A-Lin proves there's no such thing as a tough crowd at 'A-LINK with Passengers 2022 World Tour' in Singapore — gig report

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A-Lin proves there's no such thing as a tough crowd at 'A-LINK with Passengers 2022 World Tour' in Singapore — gig report

Concerts and live gigs have always been about the almost-tangible electricity and palpable adrenaline in the air, created between a crowd of cheering fanatics and the performers of the hour. Though this might be debatable to some, that sort of synchronous dynamic and chemistry is hard to be found in a separate setting or replicated in an environment where music doesn’t play a part. 

For the longest time, this intrepid tango between audience and artist which sparks an unexplained high, was the very thing lacking in the pandemic-induced online concerts. Yet, finally, last Saturday night (28/05), Taiwanese diva A-Lin simultaneously kicked off the first major concert at Singapore Indoor Stadium, and proved that innate performance prowess is impossible to be veiled under a mid crowd. 

Phones out and snapping Instagram stories of the creative airplane-inspired graphics on screen, the stadium was packed with excitable fans although, more than half of which were still finding their seats at 10 minutes past 8. The concert swiftly rolled into action, eliciting cheers from the audience after the emergence of the vocalist powerhouse in an extravagant, purple, and ruffled stage costume. 

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Subduing common expectations of beginning a concert with a bang, A-Lin leads a sombre and pensive start with her 2014 release, ‘拿走了什么 (What did you take away)’. Even the unbearable nostalgia and longing from being on stage gets to her as she is brought to tears herself after belting the first line. Powering through her fraught emotions, her voice softly coaxes and soothes, echoing in the hushed hall. 

Overcome by her own mixed emotions of affection and thrill, the stage once shrouded in darkness bursts into full colours as the introduction song is brought to its touching end where the 17-year veteran singer exhales a bated breath and transforms into a more innocent side of her, resembling an animated schoolgirl. 

“I can’t believe this is happening, I can’t believe I’m in Singapore!” she exclaims, hopping and skipping across the massive stage. Flanked by a keyboardist and a backup vocalist on her left and a bassist, drummer, and electric guitarist on her right, she disappears beneath the stage for her first outfit change of the night. 

Rocking on with her more upbeat songs, the veteran singer wasn’t the only one who recognised the crowd’s preference for her more emotional ballads as opposed to her dance hits like ‘Dancing In The Sky’, ‘Love Logic’, ‘Flower’, and one of her recents, ‘Michael Go’. Any performer would be daunted by a stony-faced audience but A-Lin injects her own good-natured humour, paving for a little warmth to come through the intimidatingly cold stadium (save for one or two groups of enthusiastic fans). 

“I’m dancing by myself,” she sings playfully in replacement of one of her lines and even asks, “Singapore, why does it feel like you don’t want to dance along?”. 

While the audience remained sombre throughout the concert, it was the toned-down energy that truly allowed the versatile artist to show off her performance chops. A-Lin’s determination to put up a good show was unfailing and it soon became clear that there was no hiding a live show pro’s expertise in the face of an uncompromising crowd. 

Perhaps, reactions would have been more abundant if the golden-piped vocalist packed the more heartfelt, slow-paced ballad tracks into the concert setlist but in the artist’s own words,”I like singing and dancing so I’ll do it, if you want to join in, I invite you with open arms.” Her up-tempo bangers like ‘Anti-Perfect’, ‘ROMADIW’, ‘Da Da De Yong Bao’, ‘Go’ were given criminally underrated responses as compared to ‘Conversation’, ‘What Comes After Happiness’, ‘Blame’, and ‘Best Actor’. 

“Let me sing this part.” she laughed as the crowd overpowered their unanimous voice during ‘Lovelorn, Not Guilty’ where she flaunted her heartbreakingly precise vibratos and flasettos. 

A standout performance would undoubtedly be her latest ‘Best Friend’. The concert-goers had been greeted with a banner at each of their seats, designated to be raised during the song as a sweet gesture. Emotionally-stricken, a melancholy smile finds its way on to A-Lin’s face as she thanks the crowd for their thoughtfulness. 

Helming not one but two encores, she powers through to her release dated more than a decade ago, ‘Give Me a Reason To Forget’, and of course, the iconic ‘A Kind Of Sorrow’. As the entire stadium seemed frozen in time with phone lights aflutter, a square-ish lighting structure descends just behind the talented vocalist, giving her an almost angelic halo as she croons to the climax of the devastatingly heart-aching movie soundtrack. 

“I’ve always wanted to play the bass and sing this song at the same time, I hope I don’t mess it up,” she shares, “and if I do, well, then that’s life.” The self-proclaimed Contralto ended off her (planned) setlist of the night with a divine rendition of Dreamz FM’s ‘Not Worth It’. 

But alas, a personal highlight of the night was when the Mandopop princess fell into a comfortable time of interacting with fans by singing their song requests. Though one would have expected a reluctant concert crew desperately trying to move the singer off stage as the clock struck 11 pm, shout out to the Sports Hub team for going as far as to close the doors back up, dim the house lights, and dance flashing gobos across the stage, trying to accompany the vocalist as she sang hits by F.I.R, songs like ‘Guilt’ and ‘A Good Friend’s Salutation’. 

Though nearly a quarter of the stadium had made an early departure (to which I say, their loss), the atmosphere of the second encore felt far more relaxed and intimate as it was evident that every single person - the crew, the band, the crowd, and the singer herself, was drunk on the unexplainable, sublime quality that makes all concerts worth being in attendance for. From the front row to the back, the absence of live shows had rendered this moment far more special and with A-LINK WITH PASSENGERS 2022 starting the relay, we hope that the baton would never be far away again.