KOKO Gig Watch

Club KOKO August 14th

By Judith Serembatham

I was lucky enough to attend the inaugural launch of CLUB KOKO back in June and ever since it has ranked as one of the best nights out I have ever had in KL. It was that night which introduced me to a little known outfit called The Standards, who I enjoyed so much at the first KOKO I went to see again (twice) at the Esplanade in Singapore.

The line up for the night was a little different to the last. I was glad to see Simon Subsonic and Johnny Mayo back on the bill, but there didn’t appear to be any bands, only the promise of special guests which remained shrouded in secrecy until a few days before when it was revealed that Kasabian would be heading down.

Having not been able to get MTV World Stage tickets anywhere I was super excited about the prospect of kicking it with Tom and Serge and even dreamt of the possibility of picking up a phone number or too, although sadly it wasn’t to be.

I got down early and was very pleasantly surpised to see a friend of mine, Hackeem Elektrischer, on the decks. I’ve seen him play a many times at the Cloth and Clef and it was good to see someone on the local scene getting involved.

With the dropping of ‘Lisztomania’ myself and others in the club started to get giddy with excitement as Johnny Mayo went up to spin his piece. Looking a little more restrained than his last appearance it was one banging track after another which definitely got everyone in the right mood for a Friday night. When Johnny stepped down after his set I managed to corner the boy and enquire about what the deal was with Kasabian. He told me that he had just been informed himself (in the middle of his set no less!) that they weren’t coming down and apparently had left it to the last minute to cancel, in all honesty I think he was probably the most gutted out of everyone, but at that point and mainly thanks to the drink I had stopped caring and was just enjoying what was again, another quality KOKO night.

The night finished off with an awesome set courtesy of Kelvin and Daryl from TAG which left my feet sore. Again it was one of the better nights in Barsonic and there seemed to be a lot of new faces who had crept out of the word work to see what KOKO was all about. I doubt they went home disappointed, the songs were spot on and it just feels like a different atmosphere in Barsonic when KOKO does a night. I can’t really explain why, maybe it’s the energy or how they play the tracks, but it’s certainly something special.

Of course I was a little disappointed about missing my chance to meet the band, but when I found out about the swine flu scare I realised it was just going to be one of those things. Any dampeners the no show pulled on the night were certainly quashed by the party.

When’s the next one?

To see more pictures from the most recent CLUB KOKO check out our Gallery.

 

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