My first live “concert”, was at a Wheel Of Fortune show. My friend had a free ticket to go to the TV game show, which had the British boy band A1 as guest artistes.
The two of us dressed up and even applied lip balm to our pre-teen lips. I brought an extra set of clothes so that I would look older and hopefully, more attractive, to any of the members of A1.

Holly's first 'concert' featured A1

That was quite possibly my first encounter with living, breathing, guitar-strumming musicians.
As time went by, I started to take an interest in music that my peers had not heard of. This was partly because my parents had good taste in music, and also because I was horrible at Physical Education in school, or any subject that involved numbers or “parts of plants”, and music became a hobby.
Feeling cool and on top of the game, I had Pearl Jam, Massive Attack and Tricky playing on my discman. I knew all the lyrics. I thought that I must have had some intellect within me or at the very least, a bit of taste.
I then took it to the next step – I wanted to watch those bands play live. The thing was, though, I did not have much money. I probably had the allowance of $50 a week, which was a lot at the time considering my mum drove me to school and picked me up, and all my meals were from home. Still, $50 was not enough to pay for a concert ticket.
I bought so many CDs, and each CD cost practically half my allowance! I must have been 15 when I made friends with the boys from the school across my convent school. They were boys playing in bands – ooh!
I watched them jam and figured that watching them was a cheaper way of enjoying music. After all, if music is universal, does it matter who is playing it?
Nevertheless, I still really wanted to watch a rock band live in concert, and now, I am glad that my dream has finally come true.
One of the perks of being an MTV veejay is getting to watch concerts all the time. The MTV World Stage 2011 is a little more than a month away. It will be held at the i-City in Shah Alam, Selangor.
I remember being at the MTV World Stage last year. The energy from the 15,000 strong crowd was beyond comprehension.

The bands rocked hard at MTV World Stage last year

I received a work e-mail a while ago. Five minutes after opening it I was still smiling. That was when I first got the news that 30 Seconds To Mars and Pop Shuvit are going to play at this year’s MTV World Stage.
Soon after, the list of performers’ got longer. Now, Neon Trees and BEAST will also be playing alongside the two bands. I am ecstatic, not only because I enjoy all the acts’ music, but because I think it is great how different acts from different continents, are reach out to the same crowd and unite multitudes.

K-Pop band BEAST will be making an appearance this year

This year’s MTV World Stage will be different because it is all about rock this time around. MTV wants people to really just focus on the sound, beats, energy of the music.
American rock band 30 Seconds To Mars has played at many music festivals the world over including Lollapalooza (United States), Summer Sonic (Japan) and Rock AmRing (Germany). I am looking forward to meeting the band’s frontmen – Jared and Shannon Leto.
As for Pop Shuvit, I remember being blown away by their music the first time I heard them. I love the way the mix hip-hop with rock. I have also seen them live before, though I have yet to see them play on such a big stage.

South Korean band BEAST is quite fascinating. I love how their music can get to so many people, even though not all their fans can understand their lyrics. Also, their dance movesare great, and I hope I will learn a thing or two while watching them!

Say hi to Neon Trees!

Lastly, there’s American alternative band Neon Trees! Their song, Animals, is by far one of the catchiest tunes I have heard in a while. I went dancing one night and when the club played this song, I went ecstatic; I went into a state of infinite bliss. The lyrics are so beautiful, and the vocals just make me melt on the inside. I am truly excited to seem them play live.
If you want to win passes to the MTV World Stage, head on over to worldstage.mtvasia.com. – By HOLLY GRABAREK

Holly is a veejay for MTV.