Filed under: Music Events in Singapore
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to watch Coldplay and I said no.
I so completely want to take that back.
MTV Worldstage’s screening of Coldplay in Japan. MAN.
I’m not gonna mince my words on this one. I don’t like Rihanna.
I think she doesn’t look thaaaaat pretty and her voice is nothing much to crow about. Furthermore, I found the lyrics to umbrella mildly retarded. Worse still, news has it that the 20 year-old is already showing signs of diva-dom.
However, I have to admit that she does give a kickass live show.
I guess you don’t really need me to publicise that her show’s coming in two days since mediacorp radio’s been blasting out her marketing campaign for the past few weeks. More info from sistic.
Vid: Umbrella Live at Dome42 (The one saving grace of Rihanna, a good live show, still I’m not shelling out $$ to watch her)
Filed under: Reviews of Performances | Tags: canada, concert, jason mraz, review, toronto concert, we sing we dance we steal things
When I found out that Daryl (author of Unique Frequency) had managed to catch Jason Mraz live in Toronto, I immediately asked him to help me out with a quick review on the goings on. Daryl’s a big music fan that listens to his fair share of music, in fact, you can find some of his personal opinions on music on his personal blog. Thanks Daryl!
If you’re a big fan of Mr AZ (and you should be!) then you gotta give this post a good read. So without further adieu….
Jason Mraz is currently on tour, and I travelled to Massey Hall in Toronto from Kingston to catch him, and what a show it was! The tour is a promotional tour for the “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.” album, and he performed virtually all the songs from his new album, as well as the all-time favourites “You And I Both” as well as “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)”.
One of the really fun things that the audience could do was sms in messages and they would appear right on the screen behind him, and later in the show we could send picture attachments by phone, and they would appear on the screen as well.
As someone who caught Jason Mraz in Singapore back in 2006 at the Esplanade but missed him at Singfest, I’ve not had a live Mraz fix for a long time, and of course, he didn’t disappoint. Whether it was slow ballads or fast-get-off-your-feet tunes, every song was performed perfectly, musically and lyrically.
One thing I always enjoyed about Jason Mraz shows is how he gets the audience involved. There were fairly simple actions accompanying “The Dynamo Of Volition” (that audiences who were at Singfest should be familiar with), as well as great sing-along parts for “I’m Yours”, which was undoubtedly the song with the loudest welcome from the crowd.
Overall, it was an excellent performance and I don’t think anyone in the crowd was disappointed. If you want to catch all the songs performed live in video, head on over to http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://daryltay.net for a full run down
Filed under: Performances | Tags: edin karamazov, esplanade, john downland, songs from the labyrinth, sting
That’s right ladies and gents, Sting’s headed to Singapore. 
I may not be Sting’s biggest fan, but I think his songwriting is really something special. Performing alongside lutenist Edin Karamazov, Sting will be performing songs from his classical album Songs from the Labyrinth.
Songs from the Labyrinth is Sting’s personal tribute to 16th century composer John Dowland. A pet project with Karamov, the album went on to take on the world’s classical charts by storm. Sting admits he is a newcomer to classical music, I guess he’s a really good newcomer given his success.
So I checked out a couple of songs on youtube and it truly sounds unique. Sting’s full electric band is replaced with a softer acoustic set up, making his voice come through stronger than ever.
I must admit however that I’m not completely won over by Sting’s crossover into classical music since I’m more interested in contemporary music. While Sting’s voice really shines, I miss his songs. When I watch Sting, I’m more interested in hearing his work than I am his voice.
So should you go for it?
From the looks of it, Sting is only going to be performing his works from Songs from the Labyrinth, so if you go there expecting him to break out into Englishman in New York, you’re certainly in for a rude shock. However, if you’ve listened to the album and just want to hear it live (classical stuff tends to sound much better live), then you’re in for a treat.
If you’re Sting’s biggest fan and are willing to spend money on anything Sting has to offer then you probably won’t need any persuading anyway.
CONCERT INFO:
YOUTUBE LINKS:
Sting telling us how he went over to the dark(classical) side
Song: Can she excuse my wrongs. (I like this song the best)
Song: Weep you no more sad fountains
Song: Have you seen the bright lily grow
Filed under: Performances | Tags: singaporemusic, lifehouse, eic, jack and rai, gatecrash, st james power station, who we are, broken, blind
I know this comes at short notice, but I only just found out myself. Lifehouse will be performing at St James Power Station tomorrow, Saturday. Oh yea, EIC is opening for them (Good choice!)
In my opinion, Lifehouse has consistently come up with rock music that the ordinary pop music lover can relate to. Their smash hit ‘You and me’ received more than its fair share of play in Singapore.
Lifehouse has also come up recently with it’s album ‘Who we are’ which retains all the pop-rock sensibilities that got them famous in the first place. I’ve listened to ‘broken’ and think it’s pretty good. You can also find out a whole lot more about Lifehouse from their official site and their fansite.
More info on their appearance in Singapore can be found here.
I personally love this version of blind:
Filed under: Performances | Tags: agua de beber, antonio carlos jobim, black eyed peas, bossa, bossa nova, brazil, esplanade, mas que nada, Music Events in Singapore, performance, samba, sergio mendes, singapore, sistic
After years in the music business and still smiling!
That’s right ladies and gents, the boss of bossa and Tsar of Samba is coming.
When it comes to Brazilian music, I would surmise that there are few people around who can compare to Sergio Mendes. I mean, the guy had Antonio Carlos Jobim as a mentor! What I really like about him is his innovation – from the beginning, he’s taken plenty of tracks that are popular and just made them his own.
Mendes isn’t someone to rest on his laurels and dwell on his hits of old. You continue to see innovation even now as he blends hip hop music into his Brazilian rhythms. His smash hit Mas Que Nada has taken on a complete revamp with the Black Eyed Peas‘ contributing a hip hop lyrics and instrumentation. Yet the song remains, unmistakably samba, unmistakably Sergio.
A quick browse-through of the demo tracks on his website and you can see how Mendes doesn’t just keep up with the times, he shines.
Details of his show in Singapore
Singapore Sun Festival 2008
Sergio Mendes in Concert
22 Oct 2008
Wed, 07:30PM
Esplanade Concert Hall
S$148, S$128, S$88, S$68, S$48
Get your tickets at Sistic.
Sergio on a modern version of Agua De Beber:
Filed under: Performances | Tags: ash, britpop, fort canning, indie rock, singapore, singapore beer festival, sistic, slash
Ash has announced that twilight of the innocents will be their last album. From henceforth, they will only release singles. Thanks to digital media for changing the music industry.
I guess the tile is pretty much self explanatory. Ash is coming to Singapore, Fort Canning to be exact.
Admittedly, my knowledge of Ash (or most indie rock bands for that matter) is quite limited. I do know however, that they have been around since 1992. A quick Youtube checkup on the band and you will be able to find a multitude of songs they have done over the years. The band really made it big in 1994 are well know for their songs, “Goldfinger,” “Oh Yeah,” “Burn Baby Burn,” “Girl from Mars,” “A Life Less Ordinary” and a bunch of others.
Never one for the ordinary, Ash were once part of a teen slasher flick called slash that featured plenty of music personalities such as Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Moby, James Nesbitt and Dave Grohl. The film never got released and one can only wonder at how crappy it actually was.
ASH ‘Live’ At The Singapore Beer Festival
Date: October 2, 2008
Time: 8pm
Venue: Fort Canning Park
Ticket Prices:
S$85 from August 15 – 31
S$95 from September 1 – Octobter 1
S$110 on October 2
Ticket prices are exclusive of S$3 SISTIC charge
This song just reminds me of my JC (highschool days). I feel old:
Filed under: Musicals in Singapore | Tags: avenue q, muppets, musical, singapore musical
As you might have gathered from this post, I am quite the muppets fan. So when I was travelling in New York last december, I made it a point to watch the muppets for ‘mature’ audiences. As a parody of Sesame Street, it scores.
Avenue Q’s inventive reworking of sesame street really got me hooked from the opening theme “It sucks to be me” all the way till the end. By writing the cynical lyrics of the jaded working class and putting it to a children’s show type of tune, Avenue Q certainly makes an impact. Couple all that with puppets that show uncanny similarities to the muppets of our childhood and you get a Tony Award winning Musical.
This musical isn’t going to resonate with everyone. If you only want to watch nice happy, uplifting type musicals like mamma mia and coarse humour (there is an actual puppet sex scene) is the bane of your life, you might want to save your money for something more tame. Otherwise, Avenue Q is sure to entertain.
Oh yea, did I mention they’re coming to Singapore?
Details for the Singapore tour can be found here.
Oh and if you’re interested in watching some clips, you can head to Avenue Q’s website.
PS: I have heard that cast that is on tour is from the Philippines and not the States. Just thought you should know.
Filed under: Reviews of Performances | Tags: bass, esplanade, marcus miller, singaporemusic, smv, stanley clarke, thunder tour, victor wooten
As you can probably tell by now, I made my choice and decided to go for the amazing bass show performed by the greatest bassists in the world today. Now, a few hours after the show, I’m still reeling from the all the groove kicked up by the 3 “crazy people” as Victor Wooten put it so aptly.
Not quite a showcase of pyrotechnics and wizardry as G3 is. However, SMV had this uncanny ability to lock the whole audience in a tight groove. From start to finish, the audience kept nodding, tapping their feet or clapping to the beat of the band.
Of course, each of the individual bassists had do a little bit of showing off on their own, and each of them had their own special something to bring to the table. Victor had his inventive genius, particularly in his use of the looper machine. Marcus Miller demonstrated unfair amounts of talent by playing not just the bass, but the saxophone and the bass clarinet as well. My favourite was Stanley Clarke with his unmistakable tone (there were times I couldn’t tell Wooten and Miller apart clearly) and who went on to show off his mastery of the acoustic bass.
My fellow audience members were particularly receptive to SMV, applauding enthusiastically after every single solo and the occasional cry of “We love you Stanley!” could be heard now and then. It was a great experience really for $40.
Marcus Miller had a question for the Singapore audience early in the show,
“Singapore, do you like bass?”
Hell yeah.
Filed under: Performances | Tags: esplanade, guitar, jazz, joe lovano, john mayer, john scofield, saxophone
As you know, I’m currently agonizing over whether to attend SMV’s performance at the Esplanade. At the same time, I’m also wondering whether I should go for John Scofield’s performance also at the Esplanade, also at the same price (Student discounts!).
Scofield isn’t really something for the uniniated. As they say, Jazz is all about tension and release. For Scofield’s music, it’s MOSTLY about tension, then there’s a teeny weeny bit of release buried somewhere in the song, and I just love it!
BE warned! If you go for his concert without ever listening to music of similar vein (IE. Modern Jazz such as Pat Metheny or Herbie Hancock) you might well feel you’ve wasted your money. Scofield, however, contributes much to modern music that I find sordidly lacking (melody and harmony). He earns my respect for that.
Did I also mention that Joe Lovano was coming with him?
Here’s one of his more err, mellow performances with John Mayer:
PS: I’m probably only going to catch just 1 of these performances, still undecided and open to suggestions!
