Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Cherry blossoms & spring



Marsha showed me the Stockholm public transport website, something like SBS transit in Singapore. They change the picture on the main page according to the season and weather. Today, it showed the gorgeously blooming candy floss-like cherry trees, lining up our dear Kungstragården. 

It is Valborg today, the day that signifies the arrival of spring and the departure of everything dark and evil. One year ago, we were at Uppsala for the grand celebration in the biggest student city in Sweden. Champagne sprayed here and there, drenching every passer-by in laughter. People were dancing and singing, so were we. The city was enveloped in a misty joyful smell of beer. 

We were celebrating spring, we were celebrating the warmth. But most of all, we were celebrating our youth.

Let the blossoms bloom and let the fragrance travel through the cool air...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Goodnight, People of the Earth ~ Mayday

I am supposed to sleep now, an important day tomorrow. But I'm suffering from the post-Mayday concert fever... the only cure is to watch their MTV over and over again until I drop dead.

I paused for a long time after listening to 晚安 地球人 (Goodnight, People of the Earth)... there was a ghostly silent that rang through the night.

紫皮肤大脑袋血液不绿也不蓝
在我已经毁灭的星球我比五月天还帅
那一年大逃难爸爸把我丢上船
光的速度能比爱恨快所以我也忘了哭
来到这里一光年外

沉睡七年的蝉
换取七天的灿烂
生命穿过漫长年代
直到名为人类的灾难

诸葛亮赤壁战万人一冢的豪迈
千年之后重回荧幕里还是征战的舞台
难道会又重来妈妈他说的混乱
谁能还清自己的卡债谁能控制核子弹
谁能顿悟轮回会来

大人在冷气房作战
小孩在太阳下逃难
石油田的干旱华尔街卷起灾难
终于人们发射了飞弹捍卫自己的晚餐
多害怕在未来人类对一切习惯
拿起字典一页页的翻始终找不到的字
是不是爱是不是爱(地球人晚安)
不要是爱不要是爱(地球人晚安)


Purple skin, large brains, with blood neither green nor blue
On my planet that has been destroyed, I'm even more charming than Mayday
That year, during the great exodus, my father threw me onto the ship
The speed of light is faster than love, that's why I forgot to cry
And ended up here, one light year away

The cicada slept for seven years
In exchange of seven days of brilliance
Life went through ages
until the human disaster arrives

Zhu Geliang* and his battle of Chibi, the heroism of a graveyard with ten thousand men
After one thousand years, war is still staging on the screen
Will it be that the chaos my mother told me is coming back?
Who can repay their credit card debts? who has control over the nuclear bombs?
Who will realize that reincarnation will return??

(* The prime minister of the Kingdom Shuhan in the Romance of Three Kingdoms.)

Adults fight in air-conditioned rooms
Children flee under the sun
The oil is drying up and disaster hits Walls Street
At last, they launched the missiles to defend their dinner

I fear of a future, where people are used to all this
Pick up a dictionary and turn one page after another, the word that you couldn't find
Is it love? Is it love? (Goodnight, People of the Earth)
Let it not be love
Let it not be love (Goodnight, People of the Earth)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Down to Earth! 2008 Mayday Concert

Just had a shower. Never felt so content before. Only now I know why people will spend so much on concerts...


I got a seat very near to the stage. The original price was $171, but thanks to Ling, I managed to get it for only $80. It was really a nice seat, just behind the arena. I was a bit disappointed at first, cuz the seat was quite far from the stage. Little did I know that there would be a surprise...


Waiting for the concert to start... watching Mayday's mtv on a big screen, adrenaline surging...


Suddenly... the lights went off, and the prologue was played on the giant white sheet which covered the stage.

I was so impressed that the whole concert actually had a theme. The prologue was based at 2057, 50 years from now. At that time, most species on earth has gone extinct, and humans are fighting a violent war against each other. The Mayday team members were seen in rags and dirt, joking around just as usual. Ashin told a little girl about dolphins that once lived in the oceans, she hasn't seen them before. He then gave her a necklace with a dolphin pendulum, saying that dolphins symbolizes hope.

Suddenly, there was an explosion, their village was under attack! Many masked soldiers marched into the compound and a terrible gunfight took place. At this point of time, it really shocked the spirits out of me to notice that a few REAL masked soldiers came down from the ceiling of the indoor stadium "comando" style, and started pointing their guns towards the audience!

One of the soldiers!

In the midst of the gunfight, the girl was shot. Ashin rushed to her just to find that she was gone. His face went blank, and in his grief he let out a loud, painful cry. The big white sheet covering the stage was dropped, and the show began!!!!



Stone playing an amazing guitar solo

Followed by Monster

It was song after song of great music, music that has been with me since I was 15 years old. Music that me and my sister danced to in our living room. Music that my sister said to me, " isn't this very meaningful?" It was my sister who brought me into the magical world of Mayday, and opened up a whole new perspective of life for me.

They even played 一千個世紀 (Romance of a thousand centuries)! It's a song about a love that transcends centuries-- a pair lovers that went through countless cycles of reincarnation, and at the end were joined in heaven while they watched as the sun dies. The song described the love through evolution, from unicellular organisms, to tetrapods, to mammals, to cavemen, to civilization and so on... Mayday is just genius, evolution has never been so sexy and romantic before!



Monster (left) and Stone (right) humming away with their guitar solo on a raised platform.


The songs were just too explosive! Everyone was so high, jumping up and down and swaying their arms in the air (me too!). I managed to capture the fireworks just on time!

Ashin on the giant screen, looking charming as usual =)

I was so happy to see Mayday live, that tears were welling in my eyes all the time. At one point Mayday played the song 小太阳 (Little Sun), it touched me so much that I gave up holding my tears and let them trickle down my cheeks in a cocktail of joy, excitement, pain and most of all, relief. The song brought back memories of granny, because it is about a person who went off in search of his dreams, but has somebody waiting back at home for him. As if every word Ashin sang was about my own story, I couldn't help but screamed my heart out, hoping that the person in the song could make it back home...


The show just kept getting better and better! While I was screaming, swaying my arms and head banging at the same time, I suddenly noticed that there was a platform coming down in front of me!


WTH! What is this?!

Ah!! Now I know what it is for!!! Before I could take a breath to calm myself...

Ashin ran from the stage in front and walked onto the platform!!!!!!!



Followed by Stone...

...And Marsha (left, can't see his face tho)!

...And of course, my all-time favourite drummer, Guanyou!


Not to forget our great guitarist Monster! To show his affection towards Mayday fans in Singapore, Monster had the Chinese words for "Singapore" written on his arm.

Another view of the platform, taken by Yinfong.

Get some guitars onto the platform and let's Rock n Roll again!



It is coincidently Marsha's birthday today. So we all sang the birthday song to him. Marsha joked that Guanyou should lie down and get the candle up for him! =P Haha, never knew Marsha could make dirty jokes too! Well, it was really nice to see Marsha celebrating his birthday on stage with four best friends. A very touching scene.


After they went back to the stage, Stone sang us a song that he just composed for his newborn baby. The title of the song is "Yi Ya Ya" (baby language).



Everyone was so high in "恋爱-ing"! Mayday got the whole crowd wild, spelling "L-O-V-E" in a roar for nearly 5 minutes!


A couple of kickin songs, and the show ended with a blast! =) The end was a very nice touch. It was ended with the song 天使 (Angel), and the screen played the video of the little girl, smiling widely, saying, "You are my angel, You are my first, and my last heaven".

The crowd continued to cheer so Mayday came out for an anchore song.

Their t-shirts said "Make music, not war". That is what I love about Mayday, they are always concerned about what's happening in the world, and its all written in their songs too. (Photo courtesy from Yinfong)





Curtain call! Thank you! (Photo courtesy from Yinfong)

I just had my Tropical Conservation Biology exams this afternoon, and went straight to Mayday's concert. Coincidently, the theme they had was about a future that is becoming more and more bleak for us. There are tragedies happening all around the world that we, living in Singapore, are sheltered from. Towards the end, Mayday advocated the message of hope, inscribed in that innocent smile of the little girl. I can't help but thinking, what more can we ask from music if not to spread the message of peace and love?



Links to other blog post about the concert:
it's lovee
FreedomKeys
清听清诉

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