A*mei
STAR World Tour
4th October 2008, 8pm
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Written by Derrick Lim
Taiwanese pop queen A*mei returns to Singapore for an encore concert on her STAR world tour barely a year after her last concert here last November which garnered overwhelming response from the audience. Members of the audience, especially those who had attended last year’s concert, were in for a real treat as A*mei changed the setlist and added in some surprises.
A*mei started off the show with a medley of her dance hits which had some of the audience standing and singing along, most notably an entire block of the audience that were dressed in red and waving their light sticks in unison. What seemed interesting was that the power ballads rather than the dance or rock numbers seemed to garner the strongest response from the 10,000 strong crowd, having the entire audience on their feet and allowing A*mei to conduct a singing contest between audience members from all four sides of the stage. And that is perfectly understandable as songs like 原来你什么都不想要 and 听海 are considered to be Mandopop and karaoke classics.
At times, especially after the performance of 记得 barely 6 songs into the show, A*mei seemed unable to control her emotions. The Singapore audience’s passiveness has been well documented in past years, especially during A*mei’s first concert in Singapore in the year 1998, which did not seem to strike a chord with the Singaporean audience. A*mei was clearly touched by the warmth of the audience as she thanked them, saying that “We have not even finished the tour yet, and we are back in Singapore again!”
The night was full of surprises, coming firstly in the form of the premiere of a yet-to-be-released Japanese song, 命运是遥远那天的约定，which was the theme from A*mei’s 3 month stint as the lead in the Japanese adaptation of the musical Turandot. She also entertained with a surprisingly soulful rendition of Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You, with a few minor pronunciation errors. Seeing that she was doing a concert in concert in Singapore, she exclaimed, “I do have good friends in Singapore!” before breaking out into an impromptu version of 天黑黑 by Stefanie Sun, her previous label mate.
The highlight of the night, without a doubt, was the acoustic set which comprised hits such as her debut single, 姐妹， as well as 解脱 and a reggae version of 牵手 . The atmosphere was breathtaking, with the audience on their feet and their voices reverberating in the indoor stadium. There was a point where A*mei told the audience to sing the entire chorus of 我可以抱你吗？爱人 as she sat down right in the middle of the stage to listen to them.
The night ended in a climax with a high-powered rendition of 三天三夜,a rock number from one of A*mei’s earlier albums. The concert once again, proved A*mei’s status as one of the finest Mandopop vocalists and performers, giving the Singaporean audience a taste of what is to come and anticipation for her next performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment