IT'S ALL ABOUT MLTR

Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR) was so popular a band in its heyday that even my dad knew that, "he wasn't an actor, nor a star and he didn't even have his own car"' (lyrics from the smash hit The Actor).

At MLTR's "Eternity Tour 2009" concert at Genting's Arena of Stars recently, Pas Youth's threatened protest had the riot police out in full gear but all they had to contend with were faithful MLTR fans.

Returning to where it all started for them in Asia after a blast in 2007, MLTR does seem to have a strong fan base as all 6,000 seats at the hall were filled with groupies who seemed to know every word of the band's songs.

The unfussy stage was shared with a female bassist, only introduced as Ida, lead singer-guitarist Jascha Richter and Mikkel Lentz.

While Lentz had his white shirt unbuttoned to his waist (yummy!) the other two looked fairly ordinary with no stage hair or costumes.

The fourth Michael, Soren Madsen, has possibly learnt to rock and left the group so now we are left with three. Kaare Wanscher was on the drums on stage.

The MLTR show, presented by Star Planet, started on time and opened with Sleeping Child, a mellow crowd-pleaser and the evening continued much in that vein.

Someday It's Gonna Make Sense from the new album Eternity & Beyond had a nice punchy beat and no doubt is going to be a winner.

Fans went absolutely wild when Richter did a walk during I'm Gonna Be Around, rushing up to the barriers to have a picture taken with him or just to hold his hand.

After nine songs in the first set, Ida took centre stage to showcase her singing with You Took My Heart Away. Good try but she's better now at rocking the bass guitar.

Next came a medley of songs, after which we were re-introduced to Richter, this time wearing a grey leopard-print T-shirt. Euro-trash look not withstanding, he had the crowd in full sing-along mode with Out Of The Blue.

The last set had eight songs starting with the very lively Angel Eyes. Favourites like Strange Foreign Beauty (which was dedicated to"Maleeesia") and the single, Take Me To Your Heart, which is a remake of Jacky Cheung's Goodbye Kiss, had the audience on their feet and swaying deliriously.

The fan approval reached an all-time high at the end of the night with the opening strains to 25 Minutes. The song managed to get super macho Muthu, feng tau Lee and cynics like me, joining in at the chorus:"Boy I missed your kisses/ all the time but this is Twenty five minutes toooo laaaate".

As I sat nursing my hot chocolate in the 14 degrees Celsius cold after the concert, I had to agree that karaoke "live with MLTR" can get you warm and fuzzy for a night at least.

(Written by Kiren Kaur)