ARTICLE
Spring Wave Music Festival Sets the Bar High on outdoor Mandarin Concerts!
By InCinemas / 11 Jun 2014 (Wednesday)
Following its spectacular debut in 2013, Taiwan’s largest annual Mandopop outdoor music festival Spring Wave returned to Singapore on 7 June 2014 at The Meadow – Gardens by the Bay!
Spring Wave Singapore 2014 continues the festival’s tradition of showcasing rare Taiwanese music talents through a stellar artiste line-up, including a rare appearance by top Taiwanese diva A-mei. Other A-listers included the chart-topping Jam Hsiao, and the reigning queen of original idol drama soundtracks Della Ding Dang. Besides great music to enjoy, popular Taiwanese snacks were sold during the concert as well!
Perhaps it’s the pretty fantastic lineup of artistes this year, or maybe I was missing out on Mandopop for so long that songs performed at the concert are now on repeat on my playlist. Whatever it the reason is, Spring Wave Festival sets the bar high on outdoor Mandarin concerts in 2014!
Guo Shu Yao - 郭書瑤
Dressed in a short black dress, cutie Guo Shu Yao, aka Yao Yao got the crowd going with an upbeat song ‘Honey’. Though the seats weren’t filled up, probably due to the scorching weather, the crowd was ready to enjoy the evening as they gamely wave their hands in air, clapping to the beats of the tunes.
The singer-actress sang a range of songs choices, from Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’, to Avril Lavigne’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ and Penny Dai’s ‘Ni Yao De Ai’. She walked to the ends of the ’T-shaped’ stage to interact with her fans from time to time and to their delight, she even sat down at the edge of the stage, smiled for selfies and shook hands with lucky audiences. It wasn’t long before the crowd couldn’t wait to hear her ‘Ai De Bao Bao’, who were seen shouting and cheering when the music of their favourite track started to play.
Bii - 畢書盡
Neon-coloured light sticks started to fill the area as fans of Korean-Taiwanese singer Bii were seen giving out light-sticks to the crowd in return that they would cheer for their idol. Starting off with the fan-favourite song ‘Come Back To Me’, the baby-face singer crooned the tunes of the fast ballad as fans sang along with glee.
It is easy to see why Bii is well-loved by many, with a cute disposition and a good control of his voice, this dude is on the road to massive stardom. Though he isn’t very fluent in Mandarin or English, his greetings in Korean are enough to sent fan-girls screaming in excitement.
Having grown up in Korea before venturing into the Mandarin music market, Bii took the effort to speak and interact with the crowd during his hour-long segment. He even prepared an English song, ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ from Aerosmith. Though his rendition wasn’t close to the classic rock anthem, he managed to give his own flavour to the song, reaching the high notes with ease.
Della Ding Dang - 丁噹
If there’s one singer that left a great impression on me, it’ll be Della Ding Dang. Of course I’ve heard her name, heard her songs, but to be able to listen to her sing live to some of my all-time favourite songs was simply breathtaking. She started her set with a power ballad - ‘Yi Zhi Xiao Xiao Niao’, and pulled a long, incredible high note towards the end of the song, which led to a massive applause and cheers from the crowd. I couldn’t help but to follow suit.
It was one beautiful power ballad after another, before she urged the crowd to stand up for a ‘mass dance’. As she sang a sweet, summer-like hula song, people were on their feet, moving their hands, waist and feet to the music. It wasn’t long before everyone started dancing and head-bopping to the other tunes performed by this ‘reigning queen of original idol drama soundtracks' singer.
Jam Hsiao - 蕭敬騰
Jam Hsiao was like a ball of energy when he appeared on stage. From the very first beat of his first number, the singer ran to the front of the stage, dancing and twirling like the late Michael Jackson. It felt as if he was possessed by the King of pop’s sprit, mimicking moves like the famous leg-kick, unique leg movements and short howling sounds. I have not seen any of his live performance prior to this concert, and was honestly taken aback with that fire performance by Hsiao.
He teased the crowd with handshakes and towel-throwing, who were seen decked in lighted fan-boards and whistles. The over thousand-strong crowd burst into cheers when the singer revealed his next song choice - a song that brought him fame - ‘Xin Bu Liao Qing’. It was indeed a flawless performance of the love classic, which his particular performance is still fresh in my memory.
A- mei - 張惠妹
At last, the queen of Mandopop, A-Mei takes the stage as the last performer, belting out popular numbers one after another with her undeniably powerhouse vocals. When the LED screen flashes the diva’s name, the crowd immediately dashed forward towards the stage to get a better view of A-mei.
Dressed in an oversized black top and tattooed leggings, it’s a pity the singer wasn’t able to move downstage nearer to the audience and fans because of her ‘only earpiece she brought’, and that she ‘would not be able to hear her music’ if she walked too far off the centre. Not even to the sides of the stage which most artiste went for their fans to catch a closer glimpse of their idols. Did I mention that the LED screens were not showing any live footage throughout her set as well?
Though fans at the back might be a tad disappointed that they weren’t able to see how the queen looked like in person (even if it’s through a LED screen), we’re sure they enjoyed her impressive live performances of some of the great Mandopop hits. It quickly became a sing-along session as thousands of fans sang along to songs like ‘Ji De’ ‘Ren Zhi’, and Qu Wanting’s ‘Wo De Ge Shen Li’. Fine, A-mei, you’re forgiven. Your voice triumphs all. (Strikes off another wish from my bucket list)
(More photos from the concert here!)
With such an impressive lineup of artistes this year, it’s going to be quite hard to top it in 2015.
Tell us who you want to see in next year’s Spring Wave Festival in our comments section below! (The organisers might just be taking down notes!)