all images by Johan Nasir
With the festival site opening much later than advertised, XLive took a little time to warm up. But, the reward was a rocking party that carried on into the wee hours of the morning, 4:00 am to be exact.
XLive did experience some teething problems but then again which new festival doesn’t? With the weather holding out nicely and the crowd in good spirits, an excellent time was had by the 15,000 partygoers who made the effort to attend.
Organised by Pervert Music and Xpax Celcom, the
Besides being the first outdoor music festival to be held at Genting since 2004, XLive festival was also historical in that it was the first time that a music event of such magnitude was held in its outdoor theme park.
The XLive Main Stage located at The Avenue of the Stars, was the place to hang with the irresistible Missy Elliot promising a distinct hip-hop and R ’n’B flavour.
Opening for Elliot were two local hip-hop attractions, turntablists Stylustiks and Spaceship, featuring DJ Goldfish, Soul-funk band Maliq & D’Essentials and nu-jazz/pop progenitors Parkdrive.But really, the night was all about Elliot and thankfully she did not disappoint.
Missy Elliott (born Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1, 1971), is a five-time Grammy Award-winning American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. With record sales of 7.6 million in the
Elliott is known for a series of hits and diverse music videos including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hot Boyz", "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "Work It", "Gossip Folks", "Pass That Dutch", "Lose Control" and "Ching-a-Ling." In addition, Elliott has worked extensively as a songwriter and producer for other artists, both alone and with her producer and childhood friend Timbaland.
Elliott's songwriting and production credits include work for a number of other female artists, among them Aaliyah, Monica, Destiny's Child, Mýa, Whitney Houston, Trina, Nicole Wray, Fantasia, Ciara, Raven Symone, Keyshia Cole, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, and Lil' Mo.
The energy-sapping wait for her punctuated by listening to trippy music instantly vanished the minute Elliot made her attention-grabbing appearance on stage sporting an 80s fringe bob hair do and decked out in regulation bling, sports wear and black hoodie.
Suddenly appearing from behind a red curtain carried on stage atop a covered sedan chair, the quirky performer wasted no time in working the crowd with mischievous glee, all while executing her precision rhymes with effortless ease.
As subtle as a sledgehammer, her live act combined all the thrills and adrenaline rush of a slickly choreographed rap party with elements of magic, comedy, theatre, music and dance making for an aural and visual extravaganza.
Her dancers busting moves everywhere on stage, illusionists, plenty of audience interaction, deafening pyrotechnics, confetti, fire sticks, props, costume changes all within the opening few songs!
Her in-your-face approach proved hugely popular with the audience as they turned the The Arena of the Stars into a heaving mass of grooving bodies. Elliott stuck to her hits, so we got infectiously catchy reworked versions of Work It, Get Ur Freak On and Pass The Dutch.
At regular intervals, her deejay ground the music to a halt, allowing Elliott to take centerstage and indulge in some audience antics.
Taking off her snazzy, blinged out sneakers she offered them as a prize for the audience member who could jump the highest managing to conjure up some wild scenes on the dance floor, although in the end she only threw a sweat soaked towel into the crowd.
All too soon, despite chants of encore! encore! and Missy! Missy! she disappeared. I mean literally disappeared. The red curtain went up, fireworks flashed and she was gone in a flash.
There were plenty of sonic thrills to be had over at the XLR8 stage where progressive, experimental and edgy dance music was very much the order of the day and the vibe in the crowd extremely cordial, to say the least.
Twilight Actiongirl set the ball rolling with an adventurous set that attempted to fuse hard-hitting electro grooves with the odd indie anthem thrown in for good measure.
Indonesian trio Goodnight Electric also proved that their love for kitschy electro indie melodies were a winner, with their look, their songs as well as the attitude. In the end, their anthemic Depeche Mode-meets-New Order sound succeeded in drawing more party people to the arena.
Local deejay B4C, whose wicked funky combination of clean breakbeats and funky techno turned out to be another winner. Nu-rave duo LapSap, featuring Mr Puah and 5ft, turned in a set of thumping techno and electro.
Over at the XL-TRONIC stage trance guru DJ Yoji seemed to have things well in control with his hypnotic beat. Hello thumping bass!
The only downside was that when the party ended, the festival areas were heavily strewn with litter. Tsk tsk Malaysians! When will you ever learn?
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