New Zealand indie band The Naked and Famous brought their talents to Bangkok last night, playing what looked like a sold out show at Moonstar Studios in Lat Phrao.
It’s not often that an up-and-coming band that’s generating the kind of buzz worldwide that The Naked is comes here, so the excitement was palpable. Gangs of indie Thais, hipster farang, drunk teenage luk krung, and one white dude with a serious mohawk were all out in full force and dressed to kill. Even superstar Pae Arak was there, proving the event’s worthiness.
The Naked gave the people what they wanted, opening with their MGMT-style anthem “Punching in a Dream” which caused much of the crowd to erupt into hysterics. The band was tight and well-rehearsed – no sloppiness here. One couldn’t help but feel a bit like they were just going through the motions sometimes during their set, but hey, they’re probably tired from all that touring. Generally the performance was entertaining but perhaps not earth-moving
Lead singer Alisa Xayalith, who is beautiful and rumored to be of Chinese-Thai descent, definitely stole a few male hearts during show, doing her best Stevie Nicks twirl in a scarlet frock.
One highlight of the night was a medley of the brooding and subdued “The Sun” (which echoes Radiohead’s “Everything in it’s right place” big time”) into the more uptempo and singalong banger “Bells.”
Front-man Thom Powers took care of stealing the ladies hearts, and even gave a shot out to a group of females in near the stage who were going nuts throughout the show.
After walking offstage for about 30 seconds, The Naked came back for their encore which closed with their most massive hit “Young Blood.” With a catchy synth hook and singalong lyrics, it’s a bonafide pop anthem. And the crowd responded. Video is HERE:
It’s worth noting that the show was well organized and there were none of the annoyances experienced at other concerts. Beer stations without lines were a-plenty (Federbrau only though) and access to and from the concert studio was easy.
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