Andrew Netto live at No Black Tie, 7th July 2008!

Full house with reservations.

This is the bar area of No Black Tie, separate from the performance area.

As you can see I’m experimenting with black-and-white, with a tendency to maintain midtones like medium format does. Blown highlights are the easiest thing to do, so I thought of doing something different for a change.

But first, we have the The Ramanados! These guys play straight up rock with a classic, soulful tinge.

…featuring Kishore on vocals, sometimes.

There was a kickass cover of Sweet Child O’ Mine and Sweet Home Alabama.

Herman Ramanado can be seen doing double duty on piano…

…and bass. Well, not both at the same time.

Ooo, Elaine ponders.

And then it was time for Malaysia’s youngest standup comedian!

Him impersonating a, well, you can tell from the picture.

One thing that continues to amaze me is that his jokes are off the hook…

…he can make a joke out of anything, just by flipping through the newspapers…

…or asking a member of the audience what they do for a living. That’s a major plus point – he could probably go unscripted, because he’s genuinely funny!

The crowd loves him.

Later, he is joined by the Ramanados for a little singalong, featuring a Travis-style Hit Me Baby One More Time with Andrew’s own lyrics.

I think, though, that there is a reason rappers don’t sing – not to say that he’s a rapper, heh heh.

Time for more acoustic goodness!

Billie Jean is not his lover, he sang.

…what you say?

Frantic beats. Strangely, percussive beats come easy to Indians.

For more pictures, in color, click on his No Black Tie July 2008 link.

KLue Urbanscapes, 28th June 2008!

Trash your ashes here.

Take him away!

Puppet bigger than its master.

How to film a Back To The Future scene.

The Otherside Orchestra.

Paolo Delfino.

The marketplace.

Fisheye shoots fisheye.

Otam.

Koko Kaina.

She looks so familiar! I didn’t know she was Malaysian. Like I met her through a friend before. And no I don’t say that as a pickup line ever.

And his percussion unit is a bottle of pepper.

Being cramped up to the side, shooting her interaction with her guitarist was more interesting, especially since she kept smiling at him!

Next band…

Saw the immense crowd for Koko Kaina leave, leaving a small group behind.

“HELLO! I’M PAOLO DELFINO’S EP!! BUY MEEEE!!!” it says.

Tugu Drum Circle.

Seven Collar T-Shirt.

I lined up for a burger (and the line was long), and suddenly Daft Punk started playing over at Lap Sap at the open field, just as I reached the front

of the queue. Argh! How was I to dance with a burger?

Later, I finished the burger, and danced. Then I was thirsty and got myself a drink… and at that moment, Twilight Action Girl played Daft Punk.

Argh!

Ooo, these guys look kinda familiar…

This is what happens when Jenga and glue mix.

Three out of four members of Twilight Action Girl. At first, Lap Sap sounded like TAG, but only when TAG came, I was able to tell the difference – Lap Sap

plays songs and blends them; TAG just plays an entire song without really trying to mix songs.

DJ Bunga crowd surfing!

Izal of One Buck Short rocking out with his bass… which unfortunately got stolen later that night.

These aren’t lasers – they’re real ropes.

These aren’t trance zombies.

Here are pictures from Moonshine: A Homemade Acoustic Show, 21st June 2008, at The Apartment, KLCC!

Yu-Ri and his acoustic rock.

Slowjaxx featuring Reza Salleh.

Random dark figure.

Zarul and the blues. I loved his Muddy Valley blues.

And yet another personal achievement – getting a bunch of people with 50mm prime lenses…

…in the Sony Alpha mount (except the guy in front here.) Five Alpha users in total. (One not pictured.) A rarity indeed.

Julian Mokhtar in a more chilled out state. Even his acoustic guitar fretboard is scalloped!

Zalila Lee drums for…

…soulful songbird Mia Palencia! Do not mess with her for she also does kickass vocal guitar solos.

And now, for Juke Joint Jupiter a certain 19th of June 2008 at Laundry Bar!

With Lady With Wings (with Andrea, Kingsley‘s ol’ bandmate.)

Rock, soul and a powerful voice.

Then came a band with an all-too-familiar lineup…

Prema Yin!

She is as always a Fitness First program on stage.

Joined by Eddy the organizer on blues harp.

And me? Joined by four Sony Alpha users! At the average gig, you’d see one Canon user, one Nikon user, and two Sony users (of which one is me, and the other is some guy I’d lend my Minolta 50mm F1.4 to.)

Julian Mokhtar! The otai blues shredder, licksman for The Blues Gang if you remember them. Various members of The Blues Gang have appeared on Juke Joint Jupiter but never together. What a bummer, eh?

At least Ito sings Apo Nak Dikato.

Obligatory drum shot.

Obligatory bassist shot.

The keyboardist shows us how to boogie!

Julian shows us how to lick some licks.

Ending the set was the Russell Curtis Quartet, who decided it was Stevie Wonder Tribute Night and so he belted powerful covers of Higher Ground, Signed Sealed Delivered, Lately, Goodbye, You Haven’t Done Nothin’ and I Wish.

Obligatory saxophone shot.

Hearing the musicality of Stevie made me realize how awesome he was. Some songs were familiar, and I didn’t know were by the funky Wonder which led me to investigate the song names.

Feeling the blues? How about some Juke Joint Jupiter, May 22nd 2008 at Laundry Bar huh?

Ito, vocalist of The Blues Gang!

(Not with his band, though.)

This guy played far from wooden.

Then there were The Travellers!

“Give me a moment while I finish this complicated drum passage.”

And then there was the hard-rockin’ Blister!

In leather jackets, they did all-American hard rock. Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild was one such cover, if I remember.

Showmanship!

“As you can tell, I’m a massive fan of Led Zeppelin… the tattoo on my left hand is the sigils from Led Zeppelin IV.”

“Our guitarist however is a fan of guitar licks played literally.”

Cooperative shredding. The grabber is also grabbing some frets.

This frontman rocks! AC/DC yeowww!

Spot a Jimmy Page-ism.

Then, there was Zip Zeiller.

For some reason, they did not blow me away this time. 🙁 I was expecting them to!

1st May 2008 – Fly FM Campur Chart at Laundry Bar! Yes, it’s been a while.

Throne Away!

Indie/emo rock at its best!

Emir the energetic frontman does a few stunts…

…and asks me to check his tonsils.

Seven, one of my favorite jazz/funk/rock bands.

With Bo with the fro.

And Samsung chicks in the background.

The Times! Brit indie flavor.

“Let’s see what song I have to play next…”

Skip to the 12th of May 2008, with Seng Yip‘s gig, featuring George singing songs about Friendster!

He’s got the most natural emo voice. Oh, and emo glasses.

Step on it!

And then, there was Pitbull Inc..

Excellently fronted by Steven (who is a heck of a singer besides being the occasional JamAsia emcee) and Izwin.

Killer bassist played a pumping Michael Jackson – Billie Jean groove.

The drummer was cool, too…

…when he suddenly got up to rap!

Finally, the reason why I would’ve paid for the Sunburst Music Festival a certain 15th of March 2008 – Incubus!

Brandon Boyd!

Jose Pasillas!

They started with Quicksand and Kiss To Send Us Off from Light Grenades, then skipped back to Morning View with Nice To Know You and Wish You Were Here, and played one last Light Grenades track, Anna Molly.

DJ Kilmore!

Mike Einziger!

You want some real Mike Patton-esque stuff?

Me: YEAH!!!

And then they took a trip down funk metal lane, down my favorite S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album, with Vitamin and My Favorite Things!

“Not everyone here is that f-ed up and cold“, we all sang along to The Warmth, uncut of course. They also played Drive off the Make Yourself album… which was a song Brandon said he wouldn’t play the last time Incubus was in Malaysia. So he finally did. They also played what I guess would be Ben’s retooled Are You In?.

Brandon appeared with a guitar for Pistola!

Have some feedback.

Uh, I think he overdosed.

Continuing the series of A Crow Left Of The Murder songs was a chilled out Talk Shows On Mute and the solo-rific Sick Sad Little World.

“Oh I’d also like to wish happy birthday to Ben Kenney.”

Yeah, this former guitarist of The Roots.

And as a present to the ladies, Brandon took off his shirt!

What next but staple song Megalomaniac?

Encore! The crowd screamed for Stellar and they played it.

One of my favorite returns to the old metal style was Circles.

Mike on the pipa for the smooth-flowing Aqueous Transmission. I’m not sure if I remember DJ Kilmore doing a little Magic Medicine before this song though.

Alright show’s over. Have a drum stick!

And so in total, they played 2 songs from S.C.I.E.N.C.E., 3 songs from Make Yourself, 5 songs from Morning View, 4 songs from A Crow Left Of The Murder and 3 songs from Light Grenades. A good balance, I’d say.

The last time they were in Malaysia, they played 4 songs from S.C.I.E.N.C.E., 2 songs from Make Yourself, 5 songs from Morning View and 7 songs from A Crow Left Of The Murder. Oh, and Pantomime. 8 songs were played at both concerts, which was great that they gave us a fresh setlist!

More shots from Sunburst Music Festival! 15th March 2008. Second last batch, I promise!

Raol Midon!

He sings full of soul, R&B with just an acoustic guitar and a load of fingerstyle and guitar tapping.

Though, like his idol Stevie Wonder, he cannot see his fans, for he is blind. But his musical vision goes far beyond! (Spot the Davina who was going to flash him hehe!)

This is how you make your guitar become an entire band.

Then there were The Roots, hip hop represent!

Though, without guitarist Ben Kenney (who was performing on stage much, much later…)

All shots with the Tamron 200-400mm F5.6.

John Legend was more than a man on piano. I’d only heard Ordinary People, heh.

I didn’t know that he was also a sex symbol, and that he played killer covers of Sly & The Family Stone – Dance To The Music and The Beatles – I Want You (She’s So Heavy).

Plus he had walking guitarists behind him…

…soloing.