L'arc en ciel in SINGAPORE!!!!!!!!
I haven't been updating for the longest time. Been busy and all. And my health took a plunge at the beginning of this year. Was in and out of ruts. Blew a fair bit of cash on med bills and etc.
But this concert is worth a mention! I figured I had better document my post-concert high for all to enjoy!!!
When it was first announced that L'arc en ciel was coming to Singapore, there was a momentary state of disbelief before I ordered my sister to book tickets before tickets were sold out. Upon receiving said tickets, the feeling of bewilderment set in. My friends and I - plus a fair bit of other concert goers - knew about the existence of this band, were aware of its popularity, heard of their songs 10 years ago, but we were not die hard fans to the point where we kept track of their singles and songs produced. In fact, my sis and I knew only one of their songs (of which I only knew one sentence of lyrics which was in English). Comments from other concert goers reflected similar sentiments. My friend was puzzled as to why she had invested cash in a more expensive ticket when she did not know much of their songs.
It was undoubtedly to most ill-prepared concert the bunch of us had to date. There were half-hearted attempts to spam their songs at the very last hour before the concert but we just went ahead anyway. We did not even arm ourselves with a light stick.
I am what you call a 'calm' concert goer. I don't stand nor jump nor flail nor do much of what a rabid concert goer does (But I do sing loudly, wave madly and fangirl internally :D) Our tickets were the cheapest of the lot, which means that we were supposed to be positioned far back into the concert hall. In Singapore, people who are positioned at the back are not rabid, which means that a sizable portion will sit and look calm and basically re-enforce the stereotype that the Singapore crowd is not as enthusiastic as their international peers.
[Recently, I heard that Jakarta's crowd really brought the roof down with their awesome enthusiasm and coordination. The band would probably remember Jakarta's impressionable crowd among all the countries. I have also heard the same thing about how Singapore's crowd was not that enthusiastic blah blah blah. My sis, being a frequent concert goer to Jay Chou and Mayday, claimed that the crowd's response was far from great.Someone tweeted our Bangkok counterparts, informing them to provide the band with the best response ever as the Singapore crowd was not too enthusiastic. Others piped that Singapore's crowd and performance, while by no means the best, were tons better than their New York or Hong Kong counterparts *shrugs*]
Um well...by Singapore's standards, I thought we did pretty well already. We cheered like mad, moved, acted more rabid than concert goers 10 years ago. Sure, we were supremely uncoordinated, but at least the fan cams showed that we were having a blast.]
As to why we don't "seem" to be extremely enthusiastic (I truly thought otherwise actually), I would think that it is due to the country's culture of trying to be in control and not let our emotions run crazy. In addition, there are some fans who are die-hard purists who don't believe in overt appreciation of their idols/bands. Rather, they prefer to enjoy the moment by keeping still and quiet while carving the concert experience into their minds. I have friends like that, and quite a few who sat still throughout the concert were undoubtedly such purists.
In some sense, it is also a warped sense of being polite. A lot of concert goers at the back, me included, are deathly afraid of blocking our counterparts that are stationed behind us if we stand. (I stand at 1.8m. I will definately block someone's view.)
Apart from that, my health issues were rearing its ugly head again. Half an hour before the concert, my neck was giving me problems again and my head felt as if it was numbing and splitting at the same time. I could not stand if I wanted to, much left jump about lest my brain dissolves into mush and shut down.
So there are reasons why people don't go as crazy as others in a concert. Well, from the perspective of others (and of course the producers), it looks bad. And hence our stereotype.
Admist my head splitting episode, the concert started and I was blown away. Well technically, the first two songs were really noisy numbers and it did no justice to my head. By the third song however, when the pain subsided, I was able to enjoy the concert properly.
People, the entire show was awesome.
I entered the concert knowing one song and left knowing plenty more. The rock ballads - Anata and Hitomi no Juunin - were the best and their upbeat songs were excellent too! And Hyde's voice was solid. Here is a video on Seventh Heaven, Anata and Hitomi no Juunin that I got from youtube. For some reason, I have no idea why the second videographer did not film the big screen instead.
Hyde, donning on the hat makes you look like a black widow.
Hyde, the lead singer, has been the talk of the town for his androgyny. This guy has been creating complexes among many Singapore female concert goers and fanboys regard him to be pretty. He is 43 damnit. I don't get swayed by male idols easily, but I was slack jawed by his appearance when he first appeared and like any other concert goer, continued to stare at the big screen in flummoxed wonder for the next two hours. Allow me to explain the reason behind our captivation with Mr Hyde.
With the rise of KPOP (or in the past, JPOP), we tend to have a range of male idols who either bank on promoting their masculinity or shaping their appearance to look like women. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone likes masculine idols ( it is a turnoff actually) and men looking like women looks very strange when (1) they can't pull off the female look in a subtle manner (2) they adopt a forced female persona that could be as stiff as a plank - lead singer of SID for instance has a very blank visage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3tr58vKpVA&feature=related - or too overly sissy.
Hyde presents the entire package of voice cum personality. He sways, twirls, fleets all while maintaining a largely staunch male behaviour and does all sorts of feminine willies that defines feminine masculinity (is there even such a thing?). Bloggers and news reporters have termed his behaviour in this concert as "flouncy", "flirty" or "sexy", but I would like to call it "alluring sultriness". It was his subtle habits, not his overt attempts at rousing the crowd with his antics, that attributed to such "sultriness" - the way his eyes flickers at the end of each song ; the way he slips back into that look of demure confidence after every emotional lyrical paragraph. He probably did eye flickering exercises for years but damn, he does it so naturally. We know it is a created persona but the moment he dons this female persona, he wears it as his second skin down to the subtle habits.
A 43-year-old father of one who is an amazing singer that alludes sultriness. What a feat.
Before I end my gushing, let me present to you a video on Hyde attempting to converse in English. (FYI, I rather Hyde speak in Japanese. :P)
Currently, my friend should be spamming L'arc en ciel videos to "stare at his pretty face." Am done spamming on my part :D After this concert, I am once again reminded that JROCK - and JPOP - is way better than KPOP!!!!! AHAHAHA!!!!! *runs and hides from KPOP fan's wrath*
Matta ne, L'arc en ciel! The next time you hold concert in Singapore, be it five to ten years down the road, I will definately arm myself with more than a light stick.
But this concert is worth a mention! I figured I had better document my post-concert high for all to enjoy!!!
When it was first announced that L'arc en ciel was coming to Singapore, there was a momentary state of disbelief before I ordered my sister to book tickets before tickets were sold out. Upon receiving said tickets, the feeling of bewilderment set in. My friends and I - plus a fair bit of other concert goers - knew about the existence of this band, were aware of its popularity, heard of their songs 10 years ago, but we were not die hard fans to the point where we kept track of their singles and songs produced. In fact, my sis and I knew only one of their songs (of which I only knew one sentence of lyrics which was in English). Comments from other concert goers reflected similar sentiments. My friend was puzzled as to why she had invested cash in a more expensive ticket when she did not know much of their songs.
It was undoubtedly to most ill-prepared concert the bunch of us had to date. There were half-hearted attempts to spam their songs at the very last hour before the concert but we just went ahead anyway. We did not even arm ourselves with a light stick.
I am what you call a 'calm' concert goer. I don't stand nor jump nor flail nor do much of what a rabid concert goer does (But I do sing loudly, wave madly and fangirl internally :D) Our tickets were the cheapest of the lot, which means that we were supposed to be positioned far back into the concert hall. In Singapore, people who are positioned at the back are not rabid, which means that a sizable portion will sit and look calm and basically re-enforce the stereotype that the Singapore crowd is not as enthusiastic as their international peers.
[Recently, I heard that Jakarta's crowd really brought the roof down with their awesome enthusiasm and coordination. The band would probably remember Jakarta's impressionable crowd among all the countries. I have also heard the same thing about how Singapore's crowd was not that enthusiastic blah blah blah. My sis, being a frequent concert goer to Jay Chou and Mayday, claimed that the crowd's response was far from great.Someone tweeted our Bangkok counterparts, informing them to provide the band with the best response ever as the Singapore crowd was not too enthusiastic. Others piped that Singapore's crowd and performance, while by no means the best, were tons better than their New York or Hong Kong counterparts *shrugs*]
Um well...by Singapore's standards, I thought we did pretty well already. We cheered like mad, moved, acted more rabid than concert goers 10 years ago. Sure, we were supremely uncoordinated, but at least the fan cams showed that we were having a blast.]
As to why we don't "seem" to be extremely enthusiastic (I truly thought otherwise actually), I would think that it is due to the country's culture of trying to be in control and not let our emotions run crazy. In addition, there are some fans who are die-hard purists who don't believe in overt appreciation of their idols/bands. Rather, they prefer to enjoy the moment by keeping still and quiet while carving the concert experience into their minds. I have friends like that, and quite a few who sat still throughout the concert were undoubtedly such purists.
In some sense, it is also a warped sense of being polite. A lot of concert goers at the back, me included, are deathly afraid of blocking our counterparts that are stationed behind us if we stand. (I stand at 1.8m. I will definately block someone's view.)
Apart from that, my health issues were rearing its ugly head again. Half an hour before the concert, my neck was giving me problems again and my head felt as if it was numbing and splitting at the same time. I could not stand if I wanted to, much left jump about lest my brain dissolves into mush and shut down.
So there are reasons why people don't go as crazy as others in a concert. Well, from the perspective of others (and of course the producers), it looks bad. And hence our stereotype.
Admist my head splitting episode, the concert started and I was blown away. Well technically, the first two songs were really noisy numbers and it did no justice to my head. By the third song however, when the pain subsided, I was able to enjoy the concert properly.
People, the entire show was awesome.
I entered the concert knowing one song and left knowing plenty more. The rock ballads - Anata and Hitomi no Juunin - were the best and their upbeat songs were excellent too! And Hyde's voice was solid. Here is a video on Seventh Heaven, Anata and Hitomi no Juunin that I got from youtube. For some reason, I have no idea why the second videographer did not film the big screen instead.
Hyde, donning on the hat makes you look like a black widow.
Hyde, the lead singer, has been the talk of the town for his androgyny. This guy has been creating complexes among many Singapore female concert goers and fanboys regard him to be pretty. He is 43 damnit. I don't get swayed by male idols easily, but I was slack jawed by his appearance when he first appeared and like any other concert goer, continued to stare at the big screen in flummoxed wonder for the next two hours. Allow me to explain the reason behind our captivation with Mr Hyde.
With the rise of KPOP (or in the past, JPOP), we tend to have a range of male idols who either bank on promoting their masculinity or shaping their appearance to look like women. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone likes masculine idols ( it is a turnoff actually) and men looking like women looks very strange when (1) they can't pull off the female look in a subtle manner (2) they adopt a forced female persona that could be as stiff as a plank - lead singer of SID for instance has a very blank visage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3tr58vKpVA&feature=related - or too overly sissy.
Hyde presents the entire package of voice cum personality. He sways, twirls, fleets all while maintaining a largely staunch male behaviour and does all sorts of feminine willies that defines feminine masculinity (is there even such a thing?). Bloggers and news reporters have termed his behaviour in this concert as "flouncy", "flirty" or "sexy", but I would like to call it "alluring sultriness". It was his subtle habits, not his overt attempts at rousing the crowd with his antics, that attributed to such "sultriness" - the way his eyes flickers at the end of each song ; the way he slips back into that look of demure confidence after every emotional lyrical paragraph. He probably did eye flickering exercises for years but damn, he does it so naturally. We know it is a created persona but the moment he dons this female persona, he wears it as his second skin down to the subtle habits.
A 43-year-old father of one who is an amazing singer that alludes sultriness. What a feat.
Before I end my gushing, let me present to you a video on Hyde attempting to converse in English. (FYI, I rather Hyde speak in Japanese. :P)
Currently, my friend should be spamming L'arc en ciel videos to "stare at his pretty face." Am done spamming on my part :D After this concert, I am once again reminded that JROCK - and JPOP - is way better than KPOP!!!!! AHAHAHA!!!!! *runs and hides from KPOP fan's wrath*
Matta ne, L'arc en ciel! The next time you hold concert in Singapore, be it five to ten years down the road, I will definately arm myself with more than a light stick.