The boys from Coldplay sure know how to work up a crowd. Indeed, the likeable and easygoing lads cashed in on their down-to-earth persona to draw rapturous feedback from the crowd when they performed in Singapore for the third time last Monday. Right from the opening, when lead singer Chris Martin and gang erupted on stage with some firecrackers dancing to a slew of tunes from their latest album Viva La Vida, the crowd went ballistic with their frolicking stage presence.

Martin, especially, is a ball of energy—either when banging away on the piano in greats such as “Clocks” or when he’s hitting all those rapturous falsettos during “Yellow,” arguably their biggest anthem to date. But the group was best when it did the unexpected: Martin and gang went up to the crowd to far left hand corner the Singapore Indoor Stadium and sang a couple of ditties in the middle of the crowd, and even lent drummer Will Champion (according to Martin, “the best singer” in the group) a chance to showcase his vocal skills. It’s antics like these that exemplify the group as of the people; for the people, and the crowd certainly lapped up such warm and close rapport.

The foursome only came back minutes later for the final act that ended all too soon, when other earlier favorites such as “The Scientist” and “Fix You” were belted, next to their Grammy-winning single “Viva La Vida.” While this indeed the Viva La Vida tour, fans knew that some of the concert’s best moments came from their early singles, but all in all, this was still a roclicking concert that only the boys from Coldplay could pull off. Viva La Vida alright.

The five Glaswegian boys from Mogwai surely know how to rock. Following their hugely successful first gig at the Esplanade, their second showing at the venue may be more subtle (there were less histronics compared to their first gig when the played mostly old stuff and greats from 2006’s Mr. Beast), but their latest concert certainly had more depth. Cueing a substantial amount of “post-rock, alt-rock, art-rock, whatever-you-call-it” tunes from last year’s The Hawk is Howling, it was a grandiose performance for both the initiated and uninitiated. Rumor has it that the sound system in KL, where the band gigged following Singapore, was less than desirable; so part of the band’s highly-charged concert here was due in part to Esplanade’s robust and reliable sound-system. Thus, the group’s quieter moments in the middle were just as brilliant as those transcendental head-banging moments at the end--where they fiddled with their basses and amps before a furious encore that was testament to their showgazing tendencies that we absolutely dig. So what if the concert wasn’t full--this is already frontrunner for one of the best gigs in 2009.

Yes. We waited all year for it and like a deluge of aural and visual goodness, it came. And it came damn hard. While pundits and some hardcore ZoukOuters may have lamented at the lacklustre line-up of jocks that may have headlined this years party, they duly ate up their words and danced the night through from the word go. Well, who wouldn’t?

Nouvelle Vague

While last year's outing saw a record-breaking turnout of 23,000 revellers, this year organisers say that a staggering 26,000 revellers turned up this year. This year's party is estimated to cost Zouk around $1.6 million - one of the costliest ZoukOuts ever. Besides all the DJs and bands performing, there was a fireworks display as well at the height of the party.

Heineken Oasis

From as early as 7pm, there was a steady stream of people waiting for their turn to step foot on the hallowed sands of the party, scout out the various stalls, fringe activities and there’s also no shortage of sponsors and partners tents everywhere. Just look around and you’ll see ‘hospitality’ tents by Heineken (which was an oasis of beer), Chivas Live, Nokia, 42Below Vodka and even Singtel which one-upped everyone with a faux yacht, complete with a pool for people to take a dip in.

Vicarious Bliss

Let’s just skip the formalities and go straight to what’s most important here—the music. The man of the moment—Erol Alkan came on at the Velvet Underground at about 2am and from the moment he cued the first track after Ed Banger’s Vicarious Bliss (whose set we think is rather mediocre), it was pure acid and dancefloor skulduggery. This is the man who single-handedly created a new form of dance music that after 8 years on, it’s still banging in clubs everywhere. Alkan churned out a sickeningly good set, running the gamut from genre of the moment, electro-techno to deep and minimal tech numbers. Everyone (electro-techno fans mostly) was singing along when the man dropped Dusty Kid’s "The Cat," Tiga’s "Mind Dimension" and even Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" with wild aplomb and was egging everyone on go on a frenzy.

Erol Alkan

Monsieur Dimitri From Paris came on next and he didn’t waste any time to keep the crowd going right after Alkan’s rousing set. Dimitri opted for a more electronic and banging mix for this party instead of his usual sexy house sounds but of course, keeping true to his music mantra, he kept some elements of the sound—sexy soaring vocals, disco hook against thumping and raw beats that is suited to the rave-ish vibe.

Over at the main arena, Sasha, the godfather of UK progressive house (and  a huge hit with the ah beng faculty) brought the crowd to an intoxicating high with his explosive and trancey beats. Everyone had their hands in the air, dancing like there's no tomorrow. American trance trio Above & Beyond took everyone on a high with their tantalizing acid-tinge sounds, and the bengs and lians lapped these up further. While Henrik Schwarz opted for the deep and minimal route with his Detroit-influenced beats earlier on here--even though reception was rather lackluster.

Resident Ibizan Pippi got the honour (again) of playing the sunrise set at the VU tent and it was pure magic. A mix of proggy beats in the beats that slowly transitioned to the soulful balearic and summery vibe as day broke--something that we're accustomed to from this dimunitive jock. A light drizzle poured on the crowd as Pippi dropped another bomb of a track after another like "Love & Happiness" by River Ocean and a Dennis Ferrer re-rub of Moloko’s "Forever More"—all apt soundtracks for sunrise, and definitely kept the crowd yearning for more. We'll be back in 2009, and so will the rest of our punter friends.--Zaki Jufri

“The well-bred contradict other people, the wise contradict themselves” bellowed 19^th century literary provocateur Oscar Wilde.

Esquire Wilde might cringe in his grave if he finds out that we used his oft-quoted one liner to describe Swedish indie pop’s wonderkid Jens Lekman’s second gig in our sunny island.

Having arrived in Singapore only a couple of hours before the performance, Lekman and Viktor Sjoberg, his supporting keyboardist trooped to The White Rabbit straight from Changi Airport with luggage and sound gear in tow for a rather disconcerting sound check.

Among the throng of  young indie poseurs in scrummy skinnies and a slightly older crowd of musically clued-in yuppies, Lekman and Sjoberg strutted onto the intimate stage at 8:45pm, more than ample time for most folks to get pleasantly inebriated.

In a typically ironic and cryptic fashion, the ingénue muttered to the beaming audience, “This place sounds like 1,000 werewolves dancing in a washing machine.” 

Definitely an advanced apology for the hollow echoes that blemished the night’s set kicking off with the insouciantly melodic “Sipping on the Sweet Nectar,” a chart topper from Night Falls Over Kortedala, his latest album with the dreamy cover art of his hair being cut (apparently it fronts a barbershop in Kerala, India and we seriously wonder if that location would have been a better gig space).

Sjoberg didn’t even bother to conjure anything out of his keyboards, and out of necessity Lekman handed a tambourine to a fan for a little semblance of a rhythm accompaniment to his mordant vocal stylings that did unconsciously sound like a bored Scandinavian Morrissey especially when striking the higher notes in his repertoire of bitterly funny “Postcard to Nina,” “You are the Light,” “Your Arms Around Me” and “Tram #7 to Heaven.” 

A comparison that Lekman wouldn’t be particularly proud as he shared in an earlier phone interview, “I dislike the Morrissey comparisons because the Swedes who are into him are such f*cking assholes and total bullies with their elitism.”   

But marred acoustics and Morrissey references aside, the audience (especially rabid Jens fans) were trying their very best to enjoy the witty poignant songs by humming along and helping out with the choruses of infectious goodness of tunes like  “Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill”.

During the intermission, a visibly jet-lagged but friendly Lekman was chilling out and signing autographs for his fans at the outdoor lounge while Sjoberg spun a choice cut of indie dance nuggets including the essential Lekman remixes.

He resumed his set with two songs at the outdoor area but there wasn’t a marked improvement in acoustic quality.  Although the one-hour set was longer than his brief inaugural gig here, we felt that the night would have been better if the acoustics were right.

The gig might not have been Jen’s most intimate but the folks here still love him.--Patrick Benjamin

The team from Kraftwerk--comprising original founder Ralf Hütter, Henning Herbert Schmitz, Johann Friedrich Hilpert and Stefan Pfaffe--certainly lived up to expectations during their first ever gig in Singapore on Wednesday night. They basically just stood there and twiddled their computer knobs and fiddled with their keyboards throughout the entire two-hour or so gig, where they played from their almost 40 year-old repertoire spanning classics like “Autobahn” and newer ditties like “Aero Dynamik.” Certainly, we didn’t really expect anything more than a bunch of stationary guys staring at their laptops, juxtaposed against a collection of quirky and stimulating visuals projected as backdrops, although we were hoping for something a little fresher and more original. After all, these guys aren’t dubbed the godfathers of electronic music for nothing.

Still, we enjoyed most bits from the gig, part of the group’s tour around the region like Hong Kong and Australia. While some of the segments in the show got a tad repetitive after a while (there’s only that much visuals of fonts and images of cyclers and trains that one can take), some of the highlights here included the quirky “Vitamin,” featuring visuals of various assortments of pills (a nod to works by famed British artist Damien Hirst, perhaps?), the pulsating dance tunes “Pocket Calculator” and “Aero Dynamik,” and “Robots,” where the foursome were replaced by robot replicas of themselves onstage. Indeed, these great moments overshadow some of the show’s more disappointing moments, like their biggest hit “The Model,” which was marred by the fact that it was played too early into the set and should have been saved for the encore, and “Tour De France,” which was all too predictable.

Those who have managed to catch the show would probably notice that the gig was really not that all different from those that’s been staged for the longest time by the famous foursome (just check out YouTube for these snippets). And after bigger, better, bolder concerts this year such as Kylie’s earlier this month, Kraftwerk’s gig seemed a tad timid. But hardcore fans will testify that this is one of tightest and most cohesive gigs they’ve seen this year, judging from the two encores and unwavering support from the fans, who finally stood up and danced during the last two closing numbers (“Aero Dynamik” and “Music Non Stop”). Kraftwerk was great, but we expected greater.--Terry Ong

The stifling humidity at Fort Canning Park was the setting for the Manics inaugural gig a day after former guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards was declared legally dead, 13 years after his mysterious disappearance.

The 3,000 strong crowd comprised mostly of punters in their ‘30s who have aged with the legendary Welsh rockers and previously acne-scarred teenage misfits who have evolved into high-flying civil servants and creative industry professionals. 

Kicking off the gig, was a brawling rendition of anti-conformist anthem “Motorcycle Emptiness” from their debut album Generation Terrorist, which ensued a mass karaoke session from all the nostalgic folks in the crowd.

We couldn’t help but actually think about how fresh, chiselled and angsty a biker gear clad James Dean Bradfield was in the 1992 music video but one of life’s bitter realties is that even our rock heroes are not immune from aging.       
Despite the inevitable aging, the triumvirate of bassist Nicky Wire, drummer Sean Moore and frontman-guitarist James Dean Bradfield who have been rocking it together for over two decades, played a technically accomplished and carefully selected repertoire of songs (no two songs played in sequence came from the same album), hence they never lost the audience.

But something was amiss despite the tight as f*ck on-stage presence of the Manics, the ferally energetic, boundaries thrashing stadium rock that we anticipated never arrived except in the unlikeliest of moments when Bradfield played a scorchingly brilliant solo acoustic set of two songs- “Small Black Flowers” and “Everlasting” while his fellow bandmates took a breather. The nakedness and visceral nature of his strained vocals accompanied by plaintive strummings bowled over the silenced crowd who were worshipping him in humble adoration. 

Being famous for their covers, the Manics unveiled a very twisted re-interpretation of a fluffy pop ditty, “Umbrella”, channeling the spirits of Kraftwerk and Public Enemy, they deconstructed it into one hella of a morbid rock tune with Wire’s demented bass strangulation and Bradfield’s blasé vocal delivery.

She came, she performed, and she conquered. Now we can all die happy. Pop goddess Kylie Minogue did what no other live act could this year (Rihanna, take note!) and delivered 23 of her hits including tracks from her latest album X in a killer two hour set that can be only described as a sheer spectacle.

From the thumping opening electro beats of “Speakerphone” (one of the best opening numbers we’ve seen in a long time) to fan favorite “Love At First Sight,” Minogue hardly took a break save for five wardrobe (Jean Paul-Gautier designed, no less) changes in line with the show’s multiple acts, which saw her morphing from cheerleader to cruise ship singer. Absent though from the multi-million dollar show were the lighted stage floor and props like a giant skull and spider ring which were used in the European leg of her tour; but no matter, as a giant video wall provided stunning visual backdrops.

Backed by a band, posse of dancers and framed by two backup singers, Minogue wowed and got the crowd of 8,000 (drag queens included) on their feet with her dance pop tunes including “Can’t Get You Outta My Head,” “On a Night Like This” and “Spinning Around”. Other highlights included a smoldering rendition of synth-heavy “Slow,” which ended as a rousing rock-inspired number, the heartfelt ballad “I Believe In You” (if only ex-boyfriend Olivier Martinez could hear this now) and the rousing, stadium anthem “Kids”. A crowd pleaser, she made banter with the audience in between songs and returned for an extended encore complete with golden confetti shower. Ending on a high with the beloved retro hit “I Should Be So Lucky”, the entire stadium had reached fever pitch, singing along and wanting more. This is arguably, one of the best concerts we’ve ever been to.--Nicholas Chia

The Government’s decision to go ahead with a foreign worker dormitory in Serangoon Gardens has drawn more ire from the vicinity’s “middle-class” residents. The residents first raised the alarm when plans were drawn up earlier this year. Their concerns range from value of property falling to the social cost of having foreign laborers living in their midst. Wow! The ugly side of Singaporeans has certainly come to the fore with this issue. And the saga looks set to rumble on for a good while yet.

How many of you caught last week’s vice presidential debate between Joe “Just-one-of the-guys” Biden and Sarah “Moosehunter” Palin? Well, it proved one thing alright: The issues don’t matter. What generated more copy and buzz were Palin’s winks and her folksy slangisms like “You betchas” and “Darn its.” Some even concur that Palin is about as qualified to be VP as Britney Spears. What do you think?

Goodbye Ministry of Sound (MoS), you will be missed. But the franchise hotfooting out of Singapore raises more questions than answers. Legal issues? Franchiser-franchisee issues? Branding issues? Also, rumor has it that the MoS franchise holder in the UK wasn’t too happy with the kind of music being played at its Singapore venue in Clarke Quay. Hmmm, food for thought indeed.