最初的感动

Got a pair of tickets to Eric Moo's concert, courtesy of fm88.3. Caught the performance with Angie last night, at the Singapore Expo. Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the day we starting dating (or 'kia steady' as some'd call it nowadays), so the chinese name for the concert was really quite apt.

Those of you who are wondering why this 47-year-old uncle went ahead to dye his hair white, well, Moo revealed that his current do is actually it in its natural state. He'd been dying his hair black all these years, but figured that at his current age, it's alright to face the public with a head of white hair.

Our tickets were 3rd tier (out of 4). This is where we were seated. From our vantage point, Moo looked about 5cm tall. It's pretty amazing the crowd that turned up for the event. The Hall was seated to almost full capacity, which must be around 6,000-ish people. Not bad for a 47-year-old uncle.

About the demographics, half of the crowd looked like they'd just come from a karaoke session from their neighbourhood CC, after crooning songs like "南屏晚钟"，"心有千千结" and "三年"，in preparation for some 怀旧金曲 singing contest. In a total reversal of how we'd felt at a typical Mayday concert, Angie and I found ourselves to be in the lower age percentile group. I felt a sudden burst of youthful exuberance when I stepped into the concert hall!

For this concert, Moo got quite a few guests to join him on stage. The first was 叶丽梅, currently a DJ in fm100.3, also known to people of my generation as "喳喳", one half of TV personalities "叽叽" & "喳喳". Moo and her performed a duet of "只爱一点点". Love this song! :)

I enjoyed segments like this, where it was just Moo strumming on a simple acoustic guitar, belting out songs that he had enjoyed listening to and singing along with in his teenage years, and which had also inspired him in the infancy phase of his songwriting career.

The 2nd guest to be called onto stage was none other than Moo's younger brother 巫启雄 (aka 巫奇). He is now a staff of Flyer Entertainment, which incidentally is responsible for putting together this concert.

Another of Moo's old song-writing buddy 吴庆康 soon joined them on stage, and they chatted about how 吴庆康 had contributed songs in the debut albums of both brothers. Check out the clip of "手足情" , a song from Moo's very first solo album, with lyrics penned by 吴庆康 after Moo has composed the tune.

Moo got a change of clothes while his brother bought him some time with a performance of one of Moo's song "唱不完的爱情". This song is from one of Moo's earlier albums released during the period when he was with the 飞鹰 label. Used to like this album (it was in cassette back then) quite a lot!

Quite out of the blue, Moo invited 梁志强 on stage, calling out "Ah Keong!". Moo began with a pretend chiding of 梁志强, saying that the latter had done something "unforgivable". He then said that was for not casting him in any of the movies he'd made. Quite a joker, this Moo.

This segment didn't feel coherent with the rest of the concert, and was obviously a gesture from Moo to give his old friend, the shamed director an opportunity to appear publicly and reiterate his apology line. 梁志强 did exactly that, quite sincerely, bowing to the crowd, and thanking the media for willing to still give him a fighting chance and for not completely "exterminating" him. Moo gave encouragement to his friend by saying he looked forward to his new movies and urged him to continue bringing joy and laughter to the Singapore audience as he had done for the past 30 years. And with that, 梁志强 left the stage.

Another segment with Moo and his guitar, this time together with a group of musicians and back-up vocalists. They performed a few songs, unplugged. Very nice.

This guy's appearance wasn't unexpected. 黎沸辉 has been a long-time buddy of Moo, and many of Moo's earlier albums had numerous songs composed by the now head of a music school. The two buddies exchanged friendly banter on stage, which came across as really genuine and unforced. These are two guys who'd in their early 20s stayed under one roof and gave each other support as each struggled through the initial phases of their respective musical careers.

They performed a duet of "啤酒周围的故事", one of, if not the very first rock and roll 新摇 compositions. 黎沸辉 then sang "等你等到我心痛" while Moo exited for another change of outfit.

When Moo returned, he crooned out his more contemporary pieces, including hits like "太傻" and "爱情傀儡".

After around 3 hours of performance, Moo bowed, waved and exited to backstage. As the credits rolled on the backdrop projection, groups of audience started the encore chant.

Moo didn't let the audience wait too long. He reappeared in white jacket and pants, amongst the crowd, and shook hands while singing...erm...can't recall which song it was already. At this point, many of the hitherto restrained audience, including us (!) got off from our allotted seats and followed the entourage. Even those that remained in their seats were also called to stand up, when urged by Moo to do so. This was when the crowd appeared much younger than their actual age!

See? Our visual of Moo had expanded by a 5cm figurine to a full-sized performer. I got quite excited when I was able to get this close to my childhood idol, and I found myself joining the other uncles and aunties in waving our arms in the air as he belted out the final pieces of the concert, including "叫阮的名" and "你是我的唯一".

With the final number "我真的要走了", Moo once again said goodbye. It was 12 midnight.

The rest of the concert crew joining Moo on stage, for the final thank you's.

For someone whose very first (cassette) album, purchased with my own pocket money savings, had been Moo's "年轻的心", and who had collected posters of Moo from issues of "电视广播周刊", this concert was a very nostalgic trip down memory lane.

P/S: I just went on ebay and bought this!