NUFAN gig 18/10/09

I went to see No Use For A Name yesterday, and I must say that it's probably one of the best gigs I've ever been to.

Too bad my partner in crime, Azri Rotten (owner of Brainystuffs and his other blog which name eludes me atm) had blown his money on his debut EP, otherwise we'd have such a good time together, since nothing beats having a friend to join you

And the gig was widely anticipated by many punk rock fans, and I heard that people from Singapore, Indonesia and even Australia showed up mainly to watch NUFAN play.

Now for a quick run-down:

Like all gigs, it is somehow impossible for them to start on time, which was planned to begin at 1 PM (I arrived there at 1.35), the gig began at 3.30 pm, and the first act was Dosound, an Indonesian punk rock act, which I'm unable to determine the sound, although I think they're pretty good.

The next act was Toxictoy, a punk rock band from Pahang, sounds nice, although I'm still incapable of determining the influences. I am pretty tone-deaf, I guess.

The following act was Always Last, another local punk act from KL, which I liked a lot, and they sound like Good Riddance and Bad Religion, and I bought their album as well. People slam danced and formed circle pits to their songs, which was quite something.

This was soon followed by Plague Of Happiness, which is a local ska-punk act, and it was so pleasing that you couldn't help but wanting to dance along to the tunes. They were so popular, that everyone requested them to play "Viva La Punk", which originally was a song by The Bollocks (I think), which they covered into a much more superior version and proved to be a hit among punk rock fans.

The next act was another favorite of mine, Second Combat. Contrary to my perception, despite the number of SC fans in attendance, there was a surprising lack of moshing and slam-dancing, although they put up an excellent show, and I even caught their song list which the vocalist threw at the end of their performance. It might have some value in the near future, who knows. It's sad to know that this legendary band will disband later this year, I really think they're under-appreciated here in Malaysia, and the only respectable media outlet that covered them was ROTTW, while other media outlets are more interested in pop-rock acts which I'm getting sick of.  I've had people from Europe and America telling me how great they are and comparing them with other widely acclaimed acts.

After that it's Abhorrence, a hardcore band from Slovakia. Now I don't know much about hardcore from East Europe, but I think they put up quite a performance, and they basically made everyone go wild, and they were so good that everyone asked for one more song after they played only four songs due to time constraints, which they honored.

Under-18, an Indonesian hardcore band followed next, and U18 and Abhorrence are actually touring together, and KL was their last stop before moving on to Bandung.  I felt that they were pretty good, with their warzone-inspired sounds was pretty cool, although their fashion clearly showed their influences, with almost all of them dressed like Hardcore-style skinheads, with only the guitarist sporting a more Oi! look.

And the final act, NUFAN began at 6.45 / 6.50 ( I can't remember it precisely) after a 30-minute soundcheck, and even during sound check the venue was almost full, and packed with eager fans wanting to see the band in action, even during the sound checking stage. And when it finally started, it was pretty wild, with people slam-dancing and crowd-surfing. I had a shoe print on my face from some girl whose shoe hit my face, and I almost got crushed from the slam dancers, and I think it was quite an intense performance, overall.

I sure hope these international bands will make another stop here again soon. I'd kill someone innocent and unrelated to me just to get his money so that I can see them live.

Now let's wait for the Buzzcocks to get here. I don't hope any wild antics, but I do hope on having a good time.

Overall...I'd give it a 10/10. Thanks to all those who made it happen.

Now for pics, I've uploaded it to my facebook profile, so just click here instead:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8356&id=100000097217701&l=a8832ee939

And check out all the bands I mentioned above, you'll lose nothing but your hearing.