Jam Hsiao World Tour 2012
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday

Can a human jukebox be a music star?
Somewhat surprisingly, Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao proves that the answer is yes.
With three albums of original material released since he burst into fame in 2007 on the TV singing competition One Million Star, he could put together a show without covers.
Yet, over the course of a three-hour concert, he performed his own songs less than half the time. Other artists’ hits dominated right from the get-go.
No matter. Both his concert on Saturday and his last show here in 2010 were sold-out affairs.
Hsiao, 24, made his entrance dressed like a matador touched by Midas and opened the gig with Wild Dreams, the title track from his 2011 album. Then followed a string of covers from Michael Jackson’s Black Or White to Tanya Chua’s Beautiful Love.
His setlist, while showing good taste in music, threatened to upstage some of his own songs such as I Really Want To Say.
The fans were happy to hear their idol sing pretty much anything though it did seem that Forgive Me, a hit from his 2008 debut album, was greeted with louder screams of excitement.
He is a most competent and versatile singer, with a richly resonant and emotive voice and a raspy edge perfect for both rock and pop.
A slowed-down, jazzed-up take on Teresa Teng’s classic The Moon Represents My Heart mixed well with the fast tunes. The only problem was the overloud music which sometimes threatened to bury his more tender moments, such as on Faye Wong’s The Very Last Blossom.
And how he turned up the energy with fast-paced numbers, including Jay Chou’s Cowboy On The Run and Show Lo’s One Man Show, before going all out in a Mando-techno segment climaxing with Sammi Cheng’s thumping Mei Fei Se Wu (Overjoyed).
His outfit here was appropriately over-the-top and cheesily dramatic. He was dressed in a get-up of black and fluorescent yellow with lights over his crotch and buttocks. It looked like he was wearing electric underpants.
It hardly mattered whose songs Hsiao was singing at this point. He was simply putting on a good show and his musical talent extended to the piano as well as a pimped-out drum set.
Even his inability to banter tickled his fans as he repeatedly hollered, “Da jia hao! (Hello, everybody!)”.
Just when you had accepted the curious lack of Hsiao’s own songs, he proceeded to reel them off, especially in the two encores, including the hit ballad Collection and the heartfelt You. Believers, this reviewer’s personal favourite off his second album Princess (2009), did not make the cut.
By the time Hsiao ended the night on a high with the raucous Princess, he had shown that he was no run-of-the-mill jukebox: He was one who could push our emotional buttons.
(ST)