Well, last Friday he was supposed to stay back to finish an urgent press ad. Apparently, he didn't. Not even after Steven told him to. Kenny already warned him about it but nah, he was not a heeder of good advice. Right after Fung went back, Kenny was called into Pauline's room and I foresaw what would happen to Fung this week.
Before he left, Kenny gave him some honest advice on his attitude. Hope he'll take heed this time and have better luck with his next company. No one can help him except himself.
When Pauline came in and saw Fung still in the office, she asked, "Eh, why're you still here? Better pack your things..." Wow, they really want people to leave instantly! But she didn't say it in an unfriendly tone, just normal.
By the way, hope it's not too late to relate on my experience at LeeHom's Heroes of the Earth Concert in Singapore on October 21.
Shyan and me began our journey to JB, my hometown, at 8.45am that day, a Saturday, Deepavali too. We were carried by Konsortium and arrived JB an hour earlier than expected. Love that bus company I tell ya, I would recommend it to anyone taking a long distance bus journey in Malaysia. What's more, as it was a public holiday, the company used a double decker to carry its passengers. My first time on a double, man! Haha call me suaku, I've never been on one before.
Huai came to fetch us once we reached JB. After washing up and grabbing some grubs, Mom took us downtown to Larkin to take a Singapore-bound bus. We took the yellow smiling bus CW2 to the customs. We resumed our journey on the same bus after emerging from the ever-packed Singapore custom to Queen Street. Whoa, CW2 is definitely a lot faster than 170, thanks to Grace's advice!
Subsequently, we took the MRT from Bugis to Kallang. We crossed the road to the other side of th car park in front of Kallang MRT station and waited for bus number 11. There were signs everywhere giving directions on how to get to the indoor stadium. At the sight of "Bus No. 11" on the signs, I was thinking; is it really a bus or they want us to walk there? Stupid, I know.
There were a lot of girls at the bus stop and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the majority of them are going to LeeHom's concert. In fact, I even spotted a coupla girls at the customs who were going too. Well, they were wearing the tee with the Chinese character 盖 on it, that was how I knew.
Seemed like we reached everywhere early that day. Rare for a habitual latecomer like me. It was only around 7pm when we alighted in front of the stadium. Unfamiliar with the venue, we walked around a bit since time was more than enough. We went up to the entrance floor to find a coupla other concert-goers hanging around the parameter.
As we came closer to the glass doors which were covered with opaque papers, we heard LeeHom's voice clearly coming from the other side. I pressed my ear against the barrier to make sure it's a live version. Yeah, he was probably doing a sound-check run-through. What a steal!
After listening for a while, Shyan and me leant against the rail to find more and more people filling up the space at the square below. There was a beautiful bridge so we while away our time by taking some pictures there. When it was about time, Shyan went back to Queen Street to hang out and waited for me to finish watching the concert.
And now, the real concert experience begins...
Found my seat - Block 16, Row 6, Seat 1. I was super-delighted to find it so close to the stage. However, it was at the side since the premier seat area was located smack in the middle. Girls from LeeHom's Singapore Fanclub had all changed into their blue club gear, armed with matching blue lightsticks. Their spirits must have dampened because their call for other concert-goers to bear the same blue theme on their official website was in vain. Good try though.
Attendees began filing into the hall and I caught sight of a few celebrities such as A-Do, a behind-the-scene music producer who was employed as one of the judges in the previous Malaysia Project Superstar and a female model whose name is unknown to me but whose face still appears in many of the TVCs here.
We were bombarded with all kinds of advertisements appearing on the big screen from Sony Ericsson to Sistic events. There were fans from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and probably other countries (not to mention Singapore) everywhere I looked. In fact, I think the 2 guys sitting beside me were from KL.
The concert kicked off at 8.30pm sharp, just as I expected, with Chinese opera and martial arts experts putting on a remarkable performance behind an illuminated screen. The rest of the concert was more or less the same as the DVD, which I'm too lazy to elaborate here.
Somewhere during the show, a clip compiled by the Singapore Fanclub members of LeeHom during his stays and promotional activities in Singapore throughout the years was played. His face really is ageless if you ask me.
And no, I didn't take a whole load of pix cos the digi cam I borrowed from my dad wasn't a good one and it was really hard to get a decent picture with all those uber-brite mega spotlight shining against the camera lens. My initial attempts mostly turned out over- or under-exposed. Damn.
I blamed it all on the camera but turned out the 2 guys next to me, who used better cameras were having a hard time too. So I guess it just couldn't be helped. However, towards the end of the show, they succeeded in shooting better pix, blur nonetheless. As for me, I'd long given up on taking pictures. What the heck! The best things always only exist in one's memory. So I just decided to take mental pictures of LeeHom and the show.
Sad thing is, my mental memory card probably doesn't have much storage space. Cause when I think back on it, there wasn't anything about the concert which really stuck to my mind. Reason is simple, the concert wasn't impressive enough. Nothing really stood out so as usual, my mind just chooses not to waste memory space.
I'm not saying LeeHom didn't give his best that night. He probably did. But sometimes the best just isn't enough. One person's best may not be another man's perfect, if you get what I mean.
Well, I guess he couldn't help it. He must be dead beat from the filming of "Lust, Caution", directed by Ang Lee. He admitted he wasn't very up to it so he hoped the fans could sing more. But I thought I paid to hear him sing and perform, not singing it myself eh? I sing everyday, there's really no need to pay RM416 to go all the way across the strait to Singapore to sing to myself.
I have a hell lotta things to complain about. Like how I think I've wasted my moolah to watch a less-than-satisfying performance. How I thought it was gonna be a blast but it really wasn't but I guess I really can't blame it all on him.
To be fair, he was overworking himself. He jetted back to HK to continue filming right after the show. Apparently, spreading yourself too thin isn't a good thing. He's right in labelling himself a "tortured soul".
When you're not at your best, the audience's gonna sense it. Believe me, I experienced it first-hand. It's almost supernatural how that can happen. Throughout the entire concert, I was assuring myself that he was performing the best he could with what little energy he had left but there was this empty feeling that keeps sighing at the back of my mind.
Another possibility could be that it's similar to the DVD so I had little to surprise me. It was so bad to the extent that I didn't keep my eyes and heart 100% on the stage. I genuinely didn't really care what he did onstage either. The audience watched the entire show glued to their seats didn't help either. Finally during the final 2 songs, I couldn't bear it anymore and since more people were doing it too, I shot up from my seat and continued swaying to the beats.
When I went for Jay Chou's concert in 2002, I was absolutely swept off my feet. Naw, his performance wasn't great, even went off-key a coupla times. Strangely enough, I had a BLAST! Everyone was standing and swaying and singing to the music literally right from the start. My mood wasn't dampen even though Jay was just a speckle onstage.
But this time, although I could see everything clearly, the overwhelming feeling that soars me into the sky is gone. Nowhere to be found. I heard from my friend that standing during a concert is disallowed in Singapore. I seemed to have heard it too somewhere else. But that just robs away 80% of the fun!
I'm not attending any concerts held in Malaysia anymore if it's held in Bukit Jalil. Sound disperses in the outdoor stadium and all I can see of the artist resembles a humanized version of an ant. The sound in Singapore Indoor Stadium is obviously the winner but the atmosphere wasn't there.
I should probably try Genting next time. If it still can't satisfy me, I guess I should just pack my bags for Taipei or HK.
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