Caspian

Oh, my old love, Caspian. Thrilled that I'm watching them as my first gig of the last Mosaic Festival presented by the Esplanade. Two weeks of music gloriousnesssss. I'll savor this.

Esplanade has bravely paved the way for all these bands to come through and helped grow an almost non-existent scene to the vibrant calendar we now have. It has room for independent promoters and production houses to stage even bigger festivals and gigs to rock the scene even more. Thank you, Esplanade, and for keeping ticket prices cool these 10 years of Mosaic. Ahhh Singapore, I'm quite in love with you this quarter for hosting so many good bands. Stay this way okay? Let's not go back to the 60s and 70s when you banned rock bands and ostracized men with long hair. Not quite my era, but goodness, the unbelievable stupidity of our country's then-leaders in social stereotyping.

These touring bands work so hard. They hit a city every two days with precious little time to rest. Caspian came down from Manila where they rocked out last night with opening act ASIWYFA. Awwww. Post-rock fabulosity. I last saw Caspian in London, 2010. Then the bassist Chris Friedrich sadly passed away last August. Can't believe they've made their way to Singapore this year.

I enjoy listening to bands that don't sing, especially when they play live. There's something about that wall of sound that hits you like a sonic wave (over-used phrase I know). The band played two sets at the Black Box. Saw the set list for the earlier gig. They did all the songs I like. Well, they have only three albums and about one EP. Heh. 'ASA', a newer 'Halls of the Summer'. Ended the night with 'Sycamore'. Made me teared. All the angst, all the love, all the pain. For everything unexpected in life. Such loveliness.

March 2014 at the Esplanade, Singapore.