Del Goh
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
08-Mar-07
The Brunei Times, Brunei Darussalam
IT WAS bad. After being postponed and moved from Kuala Lumpur’s Stadium Negara where I had scored the best ever tickets, smack in front of the stage the long-awaited Wang Leehom concert, the end of his "Heroes of Earth" tour, ended up in the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil.
From disorganised ushers to crappy corner seats which made Leehom appear the size of a 50-cent coin, the concert was only redeemed by the terrific performance of the American-born Taiwanese star famous for his "chinked-out" music and boyish good looks.
When Leehom came on-stage, it was like all hell had broken loose. In a frenzy, everyone from our side tried to rush to the front, climbing over railings to be as close as possible to the stage.
Leehom opened the show with Heroes Of Earth, which we almost missed in the rush for slightly better seats. Then we settled down to enjoy the show, despite only being able to watch the ongoings on a large screen.
It didn’t take long, though, before I started enjoying myself listening to songs that I’m so familiar with, but in the exciting setting of a concert. I began to sway, moving to the beat of the music, stamping my right foot and slapping my hands on my thighs. And I said to myself, "wow".
What I thought I loved about this particular singer, after being a fan of his work for probably a decade already, is finally confirmed. In this day and age where so many so-called singers release albums yet resort to lip-synching during live performances due to insufficient talent, something which they are paid to do, no less, Leehom’s live performance is genuine. Furthermore, as I have suspected for a long time now, he sounds even better than his recordings.
Only a true "singer" can achieve that effect. His tone is strong and steady, his range is incredible, he’s well-trained in technique. And his vocals are rich with soul.
But having said that, I must point out a small disappointment. He did lip-synch with an earphone mic (or it may have been digitally fine-tuned somehow) for a span of some five minutes when he was moving a lot around the stage with his dancers (notice I don’t use the word "dance" as he can’t really dance, but then again, he is a "singer") to the two up-tempo songs, Ya Birthday and Girlfriend, which fortunately came and went very quickly.
Immediately, the earphone mic was replaced with a normal mic and he continued interacting with the ever-screaming audience while belting out another hit.
What makes Leehom’s live performance so appealing is his mastery with instruments, his speciality being the violin and piano. But the first instrument he picked up was the guitar and that prompted an unplugged session with another guitarist and drums.
Two songs later, a white piano appeared and Leehom started it off with Crying Palm, a beautiful song of heartache that I have always related to.
At that point, I decided to unglue my eyes from Leehom for a minute and take a look around. A sea of people surrounded me well, one side of me considering where my seat was and all those glow sticks never stopped moving, creating a beautiful colourful scene. As if the Aurora Borealis was in the stadium.
This was the kind of atmosphere that makes a concert. I don’t think it could get any better than that.
I was enjoying myself until Leehom suddenly announced his guest-performer, JJ Lin, a Singaporean singer-songwriter who has also achieved international stardom and is currently based in Taiwan.
But, I have no love for this guy, more so when he started playing the piano and singing You’re Not Here, one of my all-time favourite songs from Leehom. Not only did JJ forget the lyrics to the second verse, his take on this song meant that Leehom would not be singing it anymore. I felt cheated!
Leehom quickly reappeared behind another piano after fans had given JJ his share of love and screams, and did a piano "duel" by singing one of JJ’s song (of course I wouldn’t know the title of it).
The two songs blended in perfectly, no doubt, but still, nothing to celebrate about there.
When Leehom finally asked the crowd, "Want to hear JJ sing one more song?" my friend’s timely sarcastic response to that was, "Yea, yea, just finish it".
Another anticipated performance was the upbeat Julia because it contains a fantastic violin solo. And Leehom did not disappoint as he picked up a white violin and gave a new rendition of the solo. His fingers danced across the violin strings, hitting every note to perfection, impressing even my friend, who was not such a big fan.
The last part of the concert was Leehom’s self-proclaimed "chinked-out" music, a perfect blend of western hip-hop and the unheard music from the minorities of China.
He started this trend a couple of years back and has so far garnered favourable critiques. And for the past couple of albums, there were a few tracks that had the "chinked-out" flavour.
To me, that part of the concert was the hype of it all as he belted out all those mega hits one after another, including Shangri-La, Mistake In The Flower Fields, and the fastest rap verse ever in Chinese music (almost all in one breath) in Beside The Plum Blossoms.
He even wowed me yet again when he picked up an Er-Hu (a Chinese stringed instrument played like a cello) and played it just as well as his violin.
And finally to close the section off, he sang the oldie-remake of Descendants Of The Dragon.
I knew the feeling well, a good time was about to end. Leehom appeared one last time for an encore, where his interaction and link with the audience was hard to deny.
Singing his first song Impossible To Miss You, he got the audience to hush down and then started whispering the chorus. The audience followed suit, creating a susurration in the stadium. That, I thought, was also one of the highlights of the evening. He then closed it all with One And Only.
And that was the first ever proper Asian/Chinese concert I have ever been to, and I was happy I did.
Not even a bunch of shrieking fans sitting right behind me, who never seemed to run out of breath from all the high-pitched screaming, not to mention making me jump each time they start another "cheering" session, spoilt my night.
Despite all the initial hiccups and muck-up by the organisers, I thoroughly enjoyed myself with Wang Leehom, who is now my official "hero of earth".
But as we headed out into the one hour traffic jam to get out of the stadium, my friend and I did discuss the probable success rate of getting our money back for those outrageous seats.
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