i'm still having faye hangover since her absolutely fabulous concert on wednesday. i'm spinning all my old faye cds again. i've got the whole concert on mp3.

a review from the straits times

***
For two precious hours, devotees sat in reverent awe.

They knew what not to expect from a Faye Wong concert: namely, spectacular staging, fancy dancers or the usual banter between songs.Indeed, one goes to her concert not to be entertained, but to worship the Chinese pop queen with the heavenly voice.

For her third concert here, the 34-year-old had confidently stripped it down to the bare essentials, eschewing the wigs and elaborate stage set-up of her 1995 and 1999 concerts here respectively. All she needed this time were a 10-man band, a string quartet, two back-up singers and six sets of costumes.

The only extravagance? Plenty of soap bubbles, when she sang "The Moon At That Time"..

Longtime fan Debbie Loo, 25, liked the no-frills approach.'She used to hide behind costumes. Now you can see the real Faye Wong,' said the sales and marketing executive.

Indeed, the ice queen appeared relaxed, lively and even friendly this time round.'I want to say something... because it's my last song. I want to thank everyone for their support,' she said in Cantonese. It was only the second time she spoke at length.

Then someone shouted: 'Speak in Mandarin.' Realising her blunder, she joked: 'I'm really qi xin (crazy in Cantonese).'

She explained in Mandarin that it was because her previous song, Cold War, was in Cantonese, and that she forgot she was in Singapore. 'But you understand Cantonese, don't you?' she teased.

Earlier on, the singer showed she was human after all, having to repeat the opening lines of Only Love Strangers after missing a beat. Otherwise, she was flawless. Appearing half an hour late at 8.30pm in a crumpled, white slip dress, she looked and sounded exquisite.

The 8,000 strong audience, which comprised mainly fans in their 20s and 30s, cheered for familiar favourites like Sky and Angel, as well as newer songs like New Tenant and The Book Of Laughter And Forgetfulness.

Singer Tanya Chua and TV actor Thomas Ong were spotted in the crowd.

There were moments of tenderness, nostalgia and a touch of sadness. When she sang the Cantonese ballad Fringes Of Love And Pain, one suspected that the lyrics had come to hold more meaning for the divorcee since she first sang it at her 1995 concert.

For 20 minutes after her last song, On Earth, ended, some fans were still screaming for an encore. Not product manager Paul Mui, 47, though. Standing up to leave, he shook his head and said with a smile, 'She never gives encores.' Guess some things never change.
***

enough said. i only wished it had been longer and that she sang more songs like lian, fu zao, zhi mi bu hui, etc. but i guess a 30-song setlist is already pretty much to ask for huh.

ed got a free room at mandarin hotel last night but i didn't stay over cos i need my rest for this week, which is going to be damn tough. i'll be doing ot every single day up till next sunday thanks to lri. means no social life and lots of depressed thoughts. i've got cos duty on first day of lri and guard duty on the second day. i sense a plot somewhere.

tam didn't get through the prelims of singapore idol. sigh. coincidentally yock's doing data entry for them and got the singapore idol tee, but she can't get another one for me. oh well.

gotta watch harry potter and grab a good dinner later!