By Benjamin Heiber
First off, let me say that my feelings of LMFAO and their contemporaries are not the warmest. I have little appreciation for the packaged plastic that comes out of the modern music machine. However, as a former US college graduate, I can appreciate a good party. So I am NOT ashamed to admit that I had a blast at the Together Festival last night, along with most in attendance. With no to low expectations, the concert turned out to be a damn good party, minus some hiccups.
As the crowds started to move through the doors, dressed in their favorite LMFAO attire i.e. no-lens glasses, TIGHT leopard-print-pants, and bright fluorescents, I was not shocked to be reminded of a high school dance on steroids.
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The international high school contingent was out in force – yes, that means chaperones, and young wealthy Thais. Keep in mind, tickets started at THB1,600 a pop. The price tag came with some perks – an open bar from 8-9 that certainly came in handy and a line-up (in addition to LMFAO) that included Dutch DJ Afrojack, Lil Jon, and Thai hip-hop pioneers Thaitanium. Tata Young was also in the lineup but her performance was forgettable.
Before the show got going, I had some words with New York City native Way from Thaitanium and asked him they felt about sharing the stage with the big-international stars. “I like it a lot anytime a big international hip-hop artist comes to Bangkok. You don’t get that much hip-hop in Bangkok so when there is, we get a chance to perform for the Thai crowd who are already familiar with us,” he said.
The crowd was most definitely familiar with the act as the group was more than well-received by their fellow countrymen in the opening set. “Bangkok City” – probably inspired by Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” – was a highlight. I personally would of liked to see them later on in the show as the venue was around half full at the time.
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Bangkok Invaders’ DJ Buddha (to my scant memory) played some standard club fare following Thaitanium – think Route 66 playlist EVERY weekend but with more people – followed by Tata Young.
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Tata Young is like a fat fish trying to win a race against a bunch of sharks. It’s just NOT going to happen. As I understand, she had some hits in her day and I commend her for that. But she is not up to speed in the modern pop game and couldn’t hang with her colleagues. The crowd’s reaction to her performance was lackluster with mild applause as she left the stage.
In between sets, after the free-booze-free-for-all was over, I found myself waiting in long lines for drink vouchers. In order to buy a drink, the promoters decided to set up a few tables that only sold drink vouchers. After you waited in the long line for the drink voucher, getting a drink was easy-peasy; no line at the bar at all. I’m not sure if this move was genius on the part of the promoters or just a big pain-in-the-ass for all boozers in attendance: To forgo the voucher line a second time, many bought vouchers to last themselves the whole night (and then some) on the first go-around.
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The dancing and boozing rolled into the night as the anticipation grew and the jumbo-screens glowed with the words “LIL JON” followed by a red pop-art image of the man-himself. By the time Lil Jon came on, the house was packed and things started to escalate. The man did what he does best and got the crowd bumping and jumping with excitement.
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Afrojack kept up the tempo with his electro-dance beats – I think he was my favorite of the bunch. It was impossible to resist the tunes as they blasted from the speakers and reverberated around the packed house. He wasn’t the most skilled at rousing the crowd with the microphone but made up for it with a crowd-pleasing set.
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After a puzzling extended wait, LMFAO did bring the energy and enthusiasm as promised by international superstar standards. Only one of the duo, the large-haired Redfoo, was able to perform because Sky Blu was out of commission due to a back injury, as reported by Coconuts.
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By the time the posse rolled onto the stage in glowing fluorescents, the crowd was full of anticipation as a sea of cell phones surfaced among the limbs and faces followed by roaring cheers. Some highlights to the set included tight pants and underwear action, blow-up zebras, sweet beer-bonging (on stage) and, as expected, a whole-lotta shufflin’. The thing I enjoyed most from their performance was the break-dancing; hands down the best I have ever witnessed. In all serious though, LMFAO has a couple of infectious tunes that are fun to get blitzed to, but in my book to deserve any serious attention you need more than that. Nonetheless, I found myself grooving to their hit songs (they all blurred into one for me) along with my newly Thai friends into the wee hours of the morning.
After some repeated shout outs to “Bangkok City” and encores of “Sexy and I know it”, I left the debauchery-laden marathon exhausted and overall, surprisingly satisfied.
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Photos: Benjamin Heiber
