I spent the first half of the concert wondering if I'm really that old. The music was so loud I had to resist from plugging my fingers into my ears. Yet nobody seemed really to mind, save the few sitting in front of us, practically right next to the speakers. The rest of the audience, seemed to be mainly composed of still-schooling teenagers, were happily bobbing along to the dreamy electro-pop music. According to Billy Crystal, the music's not supposed to get too loud till you hit forty. Sigh. I'm aging prematurely.Somewhere into the 6th or 7th song, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and decamped to the last row, as far from the speakers as we could get.
I spent the second half of the concert in a yawning marathon. The duo and their 3-piece band appeared to have moved on to a quieter repertoire, and I was trying my darndest not to fall asleep before 9pm. According to Billy Crystal again, sleeping that early is characteristic of seventy-year-old retirees in Fort Lauderdale. Sigh. I am twenty-seven going on seventy.
I realise I haven't got that much to say about the music itself. (Probably because my mind were preoccupied with other matters.) Well the lead singer said it best herself when describing themselves as creatures of the more 含蓄 ilk, preferring to let their music speak, concluding her longest sentence of the whole night saying, "嗨我觉得我们好闷阿".
I cannot, in all honesty, say that I disagree with her. I think they're fine songwriters and musicians (which is why I bought their CD after their concert, and I'm happily bobbing to the songs as I'm typing this now), but not every artiste can get away with performing an entire set with close to nil audience interaction, especially when you're a relatively new group whose audience is probably not all that familiar with you. I'm sure they could've squeezed in a little more introduction about themselves and their music in the lull between songs, during which they preferred to wait in silence while some band members adjusted their instruments. I don't even know which part of China they're from. Though the way the lead singer speaks reminds me of one of my colleagues from Jiangsu. And I find it absolutely delightful how she pronounces 歌 as 歌儿.
Well I guess I'm used to loquacious Taiwanese-type performers (think WaWa and Superband), whose concerts can be equal parts singing and chatting. The only concert I remember going to where the singer kept me captivated throughout with pure music and nothing else was Faye Wong's here at the indoor stadium five, six years back. The Andrew Bird one, another music-only concert which I went to last month, I nearly fell asleep (the guy sitting to my right slept practically from the 3rd song right through to the end).
Speaking of Faye Wong, I don't really see the resemblance between her and Carrchy, except that live, the Carrchy lead singer's voice has a way of trailing with a bit of quiver like FW's. That, and Carrchy also used a megaphone in 吸血鬼 like FW did in one of her songs (think it's 开到荼靡).
The concert ended without an encore - 2nd encoreless concert I've been to in a week - which was just as well. The organisers probably anticipated that the audience wouldn't ask for one, and I'm not sure the band would have a song prepared either. Saved from any awkwardness by an almost immediate lights-on after the whole group went backstage.
While queuing for autographs post-performance, I read on the CD cover that the two Carrchy (what on earth does that mean, by the way) members are only 20 (!) - at least at the time of the album - which explains the somewhat raw showmanship. The lead singer never really looked entirely comfortable onstage; and the other 4 sent off a college band vibe (though not a bad thing) - the drummer had on berms, sneakers and a faux mohawk, and the bass guitarist, with his skinny jeans and fringe-covered face, reminded me of one of the Gorillaz.
Well, they're young, plenty more years to make music and attract more fans. They look a little older upclose though:
The autograph queue:
The autograph:
