Poparazzi

Gig Guide

Christopher Toh — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:40:04 +0000

Steve Poltz. Considering that he’s possibly the only person in the who can compare love with a member of the animal genus Aepycerotini (that’s the impala, FYI), is enough reason to catch his gig. Oh, yeah, he writes some good songs too. May 16, 7.30pm, Esplanade Recital Studio. Tickets at S$38 from Sistic.

Pedal For A Cause. A fund-raising gig meant to help 10 cyclists who will cycle more than 700km in 8 days across Peninsula Malaysia to raise funds/awareness for their adopted charity – Asian Women’s Welfare Association in Singapore. Features The Marilyns, Pleasantry, Obedient Wives Club, Sixx. May 20, 7pm, Timbre@The Substation. Tickets at S$15 (inclusive of a drink).

The Axis Of Awesome. The Australian threesome had an Internet with Four Chords (ironically, a song that shows why they never had a hit). Much fun to be had. May 18 and 19, 8pm (plus 5pm on Sat), TAB. Tickets at S$68.

Ukulele Movement. Two outfits – Seschawan and Sheares Band – will perform. May 21 and 22, 7.15pm and 8.15pm, Esplanade Concourse. Free.

Hiromi – The Trio Project. Well-known pianist Hiromi Uehara is back, this time performing in trio format along with Anthony Jackson and Steve Smith. May 22, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$38 to S$88 from Sistic.

Music Matters Live. Three nights of music from some of the best up-and-coming musicians from around the world. May 24 to 26, various venues at Clarke Quay. Check back for more details.

Yuri Bashmet And The Moscow Soloists. American daily the New York Times has hailed Yuri as “the greatest viola player of the modern times”, and The Times calls him “the world’s best living musician”. Isn’t it times you discovered him, too? May 25, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$50 to S$200 (VIP) from Sistic.

The Little Singers Of Paris. They’re little, they sing, they’re from Paris! May 25, 8pm, SCO Concert Hall. Tickets at S$20 to S$60 from Sistic.

The Jesus And Mary Chain. Brothers William and Jim Reid and um, the other guys who form this band best known for albums like Darklands and Psychocandy, will be taking the stage here. May 26, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$68 to S$148 from Sistic.

By2. Local Chinese pop duo By2 – made up of twins Miko and Yumi Bai – return to our shores for this gig. May 26, 7pm, TAB. Tickets at S$108.

This Is My World. Three different singers from different music worlds – Eric Moo, Janice Yan and Meeia Foo will perform in this extravaganza. May 27, 8pm, Suntec Int’l Convention & Exhibition Hall 601-602. Tickets at S$28 to S$68.

What’s Your Flava. Featuring the likes of Judee Tan, Chris Bucko, Steven Honeycutt, Eden Ang, Julian Wong and Dwayne Tan. May 28 and 29, 7.15pm and 8.15pm, Esplanade Concourse. Free.

Lady Gaga. It’s Lady Gaga! ‘Nuff said! May 28, 29 and 31, 7:30pm, Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets at S$108 to $288 from Sistic.

Tizzy Bac. Formed since 1999, indie band Tizzy Bac has been making a mark for themselves as a “guitar-less” rock band. May 30, 8pm, Switch (73 Bras Basah Road, #01-01/02). Tickets at S$30.

From Despair To Wales. Featuring Etc. (a solo slot), Hushhouse, and the final ever gig for rock band, Basement In My Loft. June 1, 7.30pm, The Pigeonhole. Free.

John Abercrombie. He’s been dubbed a guitar legend and it’s not hard to see why. June 4, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$48 to S$128 from Sistic.

Deborah Conway/Willy Zygier. Popular Australian singer-songwriter Conway is joined by Zygier, performing songs from her latest album, Half Man, Half Woman. June 5, 8pm, Esplanade Recital Studio. Tickets at S$48 from Sistic.

Beerfest Asia 2012. Yes, most come here for beer, but we like that Hell’s Belles will be back. Other tribute bands include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Blues Brothers, Dire Straits and more. June 7 to 10. Tickets from S$20 (early bird) to S$40 from Sistic.

Christina Perri. The singer who had hits with Jar Of Hearts and A Thousand Years will be in town. June 8, 8pm, Kallang Theatre. Tickets at S$98 (early bird), S$118 from Sistic.

To My Love. Yes, it’s the return of Hebe Tien, one-third of S.H.E., and now proud owner of two hit albums. June 9, 8pm, Resorts World Convention Centre, Compass Ballroom. Tickets at S$88 to S$158 from Sistic.

Philippines: One World Concert. Featuring singer Princess Velasco, vocal group 1:43, and singer Myrus. June 10, 1pm, The Coliseum, Resorts World Sentosa. Tickets at S$48 and S$68. More details TBC

Return With Love. Yes, it’s the Stylistics, who once upon a time, gave us the song You Make Me Feel Brand New. June 14, 8pm, Grand Theater, Marina Bay Sands. Tickets at S$88 to S$188 (VIP) from Sistic.

Boyz Nite Out. Launch Entertainment and Contents Storage Group has joined forces to unify the hottest boys in K-Pop in a one-night only musical extravaganza. Yup. Catch Jay Park, SHINee, Teen Top, B1A4 and relative newbie, 7.9.4.2. June 15, 7pm, Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets atS$148 to S$178 from Sistic.

Asia Major. Part of People’s Association’s annual Soundwaves concerts. Asia Major pays tribute to the most iconic songs from countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, China and India. Featuring the Singapore Pop Orchestra and guest singers from the region. June 15 and 16, 8pm, University Cultural Centre Hall, NUS. Tickets at S$30 and S$40 from Sistic.

Shinwa. Korea’s legendary and most successful boyband will be in Singapore for a one night only performance. June 16, 7pm, Compass Ballroom, Resorts World Sentosa. Tickets at S$188 to S$268 from Sistic.

Ramli Sarip. Singapore’s legendary rocker performs music from his latest album, Sadaqa. June 16, 8.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$58 to S$108 from Sistic.

Singapore International Acoustic Guitar Festival. A celebration of the acoustic guitar, with workshops and seminars, concerts, as well as the International Acoustic Guitar Competition. June 18 to 24, various times, various venues. Tickets from Sistic (www.sistic.com.sg)

Concert D’Amore. The Windstars Ensemble, led by conductor Takehiro Oura, will perform standard pieces as well as more contemporary fare. Nett proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Down Syndrome Association Singapore. June 24, 5pm, SOTA Concert Hall. Tickets at S$15 to S$25 from Sistic.

Guiyang Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 2009, this is the only professional orchestra founded by a sole private enterprise from mainland China. They will perform classical pieces from both East and West. June 24, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$22 to S$118 from Sistic.

Cai Qiu Feng. The Taiwanese Hokkien evergreen singer performs her favourite tracks. June 24, 8pm, Kallang Theatre. Tickets at S$48 to S$128 from Sistic.

19th Singapore International Piano Festival. Dubbed Fantasies In Sound, this year’s festival features performances from Paul Lewis, Khatia Buniatishvili, Daniel-Ben Pienaar and Stephen Hough. June 28 to July 1, various times, SOTA Concert Hall. Tickets at S$38 to S$80 from Sistic.

Baybeats. The annual indie music festival may have shifted its dates, but the line-up remains impressive, with more Singapore bands taking part this year, including Peptalk, Anechois and more. This year’s theme is Celebrating Friendship. June 29 to July 1, various times, Esplanade. Free.

The Blue Planet Live! Based on the award-winning BBC documentary, The Blue Planet, this live rendition features captivating sequences from the documentary accompanied by music written by award-winning composer, George Fenton, and performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Chorus and the Hallelujah Chorus. June 29, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$22 and S$58 from Sistic.

Tour Is A Four-Letter Word. American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz returns to our shores on the back of his new album, Love Is A Four Letter Word. Performance in conjunction with the official opening of Gardens By The Bay. June 29, 8pm, The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay. Tickets at S$98 (S$112 show day) from Sistic.

What The Moon Said. After taking a bit of a hiatus last year, Singapore guitarist Rosli Mansor is back with this concert that compiles music from his previous two albums, as well as new material from his upcoming album. June 29, 9.30pm, Esplanade Recital Hall. Tickets at S$25 from Sistic.

Quartet Bravi. A vocal recital featuring an evening of opera, performed by renowned Singapore-based tenor Yu Jixing, soprano Li Guohua, mezzo soprano He Lingling and Australian baritone Michael Lewis. The repertoire includes pieces from Carmen, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Lakme, and La Boheme. June 30, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$35 to S$80 from Sistic.

Corrinne May. Part of the Rhythm With Nature concerts celebrating the official opening of Gardens By The Bay. Singapore singer-songwriter Corrinne May will perform not only her signature tunes like Fly Away and Save Me, but also tracks from her latest album, Crooked Lines. June 30, 7.30pm, The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay. Tickets at S$38 (S$45 show day) from Sistic.

One Night Dance Show. Renown Hong Kong pop group Grasshopper are back with a night of “exhilarating showmanship, flamboyant outfits, cutting-edge dance choreography and visually enticing sound and stage effects”. June 30, Sat, 8pm, Compass Ballroom, Resorts World Convention Centre. Tickets at S$88 to S$178 from Sistic.

Hebe grabs seven nods for Golden Melody

Christopher Toh — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:05:28 +0000

It seems that there’s no stopping Hebe Tien. The S.H.E. singer – seen here being flanked by her group mates Ella (left) and Selina – has landed seven nominations for the 23rd Golden Melody Awards.

One of the top awards that Hebe is nominated for is Best Mandarin Female Singer Award, where she’s going neck-in-neck with Chang Hui-mei and Stefanie Sun. Hebe, who’ll be in Singapore next month as part of her To My Love world tour, also picked up nods for Best Mandarin Album, Best Music Video, Best Composer, Best Lyricist, Best Arranger, Best Single Production – all on the strength of her second solo album, My Love.

The Axis alliance

Christopher Toh — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:13:45 +0000

In 2006, the Australian trio The Axis Of Awesome – Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis – burst onto the scene. Well, maybe not so much burst as kind of trickled in. But anyway, they made their reputation being musically funny guys – or vice versa – and they’ve been going on from strength to strength. Their biggest hit by far has to be 4 Chords – ironically, a song written with the premise that they never had a hit. And now, they’re heading back this way for gigs at TAB on May 18 (8pm) and 19 (5pm and 8pm). Tickets are priced at S$68. We spoke to two-thirds of the group – Lee and Benny – while they were driving back from a radio interview and heading to their soundcheck. I could even hear the traffic in the background.

This isn’t your first time to Singapore, is it?

LEE: We’ve been to Singapore before. We did the Flipside festival in 2010.

BENNY: That was fun

So how different will this show be from the last show?

LEE: We’ve written a couple of newer songs since we were there, which we will probably be doing. So yeah, some classic tracks, some brand new stuff, and explosions and dinosaurs, and dancing girls…

Are you pressured to be funnier each time?

BENNY: I think we have the expectation to keep the quality of work and always be funnier and funnier. Our fans like what we do, so if we just keep doing what we do, then the audiences will continue to like us, which is nice.

LEE: Like we’re writing a new show now for Edinburgh (Comedy Festival) and we want to make it as good as possible, so sometimes, it’s not always about people putting the pressure on us, sometimes we put the pressure on ourselves, which I think can be a good thing.

Are you tired of playing 4 Chords?

BENNY: Definitely not! We will always play the song as long as people want to hear it. We’re happy to.

So how long did it take you to write that song?

BENNY: Everybody always asks this. Let’s say it took as long for me to hear all those songs. I started getting this idea when I was in high school back in 2000, I think that was the year that Missy Higgins came out with the song, Scar. And I remember watching it on TV and thinking, ‘That’s only four chords as well’. And then after that, once I decided to put all those songs together, it was just a matter of looking up all the songs I remembered. And I think I did that within a day. Or rather, anything within a day and 12 years.

Which one of you has the final say?

LEE: We write all our material very collaboratively, so we’ll sit around and work on lyrics. The music is usually done by Benny, so we’ll send him away, lock him up in a cupboard, with nothing but a kazoo and a triangle, and he has to write the music.

BENNY: The guys think it’s punishment but I really appreciate the sound I get bouncing off the walls of the cupboard.

LEE: But we do write together a lot. Benny is the main music guy. But one of our strengths is that we all contribute and do things that we think is funny. And if we’ve got two out of three ideas that we think works or is good – then we’ll run with it. If the audience thinks it’s not funny the first night, and still not funny the next night, then we’ll probably throw it away and never do it again.

What songs have you trashed recently then?

BENNY: In recent years, just the one song, which was mine. We’re never playing it again. I’ll keep the music though and write a new one.

LEE: With what we do, it can be quite a long process from the idea to what we play onstage. We have to write it, arrange the music to make sure it works, learn, get it up to performance standard, and then perform the song. And if it doesn’t work, we kind of say, let’s give it another go. But if it really doesn’t work, you know, you can’t hold on to it just because you worked hard on it. And sometimes, a song that takes 30 minutes to write can stick with you and be the biggest one. You never know.

What’s your most memorable show?

LEE: We did some gigs for the troops in the Sinai desert.

BENNY: The biggest gig we did was for 7,500 people in LA, which was one of my favourites.

LEE: And Edinburgh, we’ve been for five years in a row now. Last year, we performed in a 400-seat theatre, every night for a month, and it was sold out. So it’s really great to know that we’ve got that following and they’re paying money to see us! And we get some of that money!

BENNY: Just the other night, we tried out a new song, and we’ve not tried out anything new for a while, so it’s nice to remember the feeling you get, not knowing whether the audience is going to laugh or not. That was quite nice.

Which show would you rather forget?

LEE: We forgot them already!

BENNY: We had a lot more of them early in our career rather than lately. We’re lucky enough now that we’ve got a following. People come to the show because they want to see us. Whereas when you start off, you just play any gig you can get, sometimes with other comedians whom the audience would prefer to watch instead of you.

What’s the best thing about being in The Axis Of Awesome?

LEE: We can commit crimes and the police turn a blind eye! Can’t say what crimes though.

BENNY: Let’s just say we can get away with murder.

Is there a worst thing?

LEE: You still work just as hard, but in a different way. Instead of standing on a street handing out flyers, you spend hours online creating Facebook events or doing administration or making posters online.

BENNY: Like you want to get on magazines and on radio and sometimes it’s can get too much to handle. You know, you’ve just done a radio interview, you’re driving back to your venue to soundcheck, while you’re on speakerphone trying to avoid traffic, whilst talking to someone from Singapore!

LEE: You work with whatever comes your way.

What advice would you give someone just starting out in comedy?

LEE: I would say be fearless and try stuff out. And try to get lots of stage time. Write 10 minutes of material and try to get it onstage as much as possible. It can be difficult in places where there’s not a big comedy scene, but I think in Singapore the comedy scene is getting better and better all the time. The thing is to get onstage in front of humans and get their responses.

BENNY: It’s quite a thrill to have something that you think is funny and having a whole bunch of people in the room think it’s funny as well. It’s a huge difference doing it in front of a mirror and in front of people. It’s something intangible.

The Fray to play in Singapore at exclusive showcase

TODAYonline — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:22:11 +0000

Grammy-nominated rockers The Fray are coming to Singapore for a one-night-only showcase – but there’s a catch.

SingTel are bringing the band behind the hit song “How To Save A Life” for a showcase on 24 June 2012, but tickets are exclusively for SingTel customers who pre-order the Xperia P before May 18 (that’s this Friday).

The showcase will be held at The Coliseum, Resorts World Sentosa to celebrate the launch of the Sony Xperia P.

Want to find out more? Visit www.singtel.com/xperiap.

Good vibrations heading this way

Christopher Toh — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:55:03 +0000

HEADS UP! Or should I say, surf’s up!

Best known for hits like Good Vibrations, God Only Knows, Sloop John B, Kokomo, I Get Around and many more, The Beach Boys, one of the world’s most legendary and influential bands, have reunited for a global 50th anniversary tour. And we’re talking about Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks, who will tour together for the first time in more than two decades.

And yes, Singapore is on the list. The band is expected to be here on Aug 22, 8pm at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets are S$100, S$175, S$220, S$275, S$350 and will go on sale from May 16 at all Sistic outlets.