HELLO! DID ANYTHING ROCK?It 's must have been the dream concert of Singapore 's teenage set.the telephone company Singapore Telecom - SingTel-sponsored Hello! concert at the Singapore National Stadium last Firday (5 June 1998) featured line-up of pretty-looking guys whose music is secondary to their physical attributes. Headlined by the British cuties 911 and Code Red and Irish lads, Boyzone, the frenzied ads proclaimed it to be the concert that would "rock the nation". Well, it didn 't exactly move the Earth but it did bring together 50,000 people from all waiks of life to join in a two-hour-long screaming session. All hell broke loose when yhe audience put aside restraint for an evening of preppy pop overdose. No small foat for a country that prides itself on its cultural sophistication. Held in appreciation of SingTel 's subscribers, the free concert is a strange mixture of East and West that combines the talents of Hong Kong heartthorb Leon Lai, bubbly duo Ah-My-My, Malaysia 's own boy band KRU and Australian hunk Peter Andre. The group 911 got the ball rolling with the upbeat Paty People...Friday Night before speedily making way for Lai. The sudden change from vibrant British pop to the smoothness of Cantopop was jarring and it set the tone for the rest of the evening. Unlike huge themed concerts like the Lilith Fair and maybe Woodstock, the Hello! concert was simply rojak - mix. Though there was something for everyone - despite a heavy pop flowout throughout, Hong Kong 's Beyond provided much needed rock energy - it failed to hold one attenation for more than 30 seconds on most sets. The performance put up by 911 were commendable infused with enough action to keep these feet tapping and these cheers roaring. It was all the more impressive considering members Lee Brennan and Jimmy Constable were not quite in the land of living during an interview a few hours before the concert. And if the boys were looking for any sign of acceptance in their sophomore stage, they were in luck for their new single All I Want Is You taken from their upcoming ablum Movin' On was one of the best-received songs of the evening. Still, the most boisterous applause was reserved for Andre, though one was hard pressed to find anything to cheer about in his hand music. But the individual who recevied the most consistent high-level respone was Boyzone 's Stephen Gately. Every time his profile was illuminated on the gaint screen, an unmistakeable ware of puppy love support swept over the whole stadium and the other four members of hte group were conscious of adoration. Gately himself remained somewhat oblivious. And-surprise-surprise the best part of the concert was Tan Kheng Sheng .also known as Ngu, Malaysia 's Chinese flok singer. He was the only performer able to connect with the audience with simple and catchy number. It was a great that he did away with trendy costumes and appeared in T-shirt and bermudas. How much more down-to-earth can a star get? Overall, the concert of stars had its moments but they were not enough to elevate it to the status of the extravaganza it was touted to be. Taken
From: The Star, |