On Saturday, I headed to KLCC to er, run some errands. During the awkward distance between post-errand and rock-on-at-Taylor’s-Battle-of-the-Bands, I called a friend. I found an auspicious, less crowded place to chat – the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra entrance, near the RHB Bank. Not only was the air-conditioning auspicious, the flow, was, too! All I had to do was stand in one place, by a pillar too big to hug, and I’d bump into Stephanie, she-robot-trekkie and a mat motor girl who carried an extra helmet in case her friends wanted a ride to the Battle Of The Bands. Unfortunately, mat motor girl hitched a ride on her friend’s now full car, so I had to find my own way again. I found another way to whittle time away, registering to take my driving exam again. From Asia Jaya, I took a bus to Sunway Pyramid. I called Hannna to ask, “Eh which way to walk out to Taylor’s?” How nicely my timing was, and she sent me as she was passing by there, driving rather neurotically.

There itself I met an ultimate lean mean drinking machine and her friend, Ali G, Ian (I didn’t know he read my blog), Frus, Isabella, and undie we-are-rockers-too Shelley and Az.

Oh, and Debbie was one of the emcees! I’d say she did a better job than the female emcees of last year’s. She wasn’t booed badly. Hehe. The sound was worse at the beginning though, and did not do justice to John’s Mistress. Limestone‘s vocals sang (and meant) “sorry I can’t be… perfect.” Mad Fish was cool, with a guitarist singing A Perfect Circle with proper Maynard James Keenan growl (and later a female vocalist who for some reason reminded me of Dee, singing The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love, which was the point where the crowd started jumping properly.) Versatile was cool too, doing interestingly modified versions of Metallica’s For Whom The Bell Tolls and Fuel, though they either couldn’t find a distortion pedal and used a fuzz pedal, or they had to use the amp’s effects.

The sound system was worse than an average small-time gig… last year’s was better. Funky Dogs was cool, playing Jamiroquai – Canned Heat, while Trash Dogs did Deeper Underground. Beat The System looked the part for their P.O.D. sound. Virtuoso and Larva Eve II did tributes to Guns ‘N Roses (with the latter doing a cool 7-string guitar, 6-string bass solo.) Dragon Red (featuring C. Loco) and Disagree ended the show.

The crowd, despite having a considerable balance of the sexes, was far less considerate than Hoobastank‘s, to my delight. I retired to the backstage (security didn’t care already) and met someone who had been randomly thrown into a MSN chatroom with me by a nefarious dentist-by-day self-promoting rock star. What a small world.

Thankfully, my neck didn’t hurt the next day.

Yes, I have spared you readers the pictures; my el cheapo digicam doesn’t have optical zoom or a proper autofocus system. There was one picture I wish I did take though, during the prize-giving ceremony – it would’ve featured Debbie patting Loco’s bald head as he squatted on stage. The caption would’ve been “Debbie shares a tender moment with Loco on stage.”