Report on The SPOP Hurray! Concert On The Move 08 Dec 2007

Phew, I am finally back from attending the abovementioned event and I must say that it was both a very enjoyable and yet frustrating event. Why do I say that? The reasons are below:

Apparently, the so-called Priority Boarding Passes were completely useless because when both Blanket and myself were there, there was no announcement about those with the special passes get to board first. In fact, there was no differentiation between those who went there at the boarding venue bus stop to collect passes and those who went all the way down to MediaCorp to collect theirs.

Also the organization for the boarding capacity was also in a complete mess. It seemed me that there were more people waiting (without passes) at the boarding venue and when the bus was full, the people who could not get onboard started arguing with MediaCorp personnel, wanting to get onboard even though the bus was already over-packed. Both Blanket and myself, with Priority Boarding Passes, had to stand for the entire journey with our views blocked by those without passes! In the end, MediaCorp relented and the bus was packed even more like sardines and almost 80% of the people onboard have no views to watch the celebrities sing (because the celebrities were all in the front portion of the articulated bus whilst nearly 50 people were jam-packed into the second portion of the bus - imagine the squeeze).

This photograph shows MediaCorp personnel blocking the back exit of the bus and negotiating with all those who have no passes and wanting to go onboard. The latter won and another ten more squeezed in.
The end result was this. After looking at what was happening, both Blanket and myself decided and successfully managed to move forward to the middle portion of the bus and thus managed to get a better view of the celebrities, which accounted for the remaining photographs taken. Blanket, using his much more advanced Cybershot camera, took more high-resolution photos of our dearest Teresa. At the moment of typing of this post, he must be busy selecting and uploading those pictures so everyone will get another series of photos on Teresa - be patient.

I myself was also interested in documenting as much of the trip's happenings as possible, including the performances of the other celebrities as well because I want to make this blog post an informative read for everyone else other than the faithful supporters of Teresa. This photograph shows Cuifang and Weibin, the hosts for the 2pm to 4pm bus concert. They worked very hard to secure the attention of the people onboard. My compliments to them.
This is Mi Lu Bing. SuperBand Season One Champions, who sang three songs and performed very well onboard despite the moving and shaking of the bus. I am very impressed by their live performance prowess but I am deeply disappointed by the behaviour of their supporters. Why? Because after Mi Lu Bing's performances, their supporters became rowdy and uncooperative, demanding to leave the bus even in the middle of the other celebrities' performances. That was totally bad form of them and I hope if their fanclub leaders get to read this, please rein them in because their behaviour was totally disrespectful to the other celebrities and all those who were there for not just Mi Lu Bing.
The three guys from Mi Lu Bing again, helping one another with the microphones and their guitar as well. I believe they are good celebrities but if my blog post actually reached them, perhaps they should also ask their supporters to behave better. Good performances still.
This is Nathaniel from Project Superstar Season Two. His singing has always been very good and he knows how to interact with the audience as well. I enjoyed his performance but I respected his ability to be understanding even though Mi Lu Bing's supporters were screaming for Mi Lu Bing in the middle of his performance. Nathaniel was nice enough to even wave to the departing Mi Lu Bing whilst singing when he saw the commotion of the former's supporters. Meanwhile, I was holding myself back from publicly admonishing Mi Lu Bing's supporters for being so rude and rowdy as they were interrupting Nathaniel's performance.
Nathaniel concentrating on his song even though the bus was making a huge turn. He maintained his falsetto buildup throughout the turn, undisturbed by all the commotion. Two extra points for his professionalism.

Two more Project Superstars Season Two celebrities singing their hearts out. I vaguely remembered their song was about some mosquito biting (a top 12 SPOP composition) and the lyrics were really funny. I was using the handphone to comment to Blanket (even though he was just standing in front of me) because the bus was so noisy from the talkative Mi Lu Bing's supporters.
Teresa finally appeared and she was seen her dressed casually in a black shirt and blue jeans, interacting with the two hosts onboard.
Another mega-watt smile flashed by Teresa as she responded to the comical tauting from the hosts that Teresa has many boyfriends under her belt. She was calm and composed and seemed to be able to cope with the emcees' questions with great ease and skill. Two extra points for her emcee interaction skills.
Teresa sang her designated song 雨伞, another SPOP top 12 song composition, and I must say the song was really difficult to emote and the lyrics and lines were tough to transit. Teresa did her best and the song was completed competently. The songwriter sang alongside with Teresa but she was blocked by the head of a tall girl standing in the way of my handphone camera.
Maxilian, from Project Superstar Season Two and Zhengning, from Campus Superstar Season Two, sang a duet together for yet another SPOP top 12 song composition. Maxilian's voice was quite good and Zhengning improved alot since I last hear her sing live. The duet was well done and my compliments to them as well. =)

Teresa sang a second song for some onboard game. This time, the song was 我要快乐 by Amei and her vocal prowess was in full blast again, impressing even some of the noisier Mi Lu Bing's supporters at the back of the bus to stop talking and start listening. Teresa knows her Amei songs by heart and the song was done excellently even though the bus was moving and swaying here and there. She was in full concentration of the song and the organizers actually removed the music from the song at the final portion but it totally did not affect Teresa's singing at all. Everyone onboard thus heard how crystal clear and powerful Teresa's singing was. Way to go, Teresa!
This is Teresa smiling at Blanket and myself as she caught both of us struggling to take photographs of her performances on the bus. Glad she still recognized both of us by sight and she acknowledged our presence with her smile as she continued her Amei song to her par excellence standard.
Zhengning was seen here doing a fast number and she is still one of the rare Campus Superstars who can do a fast song well even without the dancing. Too bad the bus was swaying so badly or her performance with a dance would surely rock the bus mood even more. She has improved alot and I believe she has finally caught a look at me after she asked Teresa who she was waving to when the trip had ended. Zhengning, if you are reading, well done on your performances today.
The guys from Project Superstar Season Two doing their best again for another number. The third could not be seen because some uncle with a massive camera was hopping around filming everyone and everything, much to the chagrin of those people behind who happened to be shorter and thus could catch even less of the performances onboard.
Maxilian was the last performer before the bus turned into Bukit Batok Bus Interchange. She did her best to entertain the audience onboard but I think most of them were too exhausted to be really listening to her. By then, my legs were already numb from tiptoeing on end. Yes, all the above photographs were taken with me tiptoeing. It was a tough job and I was like sticking my tongue in exhaustion when Teresa looked in our direction. The girl just laughed and smiled appreciatingly.

.

When both Blanket and myself disembarked from the bus, we tried to take another round of photographs of Teresa but the windows reflected our shots and thus there was too little light to do so. Despite that, Teresa saw us and we waved our goodbyes to her as the bus moved on to another location to allow the celebrities to rest.

.

I don't know if Teresa is still onboard the second or the third leg of the SPOP Hurray Concert On The Move trip but I was really glad that she was appreciative of our presence onboard and of course, managed yet again to excel in her performances even on a moving, crowded and noisy bus.

.

Well, now I have to wait for Blanket's photographs to be processed. Those will be uploaded onto the main fanclub site and I will also put them up here on my blog for everyone else to see as well.

.

That's all for the report. Hope everyone has a better idea of how the 2pm trip went. =) I need to go eat my dinner now..See you folks around.

Updated. There are some of the higher-quality photographs of Teresa taken by Blanket. Enjoy!