MALAYSIA seems to have an insatiable love of rock festivals, what with 10 years of rocking events like Rock The World, Sunburst Festival, Gegey Fest and Rock The Vote. Joining the lineup is “new” kid on the block, Rockaway.

* Rocking away *

Last weekend’s Rockaway 2011 had earlier promised to be “the biggest rock event of the year”, featuring a mix of 19 local and international bands playing from noon to midnight; the fest certainly had the acts to backup its claim.

Now in its second year, Rockaway 2011 had a number of hiccups in the beginning which included a change of venue and artiste line-up, as well as a change of format – it went from being a free entry to a ticketed event.

Rock fans on a budget (and anyone within a kilometre radius of Bukit Jalil National Sports Complex, where it show was held at Carpark A) could still hear the music outside the venue, but nothing beats pushing to the front of the stage during your favorite band’s set.

In a surprise move, or perhaps a calculated gamble to get the audience to come early, scene kings Hujan opened the festival with guest vocalist Jo from metalcore band, The Padang.

True to their bandname, the cloudy skies gave way to a sudden bout of hujan (rain), drenching the audience during Tres Empre’s performance, then slowing down to a drizzle by Dichi Michi’s set.

Universiti student Adawayah Azilan, 19, travelled from Malacca at 8am to make it in time for the show in Kuala Lumpur. She added that she had also wanted to catch up with her secondary school friends that had since gone to university in different states.

“I travel pretty often for festivals like these – just last week I went for the Gegey Fest during its stop at Johor,” said Adawayah, adding, “the line-up for today is massive, though, am really looking forward to Massacre Conspiracy.”

The rain delayed the show, much to the relief of the typical “Malaysian time” late-comers, with fourth act Busco starting nearly 30 minutes behind schedule at 2.20pm. Debuting material off their new EP In Search Of, Busco’s new songs featured more electronica and sounded much better than their performance during the recent Urbanscapes 2011.

* Busco *

The band’s frontman Samuel Oh, 24, explained that the EP’s title is based on the band’s new name, Busco, which means “in search of” in Spanish.

“We changed our name from Bus Company to Busco to reflect our changing style,” said Samuel, playfully adding “more importantly, we don’t want the band to be associated with Rapid KL and mini buses 10 years down the road!”

Busco drummer Darren Ashley, 23, later joined Kyoto Protocol during their super catchy song Gimme Nothing. Kyoto Protocol also promoted a new five-song EP, which frontman Fuad Alhabshi insists is an album proper, even calling it, An Album.

* Kyoto Protocol frontman Fuad Alhabshi *

Fuad, 27, joked that releasing a physical album had finally made the band “legit”, despite having been formed nearly three years ago. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one with that line of thinking, as the band had just been nominated in the best new artiste category in the 18th Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM).

“We’ve come a long way since starting as a grunge cover band playing in pubs for a RM300 a night, but I didn’t think we had the wingspan yet to be recognised by AIM,” said Fuad.

After a rainy start, the rest of the afternoon was was all sunshine and rock. Mixing the old with the new, musician-turned-businessman Jason Lo performed his classic hits Operator, The Line Is Dead and Evening News. Betraying their age, most of the 600-strong crowd sang along, knowing the lyrics by heart.

* Story of the Year *

The first of the international acts to go on stage was American rock band Story Of The Year just before dusk, whipping the audience into a frenzy with And The Hero Will Drown, Our Time Is Now and Until The Day I Die.

“For this next song, I need you to say just two words: Wake up,” screamed Story Of The Year vocalist Dan Marsala, dramatically falling to his knees during the chorus. All Time Low vocalist Alexander Gaskarth joined the band on stage mid-session, doubling the fans’ screams.

* All Time Low lead vocalist Alexander Gaskarth *

After a long break at 7pm, pop-punk band All Time Low took to the stage, immediately reenergising the audience. Lead guitarist Jack Barakat must have had some serious charm on the ladies – he was pelted by lingerie throughout the band’s performance! By the end of the set he had neatly hung six or seven bras on the microphone stand.

Unfortunately, due to some technical issues and lacking their bassist Rian Dawson (who, according to Alex, had a wedding to attend), cut their set short, much to the fans’ disappointment.

Nursing student Serafina Wheeler, 19, had taken the bus from Singapore to KL with a group of her friends just to catch the headlining band The Used.

“I broke my leg after falling off a ramp a week ago, but there was no way I was going to let a cast stop me from seeing The Used.

“I hadn’t heard of most of the Malaysian bands before, but Kyoto Protocol and Love Me Butch were mindblowing,” she enthused.

Though the audience’s numbers had fluctuated from hundreds to thousands throughout the day, by midnight the entire “rockzone” area had been filled as the last band of the day, The Used, finally came blasting onto stage. They were easily the loudest band of the night.

Bert McCracken cheekily introduced each song as “the best song ever written,” and the fans lapped it up, screaming and clapping along to every song. As if on cue, the rainclouds returned for a second round, adding to the drama of the night.

“Apparently no one here is too tired to have a good time. I’ve been waiting 10 years to come to Malaysia, so I hope you’re ready because this next song is the greatest song ever written,” said Bert, choosing to end the festival on quiet note with an acoustic version of On My Own. – By Qishin Tariq