3rd December 2022: Rock The World 20th Anniversary at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
The grass was too precious and must be protected from our violent moshers, so we took up a little semicircle, which beats sitting far away from Billie Eilish. She is metal even if her music doesn’t tell you she is, and that’s why I went and paid RM500 only to get a seat far, far away. At least here there was no problem…
…unless you count this, one of two creaky bridges to allow crowds to enter the standing area. I have to wonder what the normal way to the standing area was supposed to be!
Elysha Arnold of Fly FM interviewing the crowd!
First band I managed to catch: KLAN.
But first, cool shirts in the crowd!
Not to be defeated is a band in full swag.
Margasatwa sounds as they look…
…psychedelic indie rock!
In the tried-and-tested two stage setup, the crowd could walk over to the other stage after one performance finished to see Rock The World regulars Restraint.
By then the moshpit had filled up.
Crowdsurfers from the coast of rock.
Some with a little help from their friends.
Spotted architecture legend Ng Sek San!
Fook on keyboards and bass for this next band…
The Impatient Sisters.
Ryan (not a sister).
As always, I’d bring my Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA with Sony LA-EA4 autofocus adapter on my Sony A7S for shooting stages from the camera pit.
Sometimes it gets tight if I turn around to the crowd.
Fred Perry also sponsored the bands on stage.
Calm before the storm.
A surprise indeed when they turned hardcore!
Shahril Redzwan of Kami Akta brought on the screams. Note also the metal logo in the background!
Jimmy, another Rock The World veteran.
Prasasti.
Down on the padang, a picture of a picture of a picture.
Up was The Padangs.
There was probably a decade or so I could walk into a guitar shop and recognize all the Ibanez guitars. In September 2023, I couldn’t recognize (especially the surprising influx of headless guitars), but I was in a rush so I didn’t look at all of them.
Republic of Brickfields.
Aru!
Pop Shuvit!
Gotta love animated backdrops.
LO and behold, Jason Lo has returned!
Pacai on bass.
I’ve been to every Rock The World except the first one on 25th March 2000. The last event was the 17th instalment, Rock The World 17 in 2017, making this technically Rock The World 18 or Rock The World 22nd Anniversary?
Jason is joined by his daughter.
Tres Empre.
Then it was time for something smoother…
Midnight Fusic.
I took a stroll outside the seated area where there were deejays.
I got back in to see Plague of Happiness finishing their set.
My favorite drone-rock Seven Collar T-Shirt was on!
What’s that in the crowd, you say?
Yes, ROTTW magazine with them on the cover!
Ian Koren, helping on with…
One Buck Short!
Rahul, boss of The Bee now.
Izal, boss of the bass.
Imran, returning to drums.
MonoloQue.
No Good.
Gerhana Ska Cinta.
It always makes me happy to get a shot like this, where there are things in front that are out of focus, contributing to the bokeh.
Or, a shot like this, with accent lighting from the side, but not overpowering.
Brandon Gomez who I knew from Dragon Red, and now…
Massacre Conspiracy.
Dig the Megadeth shirt!
The Times.
I also love it when I can get two colors on the opposite ends of the color wheel dominating a picture.
A.C.A.B..
Efek Rumah Kaca from Indonesia, the first non-Malaysian band in Rock The World that I can remember.
Then came thrash metal legends Cromok.
These guys have concrete riffage.
My taste in metal veers towards heavy metal, groove metal and thrash metal.
I wasn’t around music scenes when those genres were in their heyday so I would savor anybody still playing it.
Sam on teutonic thrash vocals and bass.
Occasionally, I’d take out the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM for wide shots like these.
Inside, the show had finished, but not outside.
I’ve also bumped up my pictures to be 1440 pixels on their longest side, up from the old format of 1024 pixels.