喜北肉豆蔻的音乐

我激动了－ －翻出两年前老文了。 Xiu Xiu，当你在各大搜索引擎中键入这两个中文拼音时，自动刷新的页面上，除却一支美国实验乐队的官网外，恐怕还有一部中国影片的相关连接。得名自98年《天浴》中女主角秀秀，于2000在美国成立的Xiu Xiu，已是主唱兼主创Jamie Stewart继IBOPA (the Indestructible Beat of Palo Alto) 和Ten in the Swear Jar 后同Cory McCulloch名下的第三支乐队了。 人说七年之痒，可见证的人事变迁已不胜枚举，我们几乎无从理清，存在于记忆深处那些曾经红极一时而如今却随着时间洪流被洗刷去光鲜终归平淡的姓名。而Xiu Xiu却像一朵生长在人迹罕至的沙漠戈壁上一丛素朴的铁花，抵抗着风沙的无情侵蚀，却能在触及耳道的瞬间在心上勾画出分外妖娆的图谱。但纵使是躲过了分崩离析的灾难，成员大换血却像是此类乐队的宿命般不可避免：七年之内总共有九人在乐队停留或长栖，其中惟有主唱Jamie Stewart始终作为乐队主脑存在至今。而这也或多或少地解释了另一个问题—— 你始终无法仅凭一张专辑彻底了解Xiu Xiu究竟是个什么玩意儿。不同风格成员之间的连动及换血注定了Xiu Xiu的不可捉摸。尽管受到英式乐队诸如The Cure和Joy Division的影响，但单纯地认定Xiu Xiu的“后朋嘴脸”显然不是令人满意的答案，除却“正统”的朋克，噪音摇滚、氛围后摇、新古典、民谣甚至是电子，Xiu Xiu的涉猎范围之广，恐怕只能以艺术和实验这样的标签粗略涵盖。而除开编曲和演奏，Jamie Stewart集高亢神经质、敏感跳音和虚弱气声于一身的标识人声，再加上06年后加入Xiu Xiu的Caralee McElroy的清澈女声，在歌词演绎方面堪称完美。 零零年乐队处女专《Knife Play》是吉他噪音墙和打击乐器完美结合的产物，Low-Fi处理同诡异的编曲再加诸主唱时而幽怨时而丧心病狂的演绎着以“自杀”、“AIDS”等关键词为中心的惊悚歌词，创意加入中国民间传统乐器“钹”作为打击乐器的重要编制，此时的Xiu Xiu，有着让人心惊肉跳的同时却又欲罢不能的奇异魔力。零三年的《A Promise》在继续折磨听觉的前奏后，却出人意料地滑入了不插电（Acoustic）的轨道中，而时而插入的极具破坏性的颠覆编曲整合着恼人的静噪，制造出磁带搅带的错觉，却又像一双愤怒而忧伤的手，要将阴霾天空下的整个世界撕成碎片、揉做不可名状的一团。零二年Jamie父亲Michael Stewart的自杀对他的打击实在太大，因而将这张专集视为对逝者的不解和对内心忧伤和无尽绝望的宣泄，也许是比“纯粹的艺术”更为地道的解读。如果说之前的Xiu Xiu始终“固步自封”在实验音乐的边缘“泥潭”之中，那么零四年的《Fabulous Muscles》则是乐队开拓更为广阔受众的“自我解封”之作。与柔情四溢的封面相映衬，较之从前的听觉戕害，这张专辑在音乐的悦耳性上显然能够吸引一部分新乐迷，不再那么偏激和冷峻，而是通过引入电气化编曲使得音乐本身在入耳的刹那柔和了许多，听上去就像是一支带着电子乐偏好的流行噪音乐队。紧随其后于零五年推出的《La Forêt》则被视为Jamie Stewart自身阴暗本性的回归，纠结于自我厌恶的冷淡情绪以及，同许多艺术家一样，对某国弱智总统的强烈不满中。零六年的《The Air Force》则进入一种无法归类的局面之中：纯噪音后紧随着甜美女声的儿歌红白机小电子《Hello From Eau Clarie》，让受累的耳朵和亢奋的神经得到暂时的喘息。 人说七年之痒，七年间五张大碟却让Xiu Xiu在实验音乐的阳光普照的广袤田野上开出了金灿灿的朵朵向阳花……打住，这个比喻也许有失偏颇，而Xiu Xiu确实没有就此住手的意思：在乐队第八个年头之初，Jamie Stewart带着他漂亮的表亲Caralee McElroy，鼓手 Ches Smith和贝司Devin Hoff，将乐队的第六张专辑《Women As Lovers》呈给了世人。 黎明。闭上双眼，感受富有韵律的凉意在被子以外的空间愀然浮动，依稀感知窗外晦暗的晨光透过薄得几乎没有重量的帘子渗入了房内。又或者，任意时刻，在昏昏欲睡的课堂，将整张脸孔埋入散发油墨气息的书页，逃避作为嘈杂之源的刻板讲授，沉浸在《I Do What I Want When I What》低沉的Bassline中，在关于梦境的呼唤中等待睡眠之神将意志掠夺而去，但这是个糟糕又令人惊喜的选择：你以为Jamie Steward摇身一变作游吟卖唱的诗人，却遭遇萨克司和微妙口哨的双重夹击；《In Lust You Hear The Axe F》中爆裂的鼓点逐个击碎春日梦境的支点，紧促的扫弦毫不留情地唤醒懒洋洋沉浮于海的脑细胞；在《No Friend Oh！》中嗅到一丝流行了几年仍风头不剪的复古风潮，合成器昂扬地吹奏起某种美好情绪的号角，却发现这是一个残酷的对孤独现实的无情反讽；接下来你准备好领受对于迷幻民谣的缅怀，小军鼓却敲打着整齐的节奏伴随着童子军行军的步伐踏碎这一切刻板印象；撩拨心弦般的民谣吉他使人陷于对往事的回忆，《Black Keyboard》里Jamie终于履行了他作为“叙事诗人”的职责，那甚至让人想起十年前Pulp眼镜诗人Jarvis的低吟浅唱；《You Are Pregnant, You Are》是继《No Friend Oh！》后又一同类型力作，甜如棒棒糖的小电子在密密麻麻的吉他墙中肆意游走，如一尾亢奋着天马行空的池鱼，交织出堪称美妙的狼籍一片；《Child At Arms》中高亢而怪异的口哨——头发像一把萎蔫的蔬菜般被高高悬起，头皮发麻——继而引出后续的各类声音采样大杂烩，仿佛秩序混乱贪图喧闹的孩童嬉戏；紧随其后的《Puff and Bunny》则回归了处女专时对各种亚洲打击乐器的使用；《White Nerd》弥漫出一股工业时代后朋蒸汽，不紧不慢地将各类谩骂讽刺逐一抛出…… 细看之下，Xiu Xiu似乎仍然钟情于不那么地道的叙事题材，在貌似积极的音乐外壳下包裹的乃是有色眼镜聚焦下的扭曲现实，恶毒的陈述与阴郁的用词比比皆是。除了一贯地基于本我（Ego）的反思和关于自杀、乱伦等禁忌话题与体验的妄想和沉湎，Jamie的歌词中提到了仍然处于重重压力下无法率性表达自我的同性恋人们；将心思细密惆怅忧伤却总是被成人忽略的孩子们推到了台前；把生存的压力放大夸张为一种死亡宿命来临前的忍受和煎熬；甚至又将萎靡的股市、猛涨的石油和该死的战争狠狠涮了一顿，事实上零三年以后我们注意到，从素来关注人性的Placebo到回家结婚生子已近平和的Sinead O’ Connor，从重出江湖的Smashing Pumpkins到已成猿人代名词的Ian Brown，大家似乎不约而同地对政治表现出了一个国际公民应有的关注，而这种“津津乐道”在乐迷的耳机里听来又甚是痛快无比。正如Placebo的Brian Molko所言，艺术作品对于任何一个艺术家而言，在某种程度上都是一种为了现实生活能过得更为“正常”而宣泄的途径，所有的负面情绪，一切的厌恶与消沉，都在歌词和旋律的缠绕扭曲中得到释放，而聆听或演奏的人也正通过它获取挣脱束缚的力量。对此，你可以将之理解为自我疗伤，又或者，集体治愈。 令人欣慰的是，Xiu Xiu不是那些千篇一律重复着过往作品的泛泛之辈，一如文章开头所言，这张专辑所代表的Xiu Xiu也不过是零七年的Jamie Stewart和其他三个年轻人的一时之兴。一如你无法预言什么时候会是最后的审判日，你也无法预测Xiu Xiu 下一张专辑的走向，或许一时兴起完起饶舌也似乎在情理之中，当然，这仅仅是玩笑。 尽管Xiu Xiu的成员更替速度令人咋舌，但这更像是一种基于友谊的默契之举，而并非彻头彻尾的一拍两散，如前成员Cory McCulloch，如今作为乐队的制作人，专心经营着创作和舞台表演之外的专辑制作，与乐队可以说是休戚相关。Xiu Xiu本身也是一支基于巡演的乐队，同各类艺术家，如The Paper Chase，Kill Me Tomorrow，Deerhoof和 Devendra Banhart等有过合作和交流的关系，与其说Xiu Xiu是一支由死板无聊的固定人员组成的“乐队”，不如说它是一支由志同道合者们组成的“流动家庭”。 人说七年之痒，这句话用在Xiu Xiu身上却不那么合适。在乐队的Mysapce上，我们可以看到这支乐队所受影响范围之广，以及一些出乎意料的小幽默。行文至此，要给Xiu Xiu下一个完整的定义仍是无从着手，又或许一切就仅仅如同他们自己所说的那么简单： Sounds Like: BEEP, BEEP,BEEP!

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恩，当年Yomi上过一个Meds的，那么我也把我的再贴出来好了。题目有点标题党……但确实是够破的。 BFTS我跟了三场，分别是： 08.03.09 香港 03.16.10 吉隆坡 03.18.10 新加坡 希望可以看到更多……虽然可能性基本上接近零，除非这帮朋友心血来潮继续美国巡演……但估计没有人要去看他们吧。 很抱歉今年的两场演出只写了英文的review，也试过翻译成中文，却发现没有什么激情，只好作罢。 http://www.flickr.com/photos/agina1106/sets/72157621953539924/ 香港机场扑人列席：Cora(hk), Hermione(hk), Cora的俩朋友（HK），喜北（上海），LINV（上海） 演唱会发呲小分队：小爱同学（成都），好的好的（武汉），LINV（上海），Jarvis Cheng (珠海)，喜北（上海），Cora & Candy & Hermione & Cora's frnds (HK) 20090802 深圳，炮台山 YESINN，香港国际机场 八月一日下午，我去投资大厦那里接了LINV。没想到阔别一年之后的首次见面，竟然是在距离上海千里之外的深圳，多亏了我的“谆谆善诱”才使得这个虽然算是new cult的姑娘夏了决心飞回上海才没几天就跑来了深圳。一下午的hang out，几乎一晚上在狭小的卧室里的“热烈讨论”，差不多把见面后该发生的一切都想象了一遍。从could you sign me plz 到could i hug you，纠正最最细节的部分也在意到不行。 好吧，我们是两个十三点。 几乎彻夜未眠（后面几天包括今天好像也是= =）后，起床后的我们倒是冷静了不少。打包的工作已经在前一天晚上进行完毕，衣服也老早决定好要穿嘛（典型FAN GIRL），早上的任务就剩下喝完我妈熬的粥和节约时间化个底妆。 我爹送我们去的地铁站，还提醒我们记得带水。Carol(好的好的)已经在福田口岸等我们，30号晚上见了一面，甚欢。不过Carol的手机一直忘记开，导致我急了个半死，直到出门的时候收到她的确认短信才松口气。福田口岸人还是相对较少，推荐给以后要去HK的同学，指示牌也比罗湖明晰不少。关口换港币很贵，两个要换港币的人就暂时放弃了。 在东铁上我跟LINV发现手机都不能用了，天杀的中国移动就是喜欢靠写云里雾里的业务介绍来骗钱么……讨厌。可惜离开上海的时候居然忘记把手机卡带在身上。然后我脑子里立刻浮现出联系不上CORA的情形，下午去机场扑人感觉起来变得有点困难。 转了好多趟车才到炮台山的HOSTEL，我已经被塞了个大单反的包压得走不动路了。到YESINN以后以为会是去年的LISA接待我们，结果开门的居然是长得很马来的潘姓老板，搞得我一时语塞，憋了半天蹦出个reservation here.不过他人倒是非常非常nice，居然说第三天可以不用换房，我跟LINV可以继续住双层双人床的房间。我瞬间如释重负，换房间实在是个苦逼的事情，因为小爱跟Carol都要在4号提前走人（小爱这个时候还没住过来）。看到房间以后我们基本上都震惊了，10平米带Bathroom，热水洗澡，电视机，冰箱，洗手池，甚至连刀叉电磁炉这种东西都有……床的话虽然算不上king size但一层睡两个女生也绰绰有余。不愧是HK最抵的HOSTEL之一，HKD414一晚上的这种网上预订价格简直发指。片刻休整后出门吃午餐，在附近的茶餐厅随便凑合了一顿。 吃完饭把下午不去扑人的Carol送去地铁，我和LINV回HOSTEL准备CHECK IN。在那之前，花了一个小时在公共洗手间里十三点一样地试验化妆的，感觉像是小时候玩过家家一样。不知道有没有把其他等CHECK IN的客人给憋死。磨蹭到一个钟头以后我们才窘迫地发现，时间已经所剩无几了。OMG，用了高中跑五十米的水平往巴士站冲，发现最近一班去机场的巴士居然还要等将近10分钟，这个时候距离CEBO的班机抵达已经不足一个半小时= =巴士到机场要一个小时……然后我就跟个猪一样急得就差没打滚了，If I missed the boys I would hate myself all my life….Seriously 好在车还是慢悠悠地开来了，一路上一直在做着心理调试，拿了IPOD出来放后摇，却怎么也不是滋味。LINV开始放SPECIAL K刺激她自己的时候我把耳机摘下来了。说实话我紧张得都快吐了，再听PLACEBO简直是给心脏病患注射兴奋剂，会死人的。 Shuttle Bus还真是准时得一逼，一个钟头就是一个钟头……到机场的时候我们俩都快疯了，一头扎进客运大厅就开始找大屏幕，发现他们的班级10分钟前居然就着陆了。问到一个STAFF确认在B口接人，赶紧往楼下赶……这个时候心里只有庆幸自己机场地形图熟悉得还可以了。下楼以后顺利在人群里找到Cora，幸亏记得她facebook上照片啥样子否则根本完蛋了。除了Cora以外还有刚从CA回来的Hermione（8月3号生日的美少女！），还有Cora的两个女生朋友……就6个人，果然很凄凉。而且最凄凉的是一群中国人居然全部都要说英文，因为语言不通…… 紧接着就是漫长的、分秒如年的等待，根本就是煎熬和折磨：眼睛寸步不离地盯着出人的门口，祈祷下一秒钟看到某个熟悉的身影。等了几分钟后，我忽然发现里面走廊尽头靠近出口的地方，栅栏上有个小小的开口，并且看到有人从那里直接抄近路出去了……实在是不祥的预感。 过了一会儿，HK那边的女生就说不远处有个喝STARBUCKS穿格子衬衫的老外是CEBO在这里的SPONSOR。LINV立刻建议我们跟住他们。果然不出所料，丫在左右挪动了几个位置以后，开始往我先前说到的那个地方走，并且掏出手机开始打电话，这个时候已经快4点半了。CEBO在关口磨蹭的时间实在是太长了，3：20着陆，40分抵达关口，这都已经一节课时间了，预计抵达时3：55，换了谁都该疯了。我和LINV马上跟着他离开了原来的位置，我们让几个HK的女生一起行动，但跟着我们的只有Hermione。 大概又过了5分钟的样子……终于，最后，终于看到Steve的金色头发，立马失态到尖叫“that’s Steve oh my gosh”。我的梦游状态大概是从这个时候开始的，其实并不真切记得自己到底做了什么，下面的一切都是靠后续的回忆，甚至是别人的提醒才想起来的。 最先走出来的是长得很像Stef的Camera guy，带了个帽子让我差点以为他就是Stef……我也觉得很奇怪，自己明明带了眼镜，却好像什么东西都看不清楚。我不知道这个人是不是就是 twitter上那个家伙，但他始终拿着一个CANON对着我们几个。我的第一反应是去locate Brian，果然立刻被我找到，但他的Bodyguard马上反应过来“10 secs, take your time”。我一直不太明白为毛要叫我们take your time，10秒钟能干什么啊……后来才明白，可能是因为那时候我们已经看上去比较不正常，LINV同学WHINNING的异常严重，反正都受到 PLACEBO气场的严重干扰，看上去很歇斯底里，大概是个人看到都会说，不要急嘛…… Stef和Brian都带了墨镜和帽子，Stef穿着黑西装外套，Brian穿了白色的TEE，带着他那个一年四季的黑绒线帽，不停地压帽檐。整个过程他们俩一直一言不发。我大概有个模糊的印象是我自己一边颤抖一边跟LINV说“so cold, they are so cold”我不知道丫们听到没有就是了……反正我看到他们的时候就开始咬笔盖，然后照之前STAN教我的把笔递给Brian。他接过去刚准备在我的 BOXSET上签来着，却又在下一秒钟莫名其妙地把我的笔往地上一摔，我条件反射地“OUCH”了一声。事后查了录音才发现，当时的情况非常混乱，他的保镖显然紧张过度，把我们当恐怖分子一样恐慌，就好像我下一秒钟就要捅死Brian了。那个光头保镖一直大喊大叫的叫我“leave Brian”，我没睬他，结果又有个谁突然大叫了句什么，Brian估计是被吓着了，条件反射地扔掉了我的笔。 好吧，这个其实只是我自己事后的推理，也可能他仅仅只是，在那个瞬间，突然，很想摔东西而已。这个时候我已经管不了那么多了。我也不知道为什么，居然捡起来接着追。换了别的场合我老早气哭了估计。 我追上去的时候看到Fiona Brice的背影，客观来说，很修长很漂亮，但我还是不喜欢丫……然后看到的是Stef细细白白的脖子，恩，又高又白，跟天鹅一样。我大概说了两遍 stef sign me please他伸手接了我的笔，好像心情没有Brian恶劣的样子- -。我一直以为我没有跟他说谢谢，事后才发现原来自己说了两遍。之后我就继续跟进Brian，他一个人在前面被一个保镖（其实现在想想可能也是 ROADIE）护航，走得极快，但还是跟的上的速度。他的保镖很挂三的想继续阻止我来着（我不会朝他扔剪刀的大哥……我只想要个签名），我继续不睬他，像有轻功一样地绕开了他冲到Brian左边，继续拜托他给我签名，他没走几步就还是伸手接笔了，签得还算蛮认真吧，至少之后没有把笔摔掉而是还到我手里了，我朋友签他的时候据说是签完往CD上一拍，差点也掉到地上……好吧，我其实没有多看他的脸，眼睑上好像多了一层膜一样看起来模模糊糊的，只依稀记得皮肤白得像雪一样，侧面轮廓非常美，可以看到很长的睫毛。 然后就是矮。我穿了个平底鞋含着胸大概跟他一般高吧，我是标准的一米六八，他简历上那个绝对胡扯。 我想我当时一定是分泌了无数的肾上腺素，基本上跟打了鸡血一样亢奋到不行，当然这个时候自然是无所谓了，那两个人给我签过其实就心里一块石头落地了。我梦游一样晕晕乎乎的一回头，发现Hermione和Cora好像围着Stevie，于是冲过去喊他，Stevie基本上是super nice，非常美式地“hey”，然后脸上一直挂着非常开心的笑容，年轻果然就是不知疲倦么。 “could you sign me please?” “sure!” “could I hug you?” 我跟LINV一前一后说了两遍 “of coooooooooourrrrrrse！！！！” 然后丫对着我们四个来了个大熊抱= =我的下巴就整个磕在他肩膀上了。好吧，金光灿灿的美国小鬼……仔细想想不过比我大两岁么，啊，是同龄人啊，之前真是没白替他说好话。这个时候 hermione给他看了她自己画的PLACEBO，彩稿，非常漂亮，Stevie签了名。我估计她本来是想送给Brian的，结果大概被Brian吓着了= = “could we take a photo with you?” “yeah, sure, of course!” 拍照之前我注意到有个工作人员留着陪他的，那个喝星巴克的老外也留下来帮我们拍照的。这么想来，这个大棒加胡萝卜政策大概是他们事先就商量好的，那个sponsor绝对有事先通知那边说这里有一小撮歌迷等着。但最奇怪的是，6个歌迷，6个女孩子，6个明显手无缚鸡之力的小姑娘能造成什么样的骚乱？哈搞笑= = Stevie走掉以后，两个追出老远也没要到签名的女孩子回来以后，我们聚在一起聊了一下。总体来说就是觉得贱人和Stef两个人way too cold，简直超乎想象。那天晚上我又辗转反侧了，一直在纠结Brian摔我笔这件事情，最后终于被我想出一个可以让我接受的原因…… 第一，就像Stan先前说的，机场是一个奇怪的地方，在这个封闭空间里任何人都有可能性情大变……很多BAND来港都是这个德行。第二，因为猪流感和20几本护照他们在关口被折磨了太久，之前也看过一个VID里面看到他们呆在机场里，Brian带着他那个小礼帽，也是在不停地压帽子，躲镜头，看上去异常焦躁；这么看来估计已经是pissed off了，只是窝在肚子里而已，于是就发泄到FANS身上了—好像蛮不可理喻的，但这个毕竟是Brian Molko，就算已经是成熟的成年人了，早年的坏脾气也没那么容易改掉的。反正我是亲眼看到了二十岁和三十多岁的区别……SIGH，脸也基本上丢光了，不知道他们的CAMERA GUY拍了多少东西…… 好吧，今天暂时写到这里。睡一会儿去了。 Conchita 说: 他接过去刚准备在我的BOXSET上签来着，却又在下一秒钟莫名其妙地把我的笔往地上一摔 Conchita 说: 哭了 喜北肉豆蔻 说: = - 喜北肉豆蔻 说: SIGH 喜北肉豆蔻 说: 是很心碎的凹 喜北肉豆蔻 说: 就像你情人节的时候 喜北肉豆蔻 说: 做了一个最喜欢的蛋糕 喜北肉豆蔻 说: 送给你喜欢了三年的男孩子 喜北肉豆蔻 说: 然后他瞟了一眼你的蛋糕 喜北肉豆蔻 说: 用手打翻了 [PLACEBO CULTS IN HK] Aug 3rd Gig Gig GIG 扑完人的夜晚总是兴奋的很可怕。我终于理解到3年前那个晚上，EMILY、大星、HB和其他好些人的感觉。只可惜我居然是在纠结丫摔我笔……早晨 9点半起床，下意识地又画了个浓妆（其实只要睫毛膏不上四层对我来说都不算浓），心里暗自YY着Brian Molko会不会跟我用一个色儿的眼影。当然也不会太浓，看GIG还是要轻松自然的好。 直扑九龙湾地铁站上面的德福广场，因为LINV要买鞋，穿着人字拖看PLACEBO会是一件异常危险的事情……因为昨天晚上的一粒下火药（我一睡不好就会扁桃体发炎甚至化脓，来HK之前硬是吃下火药和头孢控制住了）让我的肚子很不好受，不停跑厕所。我开始盘算怎么藏我的单反，把所有他们买东西的袋子全部放在我包里，然后用一个CONVERSE的袋子包住一件我带出来做伪装的吊带衫和相机——大陆观光团的采购达人是不会被怀疑成偷带相机的狗仔的。 Carol在HMV买了PLACEBO的UK限量版，和CORA那个好象是一样的，其实就是BOXSET的一个微缩版。我顺手夯了很多PLACEBO的小海报，演出宣传用的，放在架子上也不见人拿，怪可怜的。 其实我是想全部拿回来的…… 吃过饭以后在STARFUCKS等小爱，丫打了个电话来CAROL没接，我就箭一样离弦的冲到地铁A口准备接她了……左等右等也没见人影，悻悻而归发了个消息一问才知道原来是飞机晚点。于是我们三个只能出发，乘SHUTTLE BUS去HITEC。问了个商场的receptionist，结果她说的商场二期被我误会成一条商品走廊……再问到个保安，丫很窘地把我们引见给一个 COP，无比NICE地要带我们去SHUTTLE BUS STOP。于是我们就FOLLOW THE COP TO THE BUS STATION，整个过程耗时整5分钟，我和LINV还变态一样地给好心警察叔叔的背影拍了照片，一边篡改了PLACEBO的歌词哼着一边走……SHUTTLE BUS的地方倒是跟GOOGLE EARTH上一模一样，只是真的不是人找的地方。 到HITEC之后，滚上三楼的star hall，看到Cora和Hermione已经在第一列大概十多个人的最末尾，和她们的另个朋友Candy在一起，这个算是头等仓集团。我们被分在后面一列，中间相隔了有十多米。这个时候大概快两点。又碰到个超NICE的保安阿姨，是东北人，讲一口非常流利的广东话，英文也不错。哈接滚。大妈说CEBO大概早上10点就陆续过来排练了，于是我被他们的职业精神震撼了，后来又听说昨晚上丫们去逛街了，于是开始YY说Brian和Stef两个人去逛童装店，Stef望着小背心上的“I love DADDY”出神的时候，Brian拎个印了小黄鸭子的TEE和一件暧昧紫格仔的衬衣问丫CODY穿哪个好看，鼻血……大妈居然还破例让我和LINV站在门口瞄了眼里面的情况，只看到Brian的吉他技师在试琴，其他人大概都去吃午饭了。天知道丫们吃啥去了，可能就是楼下哪家吧。 碰到一个来自珠海的看上去很少年的“大叔”，他居然认识STAN……STAN你果然是交际花来的。然后过了不多久小爱驾到，是我在起身去洗手间的时候她叫的我……（我的肚子= =）。她居然还给我们每个人都带了礼物！是吃的！我爱你！ 本来以为会有闲心听听歌看个小说什么的，后来发现两者都没有必要。我一直在很BITCH地诉说着昨天的情形，包括一些乱七八糟八卦什么的有的没的。至于歌词好象根本没有必要背……都到这个份上了，作为一个LASTFM上PLACEBO高出第二名十倍、把PLACEBO歌词当做GRE编外词汇书的变态歌迷我还需要背歌词么……KIDDING。 我们一圈人基本上就是一个室内野餐会，下楼买外卖的买外卖，吃面包的吃面包，而中间地上则堆满了零食……我来之前路过蜂蜜公爵买了一堆软糖和巧克力。我真受不了我自己= =下午3、4点的时候里面陆续有排练的声音，听到Taste In Men和BFTS什么的，一切都很正常，珠海的大哥拿出打印的歌词在温习，CAROL则在看刚刚买到的UK歌词本，直到……直到出现了一个谁也不知道是啥的DRUM INTRO，尴尬地面面相觑，几秒钟后我一如昨天般失声尖叫：It’s Breathe Underwater!!!!!!!! It’s the first time they played BU, they never did it before!!!!!!! 周围的人都HIGH了。于是我条件反射（或者说贪得无厌也可以）地希望他们把Bright Lights和Kings of Medicine都唱了。但不论如何还是太震惊了，他明明说这些歌都要留到秋天才唱的！！！！！！！好吧，以后关于BRIAN MOLKO这个人的鬼话，大家都不要相信。他们反复排练了很多遍，Cora和Hermione很激动地跑过来听了好多次，因为他们那边听不清楚。新歌啊新歌！！！！！！！！ 说实话到现在我还觉得很奇怪，他们很显然在巡演开始的时候根本没有想过要在夏天演这首歌，怎么就一时兴起要唱了呢……anyway辣，反正是大惊喜！ 还有一个差点吓死人的事情是，我把LOCAL CREW里的一个姑娘几乎认成了HELENA，不过还真是长得蛮像的，相信有不少人都有印象，就是最后背对观众扔SONGLIST的一个女孩儿，只是长得太高了- -Helena比Brian那个矮冬瓜还要矮= =我一直很怀疑她有没到160，啊呀Cody怎么办啊。 最郁闷的是我依然在疯狂地依赖着洗手间，太紧张太兴奋地上太凉都是原因…… 渐渐地这一切都开始变得很真实，真实得令人有些发指和颤抖。而在机场的那两分钟又显得多少模糊了，好象从来没有发生过。 我知道我离自己的梦想越来越近。从高中一年级遇上牛牛开始生长的那个梦想。我是一个奇怪的人，这么多年过去了，陪伴我的那些还是最初的最爱，只是最想看的BAND从SONIC YOUTH变成PLACEBO。我依然记得他写给我的那些信，05年《通歌》上的SOULMATES NEVER DIE，还有CEBO的WYIN，SONIC YOUTH和碎瓜的碟，在高三的CD机里被时间磨得发烫。PLACEBO的演唱会又何尝不是一次回顾和把玩字整个青春的契机？看看究竟陪我一路走来，是哪些人和我SOULMATES NEVER DIE。 我曾经是个很CASUAL的CEBO FAN，以致于我没有去零六年的那次BPF。零七年年初我才听到MEDS，才认识EMILY。那时候我的注意力完全在SONIC YOUTH身上。但那年夏天他们在立陶宛的一个吻（好吧我是同人女，顺便，感谢你，蛱蝶君，不是你的话我根本不会去YOUTUBE看那场LIVE），完全重新唤起了我对CEBO的情绪。我开始把碟翻出来仔仔细细重新听过，我开始真正INTO THIS BAND，而不仅仅是将他们的歌当做一种慰藉，我开始迷恋关于Brian Molko的一切，而不仅仅是他的歌词他的妆容他的嗓音。而事实上这一切不过发生距今两年半而已。 我在零八年初的时候说，我一定要在Brian Molko四十岁之前看到他演出，是因为我害怕他老去的样子，我害怕我看到的不再是那个我梦中的王子（太恶心了= =）。但这一切来得如此之快，你几乎能够分辨出时间叠加在一起所形成的那种层积，你默默地体验着这一切，并试图成为它的一部分。 中国FAN和国外FAN的区别究竟在哪里？在于他们有的是机会看演出，GIG对他们而言是享受，是被取悦的过程。而我们呢？一场地道的演出，很可能是3年、5年甚至10年的等待，对于大多数CULTS而言，这都稀松平常。PLACEBO根本不在中国发行唱片，也就没有PROMOTION的必要，巡演的时候忽略也实在正常。昨天晚上一个MEXICIAN FAN问我，no gig every year？我心都快碎了。这种积蓄多年的情绪爆发，老外理解不了简直太正常。 好吧我又聒噪了= =ON TOPIC： 和一帮人呆在一起的好处是，即使是漫长的6个小时，也变得好象转瞬即逝。而在这个期间，我们又碰到了昨天的CAMERA GUY，他看到我和LINV的时候脸上立刻露出了暧昧而会心的笑容……我一直严重怀疑此人就是UPDATE PLACEBO TWITTER的TWITTER GUY= =还有Stef的吉他技师，穿着件背后印有“MAD CREW”的TEE从场里走出来，他回去的时候我们跟他讲了几句话，他朝我们眨了几下眼睛，然后说“got work to do”，乱可爱的爷爷一枚。 从下午5点开始，涌向STAR HALL的人越来越多，但始终还是让人觉得太少。然后开始发生一些让人觉得很不愉快的事情，那就是插队，尤其是LOCAL的歌迷，插队现象此起彼伏。 Cora他们所在的“头等仓”莫名其妙地拥挤了一倍。6点过后，人开始有些焦躁。7点以后，周围开始纠结起一帮SECURITY GUYS，他们搬出了很多黑色的演唱会专用的隔离铁栅栏来区分人群防止插队，但完全没有效果。保安大妈又告诉我们，这次演唱会动用了两队保安，一队负责乐队，一队，负责歌迷…… 过7点半，大家都从地上爬起来了。我已经不记得这个下午我究竟紧张到去了几次厕所。过了一会儿，有个保安跑过来把我面前的隔离带拉开，于是我们就和头等舱的CORA接上了头。Hermione看上去很SHY，一直不停地说“I’m getting nervous”。工作人员还说要两个两个一排，啊，是不是还要手拉着手像小学生一样辣。 然后CORA前面又有两个女生试图插队，而且是自己搬铁栏杆的那种，这个时候还要插队是不是太过分了？被后面的三个LOCAL和大陆观光团吼出去一个，另一个还心安理得地呆在队里。Cora英勇地叫来了保安，大叔自然很不好做，但看到民心所向，也没有办法，只能请那个挂三的插队同学出列。一个 PLACEBO让我们等了那么多年，要看第一排拜托早点过来，要看清楚拜托带眼镜，长得太矮就拜托穿高跟鞋，不要搞到开场之前才想插队这种下三滥的手段，食堂吃饭插队都会遭白眼，更何况PLACEBO GIG？我和LINV很高兴地谁也听不懂的上海话把他们骂了个半死…… 快8点的时候（其实我的时间概念并不好，因为没有带手机），终于放行。剪票的时候就希望“快快快快快”，这个时候真他妈是分秒必争。剪票的一撒手我就提着包往里面冲，果然不出所料，我们前面的那些人把Brian前面的位置都给霸了，我其实本来是想站中间的，这个时候想没也多想，瞄准STEF话筒架前面的位置，猛扑上去，扒住栏杆，站定，喘气。在我的印象里还真没经历过这种事情（抢座位这种游戏什么的我老是输的），国内看小场的FREE STANDING一般都是开场前5分钟扑到，吭哧吭哧从后排挤到最前面，不要脸地霸个好位置拍照……LINV站我左边，同去的都在第一排。 果然没有白早来六个多小时。 然后我们发现，人真的不多，应该说是非常少，这让我们多少有点难过，CAROL说她很怕CEBO不高兴，因为人太少。5楼的SEATING，离舞台远得像是隔岸观火，我都想象不出那里能看到什么……下面的人连场地的3分之1都不到。Star Hall有3600的位，下面那个场地怎么说挤个3000人也绰绰有余。但也许这也很正常，毕竟06年他们已经去过北京，我认识的CEBO粉有大半都没有到场，比如说EMILY同学……可惜我的手机不能用了，否则我也很乐意让你听SOULMATES- - 首先会有一个WARM UP BAND，是LOCAL的MR。上来的蛮晚，在这之前我和LINV很不好地用各种语言叫了一遍快点，估计引起公愤。当然他们也很NICE，且极有自知之明，音乐还算过得去，还有一个帅得爆棚的贝司。可惜我已心无旁骛，只等看CEBO，于是半个小时都百无聊赖地趴在栏杆上，偶尔用好看日型男试一下相机，但我也不敢大张旗鼓，前面一排保安大叔令人望而生畏。 MR下去之后，人群再次开始骚动。尤其是当CEBO的MAD CREW登台做准备的时候。Stef的GRANDPAPA技师注意到我们的时候又朝我们挤眉弄眼了几下，还竖起大拇指，他在试STEF吉他的时候弹了 TWENTITH CENTURY BOY的INTRO让我小HIGH了一把。看到BRIAN的白色小杯子被拿上台的时候我有点控制不住，向周围的人眉飞色舞地讲那个是BM的杯子，结果被后排一个女生鄙视了。但一开始的气氛还是有点不对劲，我甚至觉得PK14或者CSC的开场前都会比这个兴奋……于是我们开始狂叫“PLA-CE-BO”，还好过了一会儿大家都叫开了。整个会场非常地热，还没开场就有个外国女生晕过去被保安抬出来了，于是一堆站在我们前面的娱记们就很HIGH地拍开了。有个苹果日报的娱记大叔很HAPPY地拍了我跟LINV，还有一个从台湾飞过来的女记者很NICE地帮我们大家拍了合照。大叔还告诉我们，两首歌以后他们就扯。其实这个时候我心里想的是，我一定要在前两首歌的时候利用娱记们的掩护努力地拍，否则之后我就没机会了，事实证明确实如此，到第四首歌他们的ROADIE 就下来用手遮我的相机了，这也算是站第一排的小小损失吧。后来看到一个大叔用很差的机器在拍，还跟我们搭了搭话，一开始还觉得奇怪，结果回HOSTEL查东西的时候发现，妈的，居然是袁志聪混到摄影记者队伍里去了…… 我们看到MAD CREW们都站定或者坐定了，便知道差不多快要开始。突然之间，全场灯光全灭，背景版上投射出明灭闪烁的红色字体，我开始举起相机肆无忌惮地狂拍。Brian和Stef上场的时候引起了全场雷鸣般的欢呼，然后他们什么话也没说背上琴就开始进入状态。 第一首歌是Kitty Litter，老实说我全心全意地专著在拍照上了。除了伴随Stef的吉他INTRO几乎完全同步地来自背后的一股疯狂的冲撞，我没有感觉到太多的东西，只觉得自己像一块牛排一样被严严实实地敲在了铁栅栏上动弹不得。我完全没有想到STEF居然离我这么近，直线距离一米五……丫穿着……好吧你们自己去看照片就知道了，就是被我说成是和BRIAN情侣装的SHINNY黑色小西服，我可以肯定他不是跟BM借的，因为那裤子也是闪的，而BM的裤子借给STEF估计只能当五分裤了……唯一略有不同的是他把本来系脖子上的那根带子绑左手上了，我推断是STEF的手腕可能一直有伤，这也解释了为什么之前的很多长演出他都在手腕上绑绷带。T T。 第二首ASHTRAY HEART，唱cenicero的时候大家都格外起劲。后面的人跳的异常兴奋，啧啧，果然是大HIGH歌。键盘的声音完全听不见，可能是因为我前面就是一大一小两个音箱的缘故，只听见鼓点和吉他了。Stef仰着脖子唱歌的模样真是性感到我要吐血了。 Battle For The Sun的时候，突然而至的眼泪。我以为我自己会在昨天扑人的时候，或是他们上台的刹那就哭得泪如雨下，但其实不是。情绪的累积是一个过程。听完那个缓慢的而停断的INTRO，一下一下的吉他声敲击在鼓膜上，在鼓点和贝司进入的时候，失声痛哭。很奇怪，我突然开始完全地觉察到这一切都多么不可思议，我不敢相信我真的是在看PLACEBO的演唱会，我真的真的不敢相信自己不是在做梦。我真的叫LINV用手掐我的脸颊，我真的需要这些外界的物理刺激来告诉我这一切都是真的。一切都好象幻灯片一样在脑海里闪过，从3月18号那天考完GRE作文，到半夜守着BBC听现场的INTERVIEW，再到不遗余力地挖材料写文，买BOXSET，刚刚知道HK GIG消息时的兴奋……在BFTS的高潮里，我捂着嘴巴，哭得像个疯子。 Brian喝掉了一整罐红牛，他想让自己更HYPER一些。向观众们问好，说，他04年来香港的时候，几乎在台上晕过去。我用谁也听不到的声音笑了笑，其实这次晕过去的人可能是我们。 For What It’s Worth。这首歌的时候我被掐掉了相机。于是开始摇头晃脑地跟唱，无比自HIGH。我知道这是LINV最喜欢的歌。其实站第一排的效果真的没有那么好= =。 Brian又开始说话了，他说，it’s a song about the future, not about the past, it’s about future life, future. 我以为自己会听到Bright Lights或者Speak In Tongues，但响起的前奏居然是Soulmates，于是我又控制不住自己的眼泪了。我可以完全不后悔地说，就是这首歌让我爱上了PLACEBO，我有两个叫做Soulmates Never Die的博客，曾经有多少次，我以为这首歌写的就是我和你。当时我的脑子里，盘旋的是一个叫做“庞普洛那的牛”、“牛牛”或者“Gleen Woo”的名字。如果没有你，又怎么会有今天的我，也许连站在这里看演出也成了天方夜潭。而这首歌前面Brian所说的那些话，又满怀了一种怎样的深情，又是一种怎样的昭然若揭。Brian Molko的Soulmates，在这个世界上，只有单数的、不可复制的Stefan Olsdal而已。Seriously，你们俩快去注册吧…… 于是我对着Stef狂叫了Queen of Sweden，旁边立刻有人加入我，我看到他的唇边泛起了微笑。你果然忍不住这种已经有点老土的冷笑话从观众的嘴里再复述出来，是吧。后排的两个昨天一起去扑人的女孩子一直在叫STEVE，其实挺徒劳的，因为根本听不见。我整场其实大部分时间都在叫STEF，连BRIAN我都没怎么顾及。 Speak In Tongues。从一开始我就知道，我只想听最后的高潮。这首号称Brian最爱的歌，曾经是我唯一一首不怎么入耳的歌，却在某一个不经意的瞬间，“don’t give into yesterday, we can build a new tomorrow today”。一边声嘶力竭地跟唱，一边难以自抑地飙泪。 Follow The Cops Back Home。想起白天是那个好心的警察叔叔。不由掏出口袋里的小机器开始拍视频……我看到保安大叔开始用一种很奇怪的眼神看我又拿了个机器出来。是的，我就是那种会带两个相机还会做掩护去看PLACEBO演出的变态。 Every You Every Me. 我曾经不喜欢它的现场版，但现在却对那段RIFF极为迷恋。我开始原地狂跳，把包放在了外面的阶梯上。这是在高中做数学作业的时候，无数次和Sonic Youth的噪音一起出现在我耳朵里的东西。我也知道这是前两张专集里他们唯一会演的一首歌，虽然我对Bionic仍心存幻想。Molko的声音听上去和当年并没有太大的区别。但这么多年的物是人非，却足以让人哗然、唏嘘。最后的RIFF，我知道两个人会默契地站到台中央，并肩对着观众一起扫弦，早早地开好相机，把这一瞬间记录下来。You are the best couple in the world Special Needs. 我拍了一段Brian的SOLO INTRO。我承认我对这首歌情绪一般，于是这是一个休息的机会。 Never-ending Why开始之前，Brian说这首歌是关于oriental philosophy，握住话筒的手呈佛陀的合十，这对我来说也绝不新鲜。但我对这首歌也是格外有情绪，因为是Stef的第一首独立创作，包括歌词。这首歌其实还是很印度，也不枉某些人在印度住了半年。Stef中间的两段RIFF在现场听来无比爽，于是我又扒着栏杆跳了一阵。 Breathe Underwater。其实从一开场我就在等这个。终于被我等到了！！！！！！！！EVER FIRST PLAY FOR HONG KONG！！！！其实我也不知道他们在想什么，也可能是把HK当做一种TRIAL，反正小场子，演砸丢人也就算了。但是很HAPPY的是，这首歌的现场只能用完美来形容了。我又跳了一阵，但发现实在是跳不动，太挤了……干脆改拍录象了。FIRST GIG VERSION，我怎么能不记录下来呢。 Biran说，to tell you a secret, it’s our first time to play the song and I wonder if you like it.当然喜欢了怎么可能不喜欢= =不过其实也不用你告诉我们啊，我们这群追LIVE翻墙YOUTUBE成精的朋友怎么可能会不知道呢……顿了顿以后他接着说，it’s a song I wrote on a boat…… 这个时候我们已经基本上忍不住了，这句话听了多少遍啊……他在5月9号WARM UP GIG上的第一次，那些被我听到烂的54K的现场BOOTLEGS……“happy you are gone!”我跟LINV条件反射地叫了两遍。结果他看了一下后面，什么也没说就开始演了……当时我们都觉得他肯定被我们寒到了，因为被抢台词了。后来看视频才知道，他后面还有半句被我们的声音淹没掉了，“it’s on the river, it’s about nobody”恩哼，看来we didn’t ruin it（我又白纠结了半晚上），最重要的是，他绝对听到了我们尖锐、热情无比的回应= =（一个在楼上拍的视频里都清楚听见了两个女人撕心裂肺的呼喊）。不过那句“it’s about nobody”多少欲盖弥彰，虽然显得很礼貌，但是……好吧。 Meds。是SLOW FUCK的版本……对不起啊我就是觉得这个歌的前奏搞成ACOUSTIC很有SLOW FUCK的意味。中间的and the drugs and the sex and the complications他没有唱，我个人觉得可能是他真的不想唱，因为那些字眼都是那么地伤人，于是我们下面帮他补齐了……这首歌快演完的时候出现了全场最重大的BUG，Steve很明显又敲快了，然后他们一下就乱了，Brian很明显地蹙了下眉头往后看了一眼，有那么一刹那我觉得我在看他们排练…… 太窘了，但事情很快就恢复原状。果然是职业的…… Come Undone.新专和Kitty Litter一起我最早听出感觉来的歌。这首歌让我想起I Know。既然我的万年TOP已经变成了一个不可能实现的美好幻想，于是我决定什么也不干好好FOLLOW这首歌。他的唱腔很靠近In the Cold Light of Morning，也许今年在晚一点他就会不高兴唱这个歌了也说不定。那段漫长的纠结的间奏，让人觉得时间仿佛凝固在了当下，仿佛这场LIVE永远都没有尽头。 Brian说(我不记得是不是这个时候了其实)，you guys are fucking amazing audience。我知道这个可能只是讨好歌迷的一句话而已，但是我还是很激动地波澜了一下。 Special K。这个歌也是一开始就在等的。唱BALAH BA BA BA LA LA的时候大家都格外起劲，Brian都不需要喊“Come on you motherfucker”下面就自动BALAH开了……但看他把话筒伸向观众并用左手搭在耳朵上装模做样地听，还是很销魂。这个大概是全场气氛最好的歌之一。听说中间那一坨都挺能PO的。其实我一直想在SPECIAL K的时候玩一次SURF，但就我那个位置……八辈子都没可能，说笑而已。到这首歌我才意识到，其实从我相机被KNOCK掉以后，我还是更多地看向了 Brian……我想记住他的每一个动作、表情，尽管那些动作每一个都熟悉得好象自己的手指，而现在他们只是变成了MOTION PICTURES而已。至于STEF，每次他离开话筒站到台前向观众弹琴的时候——没错，让我大言不惭不要脸地说出来吧，那就好象是只在为我一个人表演一样（你做梦吧就）。他的锁骨，他瘦削的身材，弓来弓去的腿，每一部分细节都堪称完美。 Song To Say Goodbye。其实谁也没有想到这么快就要结束了，当然不是真的结束。只是听到这首歌的时候还是有点惆怅。Brian说这首歌是他和Stef一起写的时候我就惊了，在以往的interview里读到的都是说，是他写给自己的歌……恩，看来song to say goodbye还是两人默契协同的结果么。好吧，为什么我有一点点难过。 Steve扔了鼓棒。 丫们下去的时间有一点长。我想这可能是音乐节和GIG的区别。音乐节你不能让观众死等你，而面对一群花了高价的CULTS，小小折磨他们一下也是蛮有乐趣的……我估计Brian在下面笃定地抽完了一整支烟，而Stef肯定在当水牛。不过那个时间还真是够长的，搞得我都开始怀疑究竟有没有 ENCORE，因为今年还是发生过没有ENCORE的时候，在苏格兰某音乐节BM被人扔剪刀那次……于是我们再次开始叫“PLA-CE-BO”，渐渐变成 “WE WANT MORE”，那种融化在人群中的奇妙感觉，我完全不记得上一次是什么时候了。 当Infra-red的前奏响起的时候，我知道一切都会再次HIGH起来。我之前是一直不怎么喜欢这首歌，完全只是因为我不喜欢他MV里的扮相= =但这首歌的现场还真是意外好。我很期待再看到他们那个拳皇对打版的结束动作，但可惜好象木有。 Bitter End。我操这首歌的出现完全出乎我的意料。我觉得他们应该只会ENCORE两首，虽然BITTER END也有作为ENDING的时候，但他们还没有唱TASTE IN MEN，这就意味着BITTER END是倒数第二首……而且我以为BITTER END和INFRA RED中间他们只会唱一首，所以当我听到INFRA RED的时候，我就对BITTER END死心了……看来他们刚才在后台挣扎了那么久，莫非是在讨论到底是要唱几首歌么……不对，SONG LIST上不就写着三首么，恩，还是在吊胃口吧。这首歌里BRIAN的小动作多得太精彩，killing time那句时候的双手拖把抹脖子，那比重塑的那谁性感多他妈多了去了……对不起重塑的粉丝不要怪我= =我就是突然想到了。然后这首歌BRIAN又HIGH爆了，居然站到中间踩到音响上对着下面弹，看着两米开外的他和一堆HIGH到爆棚充满激情与欲望的手，我多希望自己也在那堆人中间……TOT。不过我脑子里想的居然还有：千万不要摔下来啊亲爱的。 Taste In Men。果然不出所料。Intro Brian拍吉他其实不够尽兴，因为他自己不小心演太HIGH把一个效果器给踢翻出来了，吉他技师在给他把那玩意儿再塞回去。Stef果然不再跳GAY DANCE……虽然我对那个期待到不行。但是他站在那里发呆也挺好看的。感觉就好象在床上等Brian洗澡一样，就差没吹口哨了，我到底在说什么……我必须承认的是，这首歌完全唱到我NATRUAL HIGH，身体就觉得越来越轻，好象要飘起来一样，其实是水喝少了人要虚脱了吧……= =最后的那段噪音秀也是意料之中，CEBO还是很有多元发展的潜力，改天不玩摇滚了去搞声音艺术也可以。然后BRIAN和STEF很破天荒地开始扔拨片，STEVE扔了第二次鼓棒。有一个STEF的拨片掉在了CAROL前面，我们都求保安帮忙捡但他居然不鸟我们。于是我的眼睛一直直勾勾的盯着拨片，连谢幕差点都漏掉了，现在越来越多是STEF站中间，果然是一家之主嘛- - 完了我的眼睛又盯回那块拨片。我们开始求另个保安，他捡了，然后往我们这边送了，我和LINV都抢了，她抢到了，但是半秒钟之后就给了我，“你拿着吧”。我傻了几秒钟，还是把拨片捏了起来。TOT。对不起，可是我真的很想要。 CORA也拿到一块STEF的拨片，而HERMIONE拿到了BRIAN的。我觉得这也许真的是上天看到我们的努力所赐给我们的礼物，上帝是公平的。今天是Hermione的生日，我对她说，Brian唱infra red的时候唱到了Happy Birthday，it’s for you，她激动地一把抱住了我。CAMERA GUY又出来了，我们对着镜头大声喊着YOU ARE FUCKING AMAZING，我的手指都不太听使唤，不知道是该做“FUCK”好还是“ROCK”好……我知道演出的时候我一定被他和另个ROADIE（就是昨天拼命护驾Brian的那个）拍得很难看，我知道他们都有在盯着我拍，昨天，我脸上两条黑的泪痕肯定都被拍进去了……从会场出去以后LINV就在帮我擦脸上的两条黑的。要死了乃么，我几乎能想象Stef剪片子时候看到那两条黑的是什么感觉，“由，哈泥心”。 合影。发呲。我的拨片被借来当道具。如梦如幻。乘地铁之前又碰到CORA，她说她们都要到了签名，她们拜托了那个CAMERA GUY把碟带进去给乐队签。我还以为那帮贱人早就乘着SUV驰骋在香港霓虹闪烁的街道上扬长而去了，没想到他们居然在后台呆了那么久。当然我也完全没什么好嫉妒的，因为我什么也没有带来给他们签，估计看到我的第一第二张，会窘才对吧，拿两张演都没演的专集来签…… 我的总结只有一句，This is the most fucking amazing gig that I ever attended in my whole fucking life. 我本来以为会没什么，结果几天以后连续出了几件让我窘到无语的事情，the boys enjoyed HK GIG: 1. they released a silk poster to commemorate the gig，这在乐队历史上基本没出现过；2. 他们在官方NEWSLETTER里感谢亚洲歌迷并称it was an incredible night。我实在不能理解一点，难道HK GIG真的这么重要么？我们真的有做的那么好么？2000人都不到的小GIG，你们真的ENJOY了么。 答案只有一个。 YES, THEY DID. AND YES, WE MADE IT. live at KL, Malaysia : http://www.flickr.com/photos/agina1106/sets/72157623523597533/ to view a version with picitures: check my livejournal: http://agina1106.livejournal.com/2883.html?#cutid1 Mar 15th After a day’s trip, I hit the land of Kuala Lumpur, finally and officially. 1.5 hours riding on train + shuttle bus to airport + 4 hours waiting at the airport (flight delayed) + 5 hours on the airplane, the journey was fairly a long trudge. At the budget terminal of LCCT I met a friend, Alicia, who works and lives in Singapore. With no hesitation, we found the place we’d stay and checked in just before midnight, with the help of some local people. It didn’t take me too long to fall a sleep, that long long day just worn me out. Mar 16th, KL Live, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Got up around 10. No need to be hurry at all. A local fan on Last.fm told me that the early bird would only arrive there around 6, and the show will be on 8 pm. Anyways, we went to the venue at 11 to get our tickets, it’s only 15 mins walk from the place we stayed but it did feel like an hour– walking under the burning sunshine that gradually melted you down. It was a small place, capacity around 1000. The stuff who were busying setting up everything inside the venue got me very much excited, and eager. There was a huge wall poster hanging outside the building. The band didn’t seem big here, ticket still on sale, with clear signs that leads whoever wants the tickets upstairs to the boxing office. Another friend, Carol, who was with me at Hong Kong Concert last year, arrived at 11:30. Then we headed to Jalan Alor, a street famous for delicious local food(another 25 mins torturing by the sun). After lunch, we decided to return to hotel and get a change, for I was wearing fucking black jeans and it simply absorbed the heat beaming from above like crazy, Alicia’s top was soaked up too. Glad we could wait indoor. Got nothing particular to do, we decided that we go to the venue immediately. We wanted to make sure that we were the first to get there. And, abso-fucking-lutely yes, we were the first that day at KL Live, 2:30 pm. The receptionist was rather puzzled and suggested us go shopping at the nearest mall. “I’m here just to see PLACEBO”, I explained though, surely he wouldn’t understand. We found a table in a corner to make a sign. Then I came up with an idea to make my big scarf (rainbow color, checked, okay it used to be beautiful but it’s ‘ruined’ now) into a big banner, which we could hang on the railings. I wrote “LOVE FROM CHINA” on the back of some useless itinerary sheets and stuck it on the scarf. Then we took some pictures with it. A local stuff mistook us for the merchandise sale, there we saw a few Mad Crew walking into the venue, I recognized Lisa the make-up girl and I called her name…later we were asked to wait downstairs since they’d set up the barricades and it was 3:30, the official queue so far still consisted of Carol, Alicia and me. 2rd floor was a bit hotter than the 3rd. We were sitting by the escalator, watching ppl up and down, most of them would cast a sort of eyesight with an expression mixed of curiosity and amazement. Some of them would even stop to enquire, when they learned that I flew all the way from China to see PLACEBO live at this country, they were all shocked. And there were a bunch of organizers of the show who arrived the venue later around 4. They seemed to be more understanding of my doing. A staff from the organizer’s threw down a giant sheet of paper from the 3rd floor, for us to sit on. And it feels like having an indoor picnic again for I could literally lay down that paper LOL. Along with me I brought two sets of gifts for the band. One is an photo album of 40 Chinese fans holding a piece of love massage written in both Chinese n English (from photos inside to the album itself, 100% handmade), the other is a personal love package, 6 Traditional Chinese Hand-made toy tigers, which are believed to be able to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune. Made this choice because it just occurred to me that it’d be fun to send them a gift like that in the year of Tiger in Chinese calendar. LOL. Btw, the tigers are different in color, one of them was YELLOW, to make sure that no one gets annoyed by the color of YELLOW, I decided that SUNSHINE would be the most proper one to get it due to his blonde hair. As for the classic decorum of Lady First, I asked the band (with a piece of msg) to let Fiona choose first. (Yes Brian, not you this time. *smirks*) It was almost 4:30 that we got the first local fan, a Malaysian boy who carried the mission to take positions for the rest 3 of his fellow fans. And more came gradually after that, by 5 pm we got for like 20 people waiting in line, and we were allowed to wait on the 3rd floor, there I had to tell ppl that we were the first and most of them were rather polite. During my chat with Alicia and Carol, a Chinese girl Joan and her friend later joined us. She used to live in Malaysian but now in Australia and was at Soundwave Perth on Mar 1st, just like me, she flew all the way here to see the boys again. She has been a fan of them since the very year of 1996 and, to my greatest joy, she’s SLASHY too and we had a fairly nice chat(maybe I should call it heated discussion). Suddenly she enquired about what kind of ticket I got, said the 98 one was for ground standing while the 158 one was for upstairs balcony(wtf, tis stupid). Only till then did I realize that I got the fucking wrong ticket by mistake. Then I talked to the receptionist, said I wanted to get our tickets changed and he turned me down immediately. I told him I didn’t want the refund just to get my ticket changed but he wouldn’t hear, insisted that I should stand where I was supposed to, or to buy ANOTHER TICKET. I was there so early just to get the front row. And they don’t even fucking explain that to me when I fucking purchased the fucking tickets(later I realized that I am definitely not the only one who got somewhat cheated by the ticketing). I pleaded to him and he kept reiterating that I should obey the regulation. I was at the edge of crying out, I was so sure that I looked 100% desperate and torn but I didn’t care a fucking bit. OFF-THE-FUCKING-TOPIC. FUCK THE REGULATION. Then we were asked to wait outside the venue. It was sultry and people kept coming after 5:30, my heart was aching and pumping so fast all the time. I got no appetite for food. Why the fuck did I come that early just to stand so fucking far away from the band? Why the fuck should I pay much more for a stupid upstairs position, just due to its accessibility to the bar area? THAT WAS RIDICULOUS. Then I was literally weeping, till I saw a familiar figure wandering along the 2nd floor, it was one of the organizers, with whom we chatted for a while in the afternoon. I told him I got the wrong ticket and wanted no refund and please negotiated with the ticketing officer. And he helped me to solve the case, finally. “You gotta find someone who really HELPS under such circumstances.” Tis what I told my friends. A Malaysian girl in the queue behind us thumbed up at me. I smiled back at her, feeling a bit upset still. People continued to gather outside the venue from all cross the city. Beside the official queue, there was another queue of later comers, mostly local people. For sure they were about to jump in line…the security guys failed to get those people back up to wait in the official queue. And I was scared becuz first, I am a girl while most of THEM were guys and they could run much faster than me and took my position, secondly, I am literally afraid of fighting for positions, I don’t wanna get hurt, third, there was a tree in front of my queue, wait, is that an obstacle race or something?! Then there came a local staff who was obviously overly obese and all I wished at that moment was him to stand in front of THOSE, at least, to MAKE IT A FAIR RACE. Okay maybe I shouldn’t say that at all, it wasn’t fair from the very beginning. I bend down to tighten my shoe-laces and so did my friends. 7 pm. Finally the entrance was open. “Run baby run!” was all I could think at the moment but I was stopped at the entrance! OMFG, it.just.happened.to.ME. I was asked to leave the bag, full of my gifts to the band(and a sticky tape as I later recalled) with the security. Viewing people running and leaving me behind one by one, I took the bag and ran desperately to the door…but I was stopped by the security as if I was a criminal. Yes I was caught and asked to step down and handed the bag to the security, again it reminded me of my first encountering PLACEBO at HK airport last year. Well I admit that I was a bit too nervous/dramatic at both scenes. When I reached the door, a girl asked me to go first, “you deserve it.” You cant really imagine how desperate I felt at the moment. I was literally the first of the queue but now at least 15 people were in front of me. Losing your position cuz you LOVE the band too fucking much, how sarcastic. I had no mood to take that bless of “enjoy the show” from the staff and dashed to the front row. It was too dark inside the venue and I couldn’t recognize Alicia and Carol and I ran blindly to the front row, couldn’t find a place to stand. Without any sense I slipped and fell down, someone helped me up and I couldn’t remember how I got in between Carol and Alicia. They left a place for me and no one complained about me “cutting in the front row”. A big thanks to those who understood the situation. We got the sign hung up on the rails immediately and only until that moment I was so reassured by the fact that I got the front row. I had no idea about where exactly I stood since there was only a DJ set on stage, for the opening act. Anyways, I was at Brian’s side. The security check was rather strict at the venue thus people came in slowly. I talked a bit with the fans around us and there were all kind of people: Malaysian, Chinese, Westerners, even Malaysian minorities. I showed people the photo album of Chinese fans and they were like “OMG”. There we met another Chinese boy Zhangqi, who studied in a local college. He was really happy in joining us. Being alone at venue was the worst thing you could ever been experienced. From my position, I could peek the backstage area and I saw Brian, Stefan, Fiona and Nick for several times. The songs they played at the venue, I was so curious whether those SONGS COMES DIRECTLY FROM BRIAN’S IPOD since I was sure that I heard Death From Above 1979, Franz Ferdinand, The Hours and some other songs that Brian had previously recommended in his XFM shows(and the same at Singapore show). Then a female voice started to speak, from above us, from the balcony. It was a local radio DJ holding a mic in her hand. She asked the audience where were we from, I was so sure that until she asked “anyone from China?” in a half-joking tone, she’d never dreamed of seeing most of us at the front row, clenching the railings. LOL As for the band, it must be the same. The opening act was boring, well I had to say that, some of the radio DJs(I guess they promoted the show and in return they got themselves promoted) played songs on stage. But it was great of them that they throwing bottles of water to the audience during the performance. A guy handed one to me, putting his palms together and beamed down at me, which I believed was a salutation to the “LOVE FROM CHINA” banner. It was not until 9 o’clock that the opening act said their goodbyes. Coming on stage the Madcrew, I recognized the bald guy who took care of Brian’s guitar wire and told him, “I love your show in Spain.” Okay that was a bad joke referring to the short films last year. He smiled back, hopefully he understood what I was talking about. The microphone stand was put right in front of me and a girl at my back patted on me and said, HEY YOU LL SEE HIM PLAY RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. YES, I KNOW. EVENTUALLY, the PLACEBO video was projected to the big screen and the audience grew wild at once. Steve came on stage, then Brian, Fiona, Stefan, Bill and Nick. Brian was wearing a white pants, black boots(the same in HK) and a black shirt, intentionally unbuttoned! His hairdo of night was one of a kind and I would say the best I’ve ever seen. Stefan in black tanktop and that shinny pants, BALD. Nick’s on white pants too. Fiona was in a white dress that has a gorgeous collar. Surprisingly, Sunshine was wearing a white T!!! XD as for me, it was great to see him put on some clothes since I’ve never been into tattoos. The most interesting thing about the band at the beginning of the show was, there was a big “X” at Stefan’s butt, probably tape. The first idea came into mind was “Brian’s doing” but later as some other local fans recalled, it was a silent protest to the Malaysian government’s attitute towards gay people. Not so sure of it. But, I after 4 or 5 songs did shout at Stefan “what’s wrong with your butt Stef” and the taped “X” was gone. So, I’d rather believe it was a practical joke. LOL There’s one thing for sure, and I have to admit that, I could hardly take my eyes off Brian since the very moment he went on stage. The gorgeous hair, the pair of fine eyes, the delicate make-up, the seductive moobies(or pecs, whatever), his funny little moves and of course. Brian started to sweat since Ashtray heart and when it came to Battle for the Sun, he was all wet and the dripping sweat looked so gorgeous on him. AND, I noticed that he painted his nails black! Black nails retro!!!!!(later confirmed navy blue by himself) I’d never dreamed of Brian w/ black nails again on stage, indeed, how playful and hyper-minded that indicated!!! The stage was so close to the audience, even closer than last year in Hong Kong, so basically the band could hear/see the feedback so clear from the audience. I called Brian, Stefan and Fiona by names, when it came to Fiona, so sad I was the only one who kept calling her names. His face looked so angelic that I almost forgot to take pictures. Besides, becuz of the really close distance and my position right in front of Brian, he looked into my eyes for dozens of times and even smiled at me. As for the photo and filming policy, there was a notification that camera was banned but no one took it serious. All I could do was to tell as many fans as I could to turn off the flash light. Media photo was only allowed for the first two songs. There was a girl who sat on the railings in front of Brian, and she was pointed by Brian and was asked to leave immediately. To be honest, I didn’t take much photos this time. If I were to focus on taking pics, you’d get probably 3 times the photos I took. I was there enjoying the show, taking Brian and Stefan and everything down and embedding all the great moments deep in mind. I so hard told myself to remember everything and made it my very own memory. As for the SLASH…okay, it was a SLASH hunt to me from the very beginning of my trip. Just to name a few. Throughout the show, Stefan’s eyes were mostly glued to Brian and the two of them made a very special ending for SPECIAL NEEDS, bowing to each other so elegantly ignoring everyone else…which made me v v v v happy and bouncing for a while. Except for the repertoire of Every You Every Me, they played Battle For The Sun n Julien shoulder to shoulder as well and there was, even a very close GUITAR BATTLE during the riff of COME UNDONE, as if it wasn’t 2010 but 2000. :D BTW, Brian once whispered into Stefan’s ears during a songbreak and I was bouncing again, pity that I had no time to film it down. During Meds, there was an intense moment between Brian and Stefan too, Stefan rocking back and forth beside Brian and his eyes fixed upon the tiny little one who sang his heart out, it looked like Stefan was looking for an angle to take a better view of Brian’s…BUTT, or mobbies. Bwahahahahahhahahahahahahaha. Forgive me, I’m so perverted. He also pretended that he forgot the lyrics at the end of Meds... seemed that Steve and Nick had a good time too but I didn’t have a very good sight of view of that. Apparently the band enjoyed playing at KL a lot, Stefan and Brian stepped off stage to the boxes playing so close to us for up to 15 times(approximately, since there were too many that I couldn’t remember the exact number) but they didn’t talk to the audience as they used to, probably becuz they thought Malaysia was not an English speaking country. The curtain call was pretty funny that when Steve was shaking hands with the fans, standing on the boxes, Brian sneaked to the back of him and shoved him off to the crowd…according to my friend, Brian was smiling so wicked while Stefan wore the “hmmm, is that okay?” expression on his face. Okay, wicked mom and caring dad…I didn’t notice that since I was so desperately looking for Brian’s pick and finally got one from a security guy. I did witness how the poor kid was rescued by the security guys, like scooping a poor dying fish…got another bass pick later, okay girls, I do have sharp eyes. The show was pretty awesome and I got bruises all over, and I was pretty much close to both deaf and mute. Then I got my album sent to the band after the show by their crew. Couldn’t stop imaging how amazed they might be when seeing so many fans in China who loved them. As I wrote in the preface, China loves you more than you ever known. Later I went to the security desk and they told me my tigers were sent to the band. Well, it was beyond words. Mar 17th We returned to the venue in search of posters that would probably remain on walls(becuz I got one by stealing on the show day, I’m a bad bad fan…). Unfortunately there was none of them. A staff of the LIFE CENTRE(where the venue locates) suggested us go to the KL LIVE office and we did. The KL LIVE staff were pretty amazed at seeing us returning, just for extra posters and were moved. A staff went to search the whole venue for any possible remnant but there’s nothing left. We chatted a bit and they gave us three crew passes as somewhat a gift. To our surprise, a LIFE CENTRE staff was waiting us downstairs and gave us a flyer, said it was the only thing he could find. Thank you Kuala Lumpur. Thank you Placebo. Mar 18th, Fort Canning Park, Singapore Landing Singapore at the midnight, we got back to my friend Alicia’s house and fell asleep as soon as everything was tolerably settled down around 2 am. Getting up at 9, we were determined to get the venue – Fort Canning Park – as early as we could. Water, toast and medicine for my sore throat were our only necessities for the show tonight. Within an hour, we set off leaving for the park. 40 mins later, we arrived at the venue. The stage was on the top of a hill, climbing the staircases leading to the hilltop reminds much of “running up that hill”…haha, we were actually riding on a cab. There we met a fellow fan from HK, Lucerne, while later, we were joined by another Chinese fan, Maomao, who has been living in Singapore for 7 years. It wasn’t a big venue, probably the same size as the standing area of KL Live in Kuala Lumpur(capacity around 1 to 1.5 thousand), on the stage catering to this a tiny outdoor concert, laid only the most necessary settings. 3 of the Mad Crew were busy setting down the equipments on stage with the help of a group of local staff. “We are here again!” I waved the banner at them and they smiled back. They asked me where I came from and they were rather surprised just like everyone else. When we were waiting downhills (the stage was on hilltop), a staff of Fort Canning came to talk with me. I learnt from him that the band had been hanging around in the park yesterday and I was like “wth I should have bought earlier flight…” but anyways, it’s great to hear that they had a nice little walk in the park, downhill was the marriage registration bureau (molsdal genes twitching so eagerly in her brain cells). Then he gave me a pick(blue, Stefan) as a gift, becuz I told him my fav member was the bassist. That reminds me much of the KL staff who gave us the sheet to sit on for waiting. I feel so grateful to meet all those nice people during my trip and want to thank them all. 9 hours to go, it’s never hard for us to kill time. Alicia and I had bought a black nail varnish in KL. We painted our nails black, hoped Brian would notice it. Then it occurred to me that maybe I shall add something to my banner to make it more colorful. I wanted to tell Brian that we were at KL Live(for sure he knew) and he’s nails were fucking adorable(he painted them once in 2007 but just one gig). After some contemplation, I’d decided to add “Go Stef Go! Black Nails Rule.” above the original “LOVE FROM CHINA”, with all their names (including Fiona, Bill n Nick) on the bottom. And it began to rain when I was about to make the banner. As the rain poured down, I fled to the building next to the hilltop, holding the banner/scarf so tightly in fear of it getting wet before the show. I sat down on the ground and put everything on a bench, making it my temporary desk. I played some PLACEBO songs via my cellphone, praying for them to play Trigger Happy tonite. The rain continued and seemingly it’s not gonna end so soon. Two local fangirls coming a bit later than us were standing in the rain, we joined them, then more ppl came outside and started “the official queue” in the rain, although the barricade was not set up yet. Most of us clung to the yellow barricade, helplessly praying for the rain to stop asap. Got no appetite for the toast. It was too cold there on a hill in suburbia area. I put my hoodie on but it didn’t protect me from the coldness since I was just wearing a miniskirt and deep-v tanktop and I started to feel the crave for food growing inside me, generating from my poor empty stomach, but the nearest shop/café was for like 1.5 km away. I didn’t even have the strength to hold a fucking umbrella. Lucky me, the tape I bought for making the banner now became a useful stuff to fix my umbrella to the barricade. But I had to bend down a bit for its height didn’t seem to allow mine. The theme of the day, by then, became “stop the fucking rain ” and “hungry to death”. When it came to the 3rd hour (yeah for fuck’s sake) none of us was able to stand the hunger anymore, it’s killing us all…Alicia and Maomao set off ‘hunting’ for food while Lucerne and I stayed looking after our positions. And it was the longest 30 minutes in my life. I took one chocolate energy bar from Lucerne and forced myself to swallow the mouthful of sticky, wet waffle…the most disgusting chocolate bar I’ve ever had. It seemed to take ages for the two to fetch us food, when they finally returned, my eyes were literally lit up by the wonderful smell of food. I drank a cup of coca and had some CHOW-MEIN which made me feel much better. When I was back to the queue, something very annoying and disgraceful just happened: two girls, self-claimed the first two at the venue, were standing in front of us in the official queue. In fact it was Lucerne who got there first but they wouldn’t hear. The point was, we’ve been waiting outside the building in the rain for more than 5 hours, while they have been waiting inside the building, all dry and safe and fucking idling time doing nothing, how comfortable and how easy, to get the front row!!! Two boys who came very early but wait inside made their way for those who’d been waiting outside, how come these two bitchy girls took our positions? I was about to argue with them but soon dropped the idea. After all there were only two of them, and after all-and-all, they were PLACEBO FANS. They felt it decent/justified to take our positions, okay, let them be. But most of the people behind them were rather angry and disgusted. Different from Malaysian show, crowd at Singapore show were diverse in countries and regions. There I found fans from Taiwan, Japan, not sure if there were anyone from hongkong, but I might be the only fans flew all the way from mainland China, again. 30 mins to the entrance, we wrote some signs on our palms. Me got “PLACEBO” while other people got “stefan”, “brian”, “black eyed”, “heart U” etc etc. People were eager to buy merchandise but we were not allowed to climb up the road till 6:30. Either “get your position” or “go for merchandise”. Not a hard one for me cuz I’ll definitely go for the front row. 6:30 pm, “run baby run” again, this time I went for standing in the middle of Brian and Stef. So far I have been standing in front of Stef, Brian and in-between, lol. The distance between the stage and the audience was a bit farther than previous indoor shows but still tolerable. Then we heard Sunshine rehearsed behind the backdrop curtain, I was singing along the drum beat of Never-Ending Why and then tried my best to yell his name, hmmmm, my throat wouldn’t allow me to scream anymore. All of a sudden, a major turmoil was generated in the back of the crowd. Accompanied by Hayden, Sunshine was walking to the exit while waving to the crowd who got over-excited by this unexpected meet n greet, he looked all happy and cute as usual. Warm-up DJ act began at 7o clock sharp, much better than the previous one in Malaysia. Funny that a local boy made his way to the front row by repeating “excuse me” all the way long. Two boys at left hand were eating some McDonalds hamburgers, the smell of fried fish made me nausea that I had to apply some menthol oil to protect me from puking…collapsing before the show? No way! By that time, all I had in mind was “Brian please don’t wash off your nail varnish!” 8 pm, DJ session ended. Camera people filed into the ail in front of stage. Our banner somewhat shocked everyone around, including the most experienced security guys. Like KL, we became the focus of all camera lens again. (Viewing from the picture, it would be like in China rather than Singapore LOL). Madcrew came up onstage, I took a pic of the Spanish Clown guy and he was looking right into my camera lens!(sorry I couldn’t recall his name.) 8:15, crowd chanting PLACEBO’s name. Projection of the sun-eclipse, band on stage, one by one, everything so familiar and naturally graceful. They were all in Black, as if a secret tribute to the night of Singapore. To my greatest joy, Brian still kept his nail varnish!!! Stefan wore a new black top with black jeans, which suited him much better than the sliver spacebaby pants and transparent black tanktop. For what its worth. Brian seemed to be more hyper than in KL, when he and Stefan turned to the audience, we showed him our the black nails and palms filled with love, along with the multi-lined banner XD that must be a GREAT VIEW from upon stage. LOVE FROM CHINA, what do you think, in seeing this in front of you, AGAIN, Brian? Probably due to the nature that Singapore is an English Speaking country, Brian broke the ice by being talkative all the time, well maybe I should say, he’s rather loquacious that night, hmmm dear Brian, we’ll never get bored of you talking. XD Before Speaking In Tongues, Brian finally confirmed my guess of the meaning of the song, “when I was a child, I used to go to the churches a lot, where people would speak in a strange language to communicate with the god.” I learned the meaning of this short phrase from a Paulo Coehlo’s book, in which people dance, get enchanted and finally speak in tongues. Not like in KL, this time I divided my attention almost equally to Brian and Stefan. Dousing myself in taking all the views in mind, I took even fewer pictures and scarcely filmed. I was just looking up to the six of them, singing back every word of the songs so quietly, showing them my palms from time to time, when they came up to the edge of the stage and played to the audience. Stefan was looking at Brian most of the time, somehow I was much concerned about his neck-muscles. Cocking your head to a certain angle all throughout a 90 mins show must be very tired, Steffie! Thanks for the service! During a song break, I “screamed” with all my strength, “Stefan, I love your new top!!!” Stef smiled shyly with his eyes fixed on the ground. LOL and after that, he made his way in the middle of the stage and played to us more frequently, okay, your body language just betrayed your shyness, Steffie, you wanted my compliments! During a long break before Julien, Brian was in a hyper mood and began to talk again. He said it’s pretty awesome to be upon stage, said that we couldn’t see ourselves seeing them play. One thing the audience didn’t get was, there were people at the front row who hung up signs on the railings. I got so excited that I was afraid that my heart’s gonna pop out when he mentioned the SIGNS, becuz OURS was definitely the most eyecatching one! Then he began to read the signs from left to right, one by one, starting from the PLACEBOADDICT one, said those people in orange were like as if they were in jail, followed by a guitar pick test, he gave a pick to a girl who hold a sign reading “I ll die smiling with your pick”, later I learned it was the two bitchy girls who jumped in line, anyways. Then it came to our turn, “Go Stef Go! Black Nails Rule”, he paused, raised his right hand, showing off his nail polish and went on, “THEY ARE BLUE, SWEETHEART.” Sweetheart, for god’s sake, he called me sweetheart! okay, we got the wrong color but w.h.o. c.a.r.e.s! At the moment, I finally forgave the ‘ill tempered boy’ who pelted my pen at the HK airport last year, feeling so relieved and 100% contended…all the effort that I’ve been casting to the mission of LOVE now got its feedback. Now I could die smiling with this piece of short but sweet response. It’s great to see him being nice to fans, even greater when it comes to me. Lol (sorry for being bitchy…I just cant help.) “LOVE FROM CHINA, Brian, Stefan, Fiona, Nick and that weird guy with glasses who played bass sometimes.” Omg Brian, you forgot to mention sunshine! Lol “yesterday was Bill’s Birthday, let’s say happy birthday Bill!” He then turned to Bill, and Bill cracked a hearty smile and made a gesture pointing right to me! Stefan was smiling at me too. Btw, as Brian talked, Stefan used to stand by, looking at him, smiling, arm-folded…what a couple. = = “next song, is called Julien, it’s about Bill.” Stefan came up to the edge and clapped hands to the electronic intro. I knew it was their way to say ‘thank you’. I was at the brim of crying, funny that I was smiling instead. Since Julien, I couldn’t help but smiling so heartily to the band, verse versa. They made a slight change of Julien that Brian no longer sang the line “slowmotionsuicide” but merely played the guitar beside Stefan. Awww Brian, you know what, Orgasmic face rule! Even Sunshine, who sat behind his drum set, so far way from the audience, once caught my eyesight and beamed down at me. At that moment, I knew the band must have been so carefully browsing thru the photo album and got my personal gifts so that they even knew my face. Devil in the Details, Brian dedicated this song to a dying insect resting on his pedal set and I fucking swear that I’ve never seen him singing DITD in such a hyper mood, he was literally smiling in singing the song, in another words, he could not shut his mouth to fake an angry face…okay, you are high, honey. As for meds, Nick once stepped out of his little realm and came up to the front, and the three of them were playing synchronizedly to us! I also witnessed intense moments between Stefan and Nick, Stefan and Bill (-_-b), as well as the officially Molsdal interaction. I managed to film down the COME UNDONE guitar battle this time. Epic. Break before encore. I, with Lucerne, yelled so loudly “Trigger Happy” and hoped that the band would hear us pleading. It took a bit longer than KL for them to come back onstage. “trigger happy trigger happy” the band, for sure, could hear us clearly. Bright Lights. I thought there was not gonna be trigger happy this time. However, when the bassline of TH came out from the amplifier, I was bouncing so accidently and couldn’t help screaming so hoarsely (oh my throat oh) while some other fans were still at a loss, not knowing what’s coming up the next. Brian must be shocked to see me singing every word back. I guess I might be the only one at the show who knew every word of Trigger Happy by heart. Infra Red. I was making the gesture of “1” back to Brian and danced to the song. Singaporean crowd were so polite and reserved that there were no pushing and people trying to cutting into the front row, thanks to that I could enjoy the show, carefree of getting hurt. The bruises in both arms I got from Malaysian show still hurt. I danced and chanted and smiled till the last note of Taste In Men, fully into the song and felt like melting to their extra-outstanding performance that night. The greatest show, ever. After the show, I sent one of my drawings to the band thru their management, later they told me that Stefan got my drawing and he liked it(treat it well, Stef!). I got no chance to see the band since there was no meet n greet session this time. But I got nothing to regret, indeed. The guy from their management told me that the band got my gifts and they loved it and they were so grateful and wanted to say “thank you”. That’s all I want. I replied, with tears brimming my eyes. I have done my best, to make the LOVE FROM CHINA known by the band. Now that they knew, in a country so far away from Europe, which used to be considered of having no freedom of speech and much lagged behind, lives such a large group of die-hard PLACEBO followers. Their kind response on stage was one of a kind and will be remembered by me and all Chinese fans who though could not be at the show, till forever. That night, we went to a bar and got drunk(okay I confessed that I got drunk after KL show as well), finally I could get stupid and cried in front of a bunch of strangers. Being a placebo die-hard, I have done everything I could. Mar 18th, it’s been one year since Battle For The Sun was broadcasted via BBC radio 6 and it’s been one year that I followed every fucking step of the boys throughout all channels. I wrote BFTS review for magazines, I kept updating all the info concerning the album and the band for Chinese community, I flew to Hong Kong and met them in the airport, I, again, followed them in KL and Singapore, two shows successively. They were my inspiration to take a career within the music industry and now I’m a part-time promoter and a music reviewer. My graduation application statement was all about my love towards the band. It’s been too much and too intensive within one year. It’s been too much for anyone to take. I have always been telling myself, if you gotta love someone, you’d make it 200% intense. Becuz I’m still very young, I would never want to regret when I grow old. Nevertheless, I hope this would continue, to the end of the world. Keep the faith. Peace, Agina

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之前寫了個長的⋯⋯挺亂的，湊合看。 文／喜北 九年光阴荏苒，却仅有寥寥三张专辑的产量，在这个mp3全面攻占音乐爱好者硬盘、唱片业人人自危的时代，Kings of Convenience缓慢从容的步调再次映照出一个鲜明的事实：这个世界上，总有些音乐永远不会加入快销品的行列。 在Eirik Glambeck Bøe和Erlend Øye的字典里，从未有过“创作计划”这一概念。 两把吉他，二重和声，简简单单的Kings of Convenience，却一如文火慢炖出一锅老汤，或是浮冰之上色泽鲜嫩的挪威三文鱼刺身，入口即化，唇齿留香。 世界本来就是静的 “我们通常只为那些想要安静、在演出中不怎么说话的听众表演。” 安静、简单，恐怕是大多数人对Kings of Convenience（以下简称KOC）的最初印象。2001发行的首张专辑《Quite is the New Loud》，反讽意味浓厚的标题即是乐队本身的最好名片。两把吉他营造出清新流畅的脱俗质感，Eirik Glambeck Bøe的冰凉声线辅以Erlend Øye略显温暖的和音，近乎自言自语的絮叨，Eirik和Erlend这一对曾经的中学同学，绝未料想他们竟会在进入唱片业的第一年就卖掉40万张唱片。同年十月，KOC亦出版了《Quite is the New Loud》的Remix专辑《Versus》，其中最为人熟知的当属由Royksopp经手的《I Don't Know What I Can Save You From》。业界的乐评人、术语爱好者们，也顺理成章将KOC冠以“'新新浪漫风潮代表乐团”的美名，并将他们Belle & Sebastian，Badly Drawn Boy，Nick Drake相提并论；素来以提携新晋乐队为己任的《NME》也不甘示弱，“新民谣运动英雄”之类令人有些啼笑皆非的名号一气儿乱扣，并习以为常地寄以厚望。 或许是斯坎的纳维亚人特有的沉默保守，两个挪威人并未过多理会业界的推崇，依旧我行我素、抑或不紧不慢地进行创作。一反新乐队一年一张或是两年一张的高产作风，直到三年后的2004年才又推出第二张录音室专辑《Riot On An Empty Street》。阔别三年的夏日重返人们的视线，多数人对这张专辑的第一印象便是“夏天”。诚然，在《Cayman Islands》、《Gold In The Air of Summer》中，KOC的确营造出了全画幅的夏日印象，群青色的大海与绵延白沙上的同样被漆成白色的木屋……但在这张专辑中更引人侧耳的，或许还是少年心曲的袒露。而也正是这张空街叛乱，使得KOC在遥远的中国有了一批忠实的拥趸。我不清楚有多少人会有着相同的体验：在夏天即将褪尽的夜晚，以为《Homesick》就是那些“沉默的异类”最忧伤直接的自白书，在晚自修结束回家的夜路上，听到《Misread》欢快旋律反衬下，和那句足以刺穿心房的“the loneliest people, were the ones who spoke their truth”而流下不自知的眼泪。然而KOC显然倾向于更多元的表达，欢快如《I’d Rather Dance With You》，将先前的惴惴与阴霾一扫而空。用“情绪的跌宕起伏”来形容这张专辑或许是合适的。专辑里更有两首歌《Know How》和《The Built-up》，邀请到加拿大创作女歌手Feist作为Guest Vocalist。至于封面上和谐摆弄着象棋棋局中的那个姑娘，则是Eirik的女友，她也曾经出现在过《Toxic Girl》和《Failure》的MV中，也难怪Erlend要打趣道，“Eirik的感情生活总是贯穿了我们的音乐创作……”。 而在《Riot On An Empty Street》之后，KOC似乎淡出了人们的视野。与之相关的消息往往都是移居柏林的Erlend个人动向：继个人SOLO专辑《Unrest》之后，新乐队The Whitest Boy Alive所发行的《Dreams》固然不可避免地与KOC联系在一起，但始终杳无音信的Eirik却让追随两人脚步的歌迷陷入焦躁，直到年复一年的等候消磨去最初的热忱，KOC的官方论坛上也几乎是死水一潭的时候，所有人都似乎不约而同地认为，KOC这个名字或许已经成为过去，被淹没在从不停歇奔流的历史之中。 但这些奇怪的北欧人，总是在最出其不意的时刻，让人重新燃起希望：零八年末公布的2009年唱片出版预期名单中，Kings of Convenience，赫然在列。 不独立宣言 “对我而言，KOC会是一辈子的事情。” Erlend Øye如是说。 随着第三张录音室专辑在今年9月底于欧洲陆续发售而展开的巡演之旅和媒体曝光，也逐渐让我们得以了解过去五年间所发生的一切。 《Declaration of Dependence》的名字，绝不是一个偶然的突发奇想。 整整五年，Erlend和Eirik的生活几乎没有交集。前者寄居德国柏林，周旋于Side Project和DJ工作；而Eirik全情投入个人生活，返回大学攻读心理学，并参与家乡卑尔根的城市规划，甚至投身政治，一度参选社区议员，可在他的第一个孩子出世之后成为泡影。 出人意料的是，Erlend再度回归家乡卑尔根，理由简单而直接：柏林虽好，却始终是异国他乡，年岁渐长，唯有落叶归根。卑尔根这个人口熙攘的寂寥城镇，却也是这个世界上唯一的家。在与Erlend这段关系中，Eirik甚至自嘲“家庭主妇”，一心死守着家乡卑尔根与KOC；“孟姜女”一样望“夫”的Eirik也终于修得正果，等来了一生挚友的回归。听来颇有些哀怨的意味，但这些年来Erlend的八面玲珑，或许真的是辜负了Eirik的一片丹心。 《Declaration of Dependence》，就是一份相守的承诺。《24 - 25》中那句“Build this bigger than the sum of two”，或许就是这两个人创作态度的真实写照：Eirik深信，两人合作的KOC远比分头行动的side projects来得重要，而这也在创作中展露无遗。两人带着五年来各自的积累进入录音棚，“我们从来不会白手起家，你不能指望奇迹的出现，那样根本写不出好歌”。五年来的点滴记忆，在历时数月轮番“挑刺”后，逐渐抛离其中极端个人化的成分，在歌词与意象上呈现为一种更为普适和包容的亲和。对于创作型歌手而言，一切都必须从私人化的生活体验中汲取，但KOC作为一个整体，在成军九年后，显然更青睐共同体验的展现，碰撞之后的合二为一。也许，这就是为什么他们的音乐能引起如此广泛的情绪共鸣的秘诀所在。 新专的录制工作分别在家乡挪威卑尔根和意大利小城Reggio Emilia完成。谈及意大利，两人多半会心一笑。离开故地去往国外录制专辑似乎成了时下的潮流，但这显然不是一次单纯的工作旅行，在不受干扰专注于新专的同时，受到意大利美食的引诱，两人更将本是布满寡淡无味挪威味蕾的舌头提升了一个味觉层次。 初听《Declaration of Dependence》，袭上心头的无疑是一种安慰，一如阔别多年的老友：带着北欧浑浊乡音的咬字，这依然是我们所熟知的KOC。在音乐本身而言，新专并没有形式上过多地突破以往的两张专辑，当然这也是民谣乐队本身的一种局限。当别的音乐人挖空心思地考虑该用什么效果器，该为编曲增加何种新鲜元素以丰富音墙的时候，KOC则更多地希望回归本源，因而除了偶尔的钢琴渐入与活泼的小提琴外，我们几乎听不到除了两把木吉他以外的其他乐器，甚至连鼓点也彻底偃旗息鼓。但循着对Bossa Nova和巴西的热爱，DOD却意外地成为了KOC所有作品中最具节奏感的一张，“木吉他也可以是一种非常好的节奏乐器”，与其说是调侃，不如说这两人将民谣吉他本身蕴含的张力发挥到了极致。与此同时，和声的比重也远远超出了前两张专辑。 但《Declaration of Dependence》的主色调却不全是明媚的夏日阳光，倒像是一杯冰火交融的鸡尾酒，一半火焰一半海水，诉说着恬淡生活中各种平凡却值得反思的情绪节点：《24-25》中为期一年的模式化恋爱，《Mrs Cold》则讲述一个与冰山女王勾心斗角的故事，《My Ship Isn’t Pretty》仿佛潜入冰冷的海水窒息一般的压抑，《Renegade》描绘的是不再存有信任互相猜疑的感情生活，《Power of Not Knowing》中为善变的女孩敞开心扉是青春年少的过往云烟，《Riot On An Empty Street》，这首与前一张专辑同名的歌曲，则透露出逃避现实的模棱两可，《Second to Numb》则更甚，在轻快的旋律中宣告“The end of innocence”的到来，《Scars on Land》让人联想起早年的《I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From》，尖锐的间奏和弦仿佛是在心尖撩拨出一阵酸楚……可与此同时，KOC却也在努力平衡这情绪的天平：《Me In You》中恋爱的小甜蜜，而作为新专最ear-friendly的《Boat Behind》则是Erlend与Eirik纠结友情的翻版，《Rule My World》和《Peacetime Resistance》的欢快节奏无疑都会让人再度愉悦起来，《Freedom and It’s Owner》实则是对旅行的梳理和对自由的赞美。 这又是一张凝聚丰富而细腻感情的唱片。一如既往，KOC这个挪威双人组合的存在，在很大程度上颠覆了人们对“小清新”、“indie”的刻板印象：生活并不仅仅是美好，创作本身也并不应该就是生活的镜像，你所能够捕捉到的都是经历反复咀嚼、思考的情绪与意象。Erlend说，他的音乐只能讲述生活、迷思和那些内心的跌宕。我们能够看到，这两个挪威人，作为敏感而彻底的细节主义者，如何乖乖臣服于生活，却又如同玩耍毛线球的猫咪般，好奇心尚未死绝，契合日记本上心绪的点滴记录，信手拈来地在吉他上敲出一段和弦。 “对我们来说，最重要的就是做出诚实的音乐。”人心是世界的反照，忘了是谁曾经说过，一个小说家一辈子只能描写自己的内心，他永远无法完全掌控超出自己经验的事物，这论断尽管偏激，却也不无道理。只有诚实于内心观感的作品，才能最大程度地接近受者的心灵。但KOC的音乐总是给人以有所保留的印象，诚实并不意味着情绪的无限制放大，过分追求情绪本身的能量，反而会使人丧失冷静，从而忘记思考的乐趣。那些不失时机的调侃，并非玩世不恭的袖手旁观，而是出于理智对于情绪的平衡。 无论是雨季消磨无聊时光，或是与朋友小坐闲聊，KOC的这张专辑会是恰如其分的佐料，它并不期待专业眼光的严苛审视，却也不是街边餐馆BGM式的毫无追求。他们的音乐，即是激昂乐章间戛然而止的停顿，恰到好处地填补上那些空白的瞬间。Kings Of Convenience并不追求一见钟情，而是在反复的聆听中不断积蓄着能量，只消让音乐反复冲刷耳膜，会是在某个不经意的时刻，不由自主地爱上其中的某一句歌词，继而沉溺，不可自拔。 Erlend与Eirik终究也不是不食人间烟火的北欧半仙，也只得听命随新专发行而来的各路巡演与宣传需要，暂时从宁静的生活中抽离，返回喧嚣尘世。在9月25日的新专首发演出上，两人也兴致盎然地向外界宣布，将会在明年春天来到中国。等待多年的中国歌迷与首次来华的KOC，究竟会擦出怎样的火花，一切谜底都将留待春日再临时，一并揭晓。

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我先写个听后： 没出来之前都觉得，额，难道是hardly wait to fuck you么。 1. fuck u 翻唱，歌词如下（有小改动）。基本上来说是一首充满怨恨的歌……我不能不想到这个不是指STEVE HEWITT。 There’s a look on your face I would like to knock out See the sin in your grin and the shape of your mouth All I want is to see you in terrible pain Though we won’t ever meet I remember your name Can’t believe you were once just like anyone else Then you grew and became like the devil himself Pray to god I can think of a kind thing to say But I don’t think I can so fuck you anyway You are scum, you are scum and I hope that you know That the cracks in your smile are beginning to show Now the world needs to see that it’s time you should go There’s no light in your eyes and your brain is too slow Can’t believe you were once just like anyone else Then you grew and became like the devil himself Pray to god I can think of a kind thing to say But I don’t think I can, so fuck you anyway Bet you sleep like a child with your thumb in your mouth I could creep up beside put a gun in your mouth Makes me sick when I hear all the shit that you say So much crap coming out it must take you all day There’s a space kept in hell with your name on the seat With a spike in the chair just to make it complete (这两句也忒恶毒了) When you look at yourself do you see what I see If you do why the fuck are you looking at me Why the fuck why the fuck are you looking at me (Repeat x 4) There’s a time for us all and I think yours has been Can you please hurry up cos I find you obscene I can’t wait for the day that you’re never around When that face isn’t here and you rot underground Can’t believe you were once just like anyone else Then you grew and became like the devil himself Pray to god I can think of a kind thing to say But I don’t think I can so fuck you anyway So fuck you anyway (Repeat x 11) 2.hardly wait 关于这首歌有多么的horny，我想已经无须多言了……PJ Harvey的版本从某种程度上来说还是比较“保守”……但Brian Molko明显把它唱成了彻头彻尾的色情歌曲……一路moaning到底，argh, that is molko orgasm!!!甚至连唱歌词的时候都无法抑制冲口而出的呻吟……你要死了Bri-pie 那句Hey Romeo，make my waters break……小男人来唱这个实在是太变态太销魂了！！！！！我早就说过你需要的就是人造子宫……都已经按捺不住要给某人生孩子的心情了么。 这个完全满足了同人女们的YY吧……多淫荡多肉欲啊……完全一副欠操嘴脸。 话说这次BFTS的COVERS质量都高得不可思议，当初听wouldnt it be good和fuck u就已经high到不行，没想到molko还留了这么一手……居然把如此情色这般勾魂的hardly wait留到现在。 3. fwiw remix 非常……techno，非常new wave……可能是CEBO最好的REMIX之一。

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