Sunburst Music Festival

Sunburst Music Festival was awesome! I was there around 2.40 pm with Keropok and we bumped into a number of friends including some unexpected ones from uni. Security was tight, we had to go through 4 check points and I had to leave behind my mineral water bottle. I knew it wasn’t allowed but I can’t just not try my luck.

The first show I watched was Gerhana Ska Cinta and the sun was blazing, literally laughing in our faces telling us “Melt people, melt till you are no more. Hahahaha”. However, I came totally geared up for the weather. Clad in a cotton holter top, Capri pants, flat sandals, a cap borrowed from Keropok, sunnies and a thick coat of sunblock :). Keropok also brought a long a bright sunny yellow umbrella so we took shelter from the sweltering heat while watching Gerhana Ska Cinta.

Next was the episode of water “taking”. We spotted a tent, unsupervised filled to the brim with boxes of mineral water. So I cheered on as Keropok managed to get 2 bottles for us and 2 of our acquaintances.

Gigi had good showmanship, I liked it how the lead singer pronounced Incubus as In-ku-bus (pronounced in Malay), it was hilarious and became our running joke of the day. The weather decide to take a 360 degree turn and it started pouring cats and dogs right before Pop Shuvit took the stage. I ran to the nearest tent and stayed there till the rain was a mere drizzle. Die hard fans of Pop Shuvit bared the rain, umbrella or none. People were soaking wet and jumping like crazy. There was also a side performance, slightly more enterntainng that Pop Shuvit. The crew members of Joe Flizzow were also in the same tent as me and they were restless. So they had races under the rain and also sliding competitions into big puddles of water. They looked like they had the time of their lives! Keropok and I also placed bets on who would win which rounds. Talk about entertainment man.

I couldn’t miss Hujan, and the rain was sympathetic, it was drizzling by then so I got under the umbrella to the stage singing away to their songs. I couldn’t care less that most of the others around me were staring. And then it started to rain again, I was a little disappointed they didn’t play Pagi yang Gelap and just as I was leaving, they sang the song!!! So I stayed back, overjoyed they played all my 3 favourite songs – Ah Moi Cantek, Kuala Lumpur and Pagi yang Gelap. So yeah, I watched Hujan in the rain, literally.

Keropok’s brother and gang were also performing, they are Twilight Action Girl who plays at the Loft@Zouk every Friday night. And Keropok had no idea about it until we met the gang during Hujan’s performance. Or else we could have gotten free tickets. Oh well…

George Clinton and P-Funk was energy busting, people dancing and grooving to the catchy beat. I loved Raul Midon, his voice soulful, his lyrics spoke to me. His guitar skills are amazing. I especially love the song he wrote when he was dating his now wife. Pity my uni network don’t carry his songs.

By the time The Roots and Icognito performed, the crowd has swelled tremendously. John Legend was Sweat Man. He was not glistening but literally dripping in sweat, honestly I found it gross. A girl had a chance to dance with him on stage and even she couldn’t help but wipe off his sweat for him. By the time she left, her left thigh (which was against his) was wet, a sweat patch was clearly visible.

The highlight of the night was Incubus. They, however, did not perform according to schedule. Being the superstars they are, they decided to perform earlier, citing reasons that their fans wouldn’t wait till too late for them. WTF. And because of that, Estranged and Search were pushed back to make way for the whites. Seriously, I think loads of people were there mainly for Incubus, they would have stayed back no matter how late just to catch their show. The organizers gave in without a fight, not even a negotiation to get them to perform as scheduled. Got this scoop form V.

Now, why is this so important? Well, the idea of the festival was partly to support the local music scene. And if Estranged and Search were to perform after Incubus, the crowd would pretty small by then. Even the Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) chairperson did not support nor stand up for the local acts! To give the local bands center stage and exposure is so important and they took away that golden opportunity by letting Incubus perform first. Gosh….

The festival brought upon loads of catching up with friends I have not meet in years. I met Davina from our Introduction Weekend of Raleigh International Kuala Lumpur, after camp, we have not met up, and that was 5 years ago. I was so happy she could recognize me, I tapped her shoulder and was saying, “By any chance, are you ….” “OMG, OHKULALA IT IS YOU!!!” she squealed. Then there was Neha, whom I’ve not meet since 6 years ago. Also finally met V’s sister-in-law, have heard so much about her and we finally met face-to-face. Catching up with Superman was great, pity him, he took awhile to spot me coz of the massive crowd.

My back was totally aching from all the standing I was doing, after the fourth or fifth song of Incubus’ performance, I had to get a sit. So we chilled at the Tuborg station watching Incubus from the big screen. They had an encore of 3 songs! We left around 1.30am. I was hungry from all the excitement. The pizza we got from Pizza Hut was not wow, it was cold and expensive but that was expected. The satay was so much better, should have gotten that earlier. To pacify my aching tummy, we ate at Devi’s Corner in Bangsar before I headed back to my lovely bed.

I think the idea behind Sunburst was a great one. They could tweak it better by selling water at a cheaper price, it was RM3 per bottle and I found out these were actually sponsored. So technically, they are making 100% profits cutting our throats. The incident of big guns pushing their way around should not be repeated, what is the worse that can happen? Incubus doesn’t perform and the organizers can sue them, win-win-win for the organizers, local bands and the patrons.

The weekend was awesome. To counter the amazing weekend, I have loads going on this week. My FYP experiments were completed yesterday afternoon. The PDP pre-EDX and final presentations are due this afternoon and my interview is on Saturday. Jord Mela on Thursday and OM test on Friday. So yeah, I have my entire week packed out. Good luck to me.