Live Music!!

3rd December 2006, Monday

Finally we are into December and I began the month with a bang literally as the loud music, the confetti and visual effects happening in my 1st ever paid concert got my eyes opened and my ears veered on Saturday evening....

Just months back, my missus insisted me accompanying her to watch the concert by Emil Chau Wakin to commemorate his 20th anniversary in the music business...
I tried rejecting the idea but didn't had the heart to disappoint her once more, so I meekly agreed...
Seriously this singer who's music I grown up listening to is like one of the few performing artists out there you will not detest and it transcended all age groups...
His family man image and his passion for the music he composed and of course his tendency to forget his lyrics and his infectious personality got everyone hooked...
Of course after the mid 90s when he was at his prime, his appeal waned in recent years but by the attendance of the concert at the indoor stadium told another story...

The crowd shown a very family affair with aged grandparents and even parents lugging their young children...
My lass bought the most expensive ticket there was to offer which cost us (more like her) a cool $300 but the view we had by the side was pretty much worth every penny...

Forseeing that he had the tedency to over-run his concert, the event organizers stated the concert will begin at 8pm and getting everyone seated by 7.30pm... and he did not showed any prima donna personality, perhaps bursting into the rather small stage which was cozy enough to house his band consisting of 2 guitarists, a pianist, a sound effect keyboardists, a drummer, a bassists and 3 back-up vocalists...
But on the other side a 20 men/women string ochestra which I really like as well as a pipe-guy since he dabbled with saxophone, clarinet, flute and other pipe instruments...

While the music was blasting for a while , it got better when the ear-drums got accustomed to the high decibels...
I liked the huge screens hanging on the ceiling which had close-up shots of Emil while he performed, though a nanosecond delay from the live act but at least there was lyrics for people like myself who wasn't too familiar with all the songs to hum along...

Upon beginning, he assisted a rather wooden guy to propose to his lass using one of his famous number which concern getting married...
The pudgy bride-to-be nonchalantly agreed, as if she was forced by circumstances when her unromantic beau was having stage fright despite Emil's comedic assistance...
There was anothe dude along my row who started proposing to his own girl while the song was rumbling, which got the crowd around them abuzz...
It was a cheap way to jump on the bandwagon..well if it is okay for such a leecher to be your husband, then good for you lady...but I find the act rather disturbing...

Our crescent-faced singer was having a bad flu which can be deduced from his voice and constant sipping of herbal tea along the stage..but his overwhelming enthusiasm to perform won everyone's hearts and he was assuring everyone he had still many classic tunes yet to be sung while our watches were screaming 11 plus...
The last segment fetaured all his best hits from the 1990s which really got me going and his ability to strum his guitar while crooning was eye-catching...

All good things must come to an end as it did around 10 minutes to midnight when he bid everyone farewell with a fitting finale after thanking his hardworking musician crew and all the sponsors while around 2/3 of the crowd was gearing to stream out of the stadium...
My wife, being a seasoned concert goer as she is, was expecting an encore and wouldn't budge unless convinced that the concert is over while I hustled and coaxed her to leave like Cinderella at the Prince's ball by midnight...

We managed to catch a feeder bus to Yio Chu Kang which expedited our journey back and save a few dollars for transport but overall it was a great night to hang out with one another and of course with Emil...and it might be my last concert-going due to how expensive concert here would be unless L'Arc~en~ciel or SMAP hit town which is as close as impossible...

For the rest of the weekend was a carbon copy of last week with a badminton session, lunch and then to La Tendo where I splurged indiscriminately and had to lug my haul to the concert...
Was supposed to meet up my buddy TW but got a change of plan...
Sunday was when I stayed home to bask in my indulgences when my mind started bursting with ideas to make my monochrome life a bit more colorful as the missus was feeling a pre-Monday blue in the evening, kept claiming to want to take MC...

Selina sent me her online photo album for her recent trip to Tokyo which includes an on-sen ryokan trip at Hakone with her beau, Kevin and it got my Japan-loving hormones raging like wild rush of adrenaline this morning...
This week at work would generally be dictated by how fast BY and Seegeta can prepare the samples for me...but overall I felt there might be some delay from the previously postulated time of completion as they would be only less then 10 days at work after this week which is a bit tight for me...

The radio stations are starting to churn out X'mas carols to instill some festive mood in the air...and perhaps we should be starting to get into the mood soon...

Japanese word of the day: コンサート~con-sa-a-to~ (Concert) I might start stripping and dancing like a mad man as seen in the concert on Sat if Laruku actually comes to perform locally...