Super Backdated post: 22 March 2014 (Although typed this right after the day lol)
I just had a short mini 2 piece acoustic performance with Joee (The CrestFall's keyboardist) at ACG Fiesta 2014, UTAR Sungai Long. Here's the page if you guys wanna know more about the event: ACG Fiesta.
We broke the record of shortest practice time before performance LOL, but it wasn't as scary as the time where our full band only met up for the FIRST (means we haven't even see each other before) time TWO days before the band performance, that was seriously nerve wrecking. This time we only met up twice for practice; first one was the Monday before the performance where both of us weren't really prepared ahem, and the 2nd practice was few hours before the performance =__=. I was feeling uneasy and all, but we were all in 'nankurunaisa~" (whatever will be will be) mode.
Selfie of the day~
I have to say though, this is a really small event (with very few booths and a small hall), but the committees were really helpful and friendly (example we were given a room to rest and practice)~ The audience were very supportive by singing along with us~ and were very attentive and cheered for us even though there's some who have never heard the songs before ^^. So both of us had quite a fun time performing and spending time together.
Some performance pictures~
This year's performance was a whole lot better than last year's, in terms of the PA and sound equipments etc; but somehow our performance was full of echos in the hall which I don't really know why. And as usual we can't really hear ourselves on stage (there's no monitor), but I'm starting to get used to this (am being quite pro performing in worse situations). Performance wise I think we did quite well!~ I did some lyrics mistakes here and there but I don't think anyone would realize during the live performance ^^.
I'm looking forward for more performances with my band, really miss spending time with them. Kinda regret not buying stuff from the booths haiz, I was too tired to look around.
Ending the post with performance videos:
1st song : The Beginning by ONE OK ROCK
2nd song: Everything's Alright by Laura Shigihara -- from the game 'To The Moon"
Around Mid-June I got a message from Carlson (CrestFall band leader) to sort of ask me if it's possible to go perform for this event since our band got invited to perform. I find the dates rather rushed and find it impossible to gather for a full electric band performance; however an idea crossed me that I could try out for a 3 pcs acoustic band performance instead since my keyboardist and guitarist were itching to perform as well.
And off we go, the usual meet up practice process lol. This time we've decided to meet at my place instead of booking a studio because...well, there's only 3 of us. We did a total of 3 practices, but rather long and relaxed hours because it's free (duh it's my house) and there's no time restrictions. First practice is Always, always and always very laid back as most members haven't prepared and practice well, especially David (guitarist) who didn't even listen to the song once before the practice.
Nevertheless it was real fun being together with them, can't stop our laughters whenever David said something or even when he did nothing wth. On our first practice we had Sushi Tei for dinner, and due to David's forgetfullness or funny-ness or whatever, i spilled green tea on my sushi =_=. Well no use crying over spilled tea on sushi i guess lol.
2nd practice is a little different because we were practicing for about 2 hours before going for a Music Composition Workshop at Bentley Music. Thanks a lot to Akiko for the directions!
The workshop was "...". It literally made me speachless hahaha. All the speaker has to say was "it's very hard to explain composing, all you need is feel". Which is rather lame as most of us has music background and I'm sure we would hope to learn up some skills which would help to ease the process of composing. Just like a teacher asking students to FEEL the drawing to learn how to draw, so very "helpful".
But! I fell in love with the entire building that is filled with music equipments and books and instruments!!! Really feel like getting a sequencer >_<.
Our final (3rd) practice went rather well, and we decided to drop a song because we got too bored playing it. Personally I still feel that we didn't practice thoroughly enough but I guess it's just me, I couldn't stand if there's any mistakes during practice lol. But am trying hard to control myself and let things go a bit since, well, not everyone is like me.
I'm rather satisfied with the song choice this time: Wherever you are by One OK Rock; Last song by Gackt; and This Love by Angela Aki. I've did Wherever you are with Osiria Rose before, and I definitely miss the duet with their vocalist. Last song was a great song to cover for an acoustic performance so I totally bought the idea of doing this right when Joee (keyboardist) brought this up. As for This Love, am feeling really excited and happy practicing this song as it's quite a high level song and I've been wanting to sing it for years and do not have the ability to do so.
Event day
It was of course, a rather small event since the campus is quite small to me lol. Anyway, outfit of the day!
Matte Sequin top and grey skinny jeans (both from Mango, jeans got them from Spain ^^); washed light blue jeans cap; back studded boots.
Max love my sequin top because it's really rare to find a matte sequin because usually they are all shiny and disco looking.
Here's our (performers) resting area. A small lecture hall ^^ Unfortunately we didn't make full use of the room for warm ups because we spent most of the time setting up the stage and EQs (which is kinda pointless because the PA people tempered with it right after we set =_=).
The event has very few stalls, selling document files, handmade goodies, sushi lol.
Really love this file~ Bought them for my sis. I feel like getting one as well but I know I'll just keep it aside and won't use it since it's too pretty haha.
Handmade goodies~~ Kinda regretted not buying.
As predicted, David was late, apparently his car broke down. Setting up took a while because there's some problem with the speaker (it got burst haizzz, don't know why PA people didn't go change it). For some reason the usually chilled to the core David went nervous, probably his first time singing while playing the guitar.
First song (Wherever you are by One ok Rock) was okay, nothing much except our mics got toned down. It was rather soft so I was pretty worried about the dynamics. 2nd song (Last song by Gackt) was a disaster lol. First the keyboard and PA settings got messed up, then Joee's mic became so soft that her solo was difficult to be heard and I went near her to hold my mic for her. And then came the biggest disaster: Joee's keyboard cable got unplugged ohnoessss.
While Joee singing I realised that there was no power from the keyboard, and there's no lights on the screen! And then I looked at the floor....cable was lying flat. I picked the cable and showed her, and panic attack begins!! Ergh it was quite a brain storming process trying to think what to do to continue the performance.
Before the 3rd song (This Love by Angela Aki), we paused for several minutes to try to set the equipments but it's kinda futile. I don't get why the stage crews did not change the speakers while we paused our performance, instead, they changed it AFTER our performance *criessss*
Our This Love was okay, except some mistakes here and there on the keyboard; but thats acceptable after the panic attack. Personally I did not make mistakes for this performance and am kinda proud that I'm levelled up enough to sing Angela Aki songs~ YAY~~
Some on-the-stage pictures:
Two pictures below were taking by Joee's sister, it's blurry since she did not realise there's thumb prints on the lens hahaha. But it made us look as if we are performing in the midst of haze, kinda cool lol
Like got some light effects right haha.
I hope to perform This Love again, next time a much better cover! Why why why Animangaki's performance slot not open yet T_T.
Most of the problems in this performance were caused by the inexperience of stage crews in the event, as such the way they handled situation and made wrong decisions gave us huge problems during our performance. But still, they were all really nice and friendly, and tried their best to work their first-time event out; so I hope they could improve and make a better event next time~
I'll end with two videos from this performance, do enjoy~
Around end of November last year, I somehow saw an email newsletter by Sunway Pyramid asking for Charity Buskers for Christmas, while so happen a friend of mine informed me about the same thing, and this is how I decided to just try applying to see if I got accepted to perform. To apply, we were supposed to send in a performance video related to christmas. I put "we" here because at that point of time I feel that a live acoustic performance would be better than a usual karaoke-backing solo performance, live performance is somehow warmer and has more christmas feel~
My first step(and problem) was to find a partner to either play the acoustic guitar or keyboard for me. It's definitely hard as most of my friends were busy towards the end of the year, or they have made plans etc etc. But! I was lucky enough to get an OK from Carlson and together we made a christmas video for event registration:
White Christmas - Soulful Version
White Christmas - Strumming Version
We did it this way: Carlson recorded some clips for his guitar parts, and I matched my voice recording to his guitar and finalized by adding my video clip beside his. I don't think I did a good job at the video because for some reason the video always got blurred after rendering, and this was my first time editing a video so I'm still pretty much blur about it. Carlson recorded two versions of White Christmas, and I ended up doing both because I couldn't decide which is better lol.
It took a week for Carlson for his videos to reach me, and plus another few more days for me to record vocals + video editing. We had to seriously rush for it because it was super near the video submission dateline, and we were busy with our own stuff (exams for me, I forgot what Carlson was busy with that time). After Sunway management saw our video they asked if we could perform for two days instead of one. And we agreed to just die die go for it, just for the sake of youth lol what a thing to say.
Our performance was set at 28 and 29 December 2012, 3.30-3.50pm and 4.00-4.20pm. We haven't got much time for practice because half of the December I was pretty occupied with my exams, and after that Carlson has camps to go, and many other activities as well. Our first meetup/practice was at MidValley, we found a nice cafe that was quiet and open air so we could strum and sing as we like haha. We didn't get to do much that day other than to go through what has to be done and decide on song choice for the event.
Our 2nd practice (which was our final practice =_=) was at Taylor's Lakeside, where we went into an empty classroom to practice. Practice that day was relatively progressing well, but there's still many hickups and stops along the way. Days before the performance we tried practicing through Skype, which I think was epic failure because we cannot play and sing at the same time lol. Meaning when I start singing the guitar sound won't be able to transmit to me, and when he start playing he can't hear me sing haha. Kind of a disaster. But we did discussed what to wear through skype, thinking of what accessories to add to have that christmassy feel.
On the performance day itself, we went Daiso to prep up ourselves, including buying a toy bell lol, safety pins and I can't remember what more. And after lunch we went to find a place for our final preparation.
Carlson took this picture while we were practicing lol
Here are some pictures during our performance:
Day 1: Main Concourse
Day 1 Ground Floor Water Feature Area
Donation box ^^
Day 2 Ground Floor Water Feature Area
We really loved the stage decorations at the Main Concourse, it was definitely one of the most beautiful stage I've performed on. The theme last December was Spanish Antoni Gaudi ceramic mosaics, I felt particularly amazed as I just went Spain for a holiday last July and saw many of Gaudi's work. The people working back stage were really friendly, they helped us a lot with the preparation and set ups, so that we wouldn't have to worry about any of those stuffs.
Overall I think we did an average job, mainly due to the serious lack of meetups, and of course, Carlson's busy schedule. Lots of funny and panic moments when we were on stage but we managed to survive at least lol. It was our first time pairing with each other, and yes I did enjoyed his company. Nevertheless we did have loads of fun performing, and it was kinda touching seeing people gave donations during our performance, we felt like we were contributing something to the society ^^. And of course some of our friends(and my family) who came over to support us for both the days, thank you very much as well.
Fashion wise; For day 1 I decided to be seriously on Christmas mode, so I wore a bright red knitted top, paired with full lace shorts + black leggings, while day 2 I wore something very mori-styled, a new layered green dress my mum bought for me on my birthday ^^. Carlson wore different for both days, but I guess there isn't much difference to be seen from the pictures lol, thats how guys usually wear ==. But he did put on a cute santa pin I bought from a christmas fair, and he is still keeping it now haha.
Our commemorative picture at the end of our performance:
I'll end the post with some videos taken for the two days, do enjoy~
