CROWD PLEASER: Benchmarx, gave an electrifying performance on stage

There’s no mistaking the excitement and attention cast on the Indie music scene as more and more acts such as Pesawat, Hujan, Bunkface and One Buck Short are seen successfully prying the public’s eye away from the mainstream.

While we are happy that these musicians are able to get the recognition they deserve, it has been quite taxing keeping up with the long list of awards and nominees.

The event was delayed by nearly one hour due to the rain (event started at 8.30pm) and late arrival of the guests.

There were also quite a number of glitches throughout the show. Most notable was when there was a mix up between the announcement of Best Instrumental Award and Best Guitar Goreng Riff Award, when the emcees mistook the winning envelopes for the other.

Lucky for them,Voize Managing Editor, Siva Chandran managed to save the day by informing the emcees of the mistake, or you might see Akasha perplexingly going back with the Guitar award instead of Instrumental.

While a lot needs to be said about the coordination of the event, especially with the long wait for the bands to get ready for performances, the crowd did not seem to mind much as long as their favourites were on stage.

Besides the usual Malaysians, there were some from Brunei who were nominated for the VIMA awards — Adi Rani (who walked away with the Best Pop Vocalist), Juju and Karacoma.

It was a comical moment when the emcees got the crowd going by getting the Brunei crowd to shout if they were in the audience.

While the Malaysians of course gave the loudest roar when sought out by the emcees, "Where are you, Singapore?" had the only silent moment for the night.

Not forgetting ourneighbours, Chandran gave word that next year’s VIMA might be opened to artistes from Singapore.

An award to look out for on the night was the Best Freaking Act Award, which is voted by the Indie bands.

Many would find it a great win as Pesawat went home with the prestigious award. The night ended on a high note at 12.15am.

Even when the last award was given out, the crowd refused to leave immediately and continued celebrating late into the night.