5 Bands/Musicians – Concert – I Want To See Before I Die

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As I have mentioned it early this month, I will be seeing David Cook concert on July 17…and somehow that post reminds me that I haven’t written 5 concerts I want to see before I die. While the atmosphere is perfect to talk about concert, I hereby present my top 5 concert I want to see plus some honorable mentioned.

I always did a countdown for my top-5 post, but now is an exceptional because I bet you know which band I want to see so bad…They are all over my blog

Here are 5 bands I want to see LIVE before I die:

#1 L’Arc~en~Ciel

I love this band above all bands ever created on earth past, present and most likely future. For the past 10 years, I life in a dream and sort of lost hope that I would ever see them live…maybe if I find a super rich husband who could take me to Japan to see them. I love all their DVD concerts which I have seen over and over again. Thank God, on the 11^th year of love, my dream finally came true. Last May, they came and performed incredibly perfect.

The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Mika had just released his second album a few months ago…I’ve been waiting for his album ever since I fell in love with Life In a Cartoon Motion. I’ve been listening to his second album for a couple of weeks and now I’m ready to write it down.

Basically…it sounds alike like Life In Cartoon Motion, Mika hasn’t done a lot of changes in his music style. For now, I still enjoy his album…but if he doesn’t do some changes in his album (of course not a drastic change), one day I might get bored of his works…but for now, I enjoy it a lot

The first song of this album is We Are Golden, it is a very cheerful and energetic song. There are some parts where Mika change her voice like what he did in Grace Kelly. I like the part where there is voice of people sing to emphasize the lyric. Although this song is very cheerful, I sometimes find this song a bit bored. The second song is one of my favorite songs, Blame It on the Girls. I really like the beat and the percussion in this song. I never get tired of listening to this song. The third song is the 1st song I’ve heard from this album, Rain. This is also one of my favorite songs . This song is full with Mika’s high pitch voice. It might sounds a bit bored to people who don’t enjoy Mika’s music because he keeps on repeating the same sentences over and over again “When it rains, it rains”…but I think that’s the unique part of this song.

Dr. John starts a bit slower compare to the other first 3 songs…but the beat became faster in the refrain Piano plays a big part on this song, I can imagine Mika singing this song and playing piano at the same time. The fifth song, I See You, is kinda like Over My shoulder…a very slow song but not as slow as OMS. I always enjoy this part of Mika…this deep side of Mika. Next song is also one of my favorite songs…I just can’t get Blue Eyes out of my mind. The beat short of stuck in my brain and I can’t stop myself from humming it. Just like Blame it on the Girls, Blue eyes also has interesting percussion. The song is closed with the sound of piano and acoustic guitar.

The 7th song is another cheerful song. Good Gone Girl kinda reminds me of an old song but I can’t keep my head together to remember what song it was. The song can make my body move, it’s a really fun song. Touches You is started with Mika’s high voice…the beat reminds me of George Michael’s song…Don’t ask me which one, because I don’t remember which one is it….I still doubt if it’s George Michael or not :/ . By The Time is another slow song. I like I See you more than this one. This song is a bit boring.

For me, One Foot Boy has a hip-hop beat but of course the song itself is not a hip-hop song (Thanks God for that). The eleventh song is also my favorite song, Toy Boy is really really interesting. I often play it over and over again. The song sounds dramatic and old fashion…I fell in love with this song instantly, without any effort or whatsoever. The album is closed with Pick Up The Floor, another slow song. I think this song fits perfectly as a closing song, because the string makes it sound elegant…and elegance is a good way to close an album.

Overall…I enjoy this album as much as the first album (life in Cartoon Motion)

I’ll be waiting for your third album!!! And please come to Indonesia one day.

They Who Captured My Attention

I once wrote about Kasta in Music…it was about giving level of likeness to music based on our like and dislike. But, at that time I was just doing short answers and asked some of my friends to do the same and put their answers on my blog.

Somehow…it didn’t feel enough…so I decided to re-write my band/singer classification. I’m going to use group 1 to group 4 from the ones I like the most to the one I never listen to.

Group 1

Group 1 is the musician I always hear everyday…not hearing any of them for just one day makes me feel like something is missing. And no matter how many times I have heard them, it never made me bored. The more I listen to them the awe it gives me. Right now I have 2 bands in this category. 1st is L’Arc~en~Ciel, I’ve fallen in love with this band since 2000 and everything they do has made me love them more and more. Their skill is getting better and their songs are getting deeper. They’ve been around for more than 15years…and hopefully it’ll last another 15years . 2nd is Muse, I’ve fallen in love with this band since 2006 and become deeply in love with them after seeing them live in Jakarta. The only word that can describe them is GENIUS!! This band combines music from many era, they are totally different with most bands that showed up in the early 2000…they are in the different league with the others. Totally awesome and it keeps getting better. For these 2 bands, I always tried to get my hand on their original CD or DVD…buying pirate things or simply downloaded their works is not enough for me. For them, I spend my money gladly.

Group 2

This group consists of bands that I like the most. I collect a lot of their works. I like them so much, but not as much as Laruku and Muse. They are: Guns n Roses, they used to be my number 1 band but after separation and no new music available for years, it was easy for me to fall for another band…but although they are not my number one band anymore, I still love listening to their music (I wrote this article while listening to them ). They are so talented, the best vocalist and guitarist at their time. I wish they could last forever but 2 geniuses in the same band proven not to last forever. The Beatles, I can’t remember how long has it been since the 1st time I heard them. My dad used to play their songs and somehow it stuck in my head and shapes my feeling toward music…because of them, rock becomes my favorite music genre. Queen, well…I think I don’t have to write anything about Queen coz everyone knows how great they are!! Just like The Beatles, their songs are timeless. They made incredible music like no other, they have become an inspiration for many musician, including Muse. Led Zeppelin, the grandfather of Metal. Their music sounds old but captivating. It’s kinda hard to find other fans of Led Zeppelin. I honestly said that those people are missing a great music. Green day, this is the only band that still exists up till today. The way I see it, they are becoming more and more famous than before…that’s really a good thing to know. They’ve been together for more than 18years and they keep getting stronger. Some people said that they aren’t pure punk anymore…I don’t care!! For me, their music is always good to hear. The last two of this group is not a rock band, they are pop singers. Out of so many pop singers, only 3 pop singers that can capture my attention, two belong in this group and the other one in the next group. Celine Dion is a true diva, a woman with incredible powerful voice and yet so down to earth. Her songs are strong, nice and timeless. She is the only female singer that I like whose singing pure pop. Her voice captured my heart since a long time ago. She can be described as amazing voice. Shakira, her strength lies in her music. She wrote most of her songs and all of those songs are a great combination of pop, rock and Latin. She mixes the sounds of Latin and Middle East. She is the most creative female singer I’ve ever heard.

Group 3

This group consists of those I really like, I don’t listen to them daily and I don’t have complete collection of their works…but I often listen to them, they give extra color in my heart. Most of British bands are in this group, such as Sting and The Police, Rolling Stone, Radio Head, Suede, Blur, Cold Play, Keane, Mika, U2, Cranberries and many more. Most of American Bands that exist in 80’s and 90’s are also in this group, such as Metallica, Mr.Big, Skidrow, Aerosmith, The offspring, Halloween, R.E.M, RHCP, Nirvana and many more. This is the era where American bands could stand up alongside British bands…after that American Bands sort of drift away and sink under British Bands. The only nowadays American Band that I like is The Killer, and as we all know they sound like British rather than American. The King of pop is also in this group. Some Japanese bands also in this group, such as La Cryma Christi, Luna Sea, Monoral, X-Japan and many more. Two Indonesian bands made it into this group, they are J-Rocks and The S.I.G.I.T.

Group 4

This group doesn’t consist of certain bands…it only consist of songs that I like so much without caring for the singer or the band. A lot of one hit wonder kinda songs made it into this group.

This group below is an exception.

Group 5

This group belongs to those who can’t catch my attention…not the slightest bit. They are nowadays American Bands…all of them sound the same to me. They have no characteristic that’ll make them stand up above the other bands. Every time I heard something from a new American band I always end up saying “eh? What’s the different between this group with the others?” I tried to like them by paying attention to Secondhand Serenade @java Rockin’land and ended up bored to death, at the same I was amazed by a band from India I had never heard before. In my opinion, American needs to change their stereotype in music!!

Well…that’s all about music that captured my attention (and an extra of those who doesn’t capture my attention). I know that everyone has different taste of music, so I hope this does not provoke anyone coz…hey man, this is my taste not yours!!

MIKA : Live in The Cartoon Motion

I bought this DVD yesterday, I’ve been searching for it for some times but it was just too hard to find…but I finally have it on my hand. As I already expected, it was a great concert of a potentially great singer. The DVD is called Live in The Cartoon Motion, taken from a Live at L’Olympia, Paris, at 30^th June 2007. The Cover is so much a like with the CD…full of cartoon image.

The concert began with Relax (Take it Easy), the moment I laid my eyes on the concert I noticed how energetic Mika was, he was jumping up and down, moving and shaking his body continuously. Next came Big Girl (You are beautiful), just like its video, in the middle of the song appeared two big (fat) woman wearing sexy blue dress (if you can call it a dress), Mika dance along with those girl. Then he sat in front of his keyboard and played My Interpretation, he couldn’t stay still even though he was playing and singing at the same time. Still on his keyboard, he continued with Stuck In The Middle, which is one of my favorite songs. Next he sang a song that I’ve never heard before, it called Ring Ring, and I like it instantly. I don’t is that song belong to someone else or his. It was followed with Sweet Dreams, which is eurhythmics’ or Annie Lennox’s song, he sang it in his own way…if I don’t know the song, I wouldn’t think it was Annie’s song. And next was also another unfamiliar song, Holy Jonny was played acoustically. He then called a girl to sing along with him in Happy Ending, unlike the title the song it self is about unhappy ending. Mika’s voice is higher than her. After that he sang another old song called I want You Back which was originally sung by Jackson Five. And just like sweet dreams, he made that song as his. He jumped around during this song.

Next was another of my fav song, Love Today. It was started with a different way of singing it, instead of singing ‘daradiraridum’ (or something like that) he started it with ‘hey girl I got you carry on….’ in a high note and then pause and came the ‘daradiraridum’ thing. He was so energetic in this song and I couldn’t help my self not to sing along and jump around like him. He closed the song by playing drum from the other side of the drummer and ten he started hitting a trash bin like STOMP used to do…a very interesting act. I love this song. He introduced his band which consists of Mike Choi on Bass, Martin Waugh on guitar, Luke Juby on Keyboard, and Cherrise Ofosu Osei on Drum. Grace Kelly, which is his first single, was sung after that. He carried an umbrella just like the video. The audience sang along with him. In the middle of the song, he changed the lyric into French. Before he sang his last song, there was some kind of theatrical act (well…not that artistic kinda theatrical), Mika and the band were wearing animal suit and they were worshiping the only girl in the band (which is the drummer) and then they molested her and she hit them all. After that weird act, came the last song which is also my favorite song, Lollipop. Mika was still wearing his chicken suit and during the song he took it off slowly. In the end of the song, came some little girls (which actually women not girls) and the fat ladies. The crowded stage became merrier with many balloon and paper flying around the stage. The concert ended afterward. Great energetic concert…I really really like it.

Beside the concert, the DVD also provided us with Mika’s videos, which are Grace Kelly, Love Today, Big Girls, Relax and Happy Ending. There are also some acoustic live which consist of Grace Kelly, Everybody’s Talkin’ and Love Today….my favorite of all those acoustic live is Love Today, he has such a great voice. The last part of the DVD is a Documentary called A Long Way From Home. Mika was telling us about his tour, his childhood and his song. He has been touring for almost 8 months and he was getting tired, especially his voice. He was born in Beirut on 1983 and then they moved to Paris where he spent his childhood there. His father was kidnapped in Iraq and when he finally got home, the decided to moved and started over in London. He has 3 sisters and a bunch of aunties; this was his reason to write Stuck in the middle. He also said that he wanted to write a song for his little sister not to have sex too young, and that kinda song is not going to be heard by people so he made Lollipop, he kinda wrote the real meaning implicitly. From this documentary, I realized that Mika is actually a handsome young man…I like his songs but never pay too much attention on his look till today.

And now I wanna tell you Why Do I Like Mika!!

Mika was 1^st introduced by my friend. The 1^st time I heard him I like him instantly, he has a different kind of music compare to all the crap and R&B that rule the music industry nowadays. I’m so sick of that hip-hop and R&B. Mika is a breath of fresh air, his music is a combination of many style of music. He combined queen, Elton John, bee gees and many more. His voice is similar with Freddie Mercury. His songs are cheerful and have interesting meaning. And for all those reasons…I fell in love with his music.