Hear them loud and clear

SHUIB TAIB writes of the upcoming Live & Loud KL 07 concert, the first-of-its-kind in the region and boasting of big names in music you thought you’d never hear here.

IT’S going to be the biggest stage ever. Both figuratively and literally speaking, that is.

Yes folks, you’ve seen the ads on TV, heard about them on the radio and read about them in the newspapers. And they’re going to be here in Kuala Lumpur for the Live & Loud KL 07 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Park on Nov 25.

Whitney Houston, K-Ci & Jojo, James Ingram, Kool & The Gang, Mint Condition, Dionne Warwick, Shaggy, Elliot Yamin, Lil’ G of Silk, Rick Price, James Morrison, James Taylor Quartet... just to name a few, phew!

These big names will be sharing the same stage with our very own stars such as Dayang Nurfaizah, Jaclyn Victor, Joe Flizzow, Anuar Zain, Adibah Noor, Hazami, Noryn Aziz, Zainal Abidin, Nikki, Hannah Tan and Dina (of Malaysian Idol fame).
If Chinese music is your cup of tea, then these names — Zhang Hui Mei better known as A-Mei, Michael Wong, Fish Leong, Victor Wong, Andrew Tan, Zhang Zhen Yue, Claire Kuo, Vincy Chan and Kenny Kwan — should ignite some excitement.

They will be joined by Indonesian Tompi and Singapore’s favourite son, Taufik Batisah. Indeed, when Live & Loud KL 07 kicks off on Nov 25, it will mark the largest, most sensational and longest-running music festival in Southeast Asia.

This is a new concept and is expected to take the local music scene by storm when these artistes take to the stage during the 10-day music extravaganza.

“How many of us can afford to fly across the world to see them? I think we are now more open and receptive towards foreign acts. People are generally more appreciative of these kinds of performances. We used to complain of having to pay anything above RM100 to see international artistes, but now times have changed. Rest assured, all artistes have been ‘secured’. They are committed and definitely coming,” said Live & Loud chief festival director, Reymee Mohamed Hussein.

“I think for the amount you’ll be paying, it’s a steal. This is going to be a start to many more Live & Loud events in the future. We plan to have events such as this every quarter of the year and Live & Loud will be the main event of the year.

“And it is good to pioneer something like this before any other country around us. It’s been our long-held dream to organise something of this magnitude. It helped that the Ministry of Tourism wanted us to have an iconic event every year to attract tourists. Since everyone can relate to music, we feel it’s the best way to do it,” said Reymee.

Reymee added that although there are other music festivals being organised every now and then, like The Rainforest International Music Festival for example, the magnitude of Live & Loud puts it in a different league. It is divided into three categories: Main Events, Thematic Events and Fringe Events.

“Unlike the Rainforest, this is not just about world music or jazz. It doesn’t focus on one genre of music or age group. However, this year we couldn’t incorporate rock and hip-hop as we couldn’t secure the artistes on time,” said Reymee.

Reymee stresses that each artiste will be doing full shows, not just one or two “promotional” songs.

“For instance, the night Whitney performs will last for about nine hours as it will start around 3pm right up to midnight! Each artiste will perform his or her own concert, not just a few songs. They’re not here to promote their albums, but to do full concerts. And yes, Whitney will sing her old songs too. So it’s value for money as you pay for one event, but you get to see several performances,” explained Reymee.

Even the Malaysians acts, added Reymee, will showcase their best.

“They will not be fillers. They will sing songs they used to sing before they recorded their CDs. Don’t go there expecting them to sing songs from their albums. They will render songs that represent them, not songs that cater to record companies.”

He said some tickets are selling like hot cakes.

“Malaysians have a wide variety of taste in music. Whitney is moving very fast, so are the Best of ‘80s and the R&B nights. Not to mention the Chinese All-Stars night,” said Reymee.

Live & Loud will have the British production teams behind the Live Earth concerts in New York and Hamburg put up the props.

They will construct the massive stage complete with extensive audio and lighting equipment — the same ones that were used to stage mega concerts around the globe for top international artistes.

A total workforce of 150 people are expected to work around the clock to complete the giant stage before the first event, Chinese All-Stars, kicks off. During the show, 700 people will be employed.

“On the stage itself on certain nights, we are going to have VVIP seating which will cost a bomb. There will also be LCD screens, sofas, butlers, besides the special, limited seats.

source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/Features/20071111183001/Article/indexpull_html