This should be the record since I left my life as a entertainment (read: Chinese entertainment) journalist with the paper almost three years ago..
No, i'm not complaining - it can be tiring but I thoroughly enjoyed almost all of them.. and would have wanted to watch it anyway and ended up I didn't pay a cent for it.. :p
1.
The first one - Astro Star Quest Finals - would not be something I would have watched live - maybe on television. And this year I didn't even follow the competition at all... Then just a day before the finals in Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, an ed called me up and since I do need jobs and money, of course I made myself available..
I was seated in the comfort of Putra Stadium press seat with a table.. and it was actually quite entertaining and enjoyable despite I had no knowledge of these up-and-coming youngsters were. Must say I was quite impressed in particular by two of them - Kah Fai and Min - who eventually emerged as first runner-up and the winner!! The only grouses was the whole thing was pretty long as there were many rounds of contests - and all those commerical breaks in between since it was aired live on Astro.. And as the responsible (ahem) writer that I am, I also stayed back to interview the winners although I had not much space for the write-up anyway.. 2.
Then the following weekend.. was a show I really wanted to watch. Although no one asked me to review it, I was fortunate to obtain two comp tickets from the organiser of SuperBand - that's made up of four unique and talented musicians/singers from Taiwan - Lo Ta-yu, Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau and Chang Chen-yue.
My sis in HK has watched this concert and told me it was really good (and she is the picky type when it comes to concerts) and so I was really looking forward to it and definitely I was not disappointed. In fact, I rated it as the best concert I've been to this year and maybe even in recent years!! Their repertoire was splended and nostalgic (ok, I'm from some their eras) and they really showcased what they could do with their voices and instruments individually and as a band. And boy, just loved the way they jammed together.. Their combined age was 190! But to me, they beat any young hot boyband hands down. :) And so ya, myself and my friend really enjoyed it.. the bonus was I daringly mingled myself into the press seats (which were better than my ticket seats) after there were extra seats there!
3.
I attended the Michael Hui's press conference a few weeks earlier and was quite keen to catch his talk show in Genting Highland. Unfortunately, the editor I was contributing to did not want a review but fortunately I know the organiser's boss whom I've covered quite a no. of his shows and he has asked me to just go. But because it was a hot sold-out show - Michael Hui's first ever show in Malaysia or outside HK for that matter - I was told in the last minute that I could get into the stadium but there were no seats allocated for me!!
But again, my lucky (entertainment) star was shining and my friend and I who specially drove up to Genting were `rewarded' with seats - quite good ones too - among the photographers. And we had such a good time laughing our heads off with his jokes. Michael Hui has many interesting stories and anacdotes to tell.. The audience loved it so much that he obliged by even singing a song at the end.. And like I put on my FB, it is a refreshing change from the usual concerts! Great show :)
4.
Finally.. (I really hope I don't have any concert next week.. :S) I thought I would have given Eason Chan a miss this time as I mistakenly thought the concert was on Saturday and I was on worship duty on early Sunday morning. But turn out I was asked to do a review and the concert was Sunday evening.. at Sunway Lagoon Surf Pool - the same stage of MTV World Stage Live the night before.
For once, I was shocked to find out that they did not allocate any areas, let alone, any seats for the press! I was ushered to this `red zone area' - already jam packed with people right in front of the stage.. I squeezed myself through but guess what, I was blocked by a few tall guys and hardly had space to move let alone jot down notes for my review! The speakers were blaring and made my heart thump. Seriously, I'm not fit nor young enough to stand in such condition for 3 hours!!
To cut a long story short, I squeezed my way out of that crazy zone and stood at the side where some reporters were.. but 20 mins later, I already felt tired and spotted some chairs by some food stalls so there was where I sat by myself the whole night..
Fortunately, Eason's wonderful performance and music redeemed that earlier terrible experience.. Although i could only see the screen from side way and hardly the stage.. I still enjoyed the concert. He even did a medley of the 80s classics including Alan Tam's Love Trap and his own beautiful numbers.. It was even better than his first concert I watched I felt.. so much so I stayed till last song and as I walked out, fireworks broke into the sky.. a very long and elaborate one.
I guess Eason's concert - plus all the three previous ones had inspired me to blog despite my tiredness.. (got up at 6:50am this morning!)
What a crazy life for a aging freelance (entertaiment) writer who should actually settle for less `exciting' jobs :p But no, I'm not complaining.. :)
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