蔡琴'S CONCERT WAS GREAT. Much better than how her poster looks. Seriously i think this poster is damn bad - WHAT POSSESSED THEM TO DO THIS. :| The gaudy gold and weird bob hair. (I think Cai Qin is rather unphotogenic - she looks much better in person)

The worst part about the poster was (at least, the one that i saw put up at SIS) there's this big ugly obtuse GIANT HYPERMART logo, right on the top center of the poster. Zzz.

Halfway through the concert, Cai Qin requested for her People To Thank list, and a stage helper (i think it's her own crew - he's affectionately called 小胖) hurried on stage and passed her a red file. So she read off the file, and thanked
Unusual Productions - not much comments
Giant Hypermart - "Ah, 我没逛过."
Follow Me shampoo - "Ah, 我没用过."
and some more that i cant remember, but generally i get the feeling she has no idea who her sponsors are.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA i found it hilarious. A bit niao, AND TO HER SPONSORS, OF ALL PEOPLE, but still damn funny that she dared to do that.

It was a 2h 30min show with 23 songs (this was told to us during the briefing, and actually everytime at a briefing, we would be told what's the last song, and yesterday's was "恰似你的温柔" :D) and from the way Kenny was doing the briefing, sigh he was obviously not a 知音人 - he doesnt know 恰似你的温柔!!! :O

Anyway, it was East Stage configuration (first time i encounter this) so it means the stage is set at the East side of the stadium, West would the side facing the stage directly. My vocation for yesterday was West GCO, and i was assigned to do Balcony, and wow even row 36 (last row of Balcony seats) was totally filled.

Due to lack of manpower (HAHAHA wahlau eh this is the first event that i've seen that called for more people to sign up BECAUSE THERE ARENT ENOUGH PEOPLE :( ) i was the only one on West Balcony (Ann Chii [my new SISGCO friend who is 20 but looks 15. Omg i feel damn cao lao] came to help for a while but was deployed elsewhere after a while) and yesterday i realized something -
While we reduce work for ourselves by letting patrons find their own seats, we get more trouble when the clueless patrons just sit wherever they like.

One of the situations that make me 哭笑不得 is this -
Patrons approach me with tickets, i lead them to their seats, only to find them already occupied.
AND THIS HAPPENED SO MANY TIMES YESTERDAY ZOMG.
The Best One yesterday -
A couple A&B approached me saying someone else is in their seat.
I verified Block, Row and Seat, ok this 2 persons C&D are sitting in A&B's seats at T29 Row 22.
So i checked C&D's tickets, they're actually supposed to be in the next block T30. So i brought them over, and found another 2 persons E&F sitting in their seats.
So i checked E&F's tickets, and realized they're sitting 2 seats away from the ones stated in their tickets, because ANOTHER 2 persons G&H are in their seats.
So checked G&H's tickets. G&H are in T30 when they're supposed to be in T29.
So brought G&H out, E&F moved in, C&D got their correct seats, and brought G&H over to be row neighbours with A&B in T30.

When i was walking up the stair-aisle after resolving the whole thing, i realized this other patron in T31 had been observing and watching the whole Seating Screw-Up and was laughing and telling his mate about it. Wah lau eh, Pre-Show Entertainment, good ah.

At the end of it i was sweating like mad and my shirt under the vest was totally soaked. (But the shirt is very thin, and afterwards i realized it had completely dried out again. HAHA ok i know it sounds gross.)

Anyway my allocation for plan A was quite good, since i was at West side which faces the stage, and i got to sit almost in the middle, right next to the audio/visual/complicated-looking IT stuff setup. I think my "seat" there would be worth about $148 hurhur.

Cai Qin started with this song "出赛曲" which i've honestly never heard before, but it was a rather grand sounding and very 民歌-feel song. My favourites were definitely "你的眼神", "读你", and of course "恰似你的温柔". She also sang an interesting Cai-Qin-version of "一场游戏一场梦", "用心良苦" and "吻别"! Apparently she did these covers in her latest album or something.

One thing that my parents remarked (and Kenny also mentioned, during the briefing) about Cai Qin's concerts is that she would talk a lot. HAHAHA like, it's not just a songs-only performance. It was interesting, but the smoothness in delivery and all those well-timed jokes/anecdotes/sad stories somehow make it feel a bit fake and it's like an acted-out show. Ah well.

One of the "jokes" that i really laughed-out-loud at (which i promptly quickly shut up and looked around to see if my leader/senior GCOs spotted me laughing) was when she was performing "读你", and she did this hand action which was like raising your hand until elbow is about shoulder-level, and then raising your elbow up and down in time with the music. So she said "来！大家把手举起来！！跟着我这样做！ *gesticulates enthusiastically* 这个是,周杰伦的蜘蛛爬墙!! *continues gesticulating enthusiastically*" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG IT WAS DAMN FUNNY.

At the end of the song she continued the joke/and niao-ing of Jay Chou, and commented about who says Cai Qin and people who come for Cai Qin's concerts are old, we can take on Jay Chou anytime!

Anyway here's a video of one of my Cai Qin favourites, "读你"! :D (And performed in Singapore during some charity show)

Anyway ah nothing beats hearing this song performed live yesterday. :) And this song was also the one with greatest audience participation, second to "恰似你的温柔" which was the last song.
She would sing
Cai Qin: 你的眉目之间...
Audience: 锁着我的爱怜!
Cai Qin: 你的唇齿之间...
Audience: 留着我的誓言~
And she repeated this for all 3 sides of the stadium. Wow. :) It was nice and i had goosebumps in the heartwarming way.

The ending was a bit weird actually, because i know that "恰似你的温柔" is supposed to be the last song, but they all exited the stage (including the musicians etc) and then afterwards there was a roaring ENCORE (as compared to yesterday, Cao Meng's encore was really sad) and they all came out again to perform "恰似你的温柔". And really at the ending, i actually saw this arm in the air, adorned with a jade bangle, distinctly WAVING TO CAI QIN ON STAGE. OMGGGGGGGGGG. It was this 50-60 years old auntie, bespectacled, the stage lights reflecting off her specs (seriously, that was how i saw her, at that exact moment) and she was waving to Cai Qin.

Wow i was damn touched. (And btw i was watching her from behind, which means she was sitting at the $178 seats that are on the floor, right in front)

After watching more videos of her and her appearances on variety shows etc, i find that she has quite a strong personality, and not as character-less as some artistes nowadays.
康熙来了 20080825 听她千遍也不厌倦蔡琴
HAHAHA she's quite funny in this, especially in part 3. Coincidentally this episode is about her current series of concerts, and i verify that she really used that gold mike at her concert yesterday, HAHAHA! And that band of musicians on this show are all the same guys as yesterday! And i'm not quite sure, but i think the director/guy in black specs with goatee, was just right next to me yesterday, he was on that AV Control Setup thing! WOW. :D And yes she did cry at after "爱你太浓" haha!

Anyway i learnt a new phrase from her yesterday. And actually this also fills me with a sense of uncanny chilling familiarity - she says she is 永恒型, and she has looked the same since 17.

JUST BEFORE THE CONCERT, I WAS JUST CHATTING WITH 2 FELLOW GCOS WHO WERE 20 AND 21 YEARS OLD RESPECTIVELY, AND BOTH OF WHOM LOOK YOUNGER THAN ME. CONSIDERABLY. AAAaAaAaAaaAaAaHhhHhHhhHh.

Anyway one thing that's really super duper impressive must-see-and-hear-for-yourself-to-believe-it PERFECT BEYOND PERFECT, is Cai Qin's live performance. Amazing. (ok shit after watching the 康熙来了 vids, YUAN LAI RU CI, the secret is in her mike...!!!)

CAI QIN, FOREVER!