Jay Chou World Tour 2008
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Friday


So this is star power.
Excitement for and expectations of Taiwanese pop sensation Jay Chou’s concert had reached a fever pitch. Tickets for the two sold-out shows, his first here since 2004, were going for several times their value on the Internet.
The audience was keyed up and ready. Just the sight of the red-hot entertainer on the huge screens was enough to launch waves of cheering.
Chou delivered by owning the stage that night. He was in his element and he knew it, drawing Mexican-wave-like roars from the full-house crowd of almost10,000 as he strode from one end of the stage to the other.
He brimmed with the confidence that comes with knowing that the audience would know the lyrics to his songs, even without the help of karaoke-style prompting on the screens. And they did.
It did not hurt that this was a production with a capital P. Thought had gone into every element of the show, from the costume changes to the back-up dancing.
Chou emerged for the opening number, Golden Armour, sporting a fat ponytail and dressed in a dramatic mauve, warrior-like trench coat complete with long feathers at the back.
Over the nearly three-hour-long show, he had a costume change every two to three songs. These potentially momentum-breaking pauses were smoothly handled,with arresting dance interludes or smart musical transitions.
The singer fed off the crowd’s enthusiasm and kept the energy level high throughout.
He also served up hits from his eight albums with little visual and aural twists, giving familiar favourites a fresh spin.
Thousand Miles Away, a duet with evergreen crooner Fei Yu-ching, was performed solo to the accompaniment of a coterie of male dancers in white, wielding large feathered fans.
The multi-talented showman kept the surprises coming and showed off his chops in playing the piano, the drums, the Chinese zither and even displayed his acrobatic skills.
An early highlight was the infectious song-and-dance rendition of the fast-paced The Cowboy Is Busy from his latest album, On The Run.
At the end of the number, Chou quipped: “Why get so knackered on my birthday?” His fans responded with delighted laughter.
The singer, who turned 29 on Friday, kept the banter light and humorous, asking at one point: “Today’s my birthday, will you give me a song? Not Landy Wen’s lonely version I hope.”
The entire hall answered with a bracing delivery of the traditional Happy Birthday song in Mandarin, then English, and he soaked it all up on stage.
Chou might have had to work on his birthday, but he had a ball of a time, and so did the audience.
(ST)