Thoughts About the Concert

The apprehension was clear during breakfastI have been to the School Concert for the last four years now. out of the four, as I mentioned, I enjoyed the last one best. Because this time around, it did not attempt to take itself too seriously, like the previous affair. This year, it was more straight forward, smoother in general, and the participants seemed to have had more fun. It ended on time as well, and I was able to take in more of the show than I did before.

Anita doing Irfan's make-upClearly someone was getting boredThe opening ceremony went with a bang. Quite literally.The show started with the choir, singing a Batak numberFrom what I gathered, the concert this year only took three weeks to prepare. I remembered from before, it once took about six weeks. In the scheme of things, that was rather too much. Maybe the three weeks preparation period made the show mo focused and less convoluted.

Idlan taking his spot on stageAll was done with IrfanNot sure what they were discussing in the endThe relieve was clear right after the show.

Show Was Done

Both Idlan and Irfan had finished their performances. As mentioned on my Flickr and twitter feed, the stage was amazing and the shows were actually much better than it was last year at least.

Irfan went on first first, to perform a disco dance. Very cute. Idlan later did the twist. Both were smack in the middle, and now I understood why they were rather apprehensive this morning. They were both point of references. A tall order that.

Irfan's dance involved him prancing across the floor and prancing he did. Idlan's was a more subdued choreography, and he mainly stayed with the same partner, an Australian girl. He did not want to let her go in the end. Gosh!

I got my videos as well, and my God did I have to jostle for space. There were so many parents with cameras everywhere. It was rather easy for me as the two boys were right in the middle. So, now I was just waiting for Idlan to finish his snacks before we head home. Time to sort out the photos next.

Almost Starting

The plan to wake up extra early this morning was shattered with the fact that I decided to kill the alarm off. It was too cosy on the bed with the boys that I decided to delay. We ended getting out of bed after 8 which was actually a touch late. Well, we did go out for a nice dinner last night.

As you had guessed, it was our school concert this morning. The hall was in Sentul and despite setting off on tine, little that we expect q traffic jam at 10 in the morning. Well, I guessed anything was possible in KL. Got the driver to dropped us off, and Ee rushed up the stairs to get the boys to their teachers for last minute touch ups. Managed to get a nice seat, one which I can get up near the stage easy to get some videos. So, looking forward to that. And another thing. The VIP was late again ......

Boys' Concert Part II - The Show

The opening gong with pyrotechnics. Pew! Pew!11 o’clock sharp when the VIP arrived. They were taken through a procession upon entering the hall, all the way to his seat. After a couple of short speeches, he sounded the gong, and the show was on, with an accompanying firework. My Dad noted that there were no doa, something that I thought they overlooked.

The choir with its ultra-energetic conductorFirst up were the school choir. They sang a rendition of a local folk song which I couldn’t recall, followed by Lady Ga Ga’s “Bad Romance”. The Ga Ga number was quite fun I thought. This was followed by the kindy shows.

Kindy 2 showWatching Irfan strutting his stuffThank God there was no stage fight!First up were the children from Kindy 2 - 5 year-olds. This was followed by Irfan’s class - Kindy 1. Irfan was the star of the show. They did a Chinese dance with fans, and Irfan was a complete ace. I was worried that he will have a stage fright, but how wrong was I? He was so cool, remembered all the steps and was fantastic. His steps were much more difficult than Idlan’s actually, and since there were just six of them on stage, he was remarkably brave.

Idlan in his MJ-esque costumeHave you made a wrong turn?Next was Idlan’s Kindy 3. They did an Indian number, a la Bollywood, complete with a breakdance routine in the middle - which Idlan did not do thankfully. It was a crowded stage of around twenty plus, so the choreography needed to be simple to follow. No problems there either, but compared to Irfan, even his costumes were pretty simple, although he was ten times more excited with the whole thing. I managed to squeeze myself right in front of the stage to take some videos and pictures.

Yay! It was over!Starving in the endSince the children were released straight after, we had to fetch them and after a short meal - they were starving - we left, straight for lunch with their grandparents. The school concert for this year were themed on a musical. Reading between the lines and from the line-up of characters they had, I think it was based on American Idol with the contestant being school bands from around the world, a la Glee. It was a shame that we had to leave, as I thought that could be pretty exciting. I couldn’t expect my parents to be able to hang around for the next 3 hours for the whole concert.

So what did we do next? Lunch at Victoria Station. It has been a while since I went there to be honest. More about that one later!

Part I of the concert was blogged here, and the slideshow can be seen here.

Boys' Concert Part I - The Preparation

“I’m excited”, that was the first words that came out from Idlan’s mouth that morning as soon as he woke up. It was his school concert day, and he knew he had to be up early to be at the concert hall by 10. It was just past 7.30, and he was getting anxious that we might be late. I remember from last year that the concert used to start after lunch. It would start at 11 this time around, and it was at a new venue as well, about 15 minutes drive from here in Sentul. A newly renovated Chinese school event hall. A nice little place but less spacious than the previous hall the concert was held in Cheras.

Idlan's hair full of gel and glitterFirst order of business was to get the boys ready. Puan Anita had to dress them and sort the make-up and hair. No complains from her as she seemed to have enjoyed that a lot. Foundations, lipstick, eye shadow, the whole nine yards. It was bordering on child abuse to be honest! I am sure some of the photographs wiil haunt them for the rest of their lives should their future girlfriends got hold of them!

Last minute practice

We finally got everything ready by 9.30. Tok Abah and Tok Mak went along, and we finally got to the venue by 10.15. We were hardly late. After sending the boys off to the teachers, we went on to take our seat in the main hall. The hall itself could easily have accommodated 3000 people. It was three-quarters filled up by the time the show started. The hall was very well sign-posted from Jalan Genting Kelang. In fact, we scouted the hall earlier in the week. Unfortunately the parking space was rather limited, and we had to park our car at a nearby parking lot and walk across. It was a bit of a hassle for the grandparents. The entrance was only a floor up by stairs, although the stairs were rather steep. 

Tok Abah and Tok Mak at their seats. Tok Abah looked like Simon Cowell with the stare.On taking our seats, we noticed that there were a couple of big screens on the sides of the stage. There were video cameras recording the whole show and the feeds were projected straight onto those screen. Therefore, we did not have to rush to get a good seats in front. My Dad preferred to sit near the toilet due to his medications. Anita sat with her parents, but I sat nearer to the aisle to be able to sneak onto the front during the performance to take some photos.

Irfan ready to take the stageBoy! Does he look excited?These must be for the welcoming parade

The boys seemed pretty settled when we left them with the teachers. The had their final costume adjustments and final make-up applied. We were worried that Irfan would throw a scene, but he was completely cool with things instead. Idlan never had a problem mingling around with his classmates. He was certainly having fun with them, joking around and pointing out at their costumes.

We finally got ourselves settled in and the call were made when the VIP arrived for the opening ceremony at 11. I will write about he show on the next entry.

The slideshow can be seen through this link. Here is part II of this entry.