Now that i am car-less, i am often too lazy to travel too far with the exception of maybe Singapore Expo as there are often many trade fairs with discounted products worth the time and cab fare!
However, it's unlikely to find me arriving at 6.00 pm at Singapore Expo as that's simply not a good use of precious time and just to add that there's hardly any trade shows yesterday that interest me.
I have another purpose and that's to catch the Li Ronghao - An Ideal World Tour Concert at the Expo's Max Pavilion! Do you know that this is officially my first attendance to a music concert!?
Far from being a music noob, i do enjoy listening to music (thanks to the radio station, UFM 1003) but i had never felt the need to pay over a hundred dollars to sit in a concert with loud music bursting my ears.
The queue to get into Max Pavilion which can seat up to 7,000 persons. Those who were early might be able to catch the star of the day, Li Ronghao, masquerading as a ticketing usher to choose a concert-goer for an interactive session in the middle of the concert.
Huge holding room after getting our bags checked. As i had my big-ass camera in my bag, i was notified that i couldn't use it and it could be confiscated if i were found to be using it. Okay, point taken and noted.
Signs warning what's not allowed beyond the point of no return. With the proliferation of camera phones, i wonder then how the organiser would be able to stop people from taking video and photo.
Answers shall be revealed soon.
With banquet chairs linked up into rows and divided into sections, it wasn't my usual esplanade-style decor and seating that i am more comfortable with (p.s. were there on a few occasions to catch Happy Ever Laughter and Kumar: What Makes a Man a Man).
My seat is row 1, seat 2, section b4 - would prefer to have seats closer to the stage but i purchased the tickets a bit too late. :( Whatever the case, i am happy to face the stage in the middle!
See, see, see! How to stop people from taking out their phones to take pictures?! With so many people (likely all concert-goers) having a smartphone, it's impossible to deter people from taking an innocent selfie.
Lights dimmed at about 7.12 pm and we waited with abated breath as the center projection screen came to life with a live band drumming to the grand opening. There were separate screens on the sides that would show the lyrics of the songs that were sung and zoom-ups of the singer on stage (and also of the audience).
Here's the man and star of the day, Li Ronghao! Darn, i really hate the zoomed function for the iPhone but guess nothing much i can do since i can't take out my huge ass Nikon D7100.
Screenshots of the stage setting and lighting - i must say i was blown away as i never knew attending a concert can be so fun; you can sing as loud as you can just like everyone else and Li Ronghao's singing was really pitch perfect (at least for my ears)!
Nothing beats hearing his voice for real without the aid of post production manipulation as had been the case for some singers. And it's quite funny to hear the screams from fans declaring their love for him. Unlike other countries, however, Singaporeans are known to be a lot tamer.
Our dear singer decided to step off the stage and this created a hoo-ha for his fans in the audience who quickly took out the phones and stood up for a better view!
People were literally running towards him for a closer look. Pity he didn't come by my section and although i like his singing and his songs, i think i am not that obsessed to get super close to him. Okay, maybe i should have for the purpose of this blog.
Though Li Ronghao readily admitted that he doesn't talk much and prefers to just sing, i thought he was doing a great job in trying to engage the audience to sing with him. And he was so talented. To think that the only musical instrument i can handle (and that's when i was in primary / secondary school) is a recorder.
Interactive session where he identified a lady whose ticket was torn off by him as a ticketing usher and invited her on stage to sing a few Singapore singers' songs with him. I still remember the seat number, row 7, seat 11 as 11 July is the singer's birthday!
Can see that the lady was shocked to see her face on the screen but she composed herself and asked the singer to get her friend up as well as her friend is a very big fan of Li Ronghao! So kind of her right?!
The singing continued - sad to say, i only know a few of his key signature songs like 李白, 模特, 喜剧之王 etc although for those i heard during the concert, i noted down those i like in my phone as i didn't know of their existence!
Singer asking everyone to scream for him for 30 seconds and that's the countdown timer. Save for a technical fault at the end of the concern, i was honestly quite impressed with the tech setup! Maybe also because it's literally my virgin concert experience.
Everyone (okay, almost everyone) took out their phones, switched on the torchlight function and swayed to the singing. It's almost like National Day parade, on a much smaller scale.
After introducing and thanking his band members, the singer left the stage and with silver streamers floating down from the ceiling, this officially marked the end of the concert. Not sure if it is the case elsewhere but in Singapore, i think there's always the call for encore. Is it a given everywhere else?
He returned with two more songs!
Now, this is really the end of the concert with confetti falling from the sky and making a mess out of the concrete floor. I cannot imagine how hard the housekeeping team has to work to clean up everything!
It was such a nice experience that i think i am keener to explore attending music concert as an avenue to throw my hard earned money. Hope that the next concert i attend would be by Joker Xue (薛之谦)!
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Price of the Ticket
Category 1 Ticket - S$178 per person.
(Purchased from http://www.sistic.com.sg/)