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Concert Review: Jay Chou Opus 2 World Tour

SINGAPORE – Shortly after Jay Chou’s concert at the National Stadium ended on Saturday night, a friend texted this message to me: “Jay Chou sang so well, the roof cried.” It was a pretty apt summary of the evening’s proceedings.

Mandopop king Jay Chou at the Singapore leg of his Opus 2 World Tour concert. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

Mandopop king Jay Chou at the Singapore leg of his Opus 2 World Tour concert. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

SINGAPORE – Shortly after Jay Chou’s concert at the National Stadium ended on Saturday night, a friend texted this message to me: “Jay Chou sang so well, the roof cried.” It was a pretty apt summary of the evening’s proceedings.

Chou’s concert was one of the big highlights of the year and the first pop concert at the stadium after its officials decided to postpone non-sports events until after the AFF Suzuki Cup was over, to allow the grass on the pitch to grow.

My mood wasn’t enlivened by the downpour that started in the evening. I was soaked after I inadvertently walked under a hole in the roof outside the seating area while exiting the stadium. And I was lucky — a friend who sat at the back of the stadium said he felt drops falling on his head during the show.

Problems with getting wet aside, Chou was in top form at the Singapore leg of his Opus 2 World Tour concert. The Mandopop king, who had more bling on his suits and music instruments than there probably are shiny things on this planet, entertained his audience with your usual superstar share of pyrotechnics and fan favourites, with songs such as Adorable Woman, Silence and Rainbow. My favourite part about attending a Chou concert — with 30,000 other people — is the reassuring fact that I now know I am not the only weirdo who can rap, from memory, along to some of his wonderfully bizarre songs, like Nunchucks, Dragon Fist and The Eunuch Has A Headache.

Another highlight of the concert included the impromptu duets with three lucky fans in the audience, who quite unabashedly took the opportunity to use Chou as a human karaoke machine. Towards the end of the show, Chou also leapt off the stage to greet his adoring supporters, while singing his hit, Simple Love.

However, it seemed his fans’ enthusiasm, coupled with our famously humid weather, was too much even for Chou to bear.

“Singapore is the only place that makes me sweat even before I finish my first song,” he quipped on stage, to laughter from the audience.

Sound-wise, from where I was sitting, the echoes that plagued Stefanie Sun’s concert in July were almost non-existent, While some mentioned that the audio was still a fraction out of sync from the videos that were broadcast on screens on both sides of the stage, it’s actually a common occurence due to the signal lag from the cameras to the screens. Unfortunately, I could barely hear the guest artiste, Cindy Yen, who sang several songs with Chou including, ironically, Roof — although it could be because she was simply too soft.

Thankfully, the stadium’s roof problems did not detract too much from the enjoyment of Chou’s concert itself, and I left the show satisfied that I had heard most of my favourite songs. But it would certainly be nice to be able to reach home dry the next time I attend a concert at the National Stadium.

 

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