Good Vibes Festival Gave the Good Vibes in Kuala Lumpur

It was a delightful sunny Saturday, with Kuala Lumpur’s relentless hot and heavy weather, and at the same day when the anticipated music festival arrives. Fellow good people, I present you:  the Good Vibes Festival.

The concept is quite simple, a musical mecca to invite all kinds of people with the need to simmer down from life’s pressure with a company of music that will take you to a time where nothing mattered. We arrived just as the gates were open, the InternationalSepang Circuit was altered into a cement-floored amusement park, but instead of rides, they had stages, and instead of grass, they had crates. At a first glance, the venue seemed a tad bit pale, certainly was not up to par from what the poster illustrations that have been publicized. But as the night falls, stage lighting and Nina Marini’s art installations painted the festivities in colors, and that’s when you know the party had started.

There were four main spots, the Red, the Blue, the Green Stage and the Silent Discotek. The first three hours of the festival was packed with local artists among them includes LiyanaFizi, Kyoto Protocol and Tenderfist which we have caught in act and was pleased with what they have contributed to the growth of the local and international music scene.

Ash, the Irish alt rock band, was the first main act that we were all dreading for. Started out with their song ‘Meltdown’, the triad’s upsurge was cut abruptly due to technical difficulties backstage. Then again, what’s a musical festival without a little patience, eh? As soon as the problems were resolved, the band continued with their songs including ‘A Life Less Ordinary’, ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Girl From Mars’, their new song ‘Binary’, ‘Evil Eye’ and the crowd’s favorite ‘Oh Yeah’. Enjoying Ash’s energizing performance to fuel up the night, the band’s performance was nothing but easy and enjoyable music that makes your toes dance in the pink gleam of the sunset. After a generous one-hour set with 13 songs, Ash’s set was closed with ‘Burn Baby Burn’.

Continuing with the next main act, was both Japandroids and Modest Mouse, though it was painful to choose which one to go see, Modest Mouse seemed to be the wiser choice due to the strategic time and place before the main headliner. Modest Mouse’s performance was a full house, reflecting how they colonized the stage with unbelievable musical talents, from the drums, the violins to the sitar. The band performed a one-hour set with songs including ‘Float On’, ‘The View’, ‘Dashboard’, ‘ Ocean Breathes Salty’, ‘Fire It Up’ and their newest song, ‘Sh*t in Your Cut’. With their live formation of two drummers, extended guitarist, violinist and keyboardist, the sound system of the Red Stage was unable to adjust to the variety of the musical instrument the band had to offer. The staggering beats of both drums appeared to drown other sounds, though the interesting fusion between folk and rock they have engineered was radical, and the stampede-like energy of the performance was dominating.

The peak of the night was upon us, and the crowd grew even larger at the Red Stage for the main headline of the night. The crowd had its own flair, ranging from younger to older fans, all excited to finally see Smashing Pumpkins’ live debut in Malaysia. With the band’s years of ceaseless astonishment in the rock music scene, their Grammy-winning achievements and nine successful studio albums of grunge-goth-rock music, the band did justice to the audience as they played the first song of the night, the insanely anthemic single, ‘Tonight, Tonight’. It was clearly seen that the presence rock legends stunned the crowd, all the fans, acquainted or obsessed, had their inner 90s teenage spirit awaken as the band continued with the song ‘Cherub Rock’. The three songs ‘Starz’, ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Disarm’ was a huge hit, a lot of the crowd was singing along tirelessly, some of them starteda crowdsurf. The song ‘Quasar’ was closed with ridiculous rhythms by none other the guitar hero, Jeff Schroeder, that promptly got the crowd hyped, continued with a non-released song ‘Gossamer’. We must never be apart, was beautifully sung by Billy Corgan, followed by the massive herd of fans in the song ‘Ava Adore’.  ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ was next, followed by their singles from more recent albums ‘One Diamond, One Heart’ and ‘Pale Horse’. Instant chemistry was felt when the first notes of ‘Today’ was played, the audience was head over heels and dancing to the song was inevitable.  ‘Zero’, ‘Stand Inside Your Love’ and ‘United States’ was the three closing songs before the encore-less one and half an hour epic set. The overall performance was mind-blowing, beyond fascinating, and we certainly had goosebumps when BillyCorgan closed the set with ‘We were, we are, we will be Smashing Pumpkins’. Though there may be a few sighs when ‘1979’ or ‘Thirty-Three’ was not on the list, the audience was still tongue-tied from witnessing the four rock prodigies on stage.

There was so many teen-spirit and liveliness happening throughout the venue on that very day. From the main stages, to the side DJs and Silent Discotek, the fashion and food offered, the festival was the perfect night out for the weekend. We’re expecting a lot more thrills and surprises for the next time the good vibes roam around town!