a sparklier world

Okay, firstly, to all you people who gave me incredulous looks when I said I bought Singfest tickets and that I should "just listen to the CD"? Well, let me just say, the CDs can NOT match it. Because the experience of seeing Jason Mraz and OneRepublic performing live is completely priceless.

As he did back in March 2006, I was once again utterly blown away by Jason Mraz. He's got an ocean of talent in him and his new sound with the brass trio was totally amazing. Plus his bassist has mad skills that deserves jaw-dropping gawkness.

Mraz live is truly an experience like no other. His energy alone just spreads to the crowd and has them singing and dancing along. And let me tell you, it was quite the crowd at Fort Canning Park last night. Everyone was just bopping along to the brassy "Make It Mine", belting out along with "I'm Yours" (Sidenote: he did the ab-fab duet bit at the end with Toca! Happiness!), high fiving at "The Dynamo of Volition", and basically singing along to every single song he sang. Total. Wowness. I heart Jason Mraz like no other right now.

OneRepublic's live performance was excellent as well. Granted, not as entertaining as Jason Mraz, but I'm a little biased because Mraz is incomparable in my opinion. Heh. Anyways. OneRepublic has like the coolest cellist ever. Brent Kutzle looks nothing like those stuffy classical cellists (sorry Yo-Yo Ma). He's got wild curly hair and his fingers fly over the cello like lightning that you can only just stare in total amazement. Ryan Tedder plays the piano with mind-blowing ease and talent that I can only dream of. Drew Brown bopping over from the bass to the piano, back to the bass, back to the piano was just another gawkness moment. Zach Filkins and Eddie Fisher did fantabulously well with their guitar and drums respectively too. I was totally screaming my lungs out for their superb and extended intros to "Mercy" and "Apologize". OneRepublic better release a second album and then come here again to do a full length concert.

In fact, right now my perfect dream of a concert would be OneRepublic opening for a full blown-out Jason Mraz concert. And, y'know, maybe having Ryan Tedder lend vocals a little to do "Details in the Fabric" in lieu of the talented James Morrison. Grins. Well. A girl can dream.

Alicia Keys, the main act of Singfest, was outstandingly fantabulously excellent. I'm not a mega huge fan of hers, but she has some serious skills with the keyboards. And her backup vocalists are amazing. Seriously. They've probably got more talent in their little toe than the Pussycat Dolls combined. But more on that later. So. The lovely Ms. Keys sang some old songs and some new ones which I didn't know, but they were really great. She did the coolest variation of "Karma", giving it a kinda salsa/Latino feel to it. Not quite sure what the style was exactly, but it was way cool. She's got one truly powerful voice and I was totally jiving along to her songs. Those that I knew, I sang. And after she finished with "Fallin'" and went offstage, the crowd just roared for an encore. Which she kindly reciprocated with "No One", and that was totally belted out by everyone, especially at the end when we all did this "oh oh oh" thing and were just jumping along. Talk about true professionalism. She was a hell of an entertainer. A perfect end to a rocking music fest.

Other acts:
Jamie Scott and the Town: I love Jamie Scott's voice. And combined with the funky cellist (woohoo for cellists) and double bassist? Completely rocking. Am so going to get their CD first chance I get.

Stacie Orrico: Not a bad choice for the opening act since she's got pretty "get jiggy with it" songs, but not a fan of hers so was at the merchandise store getting my Jason Mraz t-shirt!!

Panic At The Disco: Never heard much of their songs before, and during the first ten minutes of their act, still hadn't heard much thanks to the crap sound system that died. The crowd was just super pissed by the lack of sound. Of course, when the sound DID come back on, they weren't too bad. But not a fan still.

Rick Astley: Dude's 56 years old, says "yeah baby" and wants the ladies to dance to his mambo-esque songs. He's still got the voice, I'll give you that. But it was just. plain. weird. But whatever floats your boat. Yeah baby.

And lastly, with the least talent (singing-wise), the Pussycat Dolls: I will admit that they can dance and that they're really hot. They worked in the LA club scene. They better be hot. But singing? No, no, no. They should've totally scrapped PCD and expanded everyone else. Unfortunately and to my utter appalled dismay, the crowd seemed to be big fans of theirs because people were leaving after they were done and before Alicia Keys. What is wrong with Singaporeans. Call me a music snob, but if it means thinking PCD sucks, then a music snob I am. Good grief. I was so bored during their act I nearly fell asleep. Until blondie in the pink corset shrieked "do you wanna see us daaaaanceeee?" Well. That woke me up like a nail in the brain. All I can (and did) say is, THANK GOD when they were done.

So. Minus that catastrophic excuse of a music act, Singfest was pretty decent. If fab bands come in again next year (and crap ones are kept way off), I just might find myself sweating it out again at Fort Canning Park next year. Grins.