Heineken Green Room Sessions: Elevation 245

Went with Melvin, Khai, his French friend, Fabrice, Chung and his girlfriend, Wee Keng. We were late as we were drinking at the kopitiam aka coffeeshop downstairs.

I think we missed Throb's set. Watched them play 2 years ago at the 1st Awakening Baybeats at the Esplande. They were pretty interesting. They've gotten themselves a permanent keyboardist this time round by the name of Amanda. Melvin has been raving about how hot she is and all that crap. I dunno. Saw her from far at the last Electrico gig which I caught. I couldn't really see her face though I must say she had great long wavy hair. They have pictures of the different bands here. Still couldn't see her face clearly though she looks delectable. Anyway, I have their CD which is like an almagam of jazz and funk. Pretty good stuff though some parts became way too similar and monotonous after a while.

The Funky Lowlives played an interesting set which combined pre-programmed samples and live instrumentation, much to Melvin's chargin. Kinda reminds of one band... hmmm, especially one that I play in. Gettin' wanky here. Anyway, their set was decent. Nothing too pumping and well, exciting. It got better progressively I would say. And I must add as well, I use better guitar patch cables than the guitarist. Ha!

And we went down for more beers. After we came back up, we managed to catch like the last 3 songs of the last live act, Groove Jam which was fucken amazing. They were tight as hell and over-the-top entertaining as well. The Jamaican singer, Aurora Dawn (you gotta love such a name) was dry-humping the guitarist on stage after she threw him on the stage floor. She could sing and rap, always a bonus. The drummer was amazing, backing everyone with precision. It got me thinking that, as much as I like Jamiroquai, they could be overrated.

The last act to come on was Jazzanova's DJ Alex Barck on a soundsystem. Well, I guess he cleared the floor faster than Groove Jam packed it and got the crowd going. This is honestly the 1st time I've seen a band pushing a crowd harder and wilder than a DJ. Then again, I suppose people are just bored with seeing just a guy spinning black circles.

And that was my weekend.