Aubrey Suwito & Friends With The MPO

So here I am thinking that MPO did not have that many good shows for 2016/17 period. Then, as I pass by the ticket counter when I was heading up to the office, I noticed that Aubrey Suwito was going to be having a show here. This is the first time that MPO will have a non artist heading the bill in this magnificent venue. To top it, vocal maestros of Malaysia will be part of the show as well. Dayang Nurfaizah, Faizal Tahir, Jaclyn Victor and Sean Ghazi will be Aubrey's friends for the show.

Managed to get rather good seats. So on Friday 19th May, I took the Mrs for a date night before Ramadhan kicks in. And what a night it was. We arrived KLCC at about 815 pm. We still managed to grab a quick dinner at our favourite Nyonya Colours kopitiam and got our nasi lemak pandan fix. The show started on time at 830 pm. From there on, it was just a musical bliss till 1045 pm.

Aubrey started with a brief history of his involvement in the music industry. He was actually one of the early members of the late Sudirman Hj Arshad group of musicians. He stayed on until he became the musical director for him. But its when Aubrey wrote his masterpiece Seribu Impian which became a hit for an artist called Casey in early 90s that he became more well known....well at least to me. For this concert, Aubrey opened the show with an instrumental version of Seribu Impian, backed up by the MPO, led by the conductor Ahmad Muriz Che Rose. 

From there on, Aubrey entertained us by inviting his chosen friends to perform songs written by him or songs that inspired his musical approach. Tanah Pusaka was very well delivered by Sean Ghazi but what worked for me that night was Faizal Tahir's and Dayang Nurfaizah's strong performances, delivering the chosen tracks by Aubrey.

The Mrs and I came out from the show feeling well entertained not only by Aubrey and friends but also classy performance from the MPO. It made us realise even further that there are classy local artists that have very highly talented but under appreciated. Most probably because they don't get themselves in petty controversy or popularity contests like others.

Diana Krall - Wallflower World Tour

Diana Krall... a name that is synonym to great jazzy music and unique rendition of famous songs like Fly Me To The Moon and S'Wonderful was recently in Kuala Lumpur to do a one night only performance in PETRONAS MPO in KLCC. Mrs and yours trulty were there on 15th Feb and it was indeed a night to remember. Diana performed a straight 2 hours set with a short encore goodbye at the 90th minute. Most of the songs were from the latest Wallflower album but some were from her non album tracks. A six piece band consist of herself on piano and vocals, Anthony Wilson on guitar, Dennid Crouch on bass, Karriem Riggins on drums, Kevin Warren on keyboard and Stuart Duncan on fiddle. Yes, a fiddle. Not violin. Fiddle. 

The fiddle injected a very country-ish sound to the set and made it all lively. The whole show was so intimate as the unique connection between the band mates was so evident that the emotion was transpired across the audience.

The only thing that spoiled my night was those inconsiderate people whom insist to record video or snap pictures while performing which invited those green laser pointer lights around my seat.

One of the best jazz concert that I have been too. Great music, great hall, great companion.

No hifi set up can match this level of concert experience.

Saturday Night Fever - The Musical

I do love going on a night of musical performance, may it be a concert or a play/theatre. So, when I heard about Saturday Night Fever was coming to town, I quickly booked two tickets for me and the wife.

Come 12th Sep, to mark the first day of my 2 weeks off from work, me and my wife headed towards Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur for the highly anticipated show. Heck, I even spun the OST LP in the morning to create the mood.

However, our night was spoilt by very bad acting of the lead role playing Tony. From his mumbling dialogue to exaggerating role of Tony (trying too hard to imitate John Travolta?) and being too flamboyant. To complete the misery was the fact that most of the casts were Asians e.g. Filipinos or Chinese. It did not create the American 70s atmosphere that I hoped for. I mean, I came to see the 70s America, not an Asian play. Its like watching Miss Saigon with Rita Wilson as the lead role. Uuuuurrghh!!!

Sorry.. but the show was lame. I had to watch the original movie again to restore my faith in how good and iconic the movie was. Not worth the amount I paid for the ticket.

Live Musical Theatre: P. Ramlee The Musical

Me and the Mrs are very particular of what musical we choose to watch as most of the locally directed shows are crap. But Tiara's production have always been our trusted production to give us a good show. And a good show it was.