Frictional Blog 22 [The Paramore Experience Edition]

"Don't try to take this from me! Don't try to take this from me NOW~!"

Paramore was at Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur. My brother and I were there too. This is my Paramore experience.

"It's a hot sweaty mess, that's what I am."

First of all, I'd like to apologize if there are any misquoted (...wait for it) quotes by Hayley Williams, since I'm typing this out of sheer memory. So if any of the quotes or events are poorly described, I'm sorry.

Actually, this was my second Paramore concert (my big bro's first one, though), with my first one being their first coming to Malaysia on October 19, 2010. But this time, it's different. Point #1: I used my own hard-earned money for the tickets, instead of borrowing my mother's. Point #2: I had a great time with my family. Point #3: I did not leave my mother at home as I did the last time. We took her to her eldest sister's home before the show, and had dinner together after it's over. So yeah, this time is different. A bit special.

Weeks earlier, we got ourselves a pair of the cheapest tickets (RM110 + RM3 ticketing fee per person, for a total of RM226) at Mid Valley's Rock Corner. Yup, RM226 for the cheapest seats. Crazy. But it's Paramore, so it's perfectly sane. 

The day of the concert, February 17th, we stood out of the stadium for quite a while, lining up with just a tiny hope to see Paramore and hear them performing live (again, in my case). Some guys were playing Guitar Hero on the Tune Talk booth, with easy songs like Linkin Park's What I've Done and Michael Jackson's Beat It, yet failed miserably. I could do way better. Just saying. Oh, and before that, we had to listen to stupid hip hop songs for almost an hour while waiting for the gates to open. It's a rock concert, but they played LMFAO? What's up with that? 

The guards checked for our identity cards and put wristbands on our (...wait for it) wrists as a tag noting that we're sitting in the Blue Zone (a.k.a the cheapest seats). So we were seated at the farthest seat from the stage, at the farthest dead left end side of the stadium, right next to the air conditioners. We couldn't even see Jon Howard's keyboard, as the beams were blocking our views, so we at first decided to stand even behind the cheap seats to get a better view, but we just sit in the zone anyway later. Waiting for MewithoutYou to come upstage for the opening act, we talked about what we know best. Pro wrestling! That surely killed some time. And the fact that I'm wearing Dolph Ziggler's pink "It's Not Showing Off" T-shirt while my big bro's wearing The Miz's "Haters Love Me" was surely helping our case here. Then a Hitz.FM guy (I guess) got on stage to rile up the fan, even stealing Daniel Bryan's "Yes/No" chants to his advantage, which gave me an idea to chant "YES! YES! YES!" loudly and repeatedly later on the show. More on that later. And then Philadelphia's MewithoutYou got on stage. I'm stoked and excited to see them, although I've only known one song by them, that is The Dryness and the Rain. They didn't perform it, though. We were clapping like crazy, even though we couldn't see a crap. Only human figures moving with instruments that I couldn't even tell. Yeah, that's how far we were from the stage. But we kept on clapping. It's a concert, after all. But then we realized something that totally sucked. 

My brother and I were the only ones who were clapping. If there's one thing that we brothers (especially being pro wrestling fans) hate, it's a dead crowd. And that's what we had in the stadium. And the huge amount of vacant seats was not helping at all, either. I got a bad thought that Hayley and the boys might be disappointed with us due to the lack of crowd response, and they might never want to come back again. So we decided to be the only ones who were enjoying ourselves, nonetheless. Hopefully they'd see us, and they'd appreciate our appreciations toward them. And we decided to leave that area, and walk down the steps and stand at the most forefront part of the cheap zone to support them. I tried to capture some pictures with my mobile, but my camera sucks. While I was playing around with my mobile, I noticed that my brother, who initially couldn't really get into the song, shouted like crazy. I asked why. He screamed, "Hayley Williams!". HAYLEY WILLIAMS!!! She got on the stage to sing her part in MewithoutYou's Fox's Dream of the Log Flume. SSSIIICCCKKK!!! I miss that luscious red hair. Hayley waved and got off the stage. But no, MewithoutYou's not done yet. It's over half an hour already, and Aaron (the vocalist) said they got three more songs? Frankly, the band was awesome, especially the drummer, but Aaron's singing was a bit hard to capture, to decode. So we weren't really paying attention to their last couple of songs. We were focusing on the dead crowd in the Rock Zone (the mosh pit, the standing zone right in front of the stage), and my brother was daring me to go down there. A security guard right under our balcony was coincidentally walking towards us, so I walked towards him even faster and asked if I could go down there. He said yes. Yes. Yes! YES!!! Oh my God, I'm going to the Rock Zone! He told us to just show him our wristband tag, and he cleared us to go through! So we jumped of the balcony (like a boss! yeah!), shook hands with the awesome guard (God bless him, he's super kind) and sprinted to the front row! I was super-duper-ultra-hyper-mega-giga-kilo-tera close to the stage! We paid RM226 for a spot that should have cost us RM406! Wow!

The crews were taking MewithoutYou's instruments off the stage, and setting Paramore's up. It took so long. Most of the crowd we're among of were already sitting on the floor. How disrespectful! Hayley Williams was about to come up our stage, and you're showing tiredness? I kept on standing. UNTIL THE END OF THE SHOW. It's Hayley Williams, dammit! It took almost an hour, I believe. Then the sets of both the stage lights and the house lights went off. Click click click click.

"Don't try to take this from me! Don't try to take this from me NOW~!"

They were only a few feet away from me. Closest to me was Jeremy Clayton Davis, the awesome bassist. Farthest from me was Taylor Benjamin York, the second guitarist and the so-called "Justin Timberlake of Paramore". I could also see Jon Howard, Justin York and a cool drummer who had Taylor York's old hair on his head. After some researching this afternoon, I learned that he's Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails and Angels And Airwaves. But my eyes were mostly on her. The red-haired, super-white-skinned 25-year-old chick from Franklin, Tennessee. Ladies and gentlemen, Hayley Nichole Williams was standing (not really. She was jumping and hopping and headbanging and rolling and lying and so much more) on the stage, just a thrown stone away from yours truly. She looked so pretty. Way prettier than she seems to be on magazines and computer monitors. Even on those media, she looks almost flawless. And she's more flawless in person. It's just out of my mind. They were performing Now, followed by That's What You Get. She was singing the second verse with her slinky funny voice (you'd know how it sounds if you'd watched her performance of the song with Taylor Swift, right at the first verse of the song). And then they played track #11 off the album Riot!, Born For This. I believe it's their first time performing this in Malaysia, since I don't remember them playing this song the first time they came. By this song, my throat was no longer producing an ample amount of voice. Yet I still sang along with them. To all songs. Each and every single one of them, from the beginning to the encore. And I can't stop noticing that Jeremy was sticking his tongue and laughing towards me the whole show. It was cool! 

"It's a hot sweaty mess, that's what I am."

Quote of the year, ladies and gentlemen. Now Hayley's chatting with us, telling us that she didn't want to introduce their band members, and lots of hilarious jokes. She said they missed us since coming here "about two years ago, right?" She also mentioned that the crowd in the cheap seats were dead. "Too comfortable", I quote. She's rocking and rolling like crazy on stage, yet these guys were sitting like a stone. Ridiculous. And she went on with lots more talking. And she promised that we all would be sore by the end of the night. Awesome conversation. 

"We are Paramore!"

For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic was next. Whenever I got tired of jumping (which I didn't stop doing until this point, mind you), I'd do Hayley's Playing God groove dance. It's easy to remember, like a Tony Hawk's video game cheat code! Just move to the right, left, right right, left, right, left left, right, right, left left, right, left, right right and repeat, to the beat of any song. Yup, that's how detailed my observation on Hayley is. By the way, they didn't perform Playing God this night. Up next was Decode, and this was where most of the more recent Parawhores (probably Twilight fans, too) screamed to the top of their lungs. I didn't really get excited right here, because this is my least favorite song of Paramore's. But it's still a great song. Oh, and my favorite song is the other song on the Twilight soundtrack, I Caught Myself. Pure, utter brilliance. Oh, and they didn't perform this song either. Too bad. The band paused, and Hayley went on with her POWER VOCAL~.

"And when I get there, it won't be far enough. I'm a renegade, it's in my blood.
If ever I get there, it won't be fast enough. I'M A RENEGADE, I ALWAYS WAS~!"

And the simple yet awesome guitar riff followed, and again I'm jumping like crazy! Renegade! And I kept running, I kept running again. Haha. This was followed by the only All We Know Is Falling song of the night, Pressure. Of course, they did the Pressure flip! Oh, and now here comes my big bro's favorite, Careful! That Nine Inch Nails drummer played wonderfully well. Oh, now they're slowing down the pace.

"We've been releasing four songs for the Singles Club. The first one was Monster. The second one was Renegade. The third, Hello Cold World. Well, this was the fourth. It's called In the Mourning."

Such a beautiful acoustic song. And they even sang Landslide after the song's bridge! I was singing every word. Every! 

"So you guys like Fleetwood Mac, eh? I heard you guys singing along on that one."

This night's acoustic set was not as much as the last time they did it, but it was great nevertheless. Then they played The Only Exception. She told us to take out our cellphones and lighters. I took out my cellphone. My brother had his lighter, of course. And the next song, OH! This was one of the highlights of the show here. For years, I've been watching them playing this through a 14-inch monitor on Youtube. Now, just merely feet away from me, they were performing Let the Flames Begin. Surreal. Hell, this part was indescribable. Seriously, ... Wow. Astonishing. And right at the end of the song, the pace picked up. No way. It couldn't be. Could it be? 

"I AM READY! WON'T YOU LET IT BEGIN?
 CAUSE I AM HERE NOW! I WANT TO DANCE IN THE MIGHTY PALM OF YOUR HANDS~!"

That outro. She was lying on the stage, on her back. Her head pointing towards the fans, her feet toward the drums. She's screaming her heart out, loud. Right in front of my eyes. Right into my ears. I shook my head in disbelief, trying and succeeding to contain my tears. It was a thing of beauty, and I was actually witnessing it right in front of my eyes. I believed she tweaked the lyrics a bit. I didn't hear her singing "Oh Father", probably out of respect to my religion (I'm a proud Muslim). Or maybe the crowd was too loud. I don't know. Up next was where magic happened. The band was playing to the sound of Fences, but Hayley wanted to talk first. She complained about how she was a sweaty mess, yet the sitting fans (all of them, not only the cheap seats. the Red Zone too!) were too comfortable, and it's a tad bit unfair. SHE MADE THEM STAND UP! Then she said she wanted us - well, THEY as a whole band wanted us to hurt ourselves. They wanted us to have sore feet. Sore hands. Sore bodies. Sore necks. Sore throats. Sore legs. Sore arms. They wanted us to have fun. "Now we're in a Paramore show!" she exclaimed. At this point, I remember Hayley said in an interview years ago that she and Paramore, as a band, know that we all have problems in our lives, and they are really glad to be our only escape from reality. From all the pain and suffering. And that's what I was doing at the moment. Escaping reality. Being sucked into the Paramore family and enjoy as if I were never to be spat out, ever. These guys are doing something very sincere, honorable, heartfelt, honest... and I'm appreciating every single drop of blood, sweat and tears that they're shedding. And just as I was thinking of that, Hayley said "I don't want you guys to hurt yourselves that way" or "when I tell you to hurt yourselves, this is not what I meant", I don't really remember, but it's somewhere down the line. Some guys were fighting in the mosh pit, on the other side of the stadium. I was at the left side (right side of Hayley's view) and the fight was at the right side (Hayley’s left). Hayley was certainly not impressed. Uh oh. She didn't like it. She cringed a bit. I felt bad for her. I still feel bad for her. In fact, I'd probably be feeling bad for her forever. Then she smiled. She stopped the fight. With two thumbs up, she asked the brawling guys "Are we good? Are we okay?" repeatedly until we're all good and okay. She handled that perfectly. Like a pro. She got that magic in her. She's Hayley fricking Williams. Then she told us to put both our hands in the air, snap our fingers and sing along to Fences. Magical, it was. Following that was Ignorance. Always a fun song to sing along to. Especially the pre-chorus, which totally involved the crowd. Jeremy pointed his finger at me! I might have to bend it back and BREAK IT, BREAK IT OFF! Haha. And all of us were standing on our feet. Nobody in the cheap seats was being too comfortable now. 

Up next, they're performing Monster, off the Transformers: Dark of the Moon soundtrack and the Singles Club extended play. Another song being played for the first time in Malaysia here. They divided their setlist carefully, with half of the shows being new songs and ones that weren’t previously performed here, and the other half being songs they've performed the last time. And at the end of the song, the drums did not stop. No way. Another Youtube moment happening in front of my eyes? 

"And like the Moon, we borrow our lights. I am nothing but a shadow in the night.
So if You let me, I will look and try to let Your Glory and Mercy shine~."

They did the Let the Flames Begin outro, the In The Mourning/Landslide breakdown AND the Monster outro. Incredible. If you’ve added me on Facebook, you’d see this couple of lines on the “Favorite Quote” section of my profile. Oh, and Taylor was banging on that huge round drum thingy during one song (couldn't remember which one it was), shades of the BNE Tour Outro (which they had never performed here. Just saying). SSSIIICCCKKK!!! Hayley did too, in another song (couldn't remember, too). And the next song was Brick by Boring Brick. Man, this song was the most enjoyable one in the last show, and tonight's as well. Especially the "ba-da-ba" part. And I was still jumping like crazy! Jeremy pointed at me again during this song!

And they left the stage.

We want more.

We want more.

We want more! 

WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!!!

And out they came for the encore! Hayley asked if we wanted more. Flashback of the first concert there, albeit this time she didn't ask as playful (wrong adjective, maybe?) as she did back in 2010. I was hoping that I could start a "YES!" chant. My big bro joined me for the first two YESes only. I was YESing by myself in an ocean of human beings that were completely ignorant of the existence of Daniel Bryan. Newsflash: Hayley's a pro wrestling fan too! In fact, CM Punk is one of her best friends.

"If you know this song, sing along! If you don't, just sing whatever you want to!"

And completing the Singles Club quadfecta, they performed Hello Cold World! Another first-timer here. Taylor literally kicked Jeremy and Hayley's butt. I'm not even joking. And we all went "Hello Cold World!" throughout the whole song. This song is a big ball of fun. And now Hayley said they only had one song left. We all went "Awww..." except for my big bro. He went "Yay!" "At least there's another song!" he explained. I facepalmed. She said she thought we all knew what song it is. MizBiz babay! Misery Business, being their breakthrough single, was the final song of the night. Just like October 2010. And the crowd was looooooouuuuud for this one. 

"Two weeks and we caught on fire. She's got it out for me, but I wear the biggest smile~!"

That was the end of the first verse. They have, like, a four-second instrumental between the verse and the chorus, so she got the chance to stray on stage. She strayed towards my side of the stage. Acting out of total instinct, I made a heart sign with my hands/fingers for her. She saw it! She smiled! She stuck her tongue out straight at me! She chuckled, smiled and hopped back to the centre of the stage.

"WHOA~! Well, I never meant to brag, but I got him where I want him now!"

My thoughts, exactly. I got her where I want her just now. She smiled, stuck her tongue out and chuckled at me. My heart skipped several beats. Luckily the drum beats were so awesome that it had beaten my heart back to life. My biggest celebrity crush, Hayley Nichole Williams has smiled, stuck her tongue out and chuckled at me. Probably my personal greatest achievement in life.

By the bridge, Hayley looked for a fan to be brought upstage. I was hoping that she'd pick me. Hell, even my big bro was hoping for the same thing. He's raising my right arm as if he's ripping it out of its socket! But not tonight. Maybe I'll be luckier next time! You know what they say: "Third time is a charm". She brought a female fan up. Name's Lucy. Hayley said that's one of her favorite names. That would probably be my daughter's name. Haha. She had some trouble hearing what Hayley's saying, because the band + the crowd were super loud. 

Hayley: You know this song?

Lucy: What?

Hayley: You know this song?
Lucy: Yes!
Hayley: Perhaps you know it better than me, then.

Lucy: ...Yes. 

[Hayley led the crowd to a collective "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!"]

Haha, very funny. Then, as always, the lucky fan got to sing the bridge and the final chorus. God, it just felt so good! At the end, Lucy hooked up a bit with Jeremy. Hayley snapped a picture with Lucy using Lucy's mobile phone. I just watched her wildest dreams come true. Damn. The band threw a lot of stuff to the fans. We didn't get any, too bad. Jeremy trolled us, as if he tossed his ear plug. He pointed up, as if it's in the air, then we saw the plug still in his hand. Haha. Everyone got off the stage, and then Taylor did a Rolling Thunder a la Rob Van Dam before he left. Hayley didn't want to miss the fun, so she ran up and pulled a cartwheel, a la Damien Sandow. You're welcome. 

The show was lacking some of my favorite songs. They performed only one song off All We Know Is Falling (Pressure). I was hoping for Here We Go Again, Whoa or (especially) My Heart, or any of their singles. They also left out hits like Crushcrushcrush and Playing God. And most importantly, they didn't perform I Caught Myself. It's my favorite! But nonetheless, this was a concert well done.

And here I am today, just two days after the show, with a physically burnt out body, a pair of sore feet, sore legs, sore arms, sore palms, sore throat, sore neck, sore back… I’m feeling extremely sore from head to toe. Exactly the physical state that Hayley said they hoped I’d be in. Mission accomplished, Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor. Mission accomplished.

All in all, it was a fun night. I will never, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER forget this night. EVER! It was totally worth it. Especially since I paid for the cheap seats and ended up in the mosh pit. And of course, I bought myself an official Paramore "Lost the Battle, Win the War" T-shirt as a permanent reminder of the night. Here's for more of Paramore shows in Malaysia! Best band in the world, hands down. Hayley Williams looks ridiculously flawless in person. I'd HURT many people to get her. HURT, not KILL. And I'd probably hurt only their feelings. Haha. The greatest night in my life, SO FAR.

And that's it! Just wanted to share this awesome experience with you guys. Thank you so much for reading this, and have a great day/night. You guys deserve it. Oh, and never forget to extend your gratitude towards God, for without Him, you're nothing. Nothing. I love you guys. Stay safe, and stay awesome! Until next time. Make sure you'll be there.

[P/S]: If this could somehow reach Hayley Williams, I’d be super-grateful. Hah, no way. 

All of the Glory be to Allah swt.

Faith. Follow that. 

Noorel Yaqin

Frictional Blog.