Raining stars on MTV night

Neither the damp nor interminable delays and glitches could spoil the brilliance of the artistes’ performance at the MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010

THE SECOND installment of the MTV World Stage which took place last Saturday was one of the most anticipated music events of the year. 

After the success of last year’s concert, fans were looking forward to seeing international acts like K-Pop darlings The Wonder Girls, German punk-rockers Tokio Hotel and quirky Katy Perry, as well as local rock band Bunkface.

The event at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach saw fans already lining up at the entrance hours before the start at 6pm. Just before the gates were about to open, the sky opened up drenching everyone.


It continued to rain intermittently throughout the concert, but fortunately organisers had anticipated the weather changes and had prepared plastic raincoats, as well as small hand fans for the crowd. However, the water would wreak havoc upon audio-visual equipment later in the evening.


An international team of MTV VJs hosted the event, led by veteran VJ Utt. Dressed to the nines, they kept the crowd excited in between sets and distributed loads of MTV merchandise.

The concert kicked off with Bunkface, who came out with guns blazing, thrilling fans with a six-song set that included its hits Prom Queen, Revolusi and the infectious Through My Window, before ending with the band’s breakout hit Situasi. The boys played their hearts out for the crowd which soon swelled to some 15,000. 

After setting a good start, the crowd then had to endure an agonising wait, lightened somewhat by screens showing MTV show previews and music videos, before the curtains opened again to reveal The Wonder Girls dancing in steel cages.

The five members – Sohee, Yubin, Sun, Yenny and Lim – then emerged to entice the crowd with their hits I Wanna, Goodbye and a special performance of their first big hit Tell Me.
They also put on guitars and gave a rock-infused performance of 2 Different Tears and Nobody, before leaving the stage. After a brief video montage, they returned with new outfits for a reprise of Nobody.

Next up was Tokio Hotel, but the wait for the quartet took well over an hour due to technical difficulties. The crowd got restless and some even began booing, which caused VJ Utt to come out and implore for patience. 

It was also announced that The Wonder Girls would be performing an encore after Katy Perry, perhaps to make up for the delay.

Eventually, Tokio Hotel appeared and the boys did not disappoint. Frontman Bill Kaulitz thrilled fans with his showmanship, dressed in his trademark glam-rock outfits. 

Backed up by twin brother Tom on guitars, Gustav Schäfer on drums and Georg Listing on bass, he belted out hits from their latest album, including Noise, Automatic, Darkside of the Sun, Monsoon and World Behind My Wall.

Their performance had the most thorough gimmicks, with Bill first emerging from the bottom of the stage and later emerging straddling a motorcycle. They also had flashy pyrotechnics. Tom also played on a baby grand while Bill sang Zoom into Me.

After that performance, there was another long wait for Katy Perry to emerge. The crowd grew more restless and impatient and started booing and chanting.

When the VJs came onstage to try to cheer them up, their mics failed halfway and they disappeared, leaving the crowd even more in despair.
At about midnight, the curtains parted and Katy was finally there, standing atop a giant banana split set, surrounded by cupcakes. Dressed in a glittery pink bodysuit and fluffy tutu, she soon had the crowd singing along with her on California Gurls. She then played guitar while singing One of the Boys, and got the crowd in a singalong to her hits Waking Up in Vegas, I Kissed a Girl and Thinking of You.

She also gave her first live performance of her next single, Peacock, as well as Teenage Dream.
Katy also apologised for taking so long to perform in Asia. "When I first started out three years ago," she said, "I never dreamed that there would be 15,000 people waiting for me. From the bottom of my wannabe Asian heart, I thank you!"

She finished with Hot and Cold, climbing the wings of the stage as eight giant black and white balloons were released into the crowd. Her set ended with a bang with the release of fireworks into the night sky.

Almost as soon as the music was over, the crowd fell apart, with more than half of them leaving the venue for home, even as an MTV stagehand got on the mic and reminded people that The Wonder Girls would be performing a special encore. Those who stayed behind were treated to the sight of the girls performing Nobody again.

While the performances were fantastic, the waiting in between sets was exhausting. Perhaps at future World Stage events, organisers can have two stages to minimise delays, and there should have been better contingency plans to cope with the havoc caused by the rain. Nevertheless, the crowd did manage to have fun with even higher hopes for future MTV events.

Source: Sun2Surf