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Wet and wild gangstas
(Sunday Mail (Malaysia) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SONGKRAN came early to Bangkok this year.
Members of G-Unit and 50 Cent emulated the Thai festival with the tradition of splashing water on other people by dumping dozens of bottles of mineral water on the audience.
It was indeed a wet night at Bangkok's Activ Square - the venue for the last leg of 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' World Tour 2006 which kicked off last July.
G-Unit members Young Buck and Lloyd Banks were the more enthusiastic `sprinklers' and opened a few cartons of bottled mineral water that night. Olivia, the only woman on stage, stayed dry till the end.
Well, it could have been them honouring Thai traditions or quite possibly it was a veiled gesture to `wake up' the crowd.
It wasn't that the audience was not thoroughly entertained by their performance, but merely could not relate fully to some of the song selection by 50 Cent and G Unit.
It started quite well with some of Thailand's top local acts coming on stage around 5pm.
The Bangkok crowd went wild when rap group Thaitanium went on stage. Hands in the audience went up with both thumbs to the side - Thaitanium's signature hand symbol.
Listen to two of their songs and you probably have listened to their whole repertoire, but these guys are good when it comes to working up the Bangkok crowd.
Each of their songs is high-octane hip-hop blasts which got the crowd roaring in no time.
The two other acts before them - Asian Embassy and Du-Ja-Da - did not get such a response.
This was perhaps at that time, most of the audience had just arrived and were lingering outside, buying cheap Singha Light beer at RM5 per pint.
After leaving the crowd in such high energy, it was almost a let-down when Fort Minor came on.
The `Mike Shinoda solo project' of sorts started with Remember The Name, Goin Down and Dolla.
Their set was entertaining but sadly it did not manage to get the crowd to react the way they did with Thaitanium.
The audience mostly responded to Fort Minor when they did their own version of Linkin Park's In The End - a more hip hop version nonetheless.
Shinoda and crew threw everything at the crowd.
From drum solos to its strings section, Black Violin, doing some pretty cool riffs on their violins and cello.
It became a painful running theme for their performance - Fort Minor would try to get the crowd to jump and shout and mostly fail at every turn.
It wasn't because their performance was bad or that the audience were not enjoying themselves.
It was mostly some communication issues as well as the fact that since Fort Minor is a relatively new act on the scene, there are fewer songs that the crowd could recognise and appreciate fully.
Fort Minor's set ran for around an hour before the main event came on stage.
It's 50 Cent and G Unit in the house! If Shinoda tried to please the audience, 50 cent and his crew simply bullied them into submission.
Whenever he told the crowd to hold their hands up, they held up their hands.
Whenever he told them to make some noise, they made some noise.
Starting with What Up Gangsta, 50 Cent and crew manhandled the audience's behind.
And they loved it.
Pretty soon, though, it was clear that the crowd was becoming lethargic.
"Any of you listen to hip-hop music?" yelled 50 Cent.
An army of hands shot up.
And yet, when they played any number, the hands would only stay up for a while before they would go down again.
The fans were bobbing up and down to the music all the while, but not many could keep their hands up in the air.
That was when G-Unit decided to have some `water-sports' with the crowd.
In any sense, it was quite hard to mobilise a 16,000-strong sold-out crowd.
Fortunately, most of the songs they performed that night were `sushi- sized' numbers.
Each barely breaking the two-minute mark.
This was good as they kept the attention of the tough crowd.
50 Cent and G Unit did P.I.M.P, Wanksta, Disco Inferno, Hustle, and even some covers like Snoop Dogg's Drop It In Like It's Hot.
Buck, Blanks and Olivia were amazing coperformers and it was easy to see why 50 Cent wanted them on stage for his world tour.
Buck and Banks made it a point to go through each song either as front- men or really supportive back-up singers.
Halfway into their set, and with energy levels on an acceptable high, 50 Cent said, "It's time to do what we came here to do." It was time for In Da Club - an anthem for most club goers, no matter what the language they speak.
It worked wonderfully and the night sailed smoothly ahead.
One fan even threw her bra onto the stage.
Pretty soon, after one-and-a-half hours, it was time for 50 Cent and GUnit to go.
Emulating some nude scenes on video they flash on the screen, 50 Cent began to strip and started throwing clothes to the crowd.
Off went his shoes, shirt, pants and - his biggest gift - a jewel- studded belt.
"Now that's really a gift," said Banks.
"There it goes on e-bay next morning," said Buck as the belt went flying to the finally satisfied crowd.
* Thanks to FlyFM for organising the trip and, the PR team at Bec-Tero, Thailand for the hospitality and efficiency.
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