A night in Singapore

Back from a one-night trip to Singapore to watch Rachael Yamagata at the Esplanade Theater. It's easy to be amazed with Singapore - state-of-the-art buildings, efficient public transportation, spacious stations, clean streets - while they're at it, they try to keep it green, too. Well, that's roughly my perspective from the places I've been to while I was there.

I haven't been to Singapore for years, so going alone makes me a little nervous. The thing that comforts me is knowing that I'd be meeting an old friend. I met Iman, my former classmate, just an hour before the show. She's a busy auditor who usually goes home in the midnight, so it was fortunate that we were able to meet. Had dinner at the Esplanade and split as I went into the hall.



I wasn't that excited prior to the show, to be honest. For the first song, she was singing with the piano which was located at the right side of the stage. Being at the center, I couldn't see her at first. For the second song, she moved to the center. I could see her clearly from my seat at the second row. No words can describe how it felt. Well, maybe OMG. The Rachael Yamagata was a few meters away from me!

Because of her songs, she's naturally associated with heartbreaks. One would expect her to have emotionally-distraught fans.

"So... How was your Valentine's Day? ... I'm asking because I know my fans"

The crowd laughed.

Rachael's nothing like that on stage though. She was pretty entertaining, IMO.

She introduced her lead guitarist, to the audience.

"I met him at a bar"

Crowd made noise.

"Not like that ...  I was mesmerized. I was like who's that guy?"

She looked at the guitarist.

"Because of your playing"

Crowd made noise.

"But no, it's not like that! He's happily married... he has two kids"

Realizing she'd just given too much information, looking at the dude.

"I'm sorry. Did I totally ruin your game?"

Dude gave up.

Update: I found the videos on Youtube! See the videos here and here.

Just a tease.

She sounded bloody good live. Like the CD. Probably better than the CD, despite having a sore throat, down with a flu. It was obvious as she spoke to the audience, that I wonder how she could keep singing. Towards the end, her voice was pretty strained that she couldn't hit a key for Dealbreaker, but instead of being embarrassed, she stopped playing and laughed over it. Like seriously laughed until the crowd joined her. I thought it was genuine and pretty cool - and because it's Rachael, she got away with it, tried it over and over until she got it. The crowd was really supporting her... in hitting the difficult keys. She nailed it.

An hour and a half almost passed by, but the crowd was hoping for more. We were told to keep on making noises and clapping when she leaves.

"There'll always be an encore if you do that"

Whispers to the mic.

"But you didn't hear that from me!"

The crowd did just that and we got an encore! Two more songs for the night!

As soon as the show was over everybody rushed out. I didn't understand why at first. The downside of sitting right in front... is getting out the last. As soon as I got out, I realized that they were queuing for the autograph - while carrying vinyl copies of the new album. I swear the queue was a few hundred meters long!

I had to meet Iman again anyway, so I figured seeing Rachael Yamagata from a few meters away and having her autograph already on my CD, with my name on it, should be enough. At least that's how I tried consoling myself. Later, I found out that the queue was still there during midnight. Just imagine if I had waited.



Anyway, Iman and I took a walk along the bay. Beautiful, beautiful view. Reminds me of Melbourne, maybe a little more glorious. Our tour guide for the night (a good friend of hers), helped explain what was what, consistently bragging about the city's awesomeness and comparing it to my homeland. Dude was entertaining so I didn't mind. Walked from the bay to the bridge, CBD and the bars at Boat Quay. It was alredy very late, so we couldn't spend a lot of time. Searched for a station and took the last train from the City Hall.

Rumor says Sara Bareilles is coming to Singapore. Maybe then we'll have a longer walk.