Bodyslammmm!

For the past few weeks when scooting around town on our motorbike we’ve seen big advertisements around town for a POWER CONCERT sponsored by Thailand’s favorite energy drink, M150 (that’s “Em Roi Hasip”). Though we’re not really familiar with any Thai music (other than the ubiquitous “Too Much, So Much, Very Much” song that every student in any given class is bound to start singing any time any of those phrases come up in a lesson… and, of course, Thailand’s own reggae darlings Job2Do, whom I would actually be very excited to see at some point), and even though the concert was on a Monday evening, we thought we might as well seize this cultural opportunity. Plus it was only 100 baht so, not exactly a bank breaker.

me, wayne, and emma posing with the stars.

alas, we only arrived in time to see bodyslam (but they were the main event, so. i figure we got our 100 baht's worth). and yes, that's 'big ass' on the lineup. a bit awkward for your 12 year old students to keep asking if you saw big ass, but you learn to roll with such things in thailand.

caught one song in the previous act's set, but i'm not sure exactly who she was.

it's like all of thung song turned out for this thing!

as they take the stage.

this kid is getting down!!!!!

hahaha. he seriously held his hands up like that for so long. (i know you're loving this, jess! also, just so you know, i'm checking your blog all the time but my comments never seem to go through. i don't know why.)

rock out!

got tatted on our way out. awwww yeah!

It was actually a pretty short set (I guess that’s what happens when you try to fit five bands in one evening) but just enough to give us a taste of the Thai concert-going experience. Though it was outdoors they didn’t allow smoking or drinking in the venue, and their facilities were a bit lacking. Women (and more modest men, I suppose) had to actually leave the venue and go to the gas station across the street to use the bathroom. Most men were content to find a nice spot along the wall, and throughout the evening you’d see the back barricade dotted with guys relieving themselves. Though it was late there were lots of children present (I definitely earned some ‘cool’ points among my students when I showed off the remnants of my M-150 stamp the next day. Many of them had one as well.) and… oh it was kind of nice because everyone’s equipment was already set up on stage, making set changes nice and short. (Again, a necessity I suppose when trying to do so much in so little time.) As for the music, we all agreed it tended to have a distinct 80s hair-band feel to it. Which isn’t always a bad thing.

All in all it was a fun experience and I’m glad I deviated from my standard 8 pm weekday bedtime to attend (only kind of joking about the bedtime). Here’s a bit of footage I shot, if you’re at all interested in a glimpse into a Thai rock ‘n roll performance:

And here’s a real recording of the song I liked best. Or… that I got to sing along with a bit when our Thai friend who went with us told us they keep saying, “See Chompu!” (or “Pink!”) in the chorus:

Ha, and what luck! By the time the video had uploaded one of my classes had opted to (you know, with a tiny bit of assistance from their devoted teacher) write a poem together about Bodyslam. Here’s what the little guys came up with:

(In case you can’t read it:

Bodyslam can really sing!
They make me very happy.
They are so handsome, I think!
They can sing very loudly.
They can make some people scream.
Yod can really play the drums.
Singing with them is my dream.
I want to see them when they come.)

And because they were part of the set I just took off my camera, some pretty sunrise pictures I got when going to get milk for our muesli this morning: