:+: Fine after rain :+:

Since I will have quite a bit to talk about with regards to yesterday's Rock For Wayne , I will spilt it into 2 groups namely gig & non gig related details of yesterday's event then so here we go !

Gig related details :

Before I start , here're the list of bands who performed at yesterday's Rock For Wayne namely :

1) The Fire Fight
2) Humpback Oak (yes the 1 & only ! )
3) The Great Spy Experiment
4) A Vacant Affair
5) Force Vomit
6) West Grand Boulevard
7) Caracal
8) Electrico
9) Astroninja All Stars

Each of the band's set's roughly about 30 mins which's about 4-5 songs that each of the acts did .

By right the event was supposed to start at 4pm+ but as always for such events , it doesn't start & end on time cos around 4pm+ still , the bands were still doing their soundchecks & tuning of their instrument so doors weren't opened til about 5pm+ .

There were security checks before Dila & I stepped inside The Pavilion . I don't mind security checks but I cannot understand why they want people to empty their water bottles as they worried there might be alcohol containing in the bottles & if you ask me , it's pretty silly . Somemore food can't be brought inside too . Like people will start eating once they're inside The Pavilion . I think they will be more interested in watching the bands performing than eating .

But anyway after much further delay , Rock For Wayne was running prim & proper when the 1st band in the lineup The Fire Fight came onstage to kick things off . Now I have to admit , I actually didn't wanted to watch them performed cos I'm not familiar with their material even though I heard some of their songs on their MySpace & also they were featured in Straits Times's Life a while back with Leonard commenting that they're good in which by the way , Leonard manned the sound for the whole event yesterday .

& guess what ? Leonard's so right as The Fire Fight was awesome & kicking . They have great stage presence & chemistry , it was really something . 1/2 way though their set , Dan texted me saying that Fire Fight's set was fricking amazing . I think so too & I think Dan was in The Pavilion somewhere or else how would have he know about it ? Come to think about it , it was pretty strange that both Dan & I were watching Fire Fight performing but yet he wasn't beside me haha

But anyway next band in line to perform was the 1 & only Humpback Oak who reformed & performed just for yesterday . If you ask me , outta the 9 acts who performed yesterday , I was excited to see Humpback Oak performed the most simply because I have heard so much about them as they're supposedly 1 of the pioneers in the local music scene . That's til they disbanded in 1999 .

It took 8 long years for them to reform & to play again just for yesterday & you don't know how chuffed I was when all of them finally came onstage to perform .

I realised that when Humpback Oak was performing , the audience in the crowd namely teenagers were pretty bored with Humpback Oak's material as they probably might be thinking , "who're these bunch of 'old' & mature guys performing onstage" or worst still "who're they how come I never heard of this band called Humpback Oak before " which I think it's pretty sad seeing that Humpback Oak has inspired so many of the current crop of local musicians .

But of course the folks in the audience who're adults or should I say 25 & above were feeling Humpback Oak's music & I caught sight of some people humming to their songs which was great !

I really enjoyed Humpback Oak's set despite the fact that I only know 1 song from them which was Ghostfather which I heard on their MySpace & what better way to close their set but with that no. . To me it's a really haunting yet beautiful track .

If you ask me , I think Humpback Oak's material's pretty much a more simplified , stripped down version of The Observatory's music since the frontman of both bands's Leslie Low . That's if you take away the cello , keyboards , synth , computer programming etc & you pretty much get Humpback Oak .

3rd band in the lineup was The Great Spy Experiment . Was the 2nd time that I caught them in action , the 1st was in D'Marquee which they were sorta opening for Rivermaya .

Great Spy's set was damn good . Their live reditions of Class A Love Affair , Siti In The City were great . I was hoping that they would have done Captain Funkycurls leh but it doesn't matter , they put up a good rocking show yesterday & I'm looking forward to the release of their album in due time !

I didn't watched A Vacant Affair performed cos at this time my period was starting to kill me so Dila & I went outside to get some water & to EAT . Whenever my period comes , I have to eat a LOT , probably like a hippo .

Dila & I came back a while just in time to watch another iconic local act Force Vomit in the middle of their set . I seen them performed live before at last Dec's LIME Sonic Bang .

Force Vomit was totally slamming & they will be performing in the Esplanade Recital Studio this coming 27th July , Fri to celebrate 14 years of existence . Yeah they have been around for so long , it's hard to believe it & the live redition of Siti was really good & rocking !

The next 2 bands after Force Vomit are 2 of them which I haven't seen them performed live prior to last night + I wasn't familiar with their material as well . West Grand Boulevard & Caracal were the next 2 acts to perform .

Umm.. not sure if it's just me but although I like the music of West Grand & Caracal , I have a problem hearing what both bands were singing . Just like Fire Fight , Caracal was featured in ST's Life & also Leonard gives them the thumbs up too .

But I got to give both bands credit for having such great chemistry & stage presence & that they really know how to work up the crowd .

There were 3 video montages that were aired for everyone to see yesterday . Montages that were shown to honour Wayne 'Thunder' Seah . Prior to his unexpected death , Rock For Good was his last project which has since been renamed to Rock For Wayne in memory of him .

I caught the montages & it's touching to see how much Wayne has inspired so many of his friends/local musicians/fans & I'm sure he can rest in peace now knowing that the last project he has his hands on , was a huge & big success .

After West Grand & Caracal took the stage , it was my boys & girl Electrico who took the stage . Actually they're not supposed to play anymore shows after they returned back from US cos by right they're supposed to be on an indefinite hiatus but for Wayne's sake , they obliged as Electrico was 1 of Wayne's fave local bands .

Before they took the stage , I told Dan that I will be rooting for him & the rest .

Electrico started things off with Studman which was followed by a cover of The Boredphucks/The Suns's Rock With You . I never heard the original version of Rock With You before but it sounds good .

It's hard to believe that Dan suffered a freak accident when the rest went on tour in US but he was great onstage last night . Although he didn't rocked out as wild & as hard as before , still it was all good !

Electrico's set was the shortest among the other acts as the rest of the bands did about 5 songs but for Electrico , they did only 4 . Initally I heard from Des that they might do 1 song only (!!) & from Dan , 2 songs but finally it became 4 .

Next up in line after Rock With You was Teenage Queen which was wheeeeeeeee as they know that it's my fave track off the record of Hip City . & Des was teling me prior to the gig that they weren't doing Teenage Queen -.- . The rumour was further squashed by Dan who told me later on that they will do it because they take song requests mah hahaha

& what do you know , Dan said that they did Teenage Queen for me hee hee . Thanks lah guys you all are too sweet !

& what better way to close their set with We're Not Made In The USA which I feel the live redition always always always sounds a hell lot more better than the album version . Damn kicking .

This was the last show that Electrico's played for the year & they rocked out loud & proud last night . I'm not sure whether later on in 2007 will they be playing anymore shows but for now , from what I heard from Des , it's the last 1 for the moment .

Electrico was the 2nd last act to perform last night & right before the steller all cast of Astroninja All Stars came onstage to wrap things up for the night , the organisers came onstage to give away a beautiful Epiphone Les Paul Electric Guitar .

Wayne's dad was the 1 who picked the lucky winner whose everyone's ticket stubs were inside a box & omg , when the organiser announced the lucky winner's name , I was in shock . Why ? Because the lucky winner was Dila !

I don't know who was more shocked but unbelievable man . This's the beautiful Epiphone Les Paul Electric Guitar that Dila won :

oh my god , so nice & you imagine she had to carry that all the way back home when we took the last bus last night haha

But anyway Astroninja All Stars , consisting of 13 people from different bands . On vocals aka Venom Vocals , you got 3 people on board , namely Levan Wee from Ex-Ronin which incidentally Ronin played their last show with Levan yesterday at Orchard Cineleisure , PeepShow's Zaki & Allura's Inch .

For guitarists aka The Magnificent 5 Guitarist , you got 5 people , namely Ronin's Sean , Bad Obsession's Dong , Sipper Zipper's Roxxi , Caracal's Field & Syawla Evol's Don .

For bassists aka The Bad Ass Bassists , you got 3 people , namely Electrico's Desmond , Levean Trait's Joel & Caracal's KC .

For keyboardist aka Phantom Keyboardist , it's the lovely Amanda from Electrico & last but definitely not least , for drummer aka Wicked Drummer , you got Syed from West Grand .

Whew , what a big lineup of people & not only that , everyone was decked out in funky & somewhat ecentric costumes which was pretty unique . I love Inch's costume which was a purple Japanese Kimono . Amanda was decked out in a strange yet nice red outfit .

Des's outfit was funny , with the whole ghoul like outfit & that infamous Ultraman mask hahaha . I know he used to perform with that Ultraman mask when Electrico 1st started playing gigs but didn't expect the mask would made a comeback last night haha

I thought the mask was lost for quite a long time already . Maybe Des went out & buy another new 1 haha

Astroninja All Stars was given the honour to close the show . I didn't managed to catch some of the songs that they did but I know they did reditions of My Chemical Romance's I'm Not Okay , ACDC's Thunderstrike & what better way to close the event with their original composition Thunder which's dedicated to Wayne .

The live redition of Thunder was absolutely amazing & right before the night comes to an end , the last video montage was aired & this time it's Wayne's parents thanking everyone for coming down to support their late son's last project .

Non gig related details :

Des gave me a whole bunch of stickers yesterday after they were done with soundcheck . Cos The Pavilion's made of glass , I could easily see what was going on yesterday during soundcheck .

Somemore he was the 1st from the band that came outside & he was talking to some people . Then I went up to him & said hi & stuff .

Kelvin was supposed to tag along but he called yesterday morning to say that he's nursing a bad cold .

But wah the stickers that Des gave to me was too much man ! When I said I want a few , I didn't expect him to give me so many so thanks Des . The extras I will keep them in my drawer !

Amanda came out next & it was good to see her again . Last I heard from her , she cut her hair & I like her new hairstyle . She looked lovely with the whole eyeliner & mascara get up .

What she wore yesterday was casual but she made it looked really good on herself .

I saw William & Dave much much later on . William hasn't changed much in any bit though haha but ahh Dave , he was sporting a rather new hairstyle yesterday with the front of his hair all spiking up which he carried it off really well .

The last person I saw was Dan & eariler when they were doing soundcheck , I did saw him & oh god his hair ! It's pretty long & messy . Gee & I thought the last time I saw him , it was bad .

If I know his hair's in this state I would have brought a pair of scissors to snip away his hair haha

After Great Spy's set ended , Dila & I left The Pavilion a while to get something to drink/eat cos at this stage I almost couldn't make it & decided that I better recharge myself before something might happened later on .

& outta nowhere , when both of us were walking/talking , I heard someone calling my name & what do you know it's Dan ! It was so nice to see my dear big bro once again & aww he gave me a nice little hug :)

Dan & I were talking about the acts who performed so far , like Fire Fight , Humpback Oak & Great Spy & we both agreed that all acts that performed eariler were great .

At this point in time , I was nudging to Dila to tell Dan about that poly project that's practically killing the whole class & not just her & around this time , I excused myself & had to find some place just to sit down for a while cos the pain was sucking the life outta me & while the both of them were talking/discussing about the much dreaded project , I did managed to catch here & there on what they were talking about & er , can someone said geek much ?

As much as I wanted to talk to Dan about other issues yesterday , cos of the current state I'm in , I couldn't but hopefully after all of this's finished , I can meet up with him probably next week or in due time to talk more once I recover . It's not fair , why's that my period has to come on those days that I don't want it to come ? Sniff :(

I told him that I will be rooting for him & the rest later on when they take the stage so it's cool & after that Dila & I went to China Square to have dinner . I was telling Dila that at least eariler Dan managed to give her some pointers & etc so at least right now she has a rough idea how to tackle the problem cos it seems like a very difficult project for her to handle .

But at least she indirectly knows someone who can help her , I wonder how about the rest of the groups in her class , I think their plight will probably be worst than her's .

I was supposed to meet Dan again right after Rock For Wayne concluded but he texted me to say that he had to leave early cos just like me he wasn't feeling well too . Oh dear , I hope he will be alright , I'm sure he will recover faster than me haha but not before I texted him to say thanks for playing Teenage Queen haha

I had fun with Dila yesterday for sure . Too bad about my period though which got in the way or else I will probably had even more fun than ever . But still I shouldn't complain . After all it was good to catch up with everyone in Electrico once again & I'm sure next year , Rock For Good will be back & it will be bigger & better than this year !

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