To immerse in the full LANY sensation requires one to experience them in person – and on Sunday night (6th November) we, along with thousands of fans, were treated with “A November To Remember” extravaganza at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
In case you weren’t aware, the “A November To Remember” tour marks the LANY (an acronym for “Los Angeles New York”)’s 3rd performance in Malaysia. The audiences were treated to hit single after hit single, a brand new song that has become a crowd favourite, some unexpected moments, lots of interaction from lead vocalist Paul Klein and an adrenaline rush that lasted hours after the encore.
LANY kicked off their Asia tour last month and have since performed in Tokyo, Taipei, and Bangkok, before flying down to our local shores. Although the American pop rock band may not be a household name in Southeast Asia, they have been growing at a rapid pace. This is evident when the local press pointed how LANY’s concert venue in Kuala Lumpur have been getting bigger over the years. (P/s: Their last concert venue was in KL Convention Centre.)
The energetic group opened the concert with a bang with opening numbers “you”, “Thick and Thin”, and “Super Far”. Huge video screens and cool lightings definitely helped enhanced the aesthetics and set the mood for each song. Fans were encouraged to sing their hearts out when Paul quipped, “Malaysia, you’re so f**king loud and I love it!”
To our surprise, concert-goers were no stranger to LANY’s new track “Congrats”, which they’ve been playing throughout their “A November To Remember” tour over the past couple of months. The angsty tune about being wronged by a former flame or friend is certainly a crowd pleaser. It also helped that the band included lyrics to the song for fans to singalong. On top of that, the middle screen played a series of funny memes while LANY performed “Congrats”.
We also liked how the setlist was evenly-balanced with songs from their self-titled album “LANY” (“Hericane”, “13”), “Malibu Nights” ( “I Don’t Wanna Love You Anymore”, “Taking Me Back”, “Thru These Tears”), “Mama’s Boy” (“Cowboy in LA”, “Sad”), and “gg bb xx” (“Ex I Never Had”, “Dancing in the Kitchen”). After performing the Kelsea Ballerini duet “I Quit Drinking”, Paul launched into a solo rendition of “Mean It” (their collab with singer-songwriter Lauv).
One would assume that Paul and his band would be out of breath after performing 20 songs, but the energy from LANY never wavered and Paul made sure that even those in the upper section were acknowledged. It fact, the night got progressively better. Despite Leslie Priest stepping away from the band to focus on other music pursuits, touring musicians Eric “Puff” Scarborough and Kim Vi more than make up for his absence, with Jake Goss pounding away on his drums. However, Paul is the heart and soul of the concert. His masterful ability to interact with the crowd as the vocal frontman is second to none.
Besides “Congrats”, our favourite performances came toward the end with “Malibu Nights” and their earlier hits (“Parents” and “ILYSB”) during the encore. As aforementioned, it’s hard to fully describe a LANY concert. For that 1.5 hours, Paul felt like a long-time buddy, talking about love, friendship, heartbreak, and breakups. It didn’t feel like a Hollywood megastar talking to an audience, but rather a musician trying to inspire music lovers and making everyone feel less alone than when they walked in.
@hypemalaysia Our favourite performance during #LANY Live In Kuala Lumpur #anovembertoremember #paulklein #jakegoss
