THE TOUR OF MISIA DISCOTHEQUE ASIA Singapore Expo
Last Saturday
With an ultra fancy lightshow, mini pyrotechnics, giant plastic balls bouncing on top of the audience and a lengthy 21/2hour set, Japanese R&B starlet Misia certainly did not skimp on her concert last Saturday night.
The dazzling multi-hued laser and lightshow at her first Singapore gig was a feast for the eyes and turned the cavernous Singapore Expo hall into a virtual giant disco, befitting of the title of her Asian tour.
Playing to a 5,000-strong crowd made up mostly of Japanese expats and Singaporean women in their 20s and 30s, a small group of whom were dressed in kimonos, the petite 30-year-old was a firecracker exhorting her fans to 'sing with me' and 'dance with me'.
Sing and dance they did, with gusto, swaying their hands in unison and even jumping when their idol asked them to.
But all the fancy fire and lightworks could not take away the fact that it was her voice - and her much vaunted ability to sing in the super-high whistle register - that carried tunes like Catch The Rainbow, Yes Forever and We Are The Music from her eight albums.
Sporting an assortment of elaborate headgear and dancing her heart out, her voice never once faltered and she carried out her vocal gymnastics effortlessly.
Her posse of seven male dancers, outfitted in parachute pants that recall 1980s rapper MC Hammer, also doubled as her hyperactive hype men, pumping up the crowd with slick moves and high-octane choreography.
Her four-piece band, comprising two keyboardists, a turntablist and a percussionist, were also tight and provided skilful interludes when the star disappeared from stage for costume changes.
But it was the singer that the crowd showered their love on. They screamed for her to come back on after her main set finished. She was only too happy to oblige, with two sets of encores.
Speaking mostly in Japanese with a sprinkling of halting English, the singer expressed how happy she was to finally play in Singapore.
The only blight to the evening's performance was the overzealous smoke machines. They provided a mysterious, misty feel throughout the show but the loud hissing marred the softer moments in songs such as the piano ballads It's Just Love and Everything.
Still, fans like Japanese couple Jun and Naomi Kondo went home happy.
'She was great,' said 28-year-old Mr Kondo, who works in the shipping industry and has been in Singapore for three years. 'We're fans but we never got the chance to see her back home.'
Mrs Kondo, 25, a housewife, added: 'We managed to get near the stage and close to her, unlike in concerts in Japan.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sep 15, 2008.
