Fancy spending 2 1/2 hours on travel to and fro Expo from my house in Jurong West? I performed the feat once again, one week after the BOOKS Warehouse Sale, and this time, I found it more worthy of my efforts. JJ's Party was, to put it in the lingo of the younger generation, simply cool. But first, let me apologise to Gary for my tardy arrival at Expo - it's a miracle someone with low tolerance level like him didn't blow his top when I met up with him 10 mins after our stipulated timing. :)
Similar to every other autograph sessions I had attended, a long queue had formed up by the time we reached Hall 8 and we were banished to the end of the queue, ironically in front of Hall 9. It wasn't too draggy before we were led into Hall 8, and the view that greeted me was MAGNIFICENT! There were around 5 to 6 giant screens, a gargantuan number of seats (albeit a lot remained unfilled), and the lightings and atmosphere constituted a semblance of the ambiance so familiar in concerts. The only element that seemed wanting was the 'high' feelings of the audience. Several times, when the host Ling-zhi tried to 'taunt' the audience, what were reciprocated appeared to be unsynchronised cheerings, or worst still, some people didn't even bother to move their mouth. (I might be guilty of that too, haha) But, I guess it could not be helped. Some of the people were apparently present for a free concert, and definitely not some ardent die-hard fans of JJ. I probably belonged to the category of 'mature listeners' of JJ's music, thus found the notion of shouting hoarsely catchphrases like 'JJ', 'Lin Jun Jie' or 'Jiu shi Jun Jie' too far-fetched. The situation worsened to the effect that Ling-zhi had to resort to eliciting 'wayang' form the spectators to close the video shoot, presumably going to be played during JJ's world tour concert, debuting in Shanghai with Singapore as its second stop. Hoping to carry on with the show, we complied with the request to feature the hand signal, but not without much discomfort and only perfunctorily, as I hurriedly laughed it off.
JJ's live vocals were just good, plain and simple as it is. The highlight ought to go to Lin Yu Zhong, who stole some of the limelight from JJ, with his catchy tune from his first album and a consummate display of his talents in an unplugged demonstration. He was hitherto a background music enthusiast, who had written songs for many other singers. Other stars spotted in the crowd were Hong Junyang, Xu Huan Liang, and J3 from SuperBand (the lead singer just loves his conspicuous cap). The sketching contest was no less entertaining than the performance itself, what with the distorted versions of JJ and the Dou Ji Yan.
To sum it up, Ocean Butterflies is just filthy rich, no doubt with its recent injection of millions from a US company. From the splendour quite evident in this small-scale mini-concert, - with fireworks sparks not used once but twice or thrice -, one can imagine the grandeur that will be inextricably linked to the real concert. Too bad I didn't bring enough cash with me, or else I could have obtained a signature on the concert tix. After JJ sang his last piece for the night, I made my way out of the hall regretfully. Let's brace ourselves for one of the biggest event in the local music scene on June 24th!
Just an afterthought. From the observation that the ages of the people who turned up happened to be concentrated mostly in the group from 12-16, I would say it accentuated the importance of good conduct of public figures so as to offer exemplary role models for Y-Gen teenagers, who wean on pop idols and tend to take after them. :)
scribbled at 11:30 PM
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