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Nicholas Yong
Reporter
Earplugs recommended
March 07, 2009 Saturday, 06:15 AM
Nicholas Yong is strangely unmoved by the Jason Mraz concert.
IT seems Jason Mraz has this inexplicable ability. Simply by existing, he can make thousands of girls, mainly tweens, feel the uncontrollable urge to scream their lungs out. There was a teenage girl standing directly in front of me who was a, shall we say, microcosm of the women at the Indoor Stadium last night. With one hand holding her expensive digicam to record the whole experience, and the other raised as if in praise and worship, she would not stop screaming. One would think that the only words she had ever learned to speak were “I LOVE YOU, JASON!!!” But she was just one of many be-hatted women who collectively lost their minds there and then, and paid $45 for a T-shirt bearing his name. Not to mention $30 for a variety of concert DVDs In fact, his concert went a bit like this: Jason Mraz walks on stage *scream* Jason Mraz says: “What’s up, Singapore?” *double scream* Jason Mraz starts singing *scream scream scream scream scream* Jason Mraz hugs local singer Joi Chua after singing a duet with her *scream times infinity* Jason Mraz takes a Polaroid picture of himself and tosses it into the crowd *screams followed by small riot in front of stage* I got the feeling that he could have been singing the phone directory and they would still have been screaming. They might just have gone into cardiac arrest if he had decided to walk amongst the crowd and bestow his blessings upon them. Now, don’t get me wrong. I think Jason Mraz is a fine musician with a wonderful voice. His songs are (largely) well written, and very emotive. He’s a great showman too, bouncing around on stage with verve and wit. And yet, it all felt like a strangely detached performance. He sang all the old favourites, hit all the right notes...But still, it never really felt like he was truly engaging the audience. He dazzled and danced, but he did it all from behind a very safe barrier. Maybe it’s just performance fatigue. Maybe after so many tours and so many concerts and so many cities, keeping a certain distance is the only way to manage. After all, everybody wants a piece of Jason Mraz. It was also my first concert in 10 years too, so maybe I should have managed my expectations better. Or maybe I should have just bought the $148 ticket and sat right in front. Tags: review, singapore
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I'm sorry that if you didn't enjoy the concert, then the thousand fan girls at his concert shouldn't either. If you didn't fancy girl-screaming, then maybe you shouldn't have gone to a concert of a singer whose main fan base is tween girls.
Your over-the-top descriptions of the women at the concert were amusing. I would love if you would go to the upcoming Liverpool match this year and provide a blow-by-blow of the men's ecstatic cheering.
No need for qualifiers. If you felt that Mraz was connecting with the audience, I'm sure the other screaming girls would beg to differ. Case of you not connecting with the concert? Probably.
You know what, you shouldn't have bought the front row ticket, you should have just stayed home.
I don't quite know what makes you feel qualified to review a concert when you haven't been to one in ten years.
And I could be wrong, but last time I checked Mraz isn't from Singapore. His disconnect from the audience couldn't possibly have been a language barrier? No... of course not... that would make too much sense.
He'll be in my town on May 3rd and I can't wait to see him again.
I agree that many Straits Times journalists like to think they are accurate critics of the local arts and film (movies) scene.
However, it was this statement of Mr Yong's which was intriguing, "He sang all the old favourites, hit all the right notes. But still.." , because I had the same experience with a band who covered one of Jason Mraz's songs at a secondary-school level music competition called Band[age]. There's so much technicality and "getting-it-right" in his songs that all the emotional connection that band had with the audience was probably that which the enthusiastic gals were establishing with them.
Well, Mr Yong was one of the few guys amongst many, many gals. If his fellow audience were way more subdued he might well have done something to liven up the mood himself.
I'll have screams over silence anytime.
being controversial for the sake of it really does not add to your writing capabilities.
Jason Mraz gave a great performance and I felt it was worth every cent.
As for the the screaming girls, I think they help prove a fact that Singaporeans could be a bunch of great enthusiastic concert-goers;)