LOVE, Kloudiia

I do my sister a great service now, by likening Jeff Chang to an angel’s voice. Indeed, there can be no false claims about this, if you’ve been to any of his concerts and listened to his live singing.

Last Saturday counted as the third time that I’ve been to Jeff Chang’s concert, and never once was I disappointed. No glitz, no glamour, just pure two and a half hours of unadultered singing and good music.

Some bantering on Jeff’s part, which tickled us some bit, but overall, the atmosphere was just simple, elegant and very moving. The stage was plain, with only five screenfolds lined up at the back, showing photos of Jeff’s past album sporadically to the appropriate songs that were sung. A short, advertisement of sort on two of the screens, alternating between left and right, introduced his first number of the night: 信仰, or Faith.  When his crystal voice boomed over the Max Pavilion, it was as if the stage was instantly glamourised by a hundred times, like it was awaken, and now was ready to bloom. A smile crept onto my face, spreading like a wide banana. I didn’t realise how much I love his voice until that moment, when I was strongly reminded again. The slight unhappiness of the not-so-good view from our seats dissipated, and I settled down into the cuddle of his voice.

Celebrating and marking his twenty years–twenty one to be exact–in showbiz, this series of World Tour concerts was like a big secondary school reunion. Photos of yore documented his growing up and coming of age, and I was reminded of the times when I was a student myself, following him from one hit song to another as I graduated from one school to the next. Lyrics were prominently displayed on the two large projector screens at each side of the stage, converting the concert into an instant mega karaoke, the sea of voices rising above the ocean of heads. I sang so wholeheartedly that towards the end, my throat was completely dry, but satisfied.

This was a concert with truly good music, and you’ll leave it thinking that every cent of the ticket price was more than worth it.