DURING their major gig here last April, the guys of Taiwanese pop-rock band Mayday exclaimed that they were 'going to play till the roof of Singapore Indoor Stadium flies off'.
Last Friday, back in town for their two-night Mayday DNA Singapore Concert, the five lads rocked out loud and hard.
The stadium's roof remained intact, but it was clear that the band had set a new benchmark for Asian live performances.
Playing to a near full-house capacity of 6,500 fans - the second night had already sold out all 8,000 tickets during pre-sales - who waved their light sticks and cheered boisterously throughout, lead vocalist Ashin, guitarists Monster and Stone, bassist Masa and drummer Guan You put in an astounding showcase of stamina and musical finesse as they stretched the concert to 31/2 hours.
Clever visuals
Starting at 8.40pm, their set of nearly 35 songs ended well past midnight.
Not that the audience, made up mainly of working professionals in their 20s and 30s, seemed to mind one bit.
With a production cost of NT$500,000 (around $20,000), Mayday's concert boasted spectacular stage pyrotechnics.
There were 3-D visual graphics and a hilarious short film - cleverly split into segments and weaved into the concert - that had the rockers playing ordinary men who ditched their mundane office jobs to become car thieves.
The band was in top-notch condition all night; frontman Ashin, who has at times been criticized for his thin and overly nasal voice, didn't falter as he switched effortlessly between the fast and slow songs.
He leap around the stage on energetic, heavy tracks such as Gambler and Screams in Spring, while delivering pensive emotions when it came to ballad tunes like Suddenly, I Miss You So Much and The Most Important Little Thing.
Ashin's natural charisma was undeniable, but his mates were not about to be overshadowed by his shine.
Guitarists Monster and Stone were especially impressive with their instruments, especially on the groovy song Monkey King, where they showed off their technical proficiency by dazzling the crowd with fast solos.
The spontaneous and stripped-down moments, however, were the true highlights of the concert.
When Ashin and drummer Guan You switched places and Guan You belted out two songs with his band egging him on - Ashin was having most fun banging on the drums - it cracked the audience up.
When the band reworked the arrangement of one of their most popular songs, Love-ING, turning it into a down-tempo, laid back jazzy piece, it proved to be superbly refreshing and easy on the ears.
Then, there was Stone's touching acoustic tribute to his daughter, a simple song called Yi Ya Ya that revealed a father's love.
Wrapping up the show, Mayday returned to its roots by playing three of its earliest Hokkien hits, Zhi Ming And Chun Jiao, I Love You, Hopelessly, as well as the final sing-a-long anthem, Silly Fool.
Ashin asked the crowd cheekily as the clock ticked towards 12am: 'Are there buses left? Are all of you going to walk home later?'
Everyone hollered back in unison: 'Yes!'
Detail from Newspaper
Report by Tan Kee Yun, September 01, 2009
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