Everything Else

Jay Chou 2008 World Tour

!(imgcenter)http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2205332425_f242147e57_m.jpg(Singing 安静)!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/2205332425/

Thanks to the boyf, we managed to get two tickets to the concert with his OCBC points. Initially, I was a little sad that I wouldn’t be able sitting with Trevor, who has been my Jay Chou concert companion since his first “The One” concert back in 2001. Trev was attending the concert with his brother (who had redeemed the tickets with his OCBC credit card) and I was obviously going with the boyf. But by a stroke of luck, we discovered that our seats were right next to each other. Hurrah!

When the concert first started – with loud bangs and lots of pyrotechnics, as usual – we were a little put off by the sound system (which drowned him) and his slightly raspy and nasal voice. Later, he explained that he was suffering from flu, which explained why he avoided almost all of the high notes and his voice cracked a few times.

And as usual, the concert was just like a mass karaoke session. It was really thrilling to see the entire stadium on their feet, waving their light sticks/posters and singing along fervently. We even spotted two crazy fans in full Winnie The Pooh and Eeyore mascot outfits, bouncing up and down.

Alright, let me sum up the concert in a few points:

The highlights

– <<安静>> and <<黑色幽默>>
Jay Chou playing the gorgeous grand piano and singing sad ballads….mmm. The two songs are from his first and second albums and they happen to be two of my favourite 周杰伦 songs. Yay to old songs.

– <<不能說的秘密>>
When the video montage of the movie came on screen, the crowd went wild. Trev and I were gasping to each other “oh my God, I love this part! And this song!” throughout.

“最美的不是下雨天/是曾與你躲過雨的屋檐”. 方文山 is a lyrical genius.

– <<听妈妈的话>>
The best part of the song has to be the video that was playing as he sang. We had a lovely surprise when 周润发 popped up on the screen, wearing a cap and doing all sorts of rapper-esque actions. And then, hey, that’s 张学友 singing the chorus! It was hilarious!

– The three encores
When Jay announced that he was singing the last song, Trev and I looked at each other in horror. And when he disappeared off the stage, the crowd started chanting his name. As expected, he had an encore and it was <<阳光宅男>>. That’s one of my favourite songs from his <<我很忙>> album and I went NUTS. It was just cool being able to bop along and sing it.

The not-so-great parts

– Crazy long queue for the merchandise
We all gave up all thoughts of buying anything when we saw the snaking line. After the concert, we went back to the stall, hoping that there were still stuff for sale but all there was left were his old merchandise, CDs and DVDs. Jimmy’s colleague, who went for the Jan 19 session, said that there weren’t any merch for sale on that day at all.

– He didn’t sing our favourite songs
It was odd. 南拳妈妈 were the special guests and with Lara around, we expected him to sing <<珊瑚海>> but he didn’t. Other faves like <<枫>>, <<搁浅>> and <<龙卷风>> were no-shows either. Sad.

But we really had fun and it was worth the three-year wait since his last “Incomparable” tour in 2004. The best thing about his concert is really the mahoosive crowd who will sing along and scream their lungs out. In such an electrifying environment, it’s hard not to enjoy yourself.

!(imgcenter)http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2004/2206120080_15c91fee7a_m.jpg(Huge crowd)!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/2206120080/

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