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† Beyond the Grave †
An Evening with Ministry of Rock
(Note: I'm recollecting this off hand so I might get the order of the setlist wrong. If anyone remembers the correct order or noticed that I missed out something, please feel free to correct me via pm or comments.)
An Evening with Ministry of Rock @ Esplanade Deep Purple - Fireball Black Sabbath - War Pigs Deep Purple - Burn Iron Maiden - Flight of the Icarus Scorpions - Sails of Charon Ministry of Rock opened their set with Perfect Strangers and continued into Fireball, both song by Deep Purple. Not much reaction from the crowd and from myself coz I didn't listen to these 2 songs before, so I don't have much impression on them. Nevertheless they were playing it pretty great and it was just a warm up. A prelude to.. War Pigs! Now the crowd was really getting heated up, slowly but surely. I got in the mood too so I started to headbang a little. There was some indian guy seated right at the front and Jatt was interacting with him for a bit. Then Jatt let loose some indian vocalising technique, the kind you only hear in indian classical music. That really threw me off abit and it also showed how good Jatt was. Right after the solo, during the sing along part, I could hear Shiro and Ed singing "whooaaah~~" along together with me and the band XD After they were done with War Pigs, Jatt Ali said "We're gonna BURN the place down!" and the band immediatly went into Deep Purple's Burn! Another rockin frenzy that drove us pretty nuts as we sang/yelled along to the chorus "BURNN!!!". Jatt Ali took a break and the guest vocal Faizal took over.. and wowed us with a superb rendition of Iron Maiden's Flight of the Icarus! I really enjoyed singing along together with Faizal on the chorus, trying to go as high as he could in the process XD His vocals were powerfully high in comparison to Jatt's Dio-esque singing voice XD Not better or worse but a stark contrast indeed. They then brought back a really old school song.. Sails of Charon by The Scorpions. It was so old school that even I hadn't heard of it until a few days before the gig. The song kind of reminded me a little of Rainbow's style and I must take my hat off to the band for pulling it off nicely and ending their first set. At this point Shiro was convinced that this was a power band, Ivan and Melissa were saying the same thing too. While most people left, we stuck around where we were for fear of losing our seats. I sure as hell wasn't gonna budge from my seat to miss the rest of the set, come hell or high water! Set 2 Dio - Don't Talk to Strangers Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell Dio - Holy Diver Led Zeppelin - Black Dog Iron Maiden - Aces High Black Sabbath - Children of the Sea Metallica - Fade to Black The guys came back after their break and Paul started a slow picking intro to the next song.. when he played the first few notes, my eyes watered, my hair stood, I shivered and as I realised what song he was playing, I whispered.. "Don't Talk to Strangers.." which is also how Jatt Ali intro-ed the song too. I was in ecstacy as Jatt did his usual Dio thing and sang the intro right up to the last part where everyone shouted "DOWWNNNN!!" together with him and the whole band went into the heavy rock part of the song. Needless to say, I was going nuts just watching them belt out one of my favourite songs by Dio. After they were done, Jatt asked the crowd "So, do you want to go to Heaven or Hell?". Some dude in the front yelled "HELL!" but I yelled "BOTH!". The band then played Heaven and Hell and we clapped and sang along to the tunes.. especially when the band played softer, I sang along as loud as I coud. I wonder if Jatt Ali noticed how enthusiastic I was about it? XD Holy Diver followed and I was practically going mad as the continued the assault of Dio songs on my senses. Just playing that 1 Dio song was enough to get me super high, much less 3. I'm sure Ed, Skye, Brian, Gloria, Ivan, Melissa and Shiro were enjoying this as much as I was.. Hell, I think I enjoyed it alot more than them XD The band took a short rest as Faizal came back to claim the mic stand. He mentioned to us that they were gonna do a Led Zeppelin song and left us guessing for a while.. till he started to sing Black Dog XD I did my best to sing along altho my voice was pretty fucked up from all the yelling, shouting and singing along previously. It was really great and Paulo's solo was (needless to say) fuckin awesome. He makes playing the guitar look easy and difficult at the same time. The next song brought back some memories of my own band trying to cover this classic Iron Maiden song, Aces High. Faizal was belting out the tune with such power that I had trouble singing and catching my breath so I settled for headbanging abit. Needless to say, Anis and Navin were doing a bloody great job in playing the rhythm consistantly. They took things slow with Children of the Sea, another favourite Black Sabbath tune of mine. Faizal's voice wasn't as Dio-esque as Jatt's but he sang the song very well and really made me smile when he sang the words "We're lost children of the sea~~". Before they played the last song for the 2nd set, Anis did his bass solo. One word: fantastic. They then played a short instrumental which led to Metallica's Fade to Black. It was now Paulo's turn to sing and it was a shame that I didn't know the words to the song. There were a few guys in front who were big Sabbath and Metallica fans and they were really digging the show so far. When the band started to play Fade to Black, some of them took out their lighters and lit them up while swaying to the melody XD I could see that the front of Anis' beanie was drenched in sweat and could tell that fatigue was taking its toll on him. Luckily they stopped for a break and so the 2nd set came to an end.. but the best was still yet to come. Shiro was really getting fired up, especially after watching them play Holy Diver and Aces High. Ed, Skye, Brian, Gloria, Ivan and Melissa took their leave so it was just me and Shiro who still stayed at our seats and waited patiently for them to start the 3rd and final set. What a set it was.. Iru came and sat down beside us. He managed to catch Fade to Black and was really impressed with the band. Set 3 Loudness - Heavy Chains Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name Rainbow - Stargazer Metallica - One Metallica - Master of Puppets Metallica - Seek & Destroy Deep Purple - Stormbringer [Encore Song] This was definitely the most intense set out of the three. Once again, Paulo played a short guitar instrumental and progressed into Heavy Chains by Loudness! Faizal took the vocal stand again and the band delivered a superb rendition of the song. I was now headbanging so hard without a care in the world, save for the music. Next on the list was Hallowed Be Thy Name, another favourite of Shiro's. It was mindblowing to hear see band cover the song so damn well. After they finished the song, they had a short pause while Navin fixed up the hi-hat coz it was screwing up a bit. When he was done, he did a short drum solo and the whole band went into Stargazer by Rainbow. I was so damn happy that they played this song coz its one of my favourite Rainbow songs.. and I started to swing and headbang to the rhythm even though I was tired as hell. The song itself seemed to give me energy as I shouted "in the heat and rain! with whips and chains!" at the chorus parts together with Faizal. Then came Paulo's solo.. I felt like I was high on weed or something, almost visibly swaying left and right. Faizal took a break and Jatt came back to take over the vocals for the next song.. which turned out to be Metallica's One. At this point it seemed pretty strange coz Jatt doesn't normally sing the Metallica songs but sing he did and he did a pretty good job. Even though he didn't have the rough quality of James Hetfield's voice, he improvised and sang it in a different way which made the song quite refreshing to hear. They followed the Metallica onslaught with Master of Puppets. Shiro and me were now in a headbanging frenzy as we banged and shouted together with the band and the rest of the crowd. The third Metallica song in the set turned out to be Seek and Destroy. I'm not very familliar with the song but enjoyed it nonetheless. It seemed that it was the last song for the night but everyone kept shouting for an encore. After a while of coaxing they decided to play one more song, Deep Purple's Stormbringer. This reminded me of the first time I laid eyes on the band's performance at Gashaus where they opened with the same song and it was the same intense feeling, only difference was that it sounded more solid. Why? Coz this time there were THREE people singing in the band (Faizal had come on stage for the encore and was singing the backup lines). As we sang and banged our heads along, they started to sing in harmony and you guys won't believe how good it sounded. Frickin awesome. Till the very end. And so, they wrapped up the night with that last song, that left us satisfied but at the same time wanting for more.. Next time, it will be at the House of Rock, their homeground. We managed to speak to Navin and Anis after the show. Navin told us that they would be just opening their usual set at House of Rock (it was 11.15 pm at the time). Anis told us the address was Tras St (I had mistaken it as Cross St when i first heard it) and that they usually play on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights. I saw my old friend, Hafiz from Liquid Steel too and found Wenjie and Wendi, who had been standing in the back watching them play the last 4 or 5 songs. We spent a while recollecting the whole event (while I was enjoying myself as I made Wenjie writhe when I told him the songs that he had missed earlier). We then said our goodbyes and parted, Shiro leaving to take the train and myself taking Wenjie's van along with Wendi. A fantastic night where (I'm sure that it would be safe to say that) all our expectations were met and (for some) exceeded. I am so fucking looking forward to seeing them play again, regardless if I have to pay or not. That will probably be on the 17th of Nov at the House of Rock. People who wants to join please do take note that I have plans to either stay up or take Night Rider home.. Coz the band will probably end their set like around 2 a.m. XD So far I will be getting Shiro and Ridz to go. If anyone else wants to go, please comment, pm or email me about it and I'll arrange for the time and place to meet up. Then we can all go and ROCK N ROLL CRAZY NIGHT~~!!! XD JoJo Valentino, signing off.
Ministry of Rock
An evening with the band, Ministry of Rock.
What to expect : A quartet of full-time professional musicians doing a tribute to the 70s classic brit rock and 80s metal Gods. think LedZep, Sabbath, Dio, Ozzy, Loudness, Rainbow, Metallica, Megadeth, Rush, Uriah Heep, Iron Maiden (theres more). Excellent sound system and mixing crew by esplanade. Also, probably the best local rock singer u ever gonna hear.
Invites : Softies. Come make a date with us. _\m/
Note: its a free gig
That said, I would strongly encourage (or in some cases demand) that anyone who has a passion for hard rock and old school rock to come take a look at this band. If you've read my previous post, you should know what I mean. In short: THEY FCUKING ROCK! I swear it on my family jewels. I'll be going together with the cockster bunch.. meeting time should probably be abt 7 pm at Esplanade. Anyone else that wants join us can leave a reply and I'll co ordinate the meeting time and place with you. See you people there!
Heaven and Hell
It started somewhere around early afternoon when I left home to meet Brian, Ed and Skye. Reached Swee Lee early and hung around before running into Ed and Skye. Waited for Brian for a while before going down to Gashaus. Apparently Soft was having the opening of their online store held there and there were a few bands playing. So I'm like: "Free gig? Sure, I'll go. Since its not the usual Jrock bands playing anyway". We reached there slightly after 3, somewhere in the middle of the band Timmy's set. They were playing nu-metal stuff like Funeral For A Friend, etc. However, their style was quite different as it wasn't just whacking straight power chords all the way. They did give attention to melody and rhythm as well, which proved quite interesting to watch. The vocal was pretty good too. After Timmy's set there was a short break and Clinton Carnegie took over. Kinda like a jazz-fusion mix.. they were basically jamming all the way, with everyone doing their solos, improvising n stuff (Wenjie had joined us by now). Also an interesting band to watch, something you don't see (or hear, rather) everyday. But the best was yet to come..
Visions
Opera House Current Entertainment Calendar
September 27, 2006: KAMELOT with EPICA
Not to mention that many big names of rock and metal including the likes of Dio and Stratovarius have performed there. Then again getting power metal albums is alot harder than it is over here so its a fair trade off I guess.. Can't wait till they release the dates for the Blind Guardian concert in Australia. Hopefully I'll have saved enough to go watch them. On a side note, here's a quiz that I found on someone's blog.
JoJo Valentino, signing off.
Mindcrime
Revolution Calling
For a price I'd do about anything
Got no love for politicians
I used to trust the media
[Chorus]
I'm tired of all this bullshit
They're all in Penthouse now
I used to think
[Chorus]
I used to trust the media
[Chorus]
The parts where I would like to emphasize my points are in bold. Ok, let's start from the bridge before the chorus: [I used to trust the media..]. Honestly, this is how I really feel about the media over here. Full of mind control gimmicks (eat this and you'll look better, get this gadget and you'll be alot cooler, buy this product and the guys/girls will fall for you, etc), mimicking the american society of mainstream feel-good entertainment, giving people what they want to hear and see, giving people what they THINK they want to hear and see and not exposing them enough to other channels of music for fear of losing their "gold mine" and probably the instability it will create (in the process of milking the money, that is). The verse after the chorus reinforces the points that I have just mentioned. Note the last three lines of the 2nd verse after the chorus: [Fame 15 minutes..]. These are especially relevent to the latest craze of SG Idol and Superband that have been going on. The very next bridge/verse is also a true statement to what the country or rather the people living in it have become (its a litte exaggerated in terms of context but the main idea is there): [But now the holy dollar..]. How aptly put. No elaboration needed here, the lines clearly speak for themselves. Overall, this song was part of a concept album that (partly) had an insight into what society would become (and to some extent, has ALREADY become) in the future after 1988.
Before I end this post, I'd just like to say that I am not trying to stir trouble, be anti-govt or trying to sway people into going against society. These are just my musings and I am in no way imposing them onto anyone or criticizing anyone for having their own/different views. Its merely food for thought. So eat well, my friends and think while you're at it. |
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