So Sarah Brightman's concert came and went in a jiffy!
The concert was not cancelled! Thankfully. I guess it's due to the patronage of the Perak royalty, who, incidently strictly adhered to the highest Malaysian standards of punctuality, i.e. about 15 minutes late!
The concert finally then kicked off at 850pm, instead of the planned 830 pm. Not too bad, considering I waited in sweltering SWEAT in the previous Mariah Carey concert for 45 minutes, (waiting for another VIP) held in the atrocious STADIUM MERDEKA years back!
My standards for concert venues have since elevated, and I am glad that Sarah's venue is in the project which I was involved in, 5 years back with a previous contractor, at the KLCC Plenary hall. Even met some other friends who were fans of Sarah too!
Overall, the performance was spectacular, especially when it was professionally accompanied by a local repertoire of string instrument artistes and also vocals from half a dozen strong choir!
The entire performance lasted a paltry 70 minutes, with Sarah rendering only 14 tracks on her set list. Three of them were duets with Alessandro Safina! An excellent tenor from Siena, Italy, that easily rivals Andrea Bocelli! This repertoire is paltry, compared to her kick off tour in Mexico last year when she had a staggering 25 tracks! Now that's value for money!
The entire atmosphere was quite plain (to my standards). I was hoping for some gala theatherical stage setup, AS REPORTED HERE , citing "Concert-goers will get to witness enormous realistic ballrooms melding into fairytale gardens and then morphing into giant fish tanks, as a backdrop for Brightman’s performance" I didn't see an iota of such a setup, or was I truly blind? I just saw a PLAIN BLACK CURTAIN! Were we short changed again, being Malaysians? I may have to write in to Sarah Reynolds to get an explanation!
What we witnessed was just a blend of a mini orchestra on one side and a modern jazz band in the rear, with a couple of percussion sets featuring the latest Yamaha keyboard synthesizers!
The plenary hall was NOT crowded. The hall was roughly HALF full! Is this a sign of RECESSION or have the tickets been too overpriced?
I'm sure if the tickets started from RM 50, the hall would be full. However, I guess the marketing director didn't really fulfill his/her SAT score for Economics 101 on PRICE * QUANTITY!
Only regret was that I didn't bring a long my super Lumix FZ28 which would have faired SUPERBLY with it's 18x OPTICAL zoom on a LEICA lens.
Loads of other audience were happily snapping away with D-SLRs, compact cameras and the ever ubiquitous cameras! No bag inspections were carried out nor were there any announcements of any prohibition of photographic or recording devices! I guess they were already too dismayed by the paltry ticket sales, and thus, wouldn't be too "diplomatic" if such announcements were made, knowning that it's just a ONE NIGHT STAND!
Being the intelligent Malaysians, after the plane "took off", many from the cheaper seats (RM 250) managed to change to higher value seats FREE OF CHARGE!
Droves of viewers scrambled to nearer seats at the bottom tiers after the second track was rendered! This was in true MALAYSIA BOLEH spirit!
Sorry that no photos were taken, but Sarah's 4 gown changes were utterly gorgeous. Fortunately, my 10x optical BINOCULARS from 1986 was brought along and shared with 2 other friends and 4 other family members!
The entire concert ended with a small encore, "Deliver Me". I was hoping that she would have performed a duet entitled "You and Me" with a Chinese singer, the same one she did at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 with Liu Huan. Well, that didn't happen!
After the 70 minute repertoire, the crowd left the hall to adjourn down to the lobby where a few memorablia were sold. CD/DVD packs at RM 50 and the official tour T-shirt and a large colour TOUR PROGRAMME BOOK sold for RM 100 each (More expensive than Canada, which was only $30)! I guess this was the only way to recoup some of the "losses" from the lack of proceeds!
Now, any signs of Norah Jones coming over?
3 comments:
Thanks Ian for a comprehensive review of the concert. I was there too at the RM323 seats which were too far for me to get a good look of Sarah without the visual aids of the binoculars.
Like you I felt cheated by the simple staging (contrary to the newspaper reports) and the total lack of control over people with cheaper tickets happily occupying the more expensive seats! That is a totally unfair and an insult to the people whop paid higher prices for their seats. I feel like making an official complaint to the organisers. Like you I also wished I had brought along my D-SLR with zoom lens to take as many photos as I liked during the concert if I had known that the organisers would behaved as unprofessionally as they did.
Frankly I think the half empty hall was a disgrace. I am sure it would have been better patronised had the concert been properly marketed.
Thanks Ian for your comprehensive review of the concert. I was also there at the concert at the RM323 seats.
Despite being short changed with a very short concert, incorrect publicity about the use of modern visual effects (in other countries I believe we could sue the organisers for giving false information) and the zero control over people with cheaper seat tickets happily occupying the more expensive seats (totally unfair to theose people who paid good money for their higher priced seats), the concert was still great!!
It would have been better had the full scaled concert been staged and had the running time been a bit more decent rather than barely one hour ... As you have so clearly noted we Malaysians had to pay the highest price for our tickets and yet end up getting a raw deal!
Anyway, I am glad I got to see the concert and feel sorry for the many who had missed this because of either their ignorance or their unawareness ...
Just simply youtube Sarah Brightman Symphony Tour and we will see the REAL symphony concert, online!
I went for her concert in KLCC, and also her Harem Tour in 2005 (if not 2004) at Stadium Negara. Despite being held in seemingly run-down venue, the Harem Tour was way much entertaining. And despite buying the RM120 (the cheapest) ticket then, I had a very good view of Sarah, her dancers, and all the visual effects.
The organizers this time are really a cheat! They are misleading the public on their website saying stuff like holographic visual effects blah blah blah... and for the price that we are paying much more this time, we deserve the same concert format that Sarah brings in other venues.
I suspect that the high ticket price is for the KLCC venue, which is a, no-brainer, costly place to rent. Also, to say Sarah short-changed us is not true also, because it is stated on her official website that the KL and Jakarta concerts are going to be an 'intimate concert setting with theatrical staging' but who would have thought it would be like what it was in KLCC??... and I don't remember the organizers (some say ticketing agent) saying that on their website. What a bunch of local swindlers!
Anyway, it was a night with great singing and vocals. I hope she will return again on her next tour programme, with a different local ticketing agent.
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