Jay Chou in Los Angeles on Christmas
Got to see Jay's 2007 concert at USC in Los Angeles.
This fella managed to sneak in a camera and produce one of the better videos I've seen. This clip will give you an idea of the beginning of the concert.
My own thoughts? Well there is just about no criticism on the adoring Jay fansites, so I'll venture a little although overall I enjoyed the experience.
But there were some serious production issues with the concert which is surprising since this might have been the last leg of a long tour. [The promotion team, the so-called "More Entertainment" are a bunch of thieving incompetents, but that's another story.] The concert was scheduled from 7;30-10, but Jay went on at 8. This was his only US appearance, and there were no other LA shows.
Here is a full description. First, while fans waited in line, they announced there would be no cameras and they would confiscate any cameras they found on you during the security search, a little unnerving as I had to stuff my $400 camera in the crotch of my pants. Don't ask me how, but I made it past security. Of course, flashbulbs started going off at some point during the performance, and after the show people openly posed for pictures. Many of these camera lenses might have shattered in the ferocious volume of the first several songs; the sound people turned it down a few songs in, thankfully.
Second, Jay didn't pace the concert very well. This was most apparent when the band settled into stools with acoustic instruments in what was meant to be a charming Christmas-themed "take requests" portion ofthe concert. The problem? He did this 15 or 20 minutes before the concert was scheduled to end! This left about 3 minutes to leave the crowd with a rousing concluding song.
Third, Jay took a long time between numbers, perhaps in order to change costumes and hair. The backup band, including one backup singer who really sounded out of place (actually he sounded like me singing in Chinese--deep clumsy voice), would play while Jay was off stage. Ok, a little weird to vamp in the style of the song just finished, but no problem. But at one point Jay graciously allowed a young band of singers he is mentoring to take THREE SONGS in the middle of the concert. That's sweet of him, but I did not pay to see some opening band DURING the concert. SupposedlyJay intended to play 30 songs. I doubt he played 30 songs. In fact, I counted exactly three of my favorite songs that he did not play, and I blame NaQuan Mama .
Finally, Chinese people in the US may not be used to the tradition of encores. When Jay mentioned that the next tune would be the last, many folks, including those who were carrying babies, took him quite literally and left for the exits. It didn't help that there was an overly long time between the end of the show and the first encore, but it did give the disgruntled crowd a chance to relieve themselves of the glow sticks that had been handed out during the show.
My friend said on some of the bulletin boards, irate Chinese were griping that they just went home when they though it was over. Needless to say, it was not over.In fact, Jay had planned at least one huge costume number for his encores. The sight of hundreds of folks rushing back to their seats when they were surprised by the first encore would have been more hilarious if I wasn't one of them. All the people out of their seats became a problem when Jay tried to exit stage left to do a little sing in the isles bit and was chased back onto the stage by a mob.
Jay was at his best when seated at a piano. The sound wasn't awful is it could be in an arena type venue. His hair was utterly ridiculous; I remember it like a hair beehive with vines growing directly off of it towards the sky. Inside this hair, I imagined there to be stunt motorcycles inside, buzing around the dome in circles and clowns distributing candy to the children.
There was a brave bit involving all the background singers swinging numchuks, no surprise there. I believe there was a bit of piano dueling which who doesn't love piano dueling. And the new country-themed song didn't go off as badly as it could have.
Most of all, Jay seemed intent on impressing us with his ability to rise up from below the stage on a platform(the stage supposedly a homage to the movie Transformers, proving that some things do get lost in translation), on as many new, often exotic, instruments as possible--I found his drum playing a bit unnecessary. Though I'm sure glad he can play the drums, i think the focus should have been elsewhere.
The joke going around about the title of the new record "wo hen mang", which the cd cover translated as "On the Run", is that Jay is busy alright, too busy to make decent music. Some reports suggest that Jay headed to the US to pad his bottom line. While these criticisms are a little unfair, apparently they were a little too busy to think through the logistics of the concert.
I still love the guy though.
This fella managed to sneak in a camera and produce one of the better videos I've seen. This clip will give you an idea of the beginning of the concert.
My own thoughts? Well there is just about no criticism on the adoring Jay fansites, so I'll venture a little although overall I enjoyed the experience.
But there were some serious production issues with the concert which is surprising since this might have been the last leg of a long tour. [The promotion team, the so-called "More Entertainment" are a bunch of thieving incompetents, but that's another story.] The concert was scheduled from 7;30-10, but Jay went on at 8. This was his only US appearance, and there were no other LA shows.
Here is a full description. First, while fans waited in line, they announced there would be no cameras and they would confiscate any cameras they found on you during the security search, a little unnerving as I had to stuff my $400 camera in the crotch of my pants. Don't ask me how, but I made it past security. Of course, flashbulbs started going off at some point during the performance, and after the show people openly posed for pictures. Many of these camera lenses might have shattered in the ferocious volume of the first several songs; the sound people turned it down a few songs in, thankfully.
Second, Jay didn't pace the concert very well. This was most apparent when the band settled into stools with acoustic instruments in what was meant to be a charming Christmas-themed "take requests" portion ofthe concert. The problem? He did this 15 or 20 minutes before the concert was scheduled to end! This left about 3 minutes to leave the crowd with a rousing concluding song.
Third, Jay took a long time between numbers, perhaps in order to change costumes and hair. The backup band, including one backup singer who really sounded out of place (actually he sounded like me singing in Chinese--deep clumsy voice), would play while Jay was off stage. Ok, a little weird to vamp in the style of the song just finished, but no problem. But at one point Jay graciously allowed a young band of singers he is mentoring to take THREE SONGS in the middle of the concert. That's sweet of him, but I did not pay to see some opening band DURING the concert. SupposedlyJay intended to play 30 songs. I doubt he played 30 songs. In fact, I counted exactly three of my favorite songs that he did not play, and I blame NaQuan Mama .
Finally, Chinese people in the US may not be used to the tradition of encores. When Jay mentioned that the next tune would be the last, many folks, including those who were carrying babies, took him quite literally and left for the exits. It didn't help that there was an overly long time between the end of the show and the first encore, but it did give the disgruntled crowd a chance to relieve themselves of the glow sticks that had been handed out during the show.
My friend said on some of the bulletin boards, irate Chinese were griping that they just went home when they though it was over. Needless to say, it was not over.In fact, Jay had planned at least one huge costume number for his encores. The sight of hundreds of folks rushing back to their seats when they were surprised by the first encore would have been more hilarious if I wasn't one of them. All the people out of their seats became a problem when Jay tried to exit stage left to do a little sing in the isles bit and was chased back onto the stage by a mob.
Jay was at his best when seated at a piano. The sound wasn't awful is it could be in an arena type venue. His hair was utterly ridiculous; I remember it like a hair beehive with vines growing directly off of it towards the sky. Inside this hair, I imagined there to be stunt motorcycles inside, buzing around the dome in circles and clowns distributing candy to the children.
There was a brave bit involving all the background singers swinging numchuks, no surprise there. I believe there was a bit of piano dueling which who doesn't love piano dueling. And the new country-themed song didn't go off as badly as it could have.
Most of all, Jay seemed intent on impressing us with his ability to rise up from below the stage on a platform(the stage supposedly a homage to the movie Transformers, proving that some things do get lost in translation), on as many new, often exotic, instruments as possible--I found his drum playing a bit unnecessary. Though I'm sure glad he can play the drums, i think the focus should have been elsewhere.
The joke going around about the title of the new record "wo hen mang", which the cd cover translated as "On the Run", is that Jay is busy alright, too busy to make decent music. Some reports suggest that Jay headed to the US to pad his bottom line. While these criticisms are a little unfair, apparently they were a little too busy to think through the logistics of the concert.
I still love the guy though.
posted by 白安傑 @ 6:18 PM
0 comments
