Performance Review: 2PM Concert in Singapore

Date: 19 November 11
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Singapore Indoor Stadium
Kaki: JoC, SY, JoC's sistar
Rating: 3.5 stars
Language: Korean, with some English

Sypnosis:
The wait is over for all Singapore's hottest fans who will be able to catch their favorite idol group perform their signature music, mind-blowing dance works, and explosive performance in this mega concert LIVE! The first ever full solo 2PM concert "2PM Hands Up Asia Tour in Singapore 2011" kicks off on November 19 at 7:00 pm at the Singapore Indoor Stadium!

The Concert will be featuring a unique T-shape runway and three mosh pit sections to offer fans an up-close experience with their favorite 2PM members. Only 6000 tickets (including 1800 mosh pit tickets) will be on sale!

Review:
I was tempted to put the rating at 3 stars actually, however, the efforts on dancing and singing and attempts to gel with the audience through the use of English did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

The Good
The cheoreography was good, their dancing abilities cannot be faulted (even those that were a little off by half a beat), understandable since it's live performance afterall.

The guys looked as hot as ever (considering their fans are called Hottest, I think)... and for my very first Kpop concert, I would say they delivered. I wasn't in time to make it for SHINee's concert some months back, but one of the feedback that the inability to converse with the crowd did leave the concert with a somewhat incomplete feeling, I mean, if you are not going to talk to me, wouldn't that be the same as watching a Concert DVD? So the presence of Junsu, Taekyeon and Nickhun helped heaps, a little more effort by the reminaing 3 dudes to have memorized something to say to the audience would have been good, but I am not gonna complain.

The Can Be Improved
Funnily enough, and perhaps as I wasn't in the mosh pits (one of my regrets, since I generally would prefer to be down there, but it was the day I just got back from Seoul and I knew I would be exhausted, and I was), the truly fun and party-like atmosphere only really came alive at the end, as they were bidding their farewells... the only time I stood up and started dancing with the group, but that too ended 2 songs later... Maybe if they had continued this atmosphere for another 4-5 songs, my score would have gone up by 0.5 star.

I was wondering if it was due to the experience of the group, or the more organized nature of these groups, I mean, if you are a dance group, adding fun stuff would be good. For e.g. having a "faked" impromptu dance competition would have been fun... and maybe a broader theme to stage the concert, e.g. a storyline that runs through, with the appropriate songs brought in... I know there were individual performances and they were fun. I don't know, I think a little something could have been added to add that final "ommpphh" would have made the concert experience more complete.

It  was a rather short concert, at only 2hrs15mins, and since they started at about 715. Ending at 930 meant, they still had a good 1.5 hrs from the 11pm deadline that I know Indoor Stadium has before a fine is levied. Did feel somewhat shortchanged, but a quick chat with friends also revealed that they had sang all their "top hits", so maybe it was cuz they did not have sufficient songs under their belt. Or the physical nature of their performance didn't allow them to dance for 3 hours straight. Well., I wonder...

Overall
Anyway, I am just picking at bones, since the average age of the group is like, what, 22? Still young boys, despite all that biceps... I would say, there should still be a lot more time for them to pick up the experience of truly interacting with an audience, and what it means to put up a smashing concert for a live audience (and not the 1/2 songs they do at the shared concerts). They must remember, there is no "MC" to help hype up the audience, they have to do it themselves... You actually do have to say things like, "C'mon stand up, clap along" and continue making us stand and dance hahaha, it seems stupid, but essential when you are leading a huge group of people... we are all sheeps when we are in a crowd... HAHAHA

And, I am still considering, at $218, if they were to come back next year, would it still be a concert that I want to attend? I am half-hearted about it... it had the potential to be so much better if only the boys had more experience under their belt... and the simple fact that I even bought their tickets has already shown me to be a fan, just maybe not as mindless a fan since I am a lot older.

Ah well, this is a question that I can answer when they hold their next concert...

The Sad Truth About Singaporeans Supporting Asian Artistes

We are a sad lot, that's what we are... as most of my friends would know, I move on from one obsession to the next in a matter of weeks/months... generally, it revolves around the same few items, but I seldom obsess about more than one item at the same time. So.. it is generally these few:

1. Reading Fantasies.. this goes on for weeks until I complete almost all that the author has along the same theme (you know, magical lands, knights, sorcerers, saving the world, etc)
2. Reading Manga.. if I start on one that is good, I end up collecting all, and will just obsessively read until I am done with the entire series, then I will start the hunt for the next good series until my next phase comes along
3. Watching Anime.. closely linked to the above obviously... I have loved cartoons since young and till now, I continue to watch them... and the occasional Scooby Doo and Tom&Jerry...
4. Watching Drama Serials.. and I am easy on this. Generally Asian, Taiwanese, Hong Kong TVB, Korean sob stories, Japanese cool flicks.. you name it, I have probably watched it. 
5. Following Asian Pop Idols.. admittedly, slightly less although music is a huge part of my life. Sometime back, wayyy back, I had the "Gackt" craze... Japanese dude who is cool as cucumber. And recently, it's the korean wave that's got me busy.. Shinee, 2PM, Super Junior... many many... 

And since my craze only started recently, I obviously have nobody to go to the Shinee concert with.. although I am contemplating the 2PM concert, since I do have friends who like them... so it would be fun.

AND... after all that meandering, back to the topic of why we S'poreans are a sad lot. When I am not being a screaming fan, the cynical side of me rears it's ugly head and these are thoughts that run through my head:

Where's the Profit?

Singapore is but this small island that makes up depressing album sales... there is this tiny pocket of super fans, but the numbers are depressing compared to other countries. So in our tiny Singapore, what they do is to price UP... so we have ridiculous ticket prices, sky high prices for memorabilia, and one-night concerts that I am not even sure they train or practice for. And I just feel like such a "vegetable head" (chinese translation for loser)... cuz there is an audience for it and whatever the price, if it sells, then it's profit for the band/group/artistes that came. Right? 

I can't quite blame them, when the numbers are small, you have to crunch the numbers and so, something has to give. You have to price up. Of course, since it's a one-night concert, or just an autograph session, I seriously wonder if they even remember what Singapore looks like, outside of Changi Airport! So moving on... 

If their time here is so short, do they even really know anything? Do they even care?

They all seem to give standard answers - Singapore is clean (seriously? Is that all you can say? Japan is clean too, but I never ever hear that comment on Japan!)

Singapore's chilli crab is delicious (I kid you not, they all seem to eat chilli crab when they are here.

We would love to come back to Singapore, the fans are so passionate (and seriously, I see them sweating buckets, cuz we are a hot hot country, and I wonder, you are not joking right? That you want to come back? When you have countries with better climates where you can sing and dance to without working up such a sweat, and you can tell me, without batting an eye, you want to come back to sweltering Singapore? and the fan thing, you see it being repeated in all reports about all the countries visited) I have lived here all my life, so I have no complaints. But I would imagine those from temperate countries would find it a tough pill to swallow.

Also, while I know, there is no point in hearing truths like, "Oh, the tour was done in such a haste, I can barely remember anything... there was this part in the concert when I thought I would faint from the heat, Singapore is so bloody hot, I would rethink another concert unless it's held at a skating rink!" aor how about "As an artiste, I have to watch my vocal chords and my weight, so I was lying about chilli crab. I actually eat only salads and chicken breasts. But the PR company said that it's a famous local dish, so I tried a mouthful and then answer in all interviews that the chilli crab was best"... and "You guys are so clean, it is ridiculous".. Well, actually that would be the only thing I would agree to is that yes, my country is truly a garden city and I have not really seen any other cities that is comparable in terms of cleanliness, other than Japan.

So yeah, nobody wants to hear the truth, but the PR answers sorta rubs me up the wrong way sometimes... seriously? You love coming back to Singapore? Then can I get you to agree that we are a key, important Asia stop (and not just cuz we are a good node to fly off from, so you might as well earn some spare change since you are transiting here?)

Japanese markets must yield the highest profit margins

All the korean bands/acts interviewed are learning Japanese and are looking to focus to break into the Japanese market. So I got to thinking, how come no one ever says they are looking to break into the Singapore market? The answer is, refer to point 1. We are not a high-yield profit generating country. 

If you were the recording company, would you bother to break into a market that doesn't need to be broken into? As a lot, we seem to be easily enamored  by any act that is non-Singapore (other than JJ and Stephanie Sun). So, we will pick up and find out more about the korean bands, there is no need for them to come down to do marketing (free viral marketing on youtube and popular kpop websites would suffice)... There is no CD sales to push.. not in this age of piracy... and it's not like you can tell them they have to pay $10 to queue to get your signature. Oh wait, I take that back since generally buying the album is a pre-req to these autograph sessions. Hey, I would do that to! If not, who's going to pay for the airfare down?

The way I see it, the manner in which these autographing sessions are arranged works like this. If you have that free slot in your schedule, and the record labels in Singapore push hard enough, you will schedule half your team to come down to do an autograph signing session... just to whet the appetite of the fans. I call it, the token appearance. It will push some sales, add some "visibility" to the stars, to show fans in the home market that hey, this "group" you are supporting is popular internationally (yeah, we are international! don't you know?)

And until you are sufficiently popular, you cannot even earn from concerts..

I did think it was kind of weird that even during the concerts here in Singapore, the questions will inevitably go to, "Yes, after this concert, we are focusing on breaking into the Japanese market"... with the unspoken 2nd half, "where the money really is"... Singapore is like pocket money, you drop by, earn some spare change, then move on to the next bigger and better player.

I wonder if any group would ever ever say, "Well, we had to push aside a lot of schedules that could potentially earn us bigger bucks as we wanted the Singaporean fans to know that, despite the small size of the country, we realize that there is a real and true fan base, and we really want to make the effort to come down, visit the country, get in touch with our fans, and give them a really smashing performance to thank them for their support"... 

Seriously... 

What am I griping about? Actually nothing. I just wanted to have an entry that acknowledges the fact that I know we are a sad lot, we are a "spare time slot" / "Earn some pocket money" country for these visiting artistes and that we will never have a big enough fan base for Singapore to be deemed as an important stop. There will not be a series of same concerts (with the exception of Jacky Cheung, I have never heard of a 5-night performance that is sold out) where the performers appreciate performing in Singapore. 

Weirdly, maybe due to population size, maybe due to our inherent dysfunctional thought process (hey, look at all that crap I just spewed), we almost never ever support any Singaporean artistes, and even if I do, it's just that 1/2 who have to prove to me that they are a success overseas before I would even consider buying their album. Why so?

I watch our local production and sometimes, I cringe. I wonder... why? What are we doing wrong? Why does it always feel like there is a mile and more to climb before we even achieve the success of our Asian counterparts? I used to watch our own productions a lot more, and I enjoyed them. Nowadays, I can barely watch half an episode without cringing. We fail at English programs, we somehow also fail at Chinese, our effective bilingualism doesn't seem to work on media... our English sounds like fake ang moh accents, our chinese sounds like ang moh speaking mandarin... we are doing something seriously wrong.

I don't have the answer, but I do know, I, for one, am shortchanging my own country's artistes, to pursue and spend on other country's artistes, who probably don't give two hoots about Singapore. And that, I hate to say, is the sad fact.