fredag 24 Apr 2009, 7:47

Sun 5 Apr – SevenCollar T-Shirt + Estrella

i had the privilege to be allowed in and around the venue during the sound check, thanks to wong and the KNUKE guys. the venue’s about the size of laundry or the sheffield corporation. the stage wasn’t raised as much as one liked but this meant better photographs, if you are in the front row, that is. the setting up of the drumkit and the backline went swiftly and the bands got on with their soundchecks, with najib making sure everything was right from his FOH console.

the doors were open at half six yet there weren’t as many people as one would like. nevertheless, the first act got onstage on time. myo’s the frontman for oh chentaku, who’s currently based in switzerland. he did a fantastic acoustic four-post-hardcore song set with the latter half accompanied by fariza lisz on the electric violin. two local acts got onstage thereafter, the first being torrents, an unsigned five-piece from blackburn who captivated the punters with brit-rock tunes reminiscent of the jam. their manager was passing around free copies of their sampler CD. then it was the paris riots, which gave a rocking great show despite the singer doing a jim morrison of sorts.

estrella got onstage to a rapturous audience (mainly of the male variety in the front row *wink*), kicking off with my morning. this was one tune from the record which originally didn’t really take my fancy, possibly because this was them being ‘alternative’ without their trademark bossanova. however, i’ve made a point before of how a live rendition of a tune (anything from rock kangkang to, err… dangdut) is always better than a recorded one, and this time i was somewhat pleasantly surprised as mat’s clean tone on his tele sounded way better than the overdriven one on the record. liyana interacted well with the crowd (everyone sang along to ternyata somewhat loudly) and the band pretty much played their entire catalogue of eleven songs, plus a new untitled track. estrella’s percussion components of pito and jeff got things in full swing on more upbeat tunes like foolish senses and their new single, some space. estrella ended their set with a resounding rendition of stay - you’d think the audience was pogoing to a punk act.

i’ve waited to see these guys for a good ten years. i was first introduced to duan (by the six degrees of trabye method) at a gig in OU in january ?1998/9. the gig (of 10-20 bands, you know how it is) started late due to a busted bass amp and someone had to drive to jalan ipoh to get another one from do-re-mi, or something like that. we only got back to the gig after dinner which meant i missed SCTS and LMB. now, ten years on, as promised, i stood stage left after being on my feet since seven (nothing really, i did twelve hours for pearl jam in ‘06). they’ve been playing new tracks live for a while now, which would be on their next record (which they’re working on now). they got onstage and started their set with tet offensive. in fact, the first four songs of the set was identical to that of the one at ULU. they omitted faith, and i remembered ham telling me after the show that they didn’t want to be known as the band that plays faith all the time. think radiohead and creep - you know what he’s on about. it’s just fantastic to see these guys play their material effortlessly. ham was constantly animated and it was a joy to photograph the man with his ‘72 tele custom. the highest point for me in their set was summary (a few people have been giving me some guff from a video of this part of the set which was pasted on facebook!). ham’s shaking of his left fist after twiddling the DD-3/flanger/whatever was a sight to behold, imho. and don’t let duan’s somewhat diminutive appearance fool you as this man’s got a fantastic larynx with a wide ranging frequency. lucky you was another favourite, and the entire set seems to be filled with them. they would’ve played an encore of two more songs if ham’s tele hadn’t gone all tali putus eeehhhh, and ended an incendiary set with renaldo moon. nine is better than five anytime.

estrella’s MOHOlive, manchester 5.4.09 set: their entire catalogue, plus one new untitled track

sevencollar t-shirt’s MOHOlive, manchester 5.4.09 set: tet offensive / wild child / the boohoorah theory / drones / fragile / summary / december / lucky you / renaldo moon