I initially did not want to go for this one, as
when the concert announcement came about, we were made aware that it will be a
full on Tamil concert. How can you have AR Rahman and not have him do Hindi as
well!
But, as I started seeing post on Facebook by my
favourite singers who were either on their way to Malaysia or already here, the
music fan in me did not have the heart to miss it! So the last minute
decision to join the thousands of fans at Stadium Merdeka was made a day before
the concert, on May 13 or Friday the 13th, just before midnight.
Heard about the viral screenshot blaming AR Rahman, read Black Horse blames AR Rahman?
For response from Black Horse Chairman, read Rain ruined AR Rahman Live in Concert KL 2016
Heard about the viral screenshot blaming AR Rahman, read Black Horse blames AR Rahman?
For response from Black Horse Chairman, read Rain ruined AR Rahman Live in Concert KL 2016
I have no idea if buying tickets on the date played a
part in the turn of events during the concert, but the weather sure did! Of
course, no excuse as most concert goers came very well prepared since it has
been raining over the past week and flooding in KL. The organisers
however, were oblivious to this fact. Malaysia is a tropical country and if you
did not want to have this in an indoor stadium, at least make sure
it doesn't rain on stage.
Because, we get wet, show still goes on, but stage gets
wet, show is delayed or may be cancelled/postponed! As expected, it was raining as we were on our way
to the stadium. But was not worried as I had my concert bag
pack ready.
What's inside my concert bagpack?
•
poncho (or raincoat)
•
foldable umbrella
•
towel
•
tissues
•
water bottle
(I also brought a Lipton ice lemon tea bottle)
•
snack of choice (I brought
my usual packet of cake and bun)
•
cap
•
water proof handphone case
(if it rains you want your phone to be safe)
•
fully charged power bank
(there'll be a lot of pictures and videos to take, even the
long lasting iPhone 6Plus battery won't help)
•
extra clothes to change
(if you're driving you can keep this in the car)
•
plastic bag (for your wet clothes
if it rains)
*It is a general rule that
you can't bring in food, water bottle and umbrella to a concert, so
pack this nicely in a small bag. It worked for me every time so far. Don't show
the staff at the entrance you have this in your hands and then complaint about
it later on social media!
The plan was to be at the venue at
least an hour before and we reached slightly before that. Managed to also
grab my usual drink, Asian Dolca Latte from Starbucks at Nu Central.
Although taking public transport
would be suggested for such events, but there was a doubt about the end time,
so driving, getting a parking spot at a distance and then walking to the
stadium was a better option. If you take the train and the show ends later than
it’s supposed to, you will have to pay (double) midnight charges for a taxi. Of
course you can do Uber or GrabCar now.
Reached the stadium about ten
minutes before 7pm, parked at a nearby petrol station and walked a short
distance to the stadium. It was drizzling already at this point, after a little
heavy rain episode not long before.
There was no problem entering the
stadium. Handed my self printed ticket to be scanned and was directed to the
right seating category. Not long after, it started raining. But hey, no
worries, got that covered and put on a poncho.
*always buy your poncho
from 7e/mini marts near home. I got mine for RM3. Outside the stadium, it’s
sold at RM10 each!
Comfortably settled in the rain
wearing a poncho, eagerly waiting for the show to start at 8pm. And here’s what
took place at my first AR Rahman Live in Concert KL:
8.10pm The two screens at each side of the stage came
to live with the Pelé 'Ginga' Official Music
Video by A. R. Rahman Ft. Anna Beatriz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvp5HHemf1w)
Also AR award clips and non stop
recent (Theri) and upcoming movie trailer (Kabali)
8.18pm It started raining on stage, flooding and the
screen accidently showed staff mopping/pushing water off stage
Also saw smoke coming out of some
of the electrical cables on stage
8.37pm Vijay Prakash held an
umbrella for Shaktisree on stage to tell audience the show would start soon
8.55pm Some audience from category 8 gate crashed
into category 5 (the covered category)
9.05pm We hear a check 1/2. AR Rahman comes on stage.
Says, "Where's there's a lot of love, this happens, a lot of test. All
praise to God" and goes off stage
9.23pm The videos are played again
9.30pm Finally decided to play some songs
(should have
done this from 8pm when you knew the show will be delayed)
- Vellai PookkalVandhe
- Maateram
- Porale Ponnuthaai in Hindi
9.50pm Close to 2-hour delay, crowd start booing and chanting start the show!
So they
played more songs
- Kochadaiyan
- New York Nagaram
10pm No
sign of the rain stopping or the show starting
Still see a group of people holding
umbrellas on stage
Music instruments
covered on stage
Groups of
audience all over started walking out
10.05pm More songs played
- Pacchai Nirame
- Yakkai Thiri
- Taxi Taxi
Umbrella
filled stage at this point
10.25pm Vijay Prakash gets on stage and informs they
are trying their level best to solve technical issues and start the show
10.43pm Shaktisree comes on stage with someone
holding an umbrella for her so she doesn’t get wet, apologized and sings 2
lines from Nenjukule (was comforting)
Assured the show will start in about
10 minutes
10.53pm AR
Rahman starts the show and crowd goes crazy!
1am Show
ends
After AR’s performance was my current favorite
Thalli Pogathey by Sid Sriram and ADK. It was a moment when you’ve waited so
long and are comforted by such a beautiful song, tears roll down your cheeks in
the rain. I’m sure the everyone at the stadium then forgot everything and was
just present in the moment. 
The show then moved quite smoothly and very
quickly, with the next singers (Haricharan, Shwetha, Benny Dayal, Vijay
Prakash, Shakthisree, Haripriya, Lady Kash, Blaaaze debut by Sri Rascol) coming
on stage almost immediately. 
This clearly looked like it was managed by the team
of singers and was identical to the show in Coimbatore. The same flow, with the
final song where all singers come on stage is played, except they did not and
an acknowledgement was showed on screen. A little hanging and you wonder if the
show ended just like that. Then AR Rahman comes on stage and sings one final
remix song with local artist Sri Rascol. He then thanked the audience and said
we were the best he had. He added that it will be a historical one and was in
tears.
On the delays, I’m assuming the setting by the
organizers got screwed up in the rain and the team of singers replicated the
previous show (Coimbatore) with what they had. They basically saved the show! It
was a risky one for sure as there were high powered cables exposed to water on
stage.
Facebook post:
Singer
Haricharan:
Its unfortunate when somethings
are planned and looked forward to so well and Nature has its own way of
handling it. Last Night's concert in KL was one such event. Unexpected downpour
well into the performance time. After waiting for it to stop till 10 pm there
was an anonymous decision to start the show no matter what. Clearly the
audience wasn't deterred and they just sat there with umbrellas and Raincoats
waiting for #ARRLiveinKL2016
to unfold. There were questions of Safety with open electrical equipment
everywhere where we performers and musicians had to be extra careful and the
crew were to work hard in heavy rain and slippery surfaces. But we did the full
set with no compromises. Everyone of us were charged up to give a good show to
such an amazing KL audience. A big shout out to BTOS Productions #Oncue
(stage management) and the beautiful people of Malaysia. This is definitely one
for the books.
ADK
I performed yesterday pulling
emotions from bottom of my heart. Everyone was actually tearing while doing
Thallipogathey including Sid. Their is no Musician or a man like Rahman sir who
will take that risk getting on stage. Thank you Malaysia for showing so much
love and support.
On the seating category and breach, yes there were
points when some from category 8 moved to the covered category 5 when there was
no security at the points. Category 5 was pretty much empty. Just before the
show started at 11pm, category 8 audience were allowed to moved to category 5
(covered), but of course one could just walk over to category 3 in front the
stage. This category was empty till just before the show started. Some said online that this was unfair to those who bought the higher
priced tickets, but hey, the whole category was empty. Category 1 and 2 were
VIP and VVIP. Funny thing is those who bought Category 1,2,3 tickets had to sit
under the rain unlike those who bought category 4/5 which was cheaper. |
| Category 3 seats still empty till just before the show started, when fans from other categories could walk over and fill the empty seats |
The point to note is, fans really just wanted an apology from the organizer, but throughout the episode of
unfortunate events, the organizer did not offer the audience any explanation at
the stadium or online. It sure looked like they did not have a plan B or
bothered about the fans. I honestly did not mind sitting in the rain but the
delay was a bit too much and that too without an apology or explanation from the
Despite what happened, I was satisfied and slept
really well, with memories of watching my favourite singers perform live. My
advice would be to make sure you do not go for another concert organized by
Black Horse Movie (M) Sdn. Also check if they start a new company and organize another
one!
Black Horse, forget about not expecting it to rain, (although it has been raining for the past week) the least you could have done was make sure the stage was
set up well so the roof did not leak and flood the stage! And have respect to
tell the audience what was going on instead of having the singers console us!
At the end of the day, they not only stole our hearts with their voice and
music from day one, but with how they handled this crisis last night!
Thank you AR Rahman, all the singers, dancers and musicians for making it happen!
8 comments
Exactly my thoughts,Elvina.
ReplyDeletePrecise explanation,indeed.
Kudos to you. ;)
Hey there! Thank you for reading and taking time to drop a comment.
DeleteYou wrote what I had felt
DeleteYou wrote what I had felt
DeleteThank u for reading..do check out the latest post reply from black horse
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Do check out the latest post on reply from black horse
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U exactly wrote what i had felt. Kudos to u
ReplyDeleteThank U for reading n commenting..do check out the lastets post reply from Balck Horse
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