The world is a music stage for MTV

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia—The Sunway Lagoon houses amusement rides, a wildlife park and a host of other attractions, spread across 80 acres of land. You want to see everything, but first you must head to Surf Beach, a massive wave pool with a sandy shore dotted with palm trees and huts. At least that’s what it is the rest of the year.

JOE Flizzow and Ila Damiaa

Today, Sept. 8, Surf Beach is the venue for this year’s “MTV World Stage: Live in Malaysia.” A few days prior, the pool was drained, turning it into a sprawling concert ground big enough for about 15,000 revelers. At the center is the stage where, any minute now, Joe Flizzow, EXO, Far East Movement and Robin Thicke will be performing.

It’s half past 7 p.m., and the sun is about to set. Dark clouds hover above Sunway Lagoon, threatening to make things a little bothersome for the concert-goers. Sure enough, a steady drizzle falls down as you make your way to the venue. A group of EXO fan girls scurry past, frantically rolling and tucking banners and clappers under their jackets. At a security checkpoint, a guard hands out plastic ponchos. You ask for two, for good measure.

You enter Surf Beach and see that a thick crowd has gathered around the stage. Local rapper Joe Flizzow is into his first song, “Iller, Iller,” and you are resigned to watching the gig from afar. Joe, one of Malaysia’s most popular hip-hop artists, invites fellow local singer Ila Damiaa for “Untukmu.”

He continues his set with “All Around My World,” “Who Do It Better” and “Havoc.” You don’t have a clue what Joe is singing about for the most part, but you can’t help but bob your head to his catchy urban beats.

The second act, the 12-member K-Pop group EXO takes over, and their hordes of rabid teenage fans in the front section promptly lose their minds. Most of the girls had queued and camped outside Sunway Lagoon two days earlier, but you see no signs that they’re even remotely tired. Relentlessly, they fill the muggy air with screams and professions of adulation that could shatter the eardrums of everyone within a 10-meter radius.

EXO

Thrilling

You turn your attention to the boys onstage, and try to make sense of the bedlam. Dressed in preppy school uniforms, EXO thrills the crowd with “Wolf,” “3.6.5.,” “History” and “Growl”—dance-pop tunes dashed with hip-hop and electronica. You’re not quite sure; maybe they’re lip-synching, but you marvel at their dancing—synchronized, precise, but nevertheless intense.

As EXO—Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun, Kris, Xiumin, Lu Han, Lay, Chen and Tao—

exits the stage, the fans follow suit. Hair drenched in rain water and at last looking spent, the girls squeeze through closely-packed bodies as they make their way out. Because the EXO fans make up a big part of the crowd, their exodus leaves room for you to move forward and secure a better view of the next act.

While Far East Movement’s crew sets up the band’s equipment, VJs Hanli Hoefer and Alan Wong rouse the crowd, throwing away freebies. You brace yourself for a wave of sweaty, jostling people as Hanli tosses a shirt in your direction. The rain pours a little harder, so you hastily pull over your rain poncho after figuring out what goes through where. It’s like being in a sauna.

FAR EAST Movement

Now onstage, Far East Movement—Kev Nish, J-Splif, Prohgress and DJ Virman—turns the venue into a huge dance floor with hard, head-numbing electro hip-hop ditties. The Asian-American group has everyone singing and pumping their fists for more than 30 minutes.

The band drowns the fans with catchy hooks, sparkling riffs, zinging synths and rumbling bass lines from their drawn-out set list that includes “Ain’t Coming Down,” “Like a G6,” “Illest,” “So What,” “If I Was You (OMG),” “Jello,” “Change,” “Your Life,” “Live My Life” and “Rocketeer.”

You gaze, amazed, as the four members—in red jumpsuits—bounce around in reckless abandon. DJ Virman puts on a big duck head costume and has everyone in stitches with his silly, spastic dance moves. And when you least expect it, Prohgress jumps off and crowd surfs. As you watch him get passed around by fans, you wonder what could have happened to the little EXO fans, had they stayed around.

ROBIN Thicke.

Main act

While waiting for Robin Thicke to appear, the crowd starts chanting, “Hey, hey hey!” After a lengthy sound check, the band walks in followed by three gorgeous backup singer-dancers in

white, form-fitting outfits. The stage bleeds red, evoking the vibe of a smoky cabaret. And then, to a blast of funky, percussive beats, the main act emerges, looking slick in an all-black suit. In unison, the three girls start moving teasingly—playing with their locks, swaying their hips, moaning at the mic.

Unlike the first three acts that came and went like speeding trucks, Thicke takes things more leisurely. His music undulates, and vacillates between funky and groovy, smooth and soulful. The 36-year-old’s repertoire is a mix of hits from his past albums such as “Give It 2 U,” “Take It Easy on Me,” “Feel Good,” “Shooter,” “Lost Without U” and “Shakin’ It 4 Daddy.”

Spewing platitudes and urging fans to never give up on their dreams, Thicke slows the tempo further with “Dreamworld,” in which he shows that he’s a very competent live vocalist. He’s not a big belter, but his falsettos are spot-on; his runs dusted with just the right amount of huskiness.

“MTV WORLD Stage: Live in Malaysia 2013” at Sunway Lagoon

Far from his dapper image in the music video of his No. 1 hit “Blurred Lines,” Thicke, live onstage, is swimming in his own sweat; elbows dripping like a leaky faucet as he carried on from one number to the next. Not that it deterred the fans—most especially the girls—from trying to get close.

Thicke sparks an eruption of cheers as he ends the night with “Blurred Lines.” You watch the listless fans around the stage reach

VJS HANLI Hoefer and Alan Wong photo: MTV ASIA & KRISTIAN DOWLING

out for Thicke as he descends the stage. He knows they want it.

(“MTV World Stage: Live in Malaysia” airs in the Philippines on Saturday, 11:30 a.m., on MTV Asia.)

PHOTOS BY MTV ASIA & LUCAS LAU