Jay Chou Concert Review 12-29-02

Jay Chou in Las Vegas 12-25-02

REVIEWED ON: December 29, 2002

The concert was set to start at 8:00 PM, so we thought it’d be a good idea to leave early to find a place to eat, since there are so many people in Vegas. We left the Mirage (the hotel we stayed at) and decided to go to Bellagio to get in line for their buffet. We were notified that the wait would be three hours long, so we gave up and went to the buffet in the Paris Hotel. However, our luck did not change as the wait there was also close to three hours long. My dad was tired of all this three hour crap so he said we should go to Todai, since there was like no one there when he was in Vegas back in November for the Comdex show. We got to Todai, which is in the shopping mall of the Aladdin Hotel, and were told to take a number and wait for ninety minutes. It was already 6:00 PM and we didn’t have time for all that, so we went back to the Mirage and drove to Chinatown to try to get something simple. We go into this Shang Hai restaurant, but then a tour group was also in there, so everything was chaotic. We waited for like a half hour and they never even entered our order. My dad gave the waitresses more than they had bargained for from a customer and stormed out. It was 7:00 PM and the doors for the concert were opening. My dad just told me to go get some McDonalds for dinner, since there was one near the MGM Grand. By the time I got to the McDonalds, it was like 7:20 PM. The line for McDonalds was the longest piece of shit I’ve ever seen at a fast food restaurant, so I fucked it and ran to the MGM Grand.

I went around looking for the Grand Arena and got into the check in place at around 7:40. I got checked by security and then went in looking for my seat. I find that I’m sitting two rows in front of Jasper, Fred, Sam, and Jay (the ATL crew from Lynbrook). I greet them and Sam asks me if I’m willing to switch seats with one of his friends. I looked at her seats, and see that it’s basically the exact same spot except on the other side of the stadium, so I changed seats with her. I was originally in section U12, N1 and was changed to U13, N10. The seats were almost identical so I was cool with the change. I head over to the other side and get into my seat. I call Zee Wei and ask him where he is. Joey hears my voice and yells my name. He was 2 rows behind me and I didn’t even see him. I keep asking Zee Wei his seat number and then I tell him to stand up and then BAM! Zee Wei pei was like 3 rows in front of me and I didn’t see him either. So I talk to Zee Wei and Joey for a few minutes and walk back to my seat because the concert was about to start. As I was walking back to my seat, I see a girl dressed in black and I look up. It’s Margaret Tseng! We yell with the best mock enthusiasm we could come up with. She was in my row like three seats to the right of me. The announcer people did their thing and it was time for the opening act: Athena Chu.

Athena sang three songs, all in Cantonese, with no one paying any attention to her. I sort of felt bad for her, but only because she was pretty good looking. The view I had from my seat was pretty good, as I could make out the general features on her face without looking at the big screen. I was excited about that since I thought I might not be able to see that well. Athena finishes up her songs and leaves the stage. Now the night was really about to begin.

I’m going to review the concert in five parts. Here is the track list for those that are interested:

01 Shuan Jie Gun (Nun-Chuks)
02 Ban Shou Ren (Half-Man Monster)
03 Ye Ye Pao De Cha (Tea Brewed by Grandpa)
04 Talk 1____________________________________________________________________________________________
05 An Hao (Secret Signal)
06 Ba, Wo Huei Lai Le (Dad, I’m Home)
07 Wei Lian Gu Bao (William Old Castle)
08 Ai Zai Si Yuan Chien (Love Before Century)__________________________________________________________________
09 Hei Se Yo Muo (Black Humour)
10 Wo Yuan Yi (I’m Willing) [Faye Wong song]
11 Unknown Cantonese Song
12 Fen Lie (Split)______________________________________________________________________________________
13 Long Chuen (Dragon Fists)
14 Do Niu (One on One)
15 Ke Ai Nu Ren (Cute Girl)
16 Shang Hai 1943
17 Talk 2____________________________________________________________________________________________
18 Long Juan Feng (Tornado)
19 An Jing (Silence)
20 Jian Dan Ai (Simple Love)
21 Zuai Ho De Zhan Yi (The Last Battle)
22 Huei Dao Guo Chu (Back to the Past)
23 Xing Ching (Starry Mood)
24 Kai Bu Liao Ko (Can’t Open Mouth)

PART 1:
The concert starts out the same way as the one in Taiwan, with Shuan Jie Gun. Nothing too special here except for the effects and Jay’s pathetic attempt at a “dance”. I did, however, like his armored suit thing. He did NOT lip synch this song, even though a lot of people thought he did for some of the faster songs. Then he sang Ban Shou Ren, which was the same as the Taiwan concert. He again did not lip synch. Okay I’m just going to say it right now: he did not lip synch a single song in the entire concert. I thought the whole concept behind Ban Shou Ren was stupid, including the killing shit but whatever. Then came Ye Ye Pao De Cha. This is probably my favorite performance of his from his Taiwan concert, and he doesn’t disppoint here. Same style but the dancing is a little different. A great performance to go with a great song. He ends this part by having a small talk, introducing himself and saying how he’s never been in Vegas and such.

PART 2:
This part opens with An Hao, in which he does a pretty good job of singing. A good song with a decent singing job. Next is Ba, Wo Huei Lai Le. He goes all out on the second verse, rapping it like 3 times faster than usual while the back dancers are doing some weird shit. He ends it pretty nicely with some okay dance routines. Then there’s this super long video on the big screen while he prepares for Wei Lian Gu Bao. Great song, but Jay just sings while the back dancers act like flamers. Next is Ai Zai Si Yuan Chien, arguably the best song I’ve ever heard in my life. I was a little disappointed with the way Jay sang the song, but still, I can’t hate on this song. The beat is way too catchy and the arrangements are too well done.

PART 3:
He begins this section with a video as well; it’s the one where it shows Jay as little kid playing a piano song. Then Jay comes out with the piano and starts playing that same song, followed by some crazy piano stuff. He plays some classical piece like 3 times faster than it’s suppose to be; his fingers moving hella fast. Crazy shit. He goes into Hei Se Yo Muo. Nothing special about it; good song as he just sits there, plays the piano and sings to the song. Then he sings a super old Faye Wong song, called Wo Yuan Yi. It was really really good; I thought it was the best part of the piano section. Then he sings a popular Cantonese song (since most of the Cantonese people around me were singing along), which sounded pretty good also. He ends the piano part by singing Fen Lie, but he doesn’t play the piano while singing, which was kind of disappointing because he actually played it in his Taiwan concert.

PART 4:
After a quick costume change, Jay comes out with some Long Chuen. He sings this song pretty well and during the instrumental parts, he repeats some Chinese saying that I forgot. It was pretty cool the way he sang that part. Next came Do Niu, and he sings the song while some dancers do some tricks with the basketball. Jay attempts to do some (and he succeeded) also but messes up in the end. He just threw the ball into the audience and kept on singing. Then out of nowhere, he comes out in the white suit and sings Ke Ai Nu Ren. He never sings this song!! I was excited that he sang and sang along (I had the camera on so my clip of this song is actually of me singing). Great stuff there. He did a solid job singing the song. Next came the popular Shang Hai 1943. He sings this song pretty good, but he messed up a lot of the lyrics. I don’t blame him; the lyrics to the song are hella difficult. I liked how he sang the song in his Taiwan concert more though, especially during the chorus. Then he goes into talking about how he’s learned some Cantonese and such. He speaks some to the audience and sort of messes up.

PART 5:
Jay initially forgot what song he was suppose to sing, but was told it would be Long Juan Feng. Good song, good singing and good shit. Next comes An Jing; I’m surprised he didn’t sing this song while playing the piano, so I was kinda of disappointed. People rushed the stage during this song because he was shaking hands and shit. I got within like 30 feet of him and was stopped by the large amount of people and security. Next was Jian Dan Ai and he again shook hands with those in the front, inciting a small riot basically. After the song, the announcers stopped the concert and told everyone to go back to their seats. After a few minutes, it was Zuai Ho De Zhan Yi. He doesn’t go all out on the costume this time around, but still. He escapes through a hatch in the back in the end of the song. Then a guitar player comes out and he sings Huei Dao Guo Chu. Leet song and a pretty decent job of singing. Next he asks us to wave our glowsticks in the air for Xing Ching, which is a pretty good song for that kind of stuff. Everyone was into it and it turned out to be a pretty fun time. Then he ends it all with some Kai Bu Liao Ko, like his best song. Great way to end it.

OVERALL: 8/10
As much as I love Jay, there was no particular reason for me to give him a higher score than what he deserves. The concert was possibly the best experience of my life, but not because of the way he presented the concert, but because it was a Jay Chou concert. I had already seen most of the concert on VCD so a lot of the costumes and such didn’t appeal to me that much. Others were impressed with his piano playing while singing, but I was aware of that ages ago and it simply did not impress me as much as it did others. But it was about as good as I expected it, and I had pretty high expectations after seeing the VCD. So yah, I had a shitload of fun. Btw, hes performing at the Queens theater in Vancouver next on 2/28. Good shit for them Canadians.

CHEERS~