Quite simply, the best damn live concert I have ever attended.

When Suki and Faizal spoke to the Black Eyed Peas, Pepsi ambassador to Pepsi ambassador, they asked what advice an accomplished international group like them would give to new budding music artists.
Will.i.am’s reply was “Stay hungry. Stay focussed. Keep your feet on your ground.”

See the Black Eyed Peas interview

Indeed, when we met them privately at the Marriot, we could hardly tell by their demeanour that The Black Eyed Peas are in fact one of this decade’s most successful pop group because they were so humble, polite and down to earth.

Later that evening we went to their concert, and the same four people that we met earlier had miraculously transformed into this electrifying, singing, dancing, ass-kicking entertainment machines.

The scene outside the Impact Arena was people mountain people sea.
Yet, despite that everything was incredibly well-planned and in control, so much so that we don’t even have to shuffle through the sticky crowd to go into the arena. I reckon there were more people lining up buying pork burgers at McDonald’s than there were people squeezing in the venue.

For appetizers, The Click Five opened for the show.

The Click Five – Jenny

I was actually less interested in their number one smash hit Jenny than the fact that they wore freaking SUITS during their live performances!

Wet patches. The side effect of wearing a suit to a pop concert

Dude, you guys are in Thailand ok?
The weather here is hot ok?
People don’t walk around wearing suits like its winter ok?!

As the crowd began to fill the Impact Arena, I had a chance to scout around and check out the local concert goers.
I wasn’t disappointed.

Here’s a picture of three guys and one girl.
Or was it three girls and one guy?
Dunno. Your guess is as good as mine.

Now, something cool unexpectedly happened to me before the actually concert began.
You see, normally when you go to concerts, cameras and other recording equipment are strictly banned. However, because I was the only person in the Malaysian media team with a proper SLR camera, the concert organisers not only issued me with a press pass, they also gave me access to the security pit area RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STAGE.

It doesn’t get any better than that.
I had, literally, the best seat in the house. Any closer, and I’d have to join the Black Eyed Peas on stage. 😉

It was difficult to contain my excitement as I stood there behind the security barricade between the crowd and the stage.
It was even more difficult to contain my excitement as the lights to the Arena dimmed. The intro to the song Hey Mama was played, and out came The Black Eyed Peas!

They rapped. They danced. Fergie gyrated like Shakira. And the crowd was loving every minute of it.
Let me tell ya, I have seen crowds going nuts, but this was unlike anything I have ever seen before.

The atmosphere at the Impact Arena was indescribable. Even I had trouble holding my camera steady.
It was as if The Black Eyed Peas had just brought 20,000 people to the point of simultaneous orgasm. And they were still begging for more.

Not sure how their concert in KL was like after some over-zealous religious nut kicked up a fuss over Fergie’s wardrobe, but she ain’t holding anything back, baring midriffs doing her sexy moves and all.

Will.i.am and Taboo looked sharp in their suit and tie, while Apl and Fergie dressed it down.

Still can’t believe I was standing so close to them.
I mean, I could even see the frizz in Fergie’s hair and the foundation of her make-up. What the heck, right?

And did I mention Fergie looked delicious?
Or maybe I should say Fergalicious? Hur hur. 😉

That’s taking nothing away from the other band members of course.
Apl was especially delightful to watch. The half-Filipino had so much energy in him, thrusting his hips and break dancing for the eager crowd.

Apl grew up poor, but he is always proud of where he came from. Whether its a belt buckle, a jacket or his adidas, everytime he make a public appearance, Apl would always sport a Filipino flag or something representing his home country.

With so many number one hits under their belt, The Black Eyed Peas never ran out of familiar songs to perform.

An interesting moment occured during their performance of My Humps.
There’s this one point where Fergie threw a wad of cash notes into the madly screaming crowd.
Those on the front row thought it was real, but I picked it up and the dollar note looked something like this.

HAHA. WHAT THE HELL?
After a quick wardrobe change, the Peas came out again and sang Shut Up.

It was undoubtedly their most awesome showcase of the entire night.
Check out my video later and you’ll see that Fergie was so into her performance that she was almost crying. From there, she did a complete emotional turn-around and did SIX SINGLE-HANDED CARTWHEELS in a row across the stage and back!

Suki kept gushing over how much she admired Fergie for having the total package.
Fergie’s stamina was incredible.

Hermoine Granger

While the rest of her band members went backstage for a rest during Fergie’s solo performances, she was on stage like 95% of the entire time. And all that while, her voice remained intact and her performances energetic.
How could anyone not love her like that!?

For her solo, Fergie did Big Girls Don’t Cry, Glamarous and Fergalicious. I went completely nuts when she sang London Bridge.

That was my favourite song to look out for in the clubs, and it was simply awesome to hear it live.

Will.i.am only did one song from his solo album – I Got It From My Mama.
When I first heard the song, I thought to myself “Why kind of a stupid song is this!” If you never heard this song before, it goes something like.

Baby where’d you get your body from?
Tell me where you get your body from.
Baby where’d you get your body from?
Tell me where you get your body from.

Of course she got it from her mama!
I mean, where else could she possibly had got her body from?
Parkson?

Still, Will.i.am is definitely one of the coolest and most charismatic artists in the music industry right now.
At one point during the concert, Will.i.am announced to the crowd. “The bad news is, The Black Eyed Peas is breaking up…”

When the crowd roared in disbelief, he quickly interjected “No! No! No! What I meant was… We’re breaking up the fights.”
“The good news is, The Black Eyed Peas are never gonna separate!”

And with that, they carried on with their performances of Don’t Phunk With My Heart, Don’t Lie, and their new song More.
During one of their songs, The Black Eyed Peas did something really memorable.

Will.i.am got the crowd to turn on their mobile phones and wave it in the air. The result is a beautiful sea of dancing lights permeating throughout the arena.

With Where Is The Love playing in the background, suddenly everyone in the building felt as if they are connected like one big happy family.
Gotta give them credit for knowing how to work the crowd.

The Black Eyed Peas with their band, backup singers and dancers

The Black Eyed Peas is probably the only group in the world who can use a giant inflated monkey head balloon as a concert prop, and no one would say anything about it.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.
A wardrobe change later, Will.i.am Apl.de.ap Taboo and Fergie ended their phenomoneal, 2-hour-long, energetic concert with one final rendition of Let’s Get Retarded. With that, they left us breathless, excited and wanting for more.

What a great concert.
Here are two more videos I took during the show.

Part one of the concert. Check out Fergie’s one-handed cartwheel!

The conclusion of the concert here.

Faizal Tahir’s debut solo album is out now

I love doing this so much. Thank you again to all those who made this trip for me possible.
To think that three years ago, I actually had to resort to gatecrashing beauty pageants and begging organisers to let me to photograph their lousy events. And now there are actually people out there giving me press passes to not only watch the Black Eyed Peas but also travel with Suki and Faizal for it?
Wow.
To those who denied me the opportunity to photograph your events in the past, all I could now say is: suck on that. 😛

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A few weeks ago I was in Bangkok, Thailand on the invitation of The 8 Unit and Pepsi Malaysia.

It was a media trip and I was tasked to cover the Black Eyed Peas in concert. For someone like me who’s not even considered an entertainment reporter, obviously I was very excited. How often do I get the chance to watch such a huge international pop group perform live AND be allowed to take all the photos I want, right?
For Suki and Faizal, they got it even better.

Suki and Faizal took out the first and second places on 8TV’s One In A Million, and since then life hadn’t been the same.
The two of them were only just getting used to their new-found fame, and already Pepsi has snapped them up to become their official brand ambassadors in Malaysia. That is good news for them, because The Black Eyed Peas are also Pepsi’s ambassadors.
During this trip, not only would Suki and Faizal be meeting their idols up close and personal, they would be doing the one and only interview the Black Eyed Peas have agreed to for their Thailand tour.

We knew this trip was gonna be a memorable one. But even before we left the gates of KLIA, we were already met with some dramas.
You see, Faizal said he was so excited he didn’t sleep the night before. That’s understandable. But apparently the guy was so over the top about the trip, he had completely forgotten about the “no liquids on international flights” security rule.

Inside his hand-carry luggage, the bugger packed: a water bottle, perfume, toothpaste, SHAMPOO, three different types of hair creams and (I’m not kidding) A FREAKING HAIR DRYER. With so many prohibited items on board, obviously he kena stopped by security lah!
I can understand the perfume and the water bottle. But what the heck was he thinking bringing a HAIR DRYER on board?

Needless to say, most of his stuff was confiscated. Fortunately though, Faizal’s hair dryer managed to escape unharmed.
THE HAIR LIVES.

So anyway, after that silly incident at the airport, the group of us finally arrived at Bangkok Suvanarbhumi Airport together with the 8TV contest winners and corporate sponsors .

We were whisked away to the JW Marriot Hotel where the Black Eyed Peas was scheduled make their media appearance. Suki and Faizal went to the holding room to prepare for their exclusive interview.
Meanwhile, I was joined by other journalists in the press conference room.

You could feel the electricity in the air as the anticipation mounted on the arrival of The Black Eyed Peas. I could feel I was literally shaking in my seat, and it ain’t ‘cos of the Tom Yam Goong I ate earlier.
It is ‘cos this is the first time I’d be meeting a band of such amazing calibre.

Before long, the beautiful Thai emcee walked up on stage and spurted out a series of kaps and kongs and a string of other Thai words I couldn’t comprehend.

Whatever man. With a body so hot liddat, she can kong whatever she wants and I’d be happy to kap it anyway.
But sexy emcee aside, the highlight of the press conference was of course…

THE BLACK EYED PEAS.

TABOO!

APL.DE.AP!

WILL.I.AM!

FERGIE FERG, what’s up babyyyyy???

How many number one hits have they accomplished.
How many times have we danced to their music.
How many times we listened to their songs, from Let’s Get It Started, to Where Is The Love, to MY HUMPS. OMG.

It was such surreal feeling to see them appear in front of me, in the flesh just like that.
When you talk about music artistes that have achieved international stardom, you think about Britney Spears, you think about Justin Timberlake, you think about the Black Eyed Peas. If I have never been starstruck before, I am now well and truly starstruck.

Fergie may appear to be the most successful out of the group, but will.i.am is definitely the brains behind the Peas.
The guy is just the epitome of coolness. If anyone knows cool, it’s him.
will.i.am would hardly crack a smile, and when he does, it’s a smirk. The entire time he’s on stage, he was completely calm, collected and confident.

Still, the guy can be goofy without even trying.
Fergie, on the other hand, was everything I expected her to be, and more.
I’ve listened to her interviews before, and one thing that always struck me was how honest and down-to-earth she is despite her success. Normally, mega-stars would be deliberately try to avoid answering difficult questions.

But not Fergie.
Ask her about anything. From her crystal meth addiction in the past, to this one time she peed in her pants on stage, Fergie would tackle all those questions with nothing to hide.
How not to admire her like that?!

One thing I didn’t quite understand though was the local Thai media.
Opportunities like these don’t come easy, and normally you’d see tons of photographers stacked out on the front of the stage. But for some reason, the Thai photographers and reporters were all seen quietly sitting at the back of the room.
It was as if The Black Eyed Peas was their high school teacher who would ask difficult questions if they do not paying attention. The military junta sure has an effect on its people’s obedience.

So while the rest of the media cowered at the back, I strutted up to the front and took an empty seat on the first row labelled “VIP”. Not like there was any security to chase me away. 😉

I ended up with some of the best photos from the press conference.

The Black Eyed Peas presenting an autographed memorabilia to a charity auction winner.
The money they raised go towards helping disadvantaged children and tsunami-affected villages.

I caught up with the charity auction winners after the press conference, and they said they’ve paid 30,000 baht (RM3,000) each for a jacket from Fergie and Taboo!
That is just… incredible.

The best part of the evening gotta be when I returned to look for Suki and Faizal after their exclusive interview.

Yes, Fergie is actually THAT tiny

As it turned out, the Peas were still hanging around the room after they concluded the interview. I was lucky enough to catch them before they leave.

Knowing that this was probably my one and only chance to make an impression on Fergie, I seized the opportunity to hold her hand and say to her.
Kenny: Hey Fergie! I love your music!
Fergie: Thank you!
Kenny: …
Kenny: Umm… yay?
Ok fine, so it didn’t work out quite as well as I hoped for.
But that’s alright.

At least I got an autograph from all four of the Black Eyed Peas! 🙂

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I always envy those living in other cities who always get to go to really cool Halloween costume parties.

Virtual Insanity, Singapore

Kuching is hardly the place to celebrate Halloween. The past few times I spent Halloween in Kuching, we’ll hold a party in a pub somewhere, and then we’ll have three people turning up dressed as ghouls and draculas, and the rest will come wearing normal going-out clothes. So boring!
I don’t know what is it in Kuching’s river, but I think people here just aren’t generally interested in dressing themselves up in stupid costumes and dance like an idiot. Even Miri has a better party scene than Kuching.

Tombstone says “I cheated on my wife in memory”

But Mojo last week held a Halloween party and it was surprisingly fun.
Gerald totally pimped out his pub.

“It was viagra that killed me.” Heh, I don’t think so dude!

He even built a graveyard outside the pub. For dead pubbers.

Then there were nooses hanging from the ceiling.
The fun part about any good Halloween party is always the costumes. It is the only time in the year that guys can dressed like fools and girls can dressed like complete sluts and no one can say anything about it.

I was dressed as a member of the Taliban.
And yes, that’s a priest standing next to me. Check out what he was holding.

The New Sotheby’s WINE ENCYCLOPEDIA?! What the hell, right?

Moments later the ‘Priest’ was seen smoking a cigarette with one hand, holding a Carlsberg on the other, taking a photo with some babes. Bad priest!

I like this picture. Not because there were two hot chicks (well yeah). But how often do you take a photo, only to realise there was an open casket in the background on the right, and a dead person sipping on Coca-Cola on the left.

With Little Red Riding Hood and sexy Zorro.

Cynthia the coprse bride. Doesn’t look very “coprse-y” to me.

Annette the French courtesan.

With Jack Skellington and Chucky’s Bride.

The bartender from Hell.

And the vampy bartendress.

Ismail dunked a whole bucket of ICI Dulux on his face.

The last thing you expect seeing at the bar is a bride arguing with a bloodied butcher, and a ghost stepping in to try to stop a fight.

Some time during the night, I went and visited a nurse changed my face mask to become a sex-changed Taliban prostitute.
There were a few among the crowd who dressed up really well during the night.

There was this Irish girl that came dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

Bryan Nicholas had the full count dracula costume on. Fake teeth, cape and all. He won the prize as the best dressed of the night.
After seeing Bryan, I kinda regret not coming as a vampire.

You get to suck on chicks’ necks.
The best part is, they couldn’t say anything because it’s all part of an act. 😉

This is Gerald, walking around the pub with his 24-inch schlong hanging out, like he owns the place.

Luckily, a nurse was available on site. An emergency was called and the nurse arrivd immediately to administer an injection on Gerald’s freak sausage.
Too bad it was a weekday and I had to leave Mojo early to get to work the next morning. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that this year, at least one place in Kuching seemed to have all the ingredients of a great Halloween party.
There were scary decorations, free drinks for those who dressed up, and the Kuching folks were sporting enough to come in their best costumes. How I just wish there’s a place where we can hire or purchase ready-made costumes.

Happy (belated) Halloween everybody!

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