In what may be his final world concert tour, Jacky Cheung put up a superb performance at the national stadium in Bukit Jalil last night. We were initially worried that he might not be able to perform because he canceled two concerts recently due to a bout of flu. As it turned out, he not only recovered in time, but also pumped in 110% into the 3-hour-plus concert.

Jacky Cheung World Tour 2007: Kuala Lumpur | Narrowband.org

This photo was snapped using my phone, and it’s probably the only clear photo taken during the concert as I didn’t bring along my camera. We were not supposed to bring one, anyway! One of the best features in the concert was the computer graphics displayed on the giant screen, as part of the stage’s backdrop. The picture was very clear and crisp, with occasional animations which blended very effectively with the music.

Jacky Cheung gave a short introduction about his musical career and guess what, he’s been singing for as long as I live - 23 years. He’s 46 now, but his voice never seemed to have aged at all. He talked about his musical journey, the tragic year of 2003 in Hong Kong showbiz, and his family. He’s married with two daughters, and he has composed and written songs for his wife and daughters, which I thought was schweeet!!

He then sang the songs he wrote for his wife, gong nei ji (讲妳知 (Cantonese) - Let You Know) and daughter, zai ni shen bian (在你身边 - By Your Side). Personally, I like his slower songs because his vocals can be better appreciated - there’s something magical about his voice that I think is what makes him the best singer among the sei dai tin wong (四大天王 - 4 Heavenly Kings).

He also made reference to us Malaysians, saying that we know Cantonese as good as Mandarin, which was received with a loud cheer from all in the stadium. Indeed, we’re very fortunate in that sense, I think. One of his best Cantonese songs was mui tin ngoi nei doh yat seh (每天爱你多一些 - Loving you more each day), and obviously, the fans loved it. The whole stadium sang along! After that, he sang another super-hit, wen bie (吻别 - Kiss goodbye), which was in Mandarin.

Many non-Chinese speakers may have heard wen bie sung in English lyrics, by Michael Learns to Rock (titled Take me to your heart) in recent years. That’s because MLTR re-made the song and changed it to English. In the concert, Jacky also threw in a small part of his hit classical musical xue lang hu (雪狼湖 - Snow, wolf and lake), as well as ru guo ai (如果爱 - Perhaps love). He danced, acted and sang during the play - no wonder his face was soaked in sweat. At one point he even wore - albeit briefly - a thick fur coat. *Tabik*

Among other songs he sang include ji siong yat sang gan nei jau (只想一生跟你走 - I will follow you), yuet bun wan (月半弯 - Half-moon), wo zhen de shou shang le (我真的受伤了 - I’m really hurt), ta lai ting wo de yan chang hui (她来听我的演唱会 - She was at my concert), lei hoi yi hau (离开以后 - After leaving), xin ru dao ge (心如刀割 - Heart pierced by a knife) and a very emotional last-song of the night, zhu fu (祝福 - Well wishes). He also sang songs belonging to other singers, like tian hei hei (天黑黑 - Dark sky), by Sun Yanzi and ai ru chao shui (爱如潮水 - Love like a tide), by Jeff Chang.

Edit@16 Sept, 0115hrs: I actually kinda like what the camera crew was doing, capturing live images of the audience, and project them onto 5 large screens (including the one as the stage’s backdrop) around the stadium. At one point, the cameras began zooming in on couples. Most of them didn’t realize they were on screen until the audience cheered. One of the couples (actually, the man appeared much older; they could well have been father-and-daughter… I couldn’t really tell. No offence to them though, whatever their relationship!) even took advantage of the limelight - the man gave the woman a peck on her cheek! Very apt!

It is worth mentioning that the concert had impressive fireworks as well. No wonder they had to hold the concert outdoors. By the way, it also rained for a while. Jacky actually said that if the rain continued, he would join the fans and get soaked in the rain himself. Well, he was already soaked in sweat, the rain wouldn’t have made much of a difference! Another thing I noticed was, renowned Malaysian violinist Joanne Yeoh was also part of Jacky’s musical band in his world tour concerts. Yeah, suddenly feel abit proud ;).

In a nutshell, I enjoyed the concert… lots and lots! It was worth every penny!

P/s: Btw many people actually walked out when he bade farewell - which was part of an act (he had already mentioned that there would be an encore). The audience started to come back in again after Jacky resumed singing. Kinda funny to see, really… they got punk’d lol.

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