Junk By Demand: Kings Of Convenience Live @ Bentley Auditorium
A lot of people didn’t expect Kings of Convenience to have that many fans in Malaysia. So much so, when tickets ran out a lot of the more reticent fans were sorely disappointed. A lot of them have been waiting for years for Eirik and Erlend to come to our shores. Thanks to Soundscapes and Junk, they brought the Norwegians down after much demand. Several years after their performance at Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore, they arrived to a 1000-strong Malaysian crowd applauding for their presence on stage.
Arriving slightly before the dot wasn’t enough as the auditorium was well packed out by then. Some fans even came as early as 6pm! Now that’s what we call devotion. Local boys Tenderfist opened the show with their synth-electronica tracks which were anything but boring. Speaking of which, some did worry that the gig would be too slow and un-surprisingly though they were anything but.
From the first moment they started with ‘My Ship Isn’t Pretty’ and ’24-25′ (on a personal note I almost lost it and bawled my eyes out) the crowd went wild. 4th song in and Erlend says in a polite tone “Could you please not take pictures for half an hour as cameras make noise and silence is a big part of our music.” Did that piss anybody off? Absolutely not.
Eirik and Erland played most of their tracks from Declaration of Dependence – except ‘Renegade’ (to my dismay) and a few other tracks from Riot On An Empty Street and Quiet Is The New Loud . The highlight of the night was when Tenderfist and Kings Of Convenience jammed together to play ‘I’d Rather Dance With You’. Watching them on stage we all were kinda hoping that they wouldn’t stop. In fact, a lot of people that night could stand for hours just watching Kings Of Convenience play all night. Best quote of the night was when Eirik said “Yesterday we arrived in KL and we went to some bars on a street and we watched Tenderfist perform and also Zee Avi. It was really good and Erlend and I realized that KL has a scene … unlike Singapore!”
Yes, Kings of Convenience’s performance will be one gig that is hard to beat. We give it a thumbs up and so far the best performance of the year. Then again, the stars must have aligned that night because much later, Man Utd won the match against Liverpool. Just sayin..
Junk By Demand: Kings of Convenience Live was held at Bentley Auditorium on 21 March 2010 at 8pm. For more pix check out our gallery!