Black Eyed Peas on Arthur's Day went off like a pow-der keg...

On Friday, 25 October, the world clinked mugs of the Black Stuff to the 250th anniversary of the stout OG, Arthur G (we're calling him this for a reason). Question is, would he have been smiling down from the heavens or rolling in his grave if he saw the Black Eyed Peas in action at Sunway Lagoon for the Malaysian edition of Arthur's Day?

The day started off promisingly enough. The BEP press conference showed a more personable side of the Peas, in which we learned that: a) they are not as vapid as their lyrics would suggest; b) Will.I.Am has a sense of humour, joking that he's not starring in an Elton John biopic (ha!); and c) they kinda piss in the general wind direction of people who write sentences like (a), mostly because they seem to actually possess the exuberant happiness that they exude. As happy as anyone with a #1 hit for 25 weeks would be, we guess.

Let's not mince words here: you don't have to get overwrought in deep thought with BEP. They do, as the saying goes, exactly what it says on the tin. They have one function, and one function alone: to make you not stand in a club with your drink tucked in folded arms. They want you to dance. Like a loon.* And last Friday, despite the evening heat bringing the cauldron of Sunway lagoon to boil, and people herding like war refugees seeking asylum, they did exactly that.

The opening acts were an odd bunch; among those who came on after Reshmonu and Joe Flizzow were the questionably-named Man Hand and MC Hotdog. BEP opened with–surprise, surprise–'Let's Get It Started' before going into a succession of non-big single songs. Maybe the heat was getting to them at this point; gone for the most part was their famed choreography or energy. In its place was some very, very literal "acting out" of the songs, with Fergie role-playing the love interests of both Will.I.Am and Taboo (Apl didn't get as much love; whether that was due to Apl being the Ringo of the band or the cameraman being a little too obsessed with Fergie, it's hard to say). Also in its place was a brief and random appearance of dancers wearing speaker-suits doing the robot.

But just when things were in danger of becoming too tepid, BEP left the stage for Will.I.Am's DJ set. The inclusion was questionable at first: why play other people's hits in your own concert when you're the biggest thing on earth at the mo'? But it turned out to be a masterstroke: Will.I.Am certainly knows what people like, dropping all sorts from Kanye West and Estelle to Blur and Red Hot Chilli Peppers to, erm, Journey.

And then they kicked it into gear. Fergie launched into a solo set, glamming up her conservative tee and pants get-up with a faux-feather boa. Even the sad(ish) 'Big Girls Don't Cry' was cheered on like a party hit before the other Peas converged upon the stage with the biggest shells in their heavy artillery of club staples like 'Pump It', 'Boom Boom Pow' and what is currently the heaviest of all, the consummate love-in 'I Gotta Feeling'.

When you think of the Black Stuff, you usually think of old Irish men of letters, reminiscing about Bloomsday and slabs of liver. This Arthur's Day, young people were fuelled with plastic cup after plastic cup of the stuff, and went absolutely mental. Crunk, even. Nary a scrooge in the house. Arthur G would've been beaming.

_{*That was exactly what happened when Will.I.Am hit Blanc Le Club in KL the night before BEP were to perform for a rather hush-hush DJ set. Will.I.Am made the whole place shake with mashups of R&B, hip hop, indie and electro, just the way the peeps liked it too. But not before commendable opening sets by DJ T-Bone and local hip hop veteran DJ Face (who made his big return to Malaysian decks after a six-year stint in the UK), who  dropped a nice mesh of old school beats and stuff like Skee-Lo–whom you would never hear in the clubs today (a pity).}

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