LOVE, Kloudiia

What about him? That he still holds the ultimate power to mesmerise us with his crystal clear voice? Or his moving rendition of those famous classic love songs? 

Happy and excited, I stepped into The Max Pavillion at The Singapore Expo last Saturday to mark my 3rd time attending Jeff Chang’s concert. This time there was a major difference and a draw to his concert – the addition of a symphony orchestra.

I haven’t look forward to an event as much for a long, long time. And I really looked forward to this particular one, but much to my disappointment. What made me downhearted was not any single reason, but a combination of at least three points of dissatisfaction.

Firstly, the venue. Oh, it’s a concert with a symphony orchestra! Even if we don’t get wowed by a red carpeted entrance, at least we should have seats decently comfortable enough that won’t cause our bottoms to ache after sticking them on the same place for 30 minutes, right?

Instead, we were “greeted” by a “concert hall” that was converted from a multi-purpose hall. One would be able to easily visualise the venue as a exhibition hall with its lack of inner decoration. The entire ambience of the concert had just been crushed, in my opinion.

We walked on concrete floors, there were no arm rests and the chairs came with cushions that were not that soft to the touch. I had to keep shifting and to lift my bottoms up every now and then. That much for comfort and a lovely ambience. Sign.

It was a stark contrast from the stage, which was adorned with crystal chandeliers with rich crimson drapery sprawled across the background that surrounded three big picture frames housing LCD screens. The screens would show pictures by famous painters of yore. Add a group of symphony orchestra members seated neatly across the stage, all dressed smartly in black. You get a perfect picture of art and poise.

Every painter’s works, carefully selected by Jeff, signified a certain era and phase of love that Jeff wanted to express to the audience through the combination of visual and auditory pleasure. I thought this was pretty novel, and he did an outstanding job too.

The stage, together with Jeff’s ensemble of outfits, exuded artistic charm and oodles of nostalgia. The theme was perfect, so I thought. How much better would it be if it were held at Esplanade, or the Singapore Indoor Stadium? I couldn’t help but wonder. *roll eyes*

Secondly the concert started late! Gosh! For someone who tend to be late, I knew well enough to be punctual for an event like this. Instead, our fellow Singaporeans came strutting in up to 30 minutes after the stipulated start time. In the end, the concert began 36 minutes later. This is the first concert I’ve ever attended that commenced late. And I’m not sorry to say that I cannot accept this. So, being 15 minutes earlier, we waited for 45 minutes before we got to hear some real music. Stuart actually dozed off from the delay! I almost strayed into my dreamland too… Fortunately, my sister had a box of Mentos to save our night, which was finished up very quickly. Well, what else could we do sitting there?

Thirdly, and also lastly, to my amateur ears, the symphony orchestra seemed to be drowned by the band instead of being the primary music provider. A lacklustre performance, if I were to rate it. This was another major dismay to us as we held high hopes, being all prepared to indulge in a feast of all senses, especially a big treat for our ears.

I guess ultimately, the redeeming factor is Jeff Chang himself. His sentimentality that could be felt with each and every song he delivered, his crystal clear vocals and his little touch of humour and effort to raise our spirits during the entire concert. To my surprise, I found myself mouthing along many of the songs as he sung them. I still remember the lyrics!

And his superb and perfect singing made up for all of the imperfections, as I found my impatience and frustration (from the waiting) got wore off bit by bit with each song he began to sing. So even though the ambience of the stage didn’t match that in the audience area, I was okay. Even though the orchestra didn’t deliver a punch, I was okay.

I still enjoyed it tremendously, though I’d really look forward to a more improved version the next time round. And yes, chances are I’d still get myself a ticket if he ever comes again. Not if it’ll be held at the Expo though…

[tags]concert, Jeff Chang, symphony orchestra concert, Kloudiia[/tags]