the British Empire chasing my skirt but since British men are crap in bed, I’d run to Denmark to burn down their Carlsberg factory. Never say I’m not patriotic…

In Spain I’d eat bulls testicles, in Rome I’d eat Caesar’s salad, in Greece I’d eat Greek lamb. I’d dance the barynya in Russia, kiss a koala bear in Australia and have… err fun with cows in New Zealand. I’d hunt down the best nasi padang in Indonesia.

Then I’d return to Malaysia and two days later I’d be robbed and stabbed and left to die… you know, coz’ things never really change.

Maybe it’s lucky that I do not have a million dollars.

Oh alright, give me two million then.

*Post inspired by Terry and Galvin.

Sashi wants to know about my primary and high schools days, I was the first he tagged, he’s cute so I’m doing it, so here goes…

How many schools did I go to?

SRK and SMK Convent Batu Pahat all the way. It’s sort of like a family tradition, both my sisters went through the same grind, we even had a couple of same teachers despite our age difference. Then SM Theresa Muar for Form 6, I guess you’d call that a school for we had to wear uniforms.

Was I the studious nerd, or the last minute hero?

Last minute hero. Which probably explains my less than desirable results. I remember sitting on the corridors with my friends prior to an exam, mixing up the different names we had to memorise for ‘Tamadun Islam’.

Was I the class taiko or the teacher’s pet?

None… though English teachers generally loved me, Math teachers generally hated me. I don’t blame them. I was pretty much a follower.

What was the biggest rule I broke in school?

Short of stealing, beating up people, threatening students and teachers and murder, basically everything else.

Three subjects I enjoyed.

English. I was one of the few top students in English, all the way to Form 6. It just comes naturally to me, though there’s nothing much I can do about grammar. You know those sentences we had to choose for being accurate for this and that? I just picked whatever sounded right to me, and most of the time it was right. I enjoyed writing original essays; I remember an incident with a teacher in Form 4 when I wrote an essay about an abused child, and she sent it back to me with big red words, “DO NOT PLAGIARISE.” Same teacher who later coaxed me to write essays for the school magazine.

Art, because I could draw something incomprehensible and get at least a B- for it. Today I can’t draw a straight line to save my life.

History. I’ve always been (and still am) fascinated by our ancestors’ achievements. I didn’t do very well in SPM for this subject, but I did enjoy it; the subject and not the seriously terrible way it was taught in high school. Until today I have a grudge against the entire KBSR/KBSM system.

Three teachers that inspired me.

Miss Ng in Standard 6. She was one of the best teachers I’ve had, and she didn’t really like me until I left primary school.

Cik Rozita. Her specialty was Math, but she did a great job teaching BM.

Mrs. Kuek. Thanks to her, I can still remember the different fishes caught in different types of seas, and where this and that ‘banjaran’ (range) is located.

And I’m tagging…

The usual people. They will hate me for it, but deep down they actually love me too much to properly express their true feelings. I know, I know…

KY
Paul
ST
Kim
Fireangel

And I seriously wouldn’t mind these people do it also…. so yeah, DO IT!

iJun
Dabs
Pok Ku
Shan
Encik Viewtru

While I am busy with life, here are some blog pix from Jaime’s birthday celebration at Zeta Bar, KL Hilton.

Me and Paul and Fireangel doing what we do best… camwhoring

Me with birthday girl

Me with Janice

Members from the band Southern Glow, I’m in lust with Mark Daniels

We love you Jaime. Hope you had fun

So…

See you there.

Added March 13:
T’was Spongefox who got us the pre-sale tickets; I think he bought 17? But only 9 of us including me that I know are going anyway.

I started trance with Chicane, Digweed and Paul Van Dyk back in 2001 and Janice introduced house music to me and I was happy. Then one day while exploring the virtues of Napster, I came across a tune by a certain DJ Tiesto. It was ‘Honey’ and a Chicane mix, and I was hooked ever since.

In early 2004, Tiesto made his first appearance in Malaysia at the newly-ish opened Zouk. We did not manage to get tickets beforehand, thought of trying our luck at the arena but when we drove past it, it was CRAZY. There was no way we could get tickets and we (me, Janice and Jaime) adjourned to Bliss@12SI. I was sorely disappointed, but what to do? Later we found out that even those who bought tickets earlier had difficulties getting into the premise, let alone those trying to buy tickets there and then.

Meanwhile the love for commercial trance tracks grows. Though these days I am more apt to listening to the likes of Ben Sowton (it’s the aging thing) but it’s something else to be blasting DOP DOP DOP DOP DOP DOP out loud on my excellent speakers — very therapeutic. And not drinking nor on drugs, mind you

Even better if the flow of the track leads to a beautiful build up. Like my all time favourite, ‘A Tear in the Open’. It’s not the usual JENG JENG JENG JENG JENG, rather mild compared to other Tiesto tracks, but there is a subtle hint of release. Like letting it all out in the open, holding back the unleashing of hell, but point made. Something like that If you’d never heard of it before, well there’s nothing much I could do to aid you in your imagination.

I think ultimately, that’s what trance music is, at least to me. A beautiful orchestra of excellent synthesizers that I can relate to. Something about escorting your mind to a different plane with each song setting a different mood for… wherever you want to go. Allow me to stress again that all this is accomplished without illegal substance, despite the notion of some people that trance are only for pill poppers.

In short, I enjoy the music. If you are going to be there, let me know and we might just meet up

Hi Reuben.