Ravishing Rasmus [Malaysia]

Dipped in dim lights, an eager crowd awakened to the Goth roar of Finnish rock act The Rasmus at Hard Rock Cafe, Kuala Lumpur recently. MIRIAM SHASTRI was there to witness the Scandinavian spectacle.
IN OUR music, we try to convey an atmosphere that is mysterious, larger than life,” said Lauri Ylonen, lead singer of Finnish rock outfit The Rasmus before the band’s show in Kuala Lumpur last week.
And the band did get the “atmosphere” required. The Rasmus were pleased with what they saw at the Hard Rock Cafe in town – the venue was packed to the brim for the band’s inaugural live showcase in Malaysia.
The lively and enthusiastic crowd was a colourful mixture of ethnicities and age groups as well as die-hard fans who offered such a good show of dancing and jumping that the attention was almost diverted from the performing band.
Lauri was well recognisable, wearing crow’s feathers in his hair, true to his popular image in most of The Rasmus’s recent music videos, whilst drummer Aki Hakala, bassist Eero Heinonen and guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi, all dressed in black, manifested the mysterious air that seems to follow the band everywhere it goes.
After chants of “Rasmus, Rasmus” had gone on long enough, the Scandinavian quartet took to the stage and started off with their hit single First Day Of My Life, one of their biggest successes in Europe.
Having pumped even more energy into the audience, The Rasmus performed Guilty, another track from their recent Dead Letters, an album inspired mostly by mystical and weird dreams and experiences by its members.
Going back in time with the next performance F-F-F-Falling, die-hard Rasmus fans sang, or rather yelled, along and made sure that the whole audience had a great time.
The Rasmus, who have been around for about 10 years, has gone through different styles of music such as skatepunk and funk/rap, and, according to Eero, are now heading into a more personal and “mysterious, melodic and heavier musical direction, which feels good, feels right.”
So the Northern Lights lovers continued with Still Standing, taken from Dead Letters, boasting performance skills and lusty fervour.
“In every song (on Dead Letters) there’s a spark of hope,” Lauri had said earlier that day, and went on to prove his point with the next song.
It was time to mellow down and ponder, and the mystifying Time To Burn was the song of choice.
Bullet and Every Day, both taken from previous albums, were treats for The Rasmus’s fans that missed their old style in music.
After the burst of vigour on part of the band and the audience, the ballad Not Like The Other Girls was a welcome break. After showing each other their spirit and enthusiasm for good rock music, headbanging rockers and jumping fans had the chance to retire and delve into the mellowness of the goth-like piece.
A roller coaster of sombre-slow and heavy, quick-paced tunes may not be easy for everyone to endure, but spirits ran high when The Rasmus unexpectedly launched into their hit single In The Shadows, bolting it out passionately and enjoying the sing-along interaction with the audience before leaving the stage in the midst of a rampant mixture of applause and (girlish) shrieks.
Unsurprisingly, the audience wasn’t happy to see them leave.
When the chants of “we want more” became louder, the Finnish rockers came on stage to slow things down with the melancholic Funeral Song.
However, it seemed that The Rasmus didn’t want their show to end in a mellow mood. Seeing that the audience was calmed down, Lauri ordered everyone to “come alive again” and ended the night with the upbeat In My Life.
“I really hope that the show will be special for the audience, and that the audience will make it even more exciting,” Lauri had expressed before the show.
Safely said, the show was a success, for which the likes of Eero must be very thankful.
Remembering how cold it is in Finland, the ardent bassist requested at the end of the show: “Be good and loyal fans, we want to come here more often!”
As Lauri once confidently proclaimed, most concertgoers left with a smile on their faces.

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