Mayday brings the house down at the Indoor Stadium
This is a band that may not possess the pretty boy good looks of Korean superband Super Juniors who performed at the same venue last weekend, but whatever Taiwanese alternative rockers Mayday lack in the aesthetic department, they more than made up for it with an exhilarating four-hour extravaganza that saw them perform more than 30 songs at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.
On the first overseas leg of their Mayday Nowhere tour, the appeal of the band — comprising vocalist Ashin, lead guitarists Monster and Stone, bass guitarist Massa and drummer Guanyou — is wide. Spotted among the 12,000 audience were fist-pumping, head-swaying youngsters barely out of their teens, grown men and women who cheered and clapped heartily to the tunes and even older individuals in their forties and fifties who were happy just to mouth along to the song lyrics shown on the two video walls erected on either side of the stage.
And it is not difficult to see the charm behind Mayday's massive popularity. Since bursting into the Chinese music entertainment scene with their debut album in 1999, it has regularly churned out radio-friendly hits with lyrics that epitomise the ideals and aspirations of the underdog inside all of us.
And so it was during their opening sequence that they sang the infectious "Call Me Number One" that they got a majority of the audience up on the feet and singing along lustily to the energetic tune.
From then on, bums never touched the seats again — not even during the less energy-sapping numbers.
Lead vocalist Ashin was in sparkling form throughout the night as he confidently handled both fast and slow songs with consummate ease. "Starry Night", from their latest studio offering, in particular, struck a chord with many with its catchy lyrics.
Later, while singing "Gentle" from their first album, he also evoked memories from this reviewer's school-going days with a mid-song monologue about love and affection.
Mega karaoke-session
At times the concert seemed like one big karaoke session as the audience sang, almost on cue, whenever Ashin pointed his microphone towards them. And even though the song lyrics were helpfully shown on screen, there was perhaps no need for them as most of the fans knew every word by heart.
For the first time in their concerts in Singapore, a mosh pit area was created and the hundreds of Mayday fanatics crammed into this standing-only space waved their light sticks and whistled tirelessly throughout the night.
These lucky ones were also the closest to the quintet as they took turns running down the specially-constructed runway that surrounded the mosh pit.
These fans probably also jumped the highest and cheered the loudest during the faster-tempo tracks "A Crazy World" and "Ending The Loneliness" — both from Mayday's earlier albums — that were accompanied by a trio of wind instruments
"First Day", a song written originally by the band for Singapore's Stefanie Sun, also got the crowd going with its easy tempo and even easier-to-remember lyrics.
No sooner had the euphoria from the fast songs died down than Mayday dived into a medley of slow ballads that showcased the musicians' deft handling of their instruments and Ashin's emotive, if slightly nasal, vocals.
"You Are Not Truly Happy", a poignant song about putting on a false bravado, received one of the night's loudest cheers and got even the row of middle-aged ladies behind me to stand up and applaud.
Banter and light moments
But Mayday proved they were not just accomplished singers; they were equally adept at working the crowd. At one point, Ashin teasingly asked Guanyou to invite his wife and daughter seated among the audience to get onstage. For the record, the latter declined but his daughter did wave to the crowd as the cameras zoomed onto her face.
They also took care to address the fans sitting in all the areas of the four-sided stage, laughingly describing the zone behind them as the 'backside area'.
Encore and double-encore
As the clock inside the stadium struck past 11, the band opened its first 30-minute encore with the emotionally-tugging "Missing You Suddenly" that again brought the audience up on their feet.
The fans were still not satiated at the end of the 30-minute set and as the quintet departed the stage again, cries of "encore" continued to be heard, until, well, they re-appeared.
This time, Ashin recollected how he once had a schoolmate from Singapore whom he could not understand initially. Then, to laughs from the audience, he said the ice between them was finally broken because the latter understood him when he swore in the Minnan dialect.
While they did not swear on stage, they did sing "A Simpleton", a Minnan ode to the innocent among us, that finally brought the curtains down on this magical night.
As the crowd trooped out, marketing associate Candice Chau said this was a night she will not forget.
"I love watching Chinese pop concerts but nothing I have watched in the past two years could top this. Mayday is electrifying and they make the ticket price so worth it with their performance," said the 24-year-old who shelled out $231 for her ticket.
Another fan, full-time national serviceman Jordan Lee, 20, who paid $150 for his ticket and attended the concert with two friends, said his voice was hoarse from the singing and cheering throughout the show. "But it is worth it. My only small complaint is that there might not be MRT home, but it's okay. I can share a cab with my friends."
