孙燕姿[克卜勒世界巡回演唱会2014]
National Stadium
One week after the first musical event (Chinese Orchestra) was held at the newly built National Stadium, I returned to the same venue again to catch the first Pop Concert held here. The star is no less than home-grown regional Mandopop queen Stefanie Sun.
This series of Kepler Concert Tour marks her 14-year music career, after debuting with the classic single 天黑黑 in 2000. Then, I was a little Secondary 1 kid, and the rise of Stefanie took the Regional Mandarin pop scene by storm, with crazy record-breaking sales of her first few albums that can never be met again in today's dying music industry.
People say that the Secondary school years are your formative years. I spent those years listening to Stefanie Sun with my close friends. I even remember our Secondary 3 Class noticeboard was filled up with lyrics of Stefanie Sun's and S.H.E's songs. Being a predominantly Chinese school, it was not surprising that many of us were listening to her songs and had our own favourite Stefanie's single. My first ever self-purchased music CD was Stefanie's [The Moment] compilation album. It's still kept as a treasure in my cabinet today.
5 years ago, she held her last concert "The Answer is..." at the Indoor Stadium. It was superb and we had a great time. Time flies, and this time she chose to be the first solo singer to perform at the new world-class venue, which is telling of her special status. The turnout was good -- although I couldn't estimate the number of people, I could simply tell by looking at my own Facebook feed to know just how many of my friends and acquaintances were there with me last night. All in all, there could be close to 30 people that I know, who were also swaying away with the hits with me!
The concert did not last very long: it was only 2.5 hours. But she performed well despite being quite unwell. She started the gig pretty well, but towards the middle, some songs sounded a little strained. She admitted to be down with flu and it was pretty bad, because when she talked, her voice was hoarse with phlegm. She was seen drinking bottles of (probably) honey drink on stage. But the audience was a very supportive and helpful lot, because everyone 'helped' to sing and cover parts of songs when she couldn't complete them. There were lyrics on screen, as usual, but those seemed unnecessary because most of her songs were classics that were already edged on memory. At least for me.
She provided a little 'surprise' last night, by including the 2 National Day theme songs that she sang in 2002 and 2003. That aroused the patriotism in Singaporeans, because I saw a sizeable proportion of the stadium standing up and singing along in unison. "We will get there" (2002) and "One United People" (2003) were both done in English. I had actually hoped they were performed in Chinese, because I'm actually more familiar with the Chinese versions. As what some of my friends reflected, Stefanie Sun actually ignited more patriotism in them last night, compared to the actual NDPs. I agree that the 2 theme songs brought the concert to another high.
The 2.5-hour concert ended with just 1 song for Encore. Having more than 100 songs under her belt, it was inevitable for the concert to have excluded some songs. Very notable exclusions, which i had hoped she would have included, are: 眼泪成诗、隐形人、眼神、害怕、任性、同类、当冬夜渐暖、我不爱、风筝、了解、爱情字典、愚人的国度 etc.
Nevertheless, it was no less than a great night for all fans. I really hope we needn't wait another 5 years for her next concert. But that said, her priority now would certainly be raising her kid and enjoying her motherhood phase.
人生是黑白的.
8:01 PM <3
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