JC SiLent:You cant be that far away from me ; if we're looking on the same side of the moon
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
CONCERT REVIEW by Mervin Tay
David Tao Love Can World Tour
WHEN the show began on Saturday night,the campy stage props suggested David
Tao’s concert would be a pretentious affair.
The Singapore Indoor Stadium stage was peppered with faux granite blocks and
draped with foliage, with an actual helicopter at the centre, hinting that the visual
would take precedence over the vocal.
But the Taiwanese singer-songwriter quickly allayed those fears. For three
hours, David allowed his voice to take centrestage.
Performing over 30 songs, the 36-year-old — whose last concert here was
in 2003 — displayed his characteristic rich musical texture.
Belting out unplugged tunes like Regular Friends and rock pieces such as Ghost, to songs like Susan Said with Chinese influences, David also proved he
had the voice to match his repertoire’s varied genres.
The Singapore element featured prominently — the music director was Singaporean producer Goh Kheng Long, who accompanied David with a stunning piano solo on his performance of Beach. Two members of the eight-person string ensemble and two of David’s three backup singers were also locals.
The surprise of the night was a 10-song medley of 80s English hits including Uptown
Girl, Careless Whisper and Sweet Dreams(Are Made of These), which drew huge cheers from the capacity crowd.
At the post-show press conference,David said he sang the medley to whip up
an atmosphere of nostalgia, as well as to pay tribute to the classics that have influenced and inspired his career.
He also said the helicopter’s motorhad been stolen and its blade damaged during
transportation from Beijing — the concert’sprevious stop — to Singapore.
Otherwise, it could have providedmore visual effects.
That proved to be a blessing in disguise,because the audience instead focused on the man with the microphone, rather than the gimmicks around him, and David served up one of the most aurally- arresting Mandopop concerts of the year.
& 8:42 pm