Monday, January 21, 2008

Jacky Cheung Concert 2008 Arena Of Stars, Genting Highlands

I was really pleased when I was offered free tickets for the Jacky Cheung concert at the Arena Of Stars, Genting Highlands. I have always been a fan of him since secondary school days. Although I have not listened to his new songs much this couple of years, his golden classics has always been the top of my list among my favourite Chinese songs.

The concert in Genting was only suppose to be for 2 days but due to popular demand they extended it to a 3rd day. Again the third day was fully booked as well. I guess many did not get enough of him at Bukit Jalil last year. To be honest, the concerts at Genting are so much better since you are able to see him so much closer up front.

As I got in the Arena Of Stars, I was definitely not disappointed as my seat was about 10-15 rows from the front and situated almost at the centre of the stage. The perks of having free tickets...hehe.

8.30pm sharp, the concert started with Jacky Cheung rising up from a platform at the centre of the stage and him singing "Ngoi For Far" (Love Fireworks).

From the start of the concert you would know that something was a miss. Somehow the Jacky I knew that has perfect vocals did not perform up to expectation. After a few songs, we were informed by Jacky himself that he nearly cancelled the concert due to a terrible sore throat and flu. You can hear from him talking that indeed he was not well. There were points in the concert that I truly thought he would not finish the concert as he was grasping with air and notes that he is able to hit easily seems so hard to achieve. But beside his health, everything was spot on. The dancing was very well choreographed and every part of a medley ended with a well planned finally (ie confetti flying all over or fireworks shooting up). He also told us a bit of himself and in a way gave us a slight insight on who Jacky Chung was.

One thing that I did learn through this concert was his sheer determination. He persevered through and made the 3 hour and 15 minute concert a night to remember for a long time for his fans. This concert was not about his voice but about a dedicated artist trying his very best not to disappoint his fans. There were a few parts into the concert where he was virtually shouting and you could feel his pain and there is this sense of disbelief that he is doing it, despite his condition. There was also parts in which he had to catch a few gulp of water before he could even speak a few words as every attempt to talk ended up with him coughing. Who else would command such great cheer from fans even when singing while eating an apple! (yup... he was singing while eating the apple at the same time.... apparently it helps). He had to drink water after every song half way through the concert as well. And to top it off... he gave 10 encore songs (that's another 40 minutes of golden hits).

I guess some of the fans might complain that they did not hear Jacky at his best that night but for me its not that important. If I wanted to hear him sing at his best, I could have just listened to his CD's in my car or at home. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me realise that this 46 year old artist cares a lot for his fans then the money that he is getting (So far he has made RM11 million over 98 concert). They nearly cancelled the show.


Respect to you Mr. Jacky Cheung!


Here's a short video of him at the very end of the concert



Enjoy!

12 comments:

Carmen WenWeN said...

wooooott..i love jacky cheung!!! Hehe ur camera not bad ar..quite clear ar the video..ehehhe
sempat curi record somemore=p

haan said...

actually i feel the 2nd photo looks a bit scary... maybe due to the makeup..

Chee Hoe said...

Wenwen,
I quite like the camera. Its the Olympus u770. Waterproof as well so I use it for snorkeling trips as well.

Haan,
2nd photo? You mean the one on the giant screen?

haan said...

yah... the one.. i feel the face looks like gh**t! ok this is not jacky cheung's prob anyway...

Chee Hoe said...

Well... maybe on picture. Don't notice it as being ghostly when I was at the concert. Its due to the lightings I think.

Anonymous said...

hi,

interesting explaination of the concert :) i was there too! and indeed it was a great show...

regarding to what u mentioned - his true fans will understand, if there are people who think he wasnt up to par, they are not worth the sacrifice he made for us that night :)

dont mind me, what instrument did your cousin played for him?

Chee Hoe said...

Hi Addie,

At the end of the concert Jacky told the crowd that there was a Malaysian among the group (the only Malaysian musician). Thats my cousin :)

Anonymous said...

haha, then i knw her hahaha... i met her in Spore too, at her room! great cousin u have there! :D
she's really good! :)

did u see her waving to some one that nite -20th show. tat was me, ahahaha :P

Chee Hoe said...

Addie,
Oh... cool.
Small world we live in

@ddie said...

Hmmm, chee hoe,

i actually came back to see the vid... nope it's not me with the V, but the one on her left, LOL~
did u remember seeing some one giving a framed photos kinda thing to JC towards the encore? if u do, tat's me - we were under the same roof tat nite, hahaha~

it's refreshing to read ur post again on the genting show. love the way u mentioned all the little details... and thx for being understanding!

Chee Hoe said...

@ddie,
Yeah, I remembered there we a few people giving him stuff. You must belong to groups from his fanclub.

I nearly guessed right! haha. Too bad can't really see you that clearly there.

Benson said...

Hi Chee Hoe, I am currently working on a biography project on Jacky Cheung and would like to request to use your photos of the concert for the show. Please contact me at my email for more details. Thx