When I told my other friends and family that I would be attending my very first Mandarin concert, everyone was shocked! Firstly, they had never expected that I would ever attend a Mandarin concert. Secondly, they thought that I only attend Classical concerts at the Esplanade. Thirdly, they felt that I was more of a musical fan rather than one who would spend money on what they believed to be a "waste-money" kind of concert. Forth, they did not believe that I liked Rock.
Prior to this concert, I was like many of my "non-MayDay" fan friends ,who believed that MayDay concerts and alike were meant for the not-so-well-educated, the young teenagers who enjoyed chasing their idols round the island and that it was a money-making concert.
Of course, I was thorougly wrong. This concert had made me addicted not only to their songs and the band, but had taught me much as well.
I was re-doing a module when I attended their concert. Before the start of the concert, I was very disappointed, sad and angry for not doing well for the module and had to retake to module from January 2007 till May2007. I had studied very hard for the module but somehow, when the result was released a week before the concert, I was devasted that I only had a passing grade, which indicated that it was not good enough to go through to the next stage. This also meant another meeting with the professors in school the Tuesday after the MayDay concert.
I know, to attend a MayDay concert under such circumstances was terribly unbearable. I was on the verge of not attending the concert. I was very moody, aimless and basically, unable to be sort out my thoughts. I just felt, that's it, I was not going to make it to the next stage of my course and I had not only failed myself and those who support me morally, but had also embarrassed myself terribly. I know it is dumb to to equate academic achievements to career achievements, but, I am stuggling to tell myself not to think as such like the other foresightless colleagues.
My colleagues were starting to count down to the days when the five of us were going to attend a concert together as friends. I did not know if they had any expectations but I certainly did not have any. For me, it was just an experience to enhance my music exposure. I had gone to K lunch at K Box, probably one or two weeks before the concert to familarize myself with MayDay's works, played the 知足compilation a couple of times, and then looked at the lyrics of the compilation on the afternoon of the concert.
My family was very sure that I was not going to enjoy myself. They were very sure that I was going to go home and complained. They were very sure there was no way I was going to like MayDay because I had never ever show signs of liking them. Some of my friends were also confident that there was no way I was going to like them.They thought that I was going to the concert because my other friends were going, so, I had decided to tag along. I was sure the concert would end exactly two hours later, which was ten, whether they were going to start on time or not. So, I would not have trouble going home after the then "much dreaded" concert.
And so, we arranged to meet at Bedok Interchange to have a quick dinner and then, B's sister's friend would drive us all to Singapore Expo. We chitchat, took some pictures of ouselves while on the van. B and her sister had earlier attended their mini showcase, so, was looking forward to their L.O.V.E mass exercise.
I was still abit moody but the excitment was slowly creeping in. When we reached Singapore Expo, I started to get excited. I remembered taking pictures of ouselves because it was our first concert together as friends and it was a Mandarin concert. Juan and S already knew what to expect from Mayday while I was busy telling them that I would be going to the loo when their special guest was singing. Juan was speculating who their special guest would be when I asked her if there was going to be one.
Around 8:24pm, the concert started with some screening and then a movie clip. Suddenly, all the fans were on their feet when MayDay appeared and their lead singer sang the first line. Although a novice to a rock concert, I was on my feet too and I remembered telling B while they were halfway through their first song, that we had to get the front seats should they come back for another concert!!! It was not even half way through the concert when I said that. I also wished time would stop that night. The concert ended at around 1120pm.
I could remembered vividly that it was a concert that was very enjoyable. Throughout the concert, S and I were discussing the various songs and telling each other which were the songs we had sang at the karaoke session and why did some of the songs had lyrics which was about buying a cup of orange juice. An eyeopener indeed. My throat was hoarse from all the sing-a-longs and shouting. My arm was aching as a result of waving my "light sabre" and my legs were tired for standing almost throughout the concert.
The band did not stop until halfway through the concert when Ashin introduced the band to the audience. At that time, I really, really liked Monster. I also thought that Masa and I looked quite alike, except that I am fatter and am a girl. The strangest thing was that I was able to tell S that 《离开地球表面》 was a song written specially for the concert. Never mind how I knew it. I remembered jumping when Ashin cued us all for a jump. It was like a mass disco party!
And then, there was the much awaited L.O.V.E mass "exercise". The crowd went wild and mad as almost everyone was on their feet to do their L.O.V.E!!! I think we were all very happy and excited. 《终结孤单》was another song which saw the crowd went wild.
There were many Hokkien songs being sung but I really did not know the songs as all except for 《志明与春娇》. As for the Chinses songs, I could only remember the following being sung:
《拥抱》，《离开地球表面》，《为爱而生》，《最重要的小事》，《人生海海》，《终结孤单》，《香水》，《孙悟空》and 《恋爱 I-N-G>。 I really cannot remember what other numbers were being performed. I remembered the band telling the crowd that the Expo was too small a venue for their concert and that they would like to return to Singapore every year to do a concert, but at Indoor Stadium and then it was time to bring down the roof of Expo. So, I was thinking to myself, it will be a while before they return to Singapore for another show. I was speculating maybe another 18 months later.
To my delight, I did not have to wait so long to see them again.
As we had all missed the last train back to City, the rest of us decided to have supper. It was the first time I had supper, the Hong Kong yum cha type. It reminded me of the time I was studying in Melbourne, Australia and Saturday nights were always filled with activities such as walking to the casino to eat.
After that night, I felt better, and more confident to face each day. Regardless of whatever challenges faced, I am sure that there will be ways to overcome them. Their songs have truly inspired me and I am able to handle much problems, whether successful or not is another story.
Let me just say that their songs have given me strength to move on and look forward to each day with much optimism. I am now much happier and despite the fact that there are many difficulties and challenges to face everyday, I have also learn to accept and overcome them with more positivity.
The most obvious change in me after the concert is that I have become addicted to Mayday concerts. While their albums are fantastic, their concerts are simply, more than words can describe. Whether they are truly the Beatles of Asia, I am not sure, but to crown them either the Beatles of Mandarin Rock, they truly deserve it!
MayDay Rocks!!!
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