As Suanie Sees It

Last week Kim called me, telling me that she had tickets to the Live & Loud ‘07 (pop) and if I’d be interested to go. Hmmm.. a free ticket to a large and hyped-up outdoor concert with performances by local and international stars? Like, herrrooooooo I be there kthx.

We got there at about 4.30 p.m. and plonked our butts down at a great spot behind a few gay dudes. One of them was wearing a pair of jeans that was almost falling off his butt, revealing his white undies that was luckily not thongs, else I would have taken multiple photos of it for my own amusement for the rest of the night. Two other gay dudes were next to us, impeccably dressed in tanks and fitted cargo pants. They looked good. Jeans-almost-falling-off dude should take note.

ST was fluffing about on the stage most of the time. Lucky bastard. Here he is chatting with James Taylor of the James Taylor Quartet before the latter was due to perform.

Two Brits on stage, sitting in a tree…

The JTQ was quite fun, playing some acid jazz. Then Yvonne Yanney came on and delivered some good vocals alongside the band. Did the humidity stop them? NOoooo… they rocked.

Next up was Hannah Tan. Initially I scoffed at the idea of her singing to a (relatively) large crowd. According to a few eye-witnesses who will remain nameless, her performance at her album launch @ Mardi Gras was less than… well to call a spade a spade, it sucked out loud. Besides her album’s marketing gimmick was all about sex (blown up poster of her almost nekkid?!); while it always works, unfortunately it somehow gives less credibility to an artist’s ability. In short, I was waiting for a train wreck.

It’s Hannah Tan, y’all

Happily I was proven wrong. Hannah came on and gave a rather good performance. She’s no Mariah Carey (and IMHO she should really stop playing around with her vocals) but she is far from just your average karaoke singer. More than good enough to have an album out. She knows how to work the crowd too, and she was all-smiles and generally pleasant, so it was good.

According to yet another unnamed source, Hannah Tan is trying to discard her sexy image, which was built up by her previous management. Sure, get a hot girl, strip her down to a bikini and sell massive loads of CDs, right? That is if you are someone with all the right looks AND mediocre singing abilities. Why am I trying to prove a point that she can sing? Well I was there, I saw it, I heard it, screw you non-believers

Then we waited around for a very long time ( it really drags on every time someone new comes out to perform ), so the camera went around capturing the crowd’s antics, screened on the big screen in the middle of the stage. It was quite fun actually. Sometimes the cameraman would alternate between two groups of people who were playing it up for the screen.

At around 7, Project Pop from Indonesia came on and.. how do I say this… ROCKED ROCKED ROCKED!!!!!1111 Their songs were dangdut-ish, their skits were obvious yet hilarious, and I had a whale of a time watching them on stage Of course I could only understand half of what they were saying, but I think their body language and elaborate gestures make up for the language barrier. If you would click on this link, there is a music video of ‘Dangdut is the Music of My Country’ on YouTube, with lyrics below. It is basically a cliche song about differences, yet united in music. But oh so true, and oh so fun.

Random photo of me and Kim

Then it was Elliot Yamin’s time to shine!

Truth to be told, I had no idea whatsoever about Elliot Yamin. Kim was like, wtf his songs are all over the radio! But I very seldom listen to radio these days, and needless to say I did not follow AI5. The one and only one song I’ve heard by Elliot Yamin was ‘Wait For You’ (that so reminded me of boy bands), and that was because I went to SlowCatchUpKuan’s blog and checked out her Imeem playlist. Suffice to say, I felt a bit left out when people around me left right and centre were screaming, “ELLIOT I LOVE YOU ELLIOT ELLIOT ELLIOT!!!”

At that time it was drizzling, then we had some pretty heavy drops. Nevertheless Elliot Yamin played on like a trooper, drenched in sweat and rain. It made the whole experience rather poetic. I know some of you staunch fans will hate me for being slightly bored when I was there listening to their idol perform, but all I’m saying is that you young nuts won’t have the same appreciation as I do about (old) Bon Jovi. It’s like me not being able to appreciate Bruce Springsteen.

Anyway after his show, I went on Wikipedia to read up on Elliot Yamin. Another reason why I love love love my N95 and 3G is that I can do shit like this BECAUSE I CAN I found out that Elliot has a 90% hearing loss in his right ear, and is a Type 1 diabetic. Man, that just upped my respect for him a few notches for rocking like he did.

But as for his songs, I don’t know… dude can sing and perform, and sing and perform damn well he did. But to me he sounded a bit… I don’t know, generic? It’s not a bad thing but it doesn’t make one stand out, does it? Well i am saying this based on that day’s performance; I haven’t checked out his album yet. Maybe I should. Interesting character.

I know it is unfair to compare Jason Mraz with Elliot Yamin, but for some reason I kept thinking of Jason Mraz’s live performances (as seen on YouTube) throughout Elliot’s performance. Maybe I am biased. But mostly because Mraz is eccentric enough for my penchant for oddity. But if you have to compare the two of them, allow me to present a very simple yet extremely accurate chart on how Jason Mraz trumps Elliot Yamin.

Heh heh heh.

After all that excitement, it was time for Malaysian artists!

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz…………….

Seriously man, we have some good performers/ singers. Nikki rocked with “Can You Feel It”, “Rhythm Nation” and “Lady Marmalade”, and it is always wonderful to see Jaclyn Victor perform (always gives me goosebumps, EVERY TIME). But they got some on famous and semi-famous singers to perform VERY S-L-O-W songs… I mean, what the heck were you guys thinking lah? Dah lah got the crowd pumped up with top trance tunes while waiting for each segment to begin, then proceed to bore the crap out of us with ballads.

Was bored. Sat down. Surfed net. Checked mail. Went on MSN. Stared at jeans-almost-falling-off dude’s butt.

For their last song, all of the Malaysian artists came on stage to sing ‘That’s What Friends Are For’. I contemplated running on stage, bypassing security, yanking the Craig-David wannabe down and dragging him to the nearest kerb so I could kick him hard. That would be a good way to find out if I have pent-up anger issues.

Okay the reason I was so not pleased was because that was last song sung by Dionne Warwick at her awesome performance last Monday. If they had allowed Jaclyn Victor to sing the whole damn song, I wouldn’t be pissed; in fact I would have stood up and cheered. But as it turned out… argh oh well.

Another long wait, then it was mistah boom boom bombastic tell me fantastic…. Shaggy!!! Heh, I had no idea what he was talking about sometimes, but that man was a GREAT performer. He worked the crowd with his Jamaican hips. He spoke lovingly of women. He smiled like a hyena in heat. He sang with Rayvon and RikRok. He wore a lot of bling. I like.

Don’t say I wasn’t thinking of you, Malaysian censors. You were always on my mind.

After Shaggy and co, we had to wait a full hour for Whitney’s set. The announcer who had not been particularly good in his fake enthusiasm when introducing acts on stage throughout the concert reminded us thrice NOT to take photos or record videos while Whitney was on. Meh, I was so pissed off. What a diva. What a bitch. Who does she think she is?! That mean, selfish crack ho.

Then finally Whitney Houston came on stage…

Wield the power of your imagination

… in a silver trench coat, dark metallic grey pants and a midriff-baring top that had no excuse to be there. She looked haggard. Her belly jutted out from whichever scary alien it came from. It was scandalous. I was shocked. We waited so long for this, you fat fuck?!

She started with “If I Told You That”. Meh meh meh. Then she launched into a medley of some of her classics. Then “Exhale”. I have always, always hated the song. Hmm.. but it was a time when she was still at her prime. Hmm.. well, she is after all 40 something… her now ex-husband was a downright bitch. She did dump the loser. She had a baby. She was on self-prescribed drugs for so many years. Photos of her at her lowest moment are readily available with a click of the mouse.

“Step By Step”. Hmm.. she is not really singing… what a cheat. Well, I’ve seen videos of her performing live before, and she seemed to always pull this trick of leaving most of the singing to her back-up singers. Oh she is prancing about the stage. God, that belly is hideous. I mean, I have a belly that is triple the size of her belly, and I am 26 without a baby. But I don’t make my living by performing on stage. Even if I did, you would be sure I’d cover everything up and not embarrass myself with that top that is making me butt of jokes.

“My Love Is Your Love”. Bored. Back aching. Legs aching. Sweaty. Stoned. Intermission while Whitney (hopefully) gets changed. A back-up singer, her brother came on singing “Change The World”. Nice, quite good, but sing it like you mean it, dude. That is the problem with artists these days; they have all these songs yet they don’t mean anything to them. That is why when they belt it out, the songs come off as flat (to me). I am not a record executive; just a regular music fan, and I know what I appreciate and what I do not appreciate. Don’t con me dude and dudettes. Music is personal. I have carefully selected tunes for every defining moment of my life. Don’t fuck with me.

Whitney comes back on stage in a purple, sort of Grecian gown. She wants to dance with somebody. She asks how will she knows. She goes to the rock. Still bored, but not angry anymore. More like… resigned to the knowledge that Whitney Houston of the past remains in the past. Her husky and inconsistent voice result of one too many fags, drugs and booze doesn’t impress.

No wait, she isn’t… she can’t be… but she is gonna! She is going to sing “I Will Always Love You”! Can she really, really do it? Does this mean I have to take back everything I’ve said?

Well, no. But ‘no’ to “The Bodyguard” way. Or that spectacular Grammy Awards performance in 1994. I seriously do not think there is any way on earth Whitney can do what she did for that album and movie anymore. But I didn’t think the song was a complete and utter failure. At that moment, I remember the movie. I remember 1992. I (involuntarily) remember Kevin Costner. More importantly, I remember the moment when she was on stage… “If I should stay… I would only be in your way… so I’ll go… but I know.. I’ll think of you… every step of the way…”

Okay.. she is 40 something… she had a tough life… her husband was a user who abused her… all that money in the world can’t buy her marital happiness… she did take the initiative to divorce the fucker. She gets to keep her baby. She is trying to move on. She is trying to be strong. The world is watching her every step, waiting for a hint of failure to be splashed on the covers of tabloid magazines. She had the rock n’ roll lifestyle. She sniffed the drugs. She drank the bottles. She wants to come back. She is apprehensive. She is scared. It is only human to be afraid. She is trying.

A lot of people weren’t happy with what Whitney did at Live & Loud ‘07. Many left the scene after the second or third song. Many more blogged and dissed the performance, saying it was a dismal failure and she shouldn’t have done it. I can’t say I disagree with some of them. But after all that emotional roller coaster ride brought on by Whitney Houston at Live & Loud 2007, I felt so very, very sorry for her.. yet, YET somewhat proud of what she is trying to do, and is doing. Highs and lows, flaws and all, it was so heartbreakingly human that I only want to wish her well. Even if I would never buy her album, or pay to watch her perform live again, I sincerely extend all my best wishes and hope she has the inspiration, motivation and strength to succeed in this next stage of her life.

So to Whitney: bittersweet memories; that is all I am taking with me.

More from: Kim, KlubbKidd, Mr Manager, ShaolinTiger