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Molek FMHeineken Green Room @ Zouk
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One week after Simian Mobile Disco rocked our socks, JUICE returned to Zouk for the highly-anticipated Heineken Green Room. Back after a two-year hiatus it was full force as Australia’s Van She and Tokyo’s Dexpistols and Malaysia’s very own Lapsap were on the bill.
Outside, the preview’s floating mannequin heads and art pieces made a return stamping their Heineken Green Room mark on the event. Playing a rare early evening set, JUICE entered to be greeted by the sounds of 5ft and Mr. Puah. For those who know, Lapsap are no warm up act; the night starts with them and tonight they were burning a hole in the floor and filling it with their infectious energy and twisted underground anthems, as club kids Ethan Chu, fashion designer Cris Yong, uber-cool hairstylist Ming, fashion forward Jacinta Cheng were spotted in the heaving day -glo mass.
Reprising his role as MC, Canadian rapper Vandal introduced Van She to the stage.
Already quite a year for the band, having released V in august and played close to 100 shows, Van She were on the cusp of their first European tour post debut album released when they were handpicked by Heineken Music to headline Green Room – which effectively made their live gig something special.
With all signs pointing to a capacity event, the masses came early and without end. By the time headliners Van She took to the stage at 10.30pm it was standing-room only with the club operating a one-in, one-out policy to cope with more than 1,000 eager clubbers.
Kicking straight into track ‘Cat & the Eye’, guitarist and vocalist Nick Routledge and bassist Matt Van Schie took care of the rock star moves, throwing shapes against the strobe light as the band worked through singles like ‘Changes’, ‘Sex City’ and an updated version of ‘Kelly’ before taking it home with ‘So High. Admittedly putting the band on straight on after Lapsap was tantamount to pulling the brakes in terms of tempo, but it all worked out in the end.
All broke loose when Tokyo boys Dexpistols took charge of the console, manipulating 4 decks in an awesome set of warping techno, hip hop, psychedelic rock and indie that had everyone moving like rabid monkeys. Fortunately with the AC on full-blast, we didn’t have to worry about looking like someone threw a bucket of water on us. And with plenty of Heineken being dished out by Heineken girlies decked out in specially-designed Jimmy Lim getups we could keep our cool too.
Handing the decks back to the Aussies, Van She returned to give Heineken Green Room a taste of their Sydney Tech parties. Taking a lighter electro house approach, Nick and Mikey worked the console, and bassist Matt worked the crowd, and it wasn’t long before the floor was begging for more before Lapsap called last orders and let it rip-hard. You could almost sense the crowd’s disappointment when the lights finally came up – everyone couldn’t get enough! JUICE certainly can’t wait for the next Heineken installment already! C’mon 09! J
Heineken Green Room ripped the recently renovated Zouk to shreds on November 1t with Van She, Dexpistols, Lapsap doing the damage. To be sure you don’t miss out keep yourself locked on to www.heineken.com.my and be among the first to find out when and where it all goes down next.