What Went Down: Special Rockaway Fest Showcase feat. Sum 41 @ KL Live

By Rathika Sheila  •  in Reports
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Image Livescape Asia

2,000 fans made up of all ages made their way to KL Live on 14 April to catch Canadian punk rockers, Sum 41. Apparently people had been queeing up since 4pm while gates only opened at 7pm. Can you say dedicated/eager fans? We can too.

This Special Rockaway Festival Showcase included local talents, Bunkface and One Buck Short. Bunkface took the stage at 7.30 and warmed up the crowd with 5 songs before One Buck Short (OBS). Their setlist included hits like, ‘Bunk Not Dead’, ‘Panik’, and ‘Xtravaganza’. It was a surprise to see such an enthusiastic crowd that actually sang along to Bunkface’s tracks! Yay for local talents! Same overwhelming response was given to One Buck Short who made their way onto the stage at 8:30. A big round of applause was given to OBS guitarist, Rahul Kukreja for his hard work and effort to ensure this event went as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

Rahul, who is also the director of Livescape’s LIVE entertainment, officially announce that this year’s Rockaway will take place on 13 October and it’ll feature 5 international acts. Ooh, we wonder who? Moving along… OBS performance was awesome. Their set list consisted of older materials and newer ones off Kampung Glam. Their little surprise to fans was performing a punk cover of Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’. The crowd went insane and there was even a little moshpit happening at the back! We hope Katy’s proud.

When OBS set was done, the intensity of the crowd’s excitement was growing rapidly and chants for Sum 41 were set off like a siren. There was no response from the band after an hour and the crowd was getting really annoyed. They finally rocked the stage close to 10.30pm. Every bit of irritation was replaced with excitement and insanity. If you were there, you’d be able to feel how the floors rumbled with crazy fans.

The band opened their set with, ‘Reason To Believe’ which is off their latest album, Screaming Bloody Murder. Word was the latest album didn’t do so well in terms of sales but the response from that night of fans singing along, proved those rumours wrong. Sum 41 performed classic tunes such as ‘In Too Deep’, ‘Hell Song’, and ‘Underclass Heroes’ which brought back many nostalgic moments for those that were born in the 90s. Deryck Whibley, who appeared shorter than we imagined had bright pink hair and had a lot of crowd interaction.

At one point, he passed the mic to guitarist, Tom Thacker who played the role of a vocalist for their cover of ‘Paint It Black’ by the Rolling Stones. They teased the Malaysian crowd too, “we heard you guys like the heavy stuff. Heavy metal! That’s what you guys want, right?” Tom then proceeded to play riffs of Black Sabbath’s ‘Crazy Train’ and they performed the bridge of Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’. It was a surprise and an enjoyable one indeed. Towards the end they played another classic – ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen and ended the crazy night with their first ever single, ‘Fat Lip’.

Besides the fact that it was awesome to have Sum 41 perform in our country, there was more crowd interaction and guitar riffs than actual singing. That was a bit of a let-down for fans that expected more of a show but there were no sounds of sighs so it was a good night overall.

This was the second installation of the Special Rockaway Festival Showcase and it’s proved to be a big success. Its main purpose is to create huge hype for the second Rockaway Festival that’s happening this coming October. Stay tuned, rockers.

Special Rockaway Fest Showcase feat. Sum 41 went down on 14 April 2012 at KL Live.  Find pictures of the events here.