How many of my ‘first time’ was given to Joey?? Well, for sure my ‘first time’ watching a Hong Kong Coliseum concert was given to her. This time around, I watched 2 shows out of 12! Yeah, 12 shows in total. I was trying to plan my trip to be able to watch the final show but who would have thought Joey to add shows from November all the way to December 4th. So, too bad I couldn’t make it for the last show because staying in Hong Kong for around 10 days will empty my already not-so-full pockets! Hahaha…which also meant that I miss the pyjamas party with Joey on the 5th! However, having the opportunity to watch Number 6 Concert live in Hong Kong was enough to compensate everything. Besides, the final show will be on DVD so I could just imagine myself watching the last show at home on DVD..haha! For this post, I will not elaborate on what the whole concert was about as that could be seen on the news reports and DVD later on or even Youtube now. Instead, I will write on my personal experience, special occurrence and my feelings from watching the concert.
Joey's all new black 'escape' suit with an added chicken feather mohawk.This time around, although watching a similar concert on two different occasions, however the feelings from the two shows were different. I’m not sure if reports of it were out, however Joey started losing her voice, well not really losing, but her voice started becoming hoarse from 22nd November show onwards. And right…my first night was on the 22nd. Joey started the concert with the ‘escape’ 45 degree dance as reminiscence from her previous Starlight concert with a modified dance choreography and the exact opposite costume color: Black (as opposed to Starlight’s white). However, when she opened her voice, I was actually surprised because of the hoarseness. I notice the extra effort she needed to sing the song and also the off-key singing she had throughout the song. Similarly for the next song ‘on the treadmill’, she went off-key on several occasions.
Joey's colourful carousel dress showing the witty, playful and happy side of Joey.
After hitting off with two powerful fast tracks, she settled down greeting the audience and sang to some ballads (which rundowns slightly defer every night). Even while talking, I noticed the hoarseness in her voice. As I was sitting with Malaysian fans, with Korean fans behind and Singapore fans beside, most of what we shared were, “Joey’s voice has become hoarse tonight!” Second part of Joey’s concert then showed the “joyful, playful and happy” side of Joey with a lot of colors as she sang funky songs of hers. Her ‘carousel’ dress was one daring attempt as not anyone could carry the dress, but Joey managed to carry it well.
During this part of the concert, suddenly we were interrupted by someone. And if I’m not mistaken it was Joey’s fan club leader Pui. I was wondering what did she want as she was asking some of the fans for something. And I got to know that she was asking for some lozenges. She said that Joey wants some lozenges. A certain brand if not mistaken, from the Macau leader as I think he usually carries them with him. Some fans just took out lozenges they had with them and passed to her because the Macau leader was seated quite far away so he didn’t catch what they requested. Witnessing that happen at that time, I felt bad for Joey who was all out performing and singing her best up stage in a happy and cheery mood. However, we all know inside, she’s feeling frustrated with her hoarse voice tonight. However, the incident made me realize and experience for myself, the trust and bond Joey has with her fans which is something to be cherished and preserved.
A mysterious look before hitting off to a sexy 'snake' dance without the white fur coat. The white fur coat was seen on Wyman Wong during the TVB Awards Presentation. Joey must've borrowed it to him for the night.
It may be the lozenges she had, her positive thinking or simply her voice ‘opened’ with more singing. Her voice condition improved with every following song she sang. This time around, Joey did a really sexy, nose bleeding ‘snake’ dance. ‘Mad About You’ in Starlight is child’s play compared to this. I’m not sure how many could accept the sexiness this time around. However for me, its all stage performance and art. Haha…how could I take an arts degree if I can’t accept sexy dances??
Watching a concert in Hong Kong Coliseum is good in the sense that the stage is versatile and the sound system is good. However, being my first time watching a four sided stage concert, it can be quite bothering as Joey will not always face one side. She faces left, right, front, back. So some of the dance moves would have Joey’s back facing me. Having fan club seats, I was seated on the first row (which is 4th row in actual fact because first three rows are VIP seats) which makes it hard to actually see the whole stage design, unless I watch it on the LED screen. Next time around, I think I’m going to get some nights of the concert sitting on a cheaper ticket pricing zone in the upper deck to fully see the whole design and movement of Joey on stage (or any other singer.
The once belittled singer for not having any instumental talent could strip that recognition off as Joey rises up on stage with a guitar to surprise her audience.
The ‘hei fan’(response) from the audience on 22nd night was quite good for a Monday night. In fact, the audience was in a better mood than even Joey herself. Joey’s mood that night was obviously not very good (most probably because of her voice). We were very high that night standing while Joey sang fast songs and sang along to her ballads. One of the best parts of the concert besides the B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L costumes is Joey’s little surprise. During the first or rather ‘fake’ encore, Joey reemerge on stage singing the concert themesong ‘Airport’ with guitar in hand, which made me scream and cheered. Because fans know how bad a guitar player Joey is. To see her strumming and rocking herself to the song was not only impressive but also touching as we know how determined and hard she must’ve work to finally be able to play the guitar. We all should learn from Joey’s always improving spirit.
Another thing good about HK Coliseum is that we could bring in our DSLR cameras and take pictures to our heart’s content. Which lead me to curse myself later on. Why? Because I took sooooooo many pictures that night that finally when we went out during the handshake session and Joey was right infront of me for like 5-10 minutes I couldn’t grab any photos!! Why?? My memory card was full!!! Joey was looking for a ‘handsome male fan’ wearing her concert t-shirt and she picked the fan beside me….which actually turned out to be a female. But Joey didn’t realize it! HAHAHA….I heard her friend told her in Mandarin, ‘she mistook you as a male!’ On 22nd night, I managed to shake Joey’s hand. Joey actually missed my hand, but I shouted out “Joey!!!” and she walked back a step to shake my hand! Hahaha..thanks Joey!! However, because of sitting position, on 25th night, I didn’t manage to shake Joey’s hand because the crowd in front of me was too big. But that night, I made sure my memory card isn’t full. So I manage to get more good pictures of Joey.
Joey was in a better mood on the 25th. Chatting and joking away to the audience.
The concert felt as if it ended very fast on 22nd night. To the point I felt, what?? Its ending already? So little songs? However on 25th night, the concert felt like it was way longer. In actual fact, Joey sang around the same number of songs in both nights but one just felt longer than the other. On 25th night, Joey’s voice was only very slightly hoarse in the opening. Her voice was back to the usual power and crispy clear especially towards the end that I didn’t want her to stop singing! However, the atmosphere was not as ‘high’ on 25th night. The reason?? Because we were stopped from standing up during fast songs!! The audience behind us scolded us for standing up and asked us to sit. Come on, don’t get front seat tickets if you don’t plan to stand during fast songs! Joey then said, “Today’s audience is very gentle. They stand during ballads, but sit during fast songs.” Joey’s mood was very much better on the 25th. She talked more and joked more that night. She said ‘stop worrying about hoarseness. Just sing to my heart’s contents. The hoarseness will then go away.’ Love Joey’s positive attitude to the max!
Joey Yung's 'JY' plated car waiting for her behind the HK Coliseum.
After concert, we also waited for Joey behind the HK Coliseum. I used to think all singers do this. But then I realize, not all singers actually do this. Every night and I mean every single night, Joey will come out and greet her waiting fans and sign autographs for them. On the first night, I didn’t know Joey will only sign one per person each night, so I passed two to her. Well, she looked at the two things I passed to her: A Starlight DVD booklet and Airport EP version 2. She then picked the EP to sign. And unfortunately, while she passed it back to me, she smeared the ink!!! Arrgghh!! My EP is destroyed!!
However the other fans consoled me this way, “well, having a smeared autograph by Joey is a memory to keep.” LOL, well quite true eh? Haha…However, I think the 25th night waiting was even a better memory. This night, because I was with my mum, so I could sign two things. So I passed the Starlight DVD and also another documentary album which is in a form of a book for Joey to sign. And this time, another really funny memory…….when I passed her the book, I passed it to her upside down. So, she just signed on it and the outcome is….an upside down autograph. Argghhh!!! Again!? Hahaha…Luckily Starlight DVD was signed okay..but the ink was light. Hope it doesn’t fade away! Well, however it turned out to be, it was good memory anyway. Joey was way more cheery on the 25th than she was on the 22nd as she was seen jumping around like a little kid before entering her car.
Besides that, I wanted to give some encouraging words to Joey before I leave. However, I was interrupted by some guy behind me which voice I could recognize. He once asked Joey for a photo while Joey was rushing up the road into her car and Joey denied his request. After that, he posted a video of it on Youtube spreading words on how arrogant Joey is for rejecting him bla bla bla….If I could recognize the voice, I’m sure Joey could too, because Joey herself said she did watch the video on Youtube. And this time, he requested Joey this way, “Cho Yee, ho em ho yi lo zhu di seung tong nei ying yat zheung hap jiu mou?” (Joey can I take a picture with you while holding this picture?) I’m not sure what picture he meant but I think it’s a postcard of Joey. Joey then moved on signing stuffs for the person beside me while she slightly shook her head and said softly in Cantonese (Joey is surprisingly kinda soft spoken on a one to one talk with her fans…hard to imagine?? Haha…not at all, because I’m like that too. Loud in group, soft alone.), “Requesting for something that I could not fulfill.” The annoying guy behind me probably didn’t hear Joey’s respond because I heard him started smearing Joey to his friend again. He said also in Cantonese, “How arrogant…not even bothering to give me a respond.” I wonder if this guy is even a fan….why bother waiting and asking for something that you know could not be fulfilled? How do you expect Joey to take a picture with you with guards, crowd, grills blocking and parting us from her? And you should also know that this is not even a right time to ask for pictures with Joey. Seem like he’s just here to find fault with Joey.
Well, after Joey left in her super cool ‘JY’ number plate Toyota Alphard (Joey wind down the window and shouted a Bye and waved to us while her car was moving on the road..how cute), it was the end of the concert for me. It was a really good concert on its own. It will not be fair to compare it to Joey’s Starlight concert because they are two different products although made from the same core ingredients. Just like how it will be unfair to compare bread from cakes although they are similarly made from core ingredients of flour, egg, sugar and butter. For me, both Starlight and Number 6 has its own uniqueness and specialty. Saying Starlight is better than Number 6 is not true but saying Number 6 is better than Starlight is not true too. That’s the feeling I have. So my conclusion is, Number 6 is an all new product from Joey and one can be rest assured that a Joey Yung production is always a quality production.
Finally, here's a video I took from the concert of Joey singing 'Only one in this world' dedicated to her mother. Enjoy!
P.S. I will be flying to Istanbul in a few days time. After that, I’ll be flying to Hong Kong again and will be able to meet Joey again for JSG awards if everything goes well! And to all my blog readers, an early Christmas and new year wish to all of you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the coming year be a happy and blessed one. Thanks for reading!
Updates*
I just got this from my comments section by a reader:
"Great personal review.A little correction on Joey and the lozenges part.
Pui, the fanclub leader was actually trying to reach Wing because somehow, backstage people knew that wing carried those lozenges with her as her own voice was bad.
So the lozenges did play a part in Joey's voice being better after that. "
P.S. Thanks for the clarification! And guess we have to thank Wing too~ Haha.
