I can now officially say I’ve seen Gwen Stefani in concert, live and up close. Obviously, an interview and photoshoot with Gwen, Gavin Rossdale and Kingston would have been the ideal, but a million dollars ain’t gonna fall on my head when I walk out the door tomorrow morning and we do not live in a perfect world.
The concert was brilliant – totally worth my RM285. Gwen was once one of the performers I wanted to see before I turned 30 alongside U2, but I took her off the list because I actually went to see Bono and clan’s concert in Melbourne and it just didn’t feel right putting someone else on their pedestal.
Gwen’s is the (distant) second best concert I’ve ever been to in my life, and the fact that I’ve only been to three and U2 was well, U2, does not detract from how good she is. She got everything right – her band was fantastic, her dancers were way, way brilliant, she’s gorgeous in person, her costumes were great…
Speaking of which, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Malaysia’s been making the rounds on international news again. For a quick browse-through, click here and here for just two examples, or do some Googling yourself. And here are a few pictures.
Cameras were actually banned from the concert, but that’s not the real reason why I don’t have any of my own to flaunt. Well, admittedly, I didn’t think of bringing a camera and even if I did it would have been of no use because I was sitting too far away for any good pics, but I could have had a couple of close-ups (when Gwen actually ran to the back of the stadium and climbed onto the first tier), if not for the fact that… my phone ran out of battery! Typical. And this time I actually remembered to use my cameraphone too!
If I see anyone with good pics, I’ll link my blog to them, promise. And besides, there’s always YouTube. This is probably one of the better clips of the Malaysian gig, but there are tons more from her other concerts on the tour.
Meanwhile, everyone’s favourite Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, best known for accusing Gwen and Maxis for corrupting our nation’s youth, has spoken again. This time, a party official is quoted as saying: “Even with Gwen Stefani, we’re not satisfied just because she covered up at the concert. Outside, she still wears sexy clothes and influences teenagers who idolize her. It’s bad to have immoral artists visiting Malaysia.” The group says it “will probably protest further if Beyonce, (Justin) Timberlake and (Kylie) Minogue perform here”. For the full article, click here.
Methinks some people didn’t receive enough attention as kids and really need to get a life, but hey, that’s just yours truly. It’s just that I have a feeling this isn’t quite what “putting Malaysia on the map” means. Oh what the hell, stop embarrassing the country already!
