UGLYM3N

This is the second time i am typing and forcing myself to recall the whole event after my beloved PC broke down. !@#$%^&*&, so prepare to read whole lot of grammar and spelling mistake as i really lazy to recheck liao.

The Crew:
Wing Yip ~ Tama Drum with Paiste & zidzian (spelling?), no MIDI sequencer used, he had a monitor screen on his left, i think it is used for showing lyrics running in a song, as he looked at it very often when singing. He did most of the backing vocals and sang 2 full songs “LOVE” and “You Mong”. His drumming is tight as usual but fatique clearly showed when drum solo-ing in “Seng Lei”. Got the news he arrived early midnite and was leaving at 1am after the concert, as he has projects in China (i think this piece of news came from behhhhhh). His pitching sounded well enuf as a performer thus overall considered above par. He was wearing T-SHirts only and no colourful costumes as he did in HK live
Performance: 8/10
Technicallity: 9/10

Steve Wong~ ka Keong is gay as usual, at one point, his dance step was like “fuxking” someone, when he was proudly showing the move in “Kuan Sao Tao”. Ka Keung did a whole lot of chording mistakes, which he so professionally-pretended nothing happen and went on the songs. But, who does not play mistake in live? it depends on what angle you are looking at the show, as i went there to be entertained by Beyond, i just ignored his mistakes. Ka Keong notable mistake was in Paradise as he mis-played the first short guitar solo part as the long guitar solo part chords, this incident also happened in 1996 Live & Basic in the song “Sui Yit Mou Seng”. Ka Keong also lack the high pitching voice in “Cheng Yan”, he performed quite well overall but the chorus part really high-lighted all his lack of vocal qualities. His voice gone off-pitch (as usual as mine, kekeke) and it was really notable, even to the musically-inclined. Ka Keong cut his hair real short compared to the one on DVD, he wore many costumes and also the trade-mark Green which he used it to tour HK, China…
Performance: 6.5/10
Technicallity: 7/10

Paul Wong~ Very good vocal performance esp in “Pat Kin Pat San”, sounded very warm and nice, i must say after the departure of Ka Kui, Beyond must thank their lucky stars of having Paul Wong singing nicely. In this concert, Steve and Paul shared the vocals quite equally but Paul’s powerful vocal and rocking presence heavily over-shadowed Steve in many aspects in the show. This is truely the reason that why off all the 3 members, Paul is the most successful in releasing individual solo albums, notably “Play It Loud” & “Ngo Zoi Chuin Zoi”.
Ok, enuf of praising, Paul oso did a number of errors in the show. First, He sang extra chorus in “Cheung Seng” which Wing Yip clearly was looking at Paul and followed by another round of chorus.
Fortunately everyone just followed Paul don another 8 bar chorus. The “Kuan Sao Tao” was the worst of all, Paul made a whole lot of mess in the guitar solo part (coincidently resembling the 2003 Live in Merdeka Stadium, same song, same errors) Everyone was waiting each other to cue, and finally Wing Yip rolled a full bar to cue the band back into chorus. Paul used Fender Telecaster with customed pickup setup, a James Burton Telecaster he used since the release of “Meng Wan Pai Tui” in 1990 and an Ovation which went wrong in the show. Paul also changed a number of clothes including the trade mark Pink specially tailored for Beyond The Story Life.
Performance: 9/10
Technicallity: 8/10

Gary Tung~Lead keyboardist for the whole Beyond The Story Tour 2005, playing fluently through out with very minor mistakes, even if he played wrong i can hardly hear oso as the PA System sucks big time for the first half of the show. Gary also plays in his band “Tai Chi” back in HK. I notice he played almost the same thing in the Tours which i happened to see on DVD, VCD and listen on CD. As from a perspective point of view of a musician, i was quite disappointed, as there is lack of improvising thus omiting the “live” sound and feeling as i could predict what he was going to play phrase after phrase. I am not saying i am good or better but i do think musicians would love to see some life improvising rather than the same thing ala cut and paste. This made me recall the 1996 Live & Basic in Merdeka Stadium, where Kunihiko Ryo, the super-talented Japanese who speerheaded Beyond as Chief Music Director then, produced climaxes over climaxes in that concert. Gary’s playing was a far cry from Kunihiko. But still supported Beyond very well throught out. One thing i want to share with you guys is Gary is a very very good singer, thought he hardly get the chance to sing, even in his own band Tai Chi, i watch Tai Chi 15 years Reunion Concert, which he sang a short song, very very nice vocal he has.

Ivan~ Supporting or second keyboardist to Gary, mainly playing string sections and block chords, not much comment can be made as his playing was majorly shadowed by Gary. (I wrote more in my previous attemp this morning, now so sien cannot recall what i wrote about him)

Ah Yin~ This is the 3rd time i saw Ah Yin played, 1st was 1995 in Penang Pesta Ground while Beyond was promoting their 2nd 3-member ablum “SOUND”. AH Yin was ‘hidden’ at the side of the stage playing on a Musicman guitar. 2nd time was at Beyond Live & Basic 1996 in Merdeka Stadium, also used Musicman guitar and this time the 3rd, mainly using Fender Strat (S-S-H) and a Godin for acoustic purpose, another guitar which i could not figure out. AH Yin is a good sessionist for Beyond since the departure of Ka Kui but his playing sometimes is over exassarating (spelling?) almost all the songs he did many pinch harmonics and heavy tremolo bar usage, which i tot some of it may not be so suitable to a particular song. But Ah Yin played with great feel and great facial expressions, his presence was heavily felt when the crowd cheered the loudest when introducing the supporting musicians (this also happened in the HK Live)

Tit Bits…
There was a Beyond fans gathering in a KFC outlet (20 minute walk to Indoor Stadium), fans from as far as Taiwan, Japan, Johor, Sinagpore, KL, HK and upnorth people from kedah and penang. AH fook ko, ah ten, rachel, rei.. all were there. We had some food and drinks before a photo session outside KFC. Ah hooi asked me 2 buy a soft drink cos after that he can get free refill… but we actually took ah fook and some body else’s cups to wash and then got the refill… next time can bring tupperware there… kekeke… A troop from Beyond Music HK also were present notably Carolyn, but we went separate ways as they arrived later than the earlier crowd.

Before walking to the stadium, i went to McDonalds (just opposite KFC) to meet up with a friend from Friendster – Joslyn, she was the one who assisted me on the Beyond ticket purchase at sistic. I passed an UGLY CD to her before we left. She was just sitting a row infront of mine in the stadium.

As we (about 15-20 people) walk towards the stadium, we were singing Beyond’s songs starting from the early 80’s to the current hit, but after 5, 6 songs, everyone stopped as we ran out of breath…

Softdrink sellers were making brisk business enroute to the stadium entrance. Selling S$1 per can, so reasonable compared to what i paid for when watching local concerts and football matches, where the ice is more than the water…

The stadium was 99.999% full if not 100% as i could not see an empty seat or standing space as i looked around after the concert started..

There was this cool guy, duno his name, lead the crowd to shout “BEYOND!” 30 minutes before the show, standing up the chair and wooing the whole stadium to follow. We met earlier at KFC when he asked us to sign on his Beyond T shirt. Even the press cannot resist but took a few shots of him chanting our beloved idol’s name

The concert started earlier (about 8.28pm on my phone) unless my phone clock leaking water… and ended 10.42pm

Stage setting was normal with no extensions towards the crowd. Quite simple. The backdrop was soso and the 2 giant screen were not really sharp but enuf for the thousands of strong crowd to see. Amidst some songs, some simple fire crakers were let off.

PA system took a huge knock as the sound was fairly poor esp 2 keyboards over-powering the guitars and bass. Only until Beyond showed their history clips on the screens and show resumed after about 2 minutes. After that the system sounded much better. Another thing i noticed was the speakers were actually under-powered as when there is a vocal part (singing) all other instruments became softer and after the singing phrase, the instruments suddenly became stronger again..

One thing i dislike is Beyond’s live always have the weird setting like oways leaving the supporting musicians in a shadow, not much spot light and partial-hidden plat forms. You can hardly see this setting in other concerts, you cant see Andy Peterson hidden behind David Tao, you cant see Jenny Chin and Mc Chew being hid under no spot light in Guang Liang Ping Guan show, and definitely you cannot see Roscoe Beck or Stuart Ham hide behind Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson.

I agreed with what Rei said in this blog earlier reply, Beyond played better on their 3-member-songs rather than performing Ka Kui era songs, something seemed missing, as Ka Kui, is forever NOT REPLCABLE. We all miss him a lot.

Songs they performed, in random order:
-Weng YUn Tang Toi
-Kam Sok Kong Yan
-Ah Lai Pak Tiu Mou Loi Long
-Zoi Kin Lei Siong
-Papa Mama
-Ngo Si Fan Nou
-Soi Yit Mou Seng
-You Mong
-Yun Ngo Nang
-Da Di (mandarin)
-We Dont Wanna Make It Without You (Screened)
-Paradise (mandarin)
-Hoi Fut Tin Hong
-Zhok Lei Yu Fai
-Cheung Seng
-Love (mandarin)
-Cheng Yan
-Seng Lei
-Kuan Sao Tao
-Pat Kin Pat San
-Khung Jin 20 Nin
-Zhan Teik Oi Lei
-Kung Fai Soi Yit
-Amani
-Yi Bei Zi Pei Ni Zou (mandarin)

So sien they did not play Pat Zoi Yao Yee and Sai Hui Yat Ji

One thing i want to add is the organising of the show was so splendidly done, very neat seating, nice and clear directions. I enojoyed the whole stretch of walking from the main entrance to my exact seat in the stadium. THUMBS UP to the organisers!

I write until bo-lat liao, i did not take many photos as i was busy wacthing all the details of the show, hope to learn more and enjoy as much as i could.

Personal Ratings (Level of 1-10, where 10 is the best):

Enjoyable Level 9
Explosion Level 7
Worth for Money 10
Experience 8
Musical Surprises 6
Favourite Song: Pat Kin Pat San
Favourite Performer: Paul Wong

If Beyond would play life again and annouce as a farewell concert again, i will stil go and see.
For all friends who also witnessed the concert, feel free to post your comments too, lets share together v^-^v BEYOND FOREVER