I just got back from Show 羅志祥's 2nd concert of his world tour series, which includes a stop in Singapore sometime in December. It is held at the 台北小巨蛋 (literally translated as Taipei Little Giant Egg), officially called Taipei Arena. The first concert was held yesterday at the same place. I bought a mid-range seat, which is relatively near the stage, but at the side.



First things first. I didn't take any pictures because I wanted to enjoy the performance as much as possible and not looking at the camera screen. I also think that I wouldn't be able to get any nice shots anyway, given my distance from the stage and the lighting conditions, plus someone complained about the other autograph sessions pictures I took in broad daylight and at a shorter distance to be "not clear enough" (yes, I'm looking at you senpai). Well anyway, not photos. Before entering the Arena, I noticed a lot of enterprising businessman/women selling all kinds of glow-sticks, small hands(for a louder clapping sound), and mini-binoculars.

Well, on to the show! If you have ever watched any DVDs of concerts before, I can tell u this, the atmosphere and excitement of being there in person cannot be captured sufficiently in recordings. The interaction with the performer, the shouts and screams all around you, the singing along, and the highly charged atmosphere, is something that you have to experience for yourself.

The concert itself was very enjoyable. The entrance was dramatic(as all concerts are). He performed most of the songs from his new album, which was released on 16th November(2 days ago), and also a lot of the songs from previous albums, including classics like 小丑魚, 戀愛達人, 真命天子. But the main reason I went to the concert is not his songs, its the dance moves, and man does he know how to dance. There were a few songs that have strenuous dance routines that resulted in him panting and trying to catch his breath after finishing the songs, especially the chair dance part at the end of 精舞門. He also danced to Billie Jean by Micheal Jackson, and sang a canto song by Aaron Kwok.

The guest performers were great too. One of them was Rainie Yang (one of my favorite), and the other one was Elva Hsiao. Rainie performed a dance with 小豬 and also sang her own song, 帽子戲法. Elva did a duet with Show called 敗給你, which was a song in his new album, and also performed her own song, Honey Honey Honey.

羅志祥's mom appeared during the concert also. According to him, he never expected it because she was hospitalized a few days ago. The organizers did a similar thing during the first concert yesterday, but it was just a VCR recording of his mom cheering him on, and so he thought the same would happen today.  He was speechless and cried for a minute or so. The whole scene was very touching.

The encore song was Twinkle, in which he invited his friends who were in the audience seats to go up on stage and dance together with him. The gang was known as "Party Boys", but among them, I only know 小鬼.

After the concert ended, people were queuing up outside the Taipei Arena to buy the concert merchandise. There was a cap that I quite like, but it was sold out and I had to pre-order it if I wanted to buy, so I gave up. In the end, I just bought the album which comes with an autographed poster. I'll put up the photo of the poster if I feel like it. :p Other things on sale there include key chains, T-shirts, autographed cloth posters (which are bigger than the normal plastic-y type), and a Swarovski diamond necklace in the shape of an 'S' (which was the most expensive item at NT1500 which is about SGD 70).

Went to 西門町 for 楊丞琳任意門魔幻慶功改版簽唱會, since I didn't buy the 改版 version, this was supposed to be just a "look look see see" trip. The event starts at 4pm. But since I'm bored in my room anyway, I went at around 1pm. Which was a good/bad choice depending on how you see it. The good part is that 羅志祥 is having a 簽書會 at the place, and I just in time to see it. The not so good part is that they are also selling 羅志祥世界巡迴演唱會 tickets there, and I was unable to resist the urge to buy it :(
So now I'll be going to his concert, alone, at 台北小巨蛋 on 11-18.



There was an incident during the book signing event. A fight broke out between 2 middle aged (30 something I think) guys. Never knew what it was about. After that was the Rainie autograph session.



I loved this part where she imitated guys doing the 斜嘴 expression


Here are the rest of the photos

As I was leaving the place after the event, I ran into some Hong Kong celebrities recording a game show. I can only recognize 錢家樂(the guy in white) and 洪天明(The guy on the right in the first pic). The girls look familiar but I can't put a name to the face. And I think 衛詩 was there too, but I can't get a good picture of her. If anyone knows who they are, tell me please.

Was a little bored today, so I went to SOGO pacific for some window shopping. But turns out that I did some "real" shopping after all. I was unable to resist buying Girls' Generation's debut single - Into the New World, although I have already downloaded the songs quite awhile ago. This is the first korean CD and the first single that I have bought. I hope I won't regret it when their full album comes out.

    I joined 2 CCAs in NTU Taiwan, the magic club and the video gaming club. The magic club had a welcoming magic performance on Thursday, and people were queuing for tickets one hour before. Luckily I was passing by the area then and managed to get a seat. The performance was quite well done. Some of the tricks were very entertaining, but a few tricks were too obvious. I'm am not officially a member of this club yet as there are too many applicants, so they need to see your participation. If I go to the next 2 開放授課, then I will be accepted.
   Now about the video gaming club. When I went to their welcoming tea, turns out that there were only 2 person interested - me and another gal. They even screwed up the booking of the classroom for the welcoming tea and had to take us back to the club HQ. But looks aside, the club has some serious "firepower". The club HQ turns out to be a large office which is shared with other clubs. But our part of the room is very obvious, as there are 6 TV/monitors there. The drawers of the desks are filled with games, and the cupboard contains 4 PS2, an XBOX 360, a PS3 and a Wii. Whats more, there are free food and drinks in the cupboard !!! The only drawbacks are that 1)Most of the RPG games are in the original Japanese versions, and 2) The place is damn far from my hostel, about 20~30 minutes walk. If it wasn't for the distance, I would be there everyday ^^

I went a few places during these 2~3 weeks, but I haven't have the time to update this blog. By now, I had already forgot the exact date that I went to each place, just the relative order.

First off is the tourist night market called 饒河夜市. We went there because the girls wanted to go to the bargain fashion area called 五分埔 and the night market was just nearby, so us guys left the girls to their shopping and went to 逛夜市 instead. It was fun. The whole street is fitted with PA systems and an announcement was made around 530 asking all the motor vehicles to leave the area as the night market was about to start. We watched as the stall owners start to come and set up their stalls. Most of the stalls sell 小吃, but there are also mini-arcades and clothing shops. We had dinner together with the girls at a 關東煮 shop.















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Last Monday, us exchange students from Singapore met up with a full time Singaporean undergrad of NTU Taiwan and took a trip to 九份, which is a mountain town outside of Taipei city. We took a train ride there, and man was the ride packed. I don't know how long I stood in the train as all the seats were taken. But the trip was worth it. The view at 九份 was spectacular.











At one time, we saw a ray of light shining through the clouds. The effect was awesome. I don't know if these photos can capture the 震撼力 of the moment








I also had a chance to try out 九份's famous 芋圓






Well, thats all for now. Lets see when can I make myself do another update :p

There was an autograph session for Rainie at 西門町 today. The event starts at 4pm, but I went at 1030am to get an early queue number. Apart from that, Shin and 小豬 also had autograph sessions in the area.




And finally, a few pics from the rainie event. More pics can be found at rainieday.com

Its been a while since my last update. The main reason was that I was back home in Malaysia and my freakin broadband isn't working yet. Stupid Malaysian inefficiency. But now, I'm finally in Taipei, Taiwan to start my 1 semester of exchange. I'll try to get some pics soon, but I still need to settle some admin stuff and get to familiarize myself around here before doing so. Oh, and I have a Thai roommate, not that I have met him yet. Seems like he left the place for a few days. Lets see how fast I can adjust ^^