MayDay Concert: Singapore vs Taichung

Even if I vehemently deny being a crazed fan of 五月天, this post would unlikely support my assertion.

Anyway, the past few months flew by in a crazy mess. Having to be subservient to one extra royal dumbness's whims and fancy did little to ease the stress and burden of the humongous load of administrative work that was related to the matter. To prove my point, just picture me having to stay till approximately 5.30am, Saturday to do photocopying and binding. To top that off, I was back in the office before 10am again to continue facing the voluminous stacks of paper, just so that his royal dumbness may collect his possessions by his last-minute self appointed time in the afternoon. Of course, royal dumbness never turned up, and I was left to DHL the possessions to his highness's palace.

Thankfully though, there was light at the end of this whole darkness. Even with negligible sleep and unbelievable weight carrying on that day itself, there was still one thing to look forward to - 回到地球表面! I can't believe how I managed to pull through, but I did! It helps too, to know that the seats I had were not too bad! =) A preview of how close we were:

Listening to loud music when you have little sleep is really very much a bad idea because you'll get a headache. Still, I loved the 360 degrees stage that brought the band closer to their audience. The "action packed" introduction added more thrill to the otherwise less interesting video. Choice of songs wise, I thought I preferred last year's. Still, with increased audience participation, the concert became more memorable and more scream-worthy. Totally value for money, and worth the anticipation.

One always thinks that what one sees is the best, until something comes along to better it. If I thought the Singapore instalment of 回到地球表面 was excellent self-reward for the hard work earlier on, then the Taichung instalment would probably be described as breathtaking.

Attending the Taichung instalment was never on my plans, unless you count my sudden whimsical comment of "Maybe I should just fly off on the last day of trial". Somehow by sheer luck (or unluckiness, depending on how you look at it), the High Court "overbooked" the judges, leaving none to hear our matter on the day of trial. Just imagine. 2 weeks of trial vacated just like that! Which also meant that I was free the very week of the concert itself! What followed just a last-minute booking of air tickets (would you believe that Silkair tickets were actually cheaper than Jetstar?) on Monday, and jet-setting on Wednesday morning.

To cut a long story short, Saturday saw me and my sister rushing to board the train to Taichung, and then rushing off in a cab to our first venue... the stadium! Being used to the system in Singapore, sis and I thought it would be too early to enter at 6++pm, and decided to go in only closer to 7pm. How wrong we were! The place was just like our National Stadium during NDP, and by the time we entered (which was past 7pm), we were relegated to the one of the higher rungs of the stairs!

That said, the concert really felt like it was plucked right out of our very own NDP. Rather than simply depending on special effects and rather tame fireworks, the Taichung concert could simply be a showcase of fireworks. The part leading to 五月天 appearing on the stage after a bout of intense fireworks at the end of the video was simply breathtaking, and the mood was akin to how it would be after the pledge was taken, the fireworks display was over and everyone would start singing songs like "We are Singapore".

Perhaps it was home ground advantage. All of them appeared more eager to please, and a lot more energetic. Even my sis agreed that the relatively subdued (at least during the Singapore concert) 石头 was way friendlier and would interact with the crowd more actively (He even sat down beside a little kid and strummed his guitar). The most touching was no doubt when Ah-Xin related the earthquake related story and the crowd broke into chorus and would not stop for a long while. Just imagine, floodlights off, blue lightsticks up, and approximately 50 000 people humming a tune together.

All good things must come to an end. With another fiery of fireworks and after the umpteenth encore (yes, they had to re appear on stage more than once), it was the end of a really pleasant experience. Unluckily for me, this has only served to whet my appetite for more overseas concert. Looks like I've to slog even harder so that I can enjoy such luxuries as and when my whims bring me.