Going
into social media blackout mode after his secret marriage, rapper and ex
Running Man member, Kang Gary, resurfaces in June with his first Instagram post
of his excursion in Hawaii. This was quickly followed by an array of pixs of
his recent trip to Penang, visiting various touristy spots such as Georgetown
Heritage Trail and also newer attractions such as The Top Komtar and Avatar
Secret Garden in Tanjung Tokong. Gary has also developed a fondness for cendol,
a much loved local dessert. I believe
Gary is the first k-pop star to hold a public promotional event in Penang
island and the fans turn-out at Gurney Paragon was truly staggering ! Gary’s
comeback will be a joint concert with former Girls Generation, Jessica Hyung at
Penang’s Spice Arena on 16th Sept.
Originally, Gary is supposed to hold a solo Malaysia concert in May but
that was abruptly called off due to financial disputes with the then organiser.
The Penang concert’s main organizer is Warriors Music Evolution, co-organised
by Galaxy Group. Not surprisingly, Blue
Apple (an entity of the troubled MLM company, MBI) is one of the co-sponsors. MBI’s account was allegedly freeze and under
investigation for its dubious involvement in the MLM scheme but as expected, in
Malaysia, law is lax. Just a few days back, another branch of MBI, Mcalls is
organizing a k—wave concert at Sunway Lagoon in August. Gary was very amicable in person and can
actually converse pretty well in simple Mandarin. Before Gary’s grand entrance,
the Northern Region President of Malaysian Artist Society. Dato Pang, was
invited to give a short speech. Although I agree with the sentiments echoed by
Dato Pang about Penangites being very stingy and asking for free tickets is a
“bad thing”, I honestly feel that the event is not the right platform to say
this. If you don’t want to spend “lonely night” on 16th Sept (which
happens to Malaysia Day), make a date with Gary and Jessica !
Twins’
recent gig in Genting marks the 16th stop of their LOL world tour,
which also coincides with their 16th anniversary in the music industry. Do I like Twins ? Sure ! I had witnessed
their debut concert in Malaysia 11 years ago and never missed a single one of
their local concert date thereafter. In
fact, this is my third. The thing that
draws me to Twins in the first place is their bubble gum pop songs…yeah, I
don’t mind the cheesy lyrics and monotonous chorus …I even have friends
questioning my musical taste and perplexed that I would actually pay to watch
Gillian and Charlene…to put it simply, I don’t have any explanation but to say
I just like them. Composer, Ronald Ng Lok Shing, complemented Twins very well.
A huge chunk of Twins’ hit songs originated from Ronald. His musical style suits Twins, which quickly expanded their fan base (coupled with the sweet good
looks, naturally). Twins has also
outlived many other girls group in HK and thrived on two major personal
upheavals. Having said that, I have to be impartial when it comes to their LOL
concert. Trust me, I really wanted to put down positive reviews about Twins’ latest outing in Malaysia but it’s sort of against my conscience to do so. The concert got off on the right foot when Twins burst into Arena Of
Stars with a medley of fast tracks (LOL, TGIF..etc)…and I genuinely find that
their dancing have improved vastly – no longer as “hea” as before. In short, I adore their vivacious performance. Then, they moved on to the ballad segment. Initially, I brushed it off as merely a minor hiccup but then I realized Ah Sa was
struggling to reach the high notes and before long, even straining on normal
octaves. I thought to myself, perhaps she’s just out of breath due to Genting’s
altitude. Ah Sa disclosed that she has
been nursing an injured vocal cord for the past ½ year. Anyway, Ah Sa’s
performance just got worst over time. Ah Gil could not save the day either
since Twins were never stable live singers in the first place.
I know the blame shouldn’t be on Ah Sa but couldn’t help feeling
disappointed because this lasted (singing out of tune) for almost 70% of the show.
Luckily, their voices sounded okay during the fast tracks, probably helped by the earsplitting music. As for interaction with
fans, well, diehard fans, are of course thrilled by every single word uttered
by their idols. Compared to other EEG artistes, public speaking has never been Twins’ strength.…gibberish is the best way to describe them.
If I have to give an honest opinion, sadly, after 16 year, they still
have not made progress in this aspect. I
predict if I were to watch Twins in action five
years later (that’s the average gap of their world tour), when Twins are in
their 40s, I bet the situation will be pretty much the same. Appearance wise, their youthful attractive looks are
still intact. To this day, Twins are still striking
beauties and could easily pass off as
someone in their mid/late 20s. During the concert, Twins also performed their
new song -有約 Fans from afar (Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, ,HK and China) also came to render
support. When Twins sang “相愛6年”, Ah Gil was overcame by
emotion. Good sister, Ah Sa helped wiped away the tears and hugged Ah Gil. I think the strong bond between them are the
main reason they are still around after 16 long and rocky years. The love and care between these two gals are
genuine and sincere. The encore part
happens to be a song request session. I wished they had sang “士多啤梨蘋果橙”(and
invited Kenny Kwan or Boyz as guest artistes as in the last two concerts). Some of the costumes were kinda nice,
especially the ones decorated with LED lightings but the red and orange gowns
were oh so 80s. Twins also reminded fans to support their latest romantic movie,
“77 HEARTBREAKS” 原諒他77次"(with Pakho Chau), which will hit the cinemas in weeks from now.
My
disgruntled friend asked if I would attend Twins concert in the future,
surprisingly, I didn’t hesitate answering yes. I guess deep down, my fondness
for them prevails over their shortcomings.
