Monday, August 3, 2009

1st-2nd August Events Part 1

Wonder where had I been last weekend? Studying? Well, not really. Hahaha. Last weekend I went to Genting Highlands to watch Tsai Chin's Concert on the 1st and also went to attend a William Chan event on the 2nd of August. So here are my experience and comments on the two events!

Tsai Chin Live In Genting Highlands Malaysia, 2009

Some of you may wonder who the hell is Tsai Chin? Hahaha. Well if you are following the Taiwan music industry, then you may know that Tsai Chin is one of the nominee for The Best Female Singer Category at the Golden Melody Awards this year. She was nominated along with Jolin Tsai, Fish Leong etc but did not win the award in the end. Well, its not surprising as giving the best singer award to a 52 year old(this year) veteran singer may receive fans disapproval although I do feel that if talking in terms of vocals, then veteran singers own them. But we are now living in an era where pure vocals alone are not sufficient. Demanding creatures aren't we?

Well the main reason I watched this concert is because I'm accompanying my mum to watch it. She is one of my mum's favourite singer and I'm so used to listening my mum sing her songs during K-sessions that I am quite familiar with her songs too! Haha. Well, my mum accompanied me for Joey's concert, Super Trio concert etc. so this time it is my turn to accompany her. Its an indirect deal. Haha. So, concert starts at around 8.15pm (which is a good sign as not too long of a delay) and again Dejavu factor...I feel that I'm one of the youngest people in the crowd watching this concert just like Liza Wang's concert last year.

So concert starts and hmm...first song she sang..not familiar. Hahaha. Okay...but vocal quality, good, and maybe I can put it excellent. Then she started talking and receiving many flowers from the audience below and started talking for about 5 minute or so before continuing with the next song. Hmm...not familiar to me again. LOL. I thought this is happening to me only, but my mum told me she wasn't familiar with the song too. Haha. And then, the cycle repeated again like a ritual. Sing--Talk--Sing--Talk (you get the idea). Then, she went in for a costume change and came out with a red dress. And then, she sang a faster paced song which my mind *clicked* yeah! At last, a song I know! So, when I know a song, I video it. Although its not allowed but so far so good, no one stopped me from video recording yet...(recalling bad experiences from Joey's concert) Tsai Chin did a "yo, yo" dance while singing this song. Haha. Well this is the part where I feel the mood start to liven up and audience start to get involved.



When the atmosphere lights up, then I was expecting more fun and lively songs. But after that song then another ---Talk----She didn't continue with another fast song after that, but continued singing some unknown songs to me. The ritual continued on Song--Talk--Song--Talk (with some change of costume in between). At one talking session, Tsai Chin said that she will leave the audience feeling 10 years younger after watching this concert. In my mind I was thinking, "Oh wow! So after this concert, I'll be a 9 year old kid once more! Let's see if it'll be so or it'll backfire!" Haahha...do I sound mean?

After more unknown songs, at this point I'm listening more to vocals than the song. Then, she finally sang more songs that I'm familiar with. 最後一夜 (the last night) which is her hit song. I think most chinese society will know this song. Its like how most people know Teresa Teng's 月亮代表我的心(Moon Represents My Heart).

After that, she sang songs made famous by other singers such as Jacky Cheung, Dave Wong and Teresa Teng. Which gives a fresh feel. She sang those songs well. After more of the talking ritual then she sang the two songs that I was expecting to listen to the whole night. 不了情 and 新不了情 (endless love and new endless love respectively). Here's a recording of New Endless Love!

After a few more songs and talk then the concert ended. She came out for encore and sang her most famous song 恰似你的溫柔. She sang the song really well and it was one of the song of hers that I was most familiar with. If any of you watched the 24 hour Sichuan fund-raising event at Hong Kong last year then you may have heard Tsai Chin singing that song there. I really like the melody and lyrics. Its an evergreen and golden song.

Well, to wrap up my feelings and comments at the end of the concert. I feel that Tsai Chin talks too much in between songs. Out of the 3 hour concert I think talking may have tooked up 30-45 minutes of the show. I will give her a 8/10 for vocals but 5/10 for showmanship and performance. As an audience, I feel the lack or arrousal(I use this word carefully) during the concert. And paying RM350 for a ticket is not really worth the money. The rundown of the songs are not too satisfying as she didn't sing most of her other famous piece. If you were to go for her concert, then paying less for a cheaper ticket and paying for a VVIP ticket wont make much difference as her voice is her strength, not her stage performance. Will I attend another Tsai Chin concert?? I doubt. Once is enough and no regrets from me as I have listened to one of Taiwan's Music Queen sing live. Oh yeah, before I end the post, the question earlier. Did I feel like a 9 year old? Or a 90 year old? Haha. Well, my answer is : Indifferent. I don't feel much diference and the concert is too plain. I don't feel older and start humming classics nor I start jumping around and feeling lively. So final words for the concert : "Tsai Chin sings to your ears but not to your eyes."

p.s. we waited after the concert to see if Tsai Chin will come out to meet some fans. There were some fans from Taiwan and Hong Kong waiting too. But she did not turn up. Well........

I will update on William Chan in the next post!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Young lady, I think your generation of people only know how to enjoy those music that are 'noise' to many (from your mom's generation). Just plain NOISE! Nowadays, young people like you can be crazy over music that does not & will not leave a single note in the head after listening to the whole song! Just can't understand what they are 'shouting' about & all the young chaps can go ga ga about it. I think you people only go for the looks of the singers & not really enjoying the songs. People like Tsai Chin is so well loved by all who loved her songs, never mind of her looks. And all her songs are really songs that you want to sing over & over again unlike the songs of the new generation now. Looking at the attendance of the people throughout the world in Tsai Chin's concerts, I am 100% sure that everyone just loved her voice & songs! Songs of yesteryears are truly songs. Songs nowadays are so terribly noisy & meaningless! Even another Taiwanese singer, Jenny Tseng, said the same too. Being a singer herself, she can't even understand what the young people are singing nowadays! You can just listen once then forgot the tune after that!

Even if you offer me free VVVIP tickets to the concerts of the new generation singers, I would rather sleep & have sweet dreams than wasting my time to hear people shouting & yelling!!!

And oh, by the way, she's only 51 & not 56 this year & I have yet to miss any of her concert so far! Looking forward to more....

Ivy said...

Hi anonymous,

I respect your comment but I would like to make it clear from your misunderstandings that I did not mention that Tsai Chin is not a good singer and also that her songs are not lovely. I was just expressing my feelings towards the concert that Tsai Chin did not sing her classics and famous songs during her concert except for a few that I mentioned, which turned out as a little dissapointment personally for me.

Indeed, I did praise Tsai Chin for her wonderful and strong vocals. When I review on an event, I review based on my personal experience, opinion and also the overall of the performance and not solely on the singing. As to your opinion on younger generation of singers these days, I do agree with you but nevertheless, we should not put a stereotype and regard all new generation of singers as 'screamers' and singing meaningless music. There are still singers who sing with their vocals out there and musicians who write meaningful lyrics and that is what that keeps the music industry and also the listeners of music move on.

As to the age typo, thank you for the correction. I wil correct it accordingly.

Anonymous said...

hey anonymous,I'm not trying to be rude or what but what you have just said is so stereotyped! Not all of us(from the younger generation)enjoy those 'noisy' music (referred by you) and what you've just said is so unfair to the others who love the singers based on their vocals and not their appearance!!

"Even if you offer me free VVVIP tickets to the concerts of the new generation singers, I would rather sleep & have sweet dreams than wasting my time to hear people shouting & yelling!!!"
IMO,I think you shouldn't condemn the new generation singers even though their songs might be noisy and meaningless to you.

JNG said...

After reading Ivy's original post; I feel that everyone is of course always entitled to their own opinions.

But one must consider the fact that in the world of today; there are different type of genres to fit different needs and tastes; from the so called "mindless noise" (when you just want to break loose and dance) to classic songs with meaning (when one wants a song to reflect his/her emotions).

I for one am a big fan of oldies (being influenced by my mum); and I have to say that at times I also find myself just relieving stress to the fast repetitive electronic beep bop beats of the late Michael Jackson.

I would also have to agree that looks primarily is a factor for an artist; even if his/her vocals is top notch; yet don't we always find ourselves using looks always as a first impression of someone?

Yet as I see it; it is unfair to jump to the conclusion that the "young generation" is a generation of shallow head bangers listening to "mindless noise". Please don't let the minority or even the majority lead you to think that we are all like that. I happen to know numerous people who listen to old groups like MLTR, Foreigner, Tom Jones, etc; just like their parents did. We still appreciate these songs; but we don't solely want to listen to these songs all the time; imagine how boring a nightclub would be with just slow oldies music?

So trying to be as objective as possible here; everyone is yes I repeat allowed to have their own opinions and every musical genre has its place in today's world and in our hearts; so please before judging us (the younger generation) again; please consider the group of us who still enjoy oldies like you do; still listen to them everyday like you do; and will pass them on to our children like you did with yours =).

Anonymous said...

S...N...O...R...E....