Soler - Neway New Outlet Offical Opening - Penang (3 July 2010).

Neway Karaoke finally made its mark in Penang by opening their very first outlet at Queensbay Mall (auspiciously, the 8th in Malaysia). The Acconci bros (Julio and Dino), popularly known as SOLER, were the special guests for the official opening. Before the hunky duo took to the stage, I was subjected to a long and boring wait coz Neway took the chance to introduce their own new local talents. The final act (a band called "K & K", short for Kent and Kenny) really tested my patience. No complaints about their vocals but the dude with the Rainie Yang-mushroom-inspired hairdo really made me wanna drag his ass down the stage. He thought his answers were witty and tried to act cute but gave me the impression that he is too "syok sendiri" (a famous Malay phrase to describe people who are full of themselves). The emcees were too engrossed interviewing these two clowns that they didn't notice that Soler had arrived and waiting for their turn to shine.

Like a bunch of PTU (Police Tactical Unit), Soler's 3 band mates (btw, the drummer is cute !)stormed the stage and had all the musical instruments set-up in a jiffy. Royce and Wai Fan didn't even have time to formally welcome Dino and Julio and the boyz already made their grand entrance. The twins were all set to rock Queensbay Mall but...Neway failed to understand that Penangites are not into HK acts (TVB stars would be a different scenario though), especially when it comes to Canto rock although Beyond may have universal appeal.

However, those who deliberately attended the function to support Soler didn't let the boys down. Everyone sang along to the "woo" portion of Soler's song. I'm so glad they sang Paula Tsui's evergreen classic - "風的季節". The rock version is simply smashing ! Dino mentioned that one song which he lurved to croon during K session is homebred singer, Michael Guang Liang's played-to-death "童話". Still proves to be a crowd favourite, judging from the response. I guess Malaysians (except for moi) never gets tired of listening to this song. Anyway, Dino did a good job with the edgier version of "童話." Next up, Julio had to cajoled the audience non-stop for a duet. Finally, a gutsy, sporting lady volunteered ! As the saying goes, "Don't judge a cover by its book" coz this demure-looking woman showed off her mettle on stage when they performed Beyond's rock ballad -"喜歡妳"! LOL ! I noticed the guest-of- honour(one of Penang's municipal councilor) snapping away with his cell phone. Soler then headed to Neway Karaoke for the hands imprint ceremony.

FAMA - Down To Earth Concert -農夫DOWN TO EARTH演唱會- 16 June (Hong Kong Coliseum)

After a hearty snack at Wong Cho Lam's dessert shop at Hung Hom, I headed to HK coliseum. It pays to arrive early coz as I was loitering around the venue, I saw roast pig and praying paraphernalias spreaded on a table at the entrace. True enough, after a short wait, the main attraction, FAMA appeared, along with mentor, DJ Tommy, boss, Edison and guest performer-cum-famed-geomancer, Mak Ling Ling, for a blessing ceremony. It's apparent that all are in pretty good spirit, even EDC, sporting a smaller frame size now. I was hoping to grab some concert memorabilias prior to concert, unfortunately, there wasn't any. Patrons were only allowed into the hall, like 20 minutes before it commenced. Quite a stark difference from my concert going encounter in Malaysia, where the crowd would usually congregate an hour or two before the show starts. I spotted Khalil, Kay Tse and hubby (Louise Cheung) plus their son. I got to know later that the concert actually coincided with the kiddo's birthday.
Lights dimmed and Edison started the ball rolling with a rap version of John Lennon's classic - "Imagine". It was EDC's first public appearance after the scandal broke out some 2 years ago. Suddenly, two figures in space suits descended from above the stage to the intro of "I believe I can Fly" - it's none other than C Kwan and 6 Wing ! Everyone was on their feet by then. Although video recording is prohibited, security was lenient when it comes to snapping pixs and you can dance and stand-up as long as your heart desires. No overzealous scurity personnels flashing their torch lights at you when snapping away. Genting and Galaxy should really take heed of this ! They want to charge exhorbitantly but get all worked-up over fans taking photos!
FAMA's concert was broken-down into a few segments - dance, rock, unplugged, talk-show plus the grand finale. The duo even put-in a few nitty dance moves in their performance ! Mak Ling Ling was dressed in a cool white Adidas (the official costume sponsor) track suit when singing "风生水起." I luv the bubble bag inspired suits FAMA put-on during the unplugged version and also had a chance to see the guy who did the vocal part for "粒粒皆辛苦." The talk-show portion was so-so ( I actually prefer the one 6 Wing did during the last Chivas concert). Understandably, the content is catered to the HK audience which may sound Greek to overseas fans. The concert came to a rousing-end when they performed their greatest hit - "居高只手", which had all the fans waving in unision. There was group of Richie Ren's fans sitting next to me, armed with LED signboards(I actually thought that Siu Chai is going to be the special guest but later found out that Richie bought tixs for the show and distributed to his fanclub members). The best part is I noticed that Richie's fans were all so supportive and engrossed in the show !!! During the final song - "O FAMA",6 Wing and C Kwan paid tribute to the fans and the behind-the-scene folks. Otto (of EO2 fame) was up the stage ,too, coz he was the dance choreographer for the night. Fans refused to budge when the concert came to a close. FAMA appeared in white and black singlets. Nope, no medley to pacify the fans. Instead, they were quite emotional and gave heart-felt words of encouragement ( I can tell that this is not something which they have rehearsed) to everyone. I hope Malaysians would get a chance to watch their live performance. Gambate FAMA ! Special thanks to the fanclub leader in HK for helping us get the tixs.

The next day, I had the good fortune of attending FAMA's overseas fans gathering at Megabox's Neway Karaoke. In attendance were fans from Dongguan, Shenzhen, Japan and of course, Malaysia. We took the opportunity to have an early birthday celebration for 6 Wing. Both couldn't stop telling me about their chilling/spooky encounter at Genting during the last My FM award ceremony. Had an awesome time with these "down-to-earth" dudes. Yes, the pun intended ! Down-to-earth is the name of their concert and they certainly live up to it. Many thanks to 6 Wing and C Kwan for the lunch treat !

PIXS coming up !


Rundown :-
農夫 2010 down to earth 演唱會rundown
農夫演唱會歌單
1. I believe u can fly
2. 音乐大亨
3. 全民皆估
4. 农夫系你老死
5. 风生水起

[向摇滚致敬]
6. 富甲天下
7. 欢天喜地
8. 学海无涯
9. in the end + Old School Days
10. 24
11. 信不信由你

12. 爱似林一峰
13. dream girl
14. 日出而作
15. 眠眠
16. 粒粒皆辛苦

[45分钟talk]
17. heal the world
18. hkYFi主題曲《Y-men》
19. 娱乐圈杀人事件
20. 再见fanz
21. 456wing
22. rap along song
23. wavin' flag
24. 居高只手
25. O'Fama

Jan Lamb Hoi Fung "Yes, I Do" (林海峰是但噏我願意) Stand-Up Comedy Show - 5 June 2010 - Genting Highlands

With Jan Lamb in da house, there's no way to keep your jaws closed ! I think that sums- up the audiences' feeling that night ! The content was almost entirely similar to the dvd but I just couldn't help laughing at his wicked jokes the second time. Local flavour was injected to the talk show to spice things up by starting the night with "Rasa Sayang" (an ol' Malaysian folk song), followed by greeting the crowd in Malay. Wondered if wifey, Cass, was in the audience but he did briefly mentioned that his wife's relatives were in attendance. The talk-show turned out to be way better than I had expected coz the second part was.....suprise ! suprise ! Softhard's mini concert ! I've been waiting for God-knows centuries for "Long Time No See" concert and finaly, I got a taste of it ! The duo were truly in their element when they rapped their golden hits and even did a cover of Eason's song-"陀飛輪". I was estactic when they belted out my all time fave rap song - "廣播道Fans殺人事件" ! I was practically rapping along with them. Just when I thought there is no more suprises in-store, Softhard attempted the old Malaysian Canto classic that was featured in many TVB dramas - "檳城艷", swaying to the tune with the dancers. What a fitting way to end the show with TVB's EYT anthem - "歡樂今宵". I so wish they had performed "Encore" before the curtain call. All I can say is it was truly a dream come true for Softhard (軟硬天師)'s longtime supporters as these guys have never done any function together in Malaysia before during their heyday. They were responsible for turning me into a Canto rap freak. The icing on the cake is that I successfully got the duo to autograph my "Long Time No See" cd and took a couple of pixs with them. I told Eric Kot that they should seriously converge here for a full length "Long Time No See" concert ! He asked me to bring this to Genting's attention !