fashion follows yoochun

by sharingyoochun.net

When the sun goes down…

For one night only, the Marina Promenade F1 Pit Area was the venue for the annual Sundown Festival. A wildly popular local event held to celebrate and share the joy of music within the region, this was the third Sundown and the first to be held in such a place more often associated with Formula1 race cars.

Despite the dreary and temperamental weather, hundreds turned up to catch this year’s exciting line-up of music as diverse as J-Rock (Japanese Rock), K-pop (Korean Pop) to Mando-pop (Mandarin/Chinese Pop), which is this year’s focus.

“Actually, we’ve been here since morning because we wanted to get a good view – we thought we were going to be the first in line or something. But can you believe that there were already several people ahead of us? We found out later that they had been queuing since Thursday evening!” remarked a group of Teen Top fans who declined to be named.

What’s a festival without food? There were a myriad of international fare to sample and savour that night, from Turkish doner kebabs, Japanese Obanyaki (fish shaped stuffed pancake) and everyone’s favourite Taiwanese Milk Tea just to name a few. Aside from affordable and tasty food, there were even fan goods to be bought such as autographed posters and CDs!

Temasek Polytechnic’s Salvo Drums opened the festival with their impressive and heart-thumping performance on the 24-seasons drums. This was followed by a Chinese Dragon Dance Display that featured a lit-up dragon that shone brightly in the dark.

Japanese band ViViD was the first international act to perform much to the crowd’s delight. The five-member Visual Kei band consist of vocalist Shin, lead guitarist Reno, rhythm guitarist Ryoga and drummer/synthesizer Koki. Formed in 2009, these devilishly handsome men hyped the crowd with their slamming J-rock music, performing FAKE which is off their seventh single, released on 9 November 2011. As they played more songs, the crowd got into the act and many started head banging along and cheering when the cameras focused on Reno and Ryoga on the guitars.

The inaugural winner of Super Idol, Zhang Yun Jing, known for her androgynous image kept the energy going by performing an upbeat rock song Yi Qi (义气). During an earlier press conference, she explained that she wanted to show a different side of her and to showcase her vocal skills hence why she was here without her band Pensauce. The husky voiced Taiwanese singer even played an acoustic guitar much to the delight of the audience.

Pretty, Beautiful. Regardless of how someone would describe this rising rookie boy band, make no mistake – the 6 members of Teen Top (틴탑)are very determined to show that they are more than just another pretty boy.

L Joe, C.A.P., Chunji, Niel, Ricky and Changjo burst out on stage to ecstatic screams and cheers. The boys quickly took their position and the crowd went wild when the familiar electronic beats of SupaLuv started. The six young men quickly showed the crowd why they were nicknamed Choreography Knife – their dance movements were stylish, sharp and stunningly quick.

“I almost didn’t dare to blink!” a fan was overheard saying to another.

“I was so mesmerized by them, I didn’t even realise I wasn’t recording!” yet another was overheard.

The boys sang their ballad Angels dedicating it to their fan club before launching into their latest hit song, No More Perfume On You (향수뿌리지마). Many Kpop enthusiasts who were in attendance sang along to the electro-pop song. The boys teased the crowd as they upped their fan service, making lots of heart signs and blowing kisses and winks.

Choosing not to disappoint their fans request for an encore performance, the boys got into position and performed their debut song, Clap. The infectious beat got many in the audience clapping along to the rhythm while others were even dancing along at the back. The boys left the stage after wowing the crowds, and making new fans. L.Joe even proclaimed in English as they exited the stage, “I love you, I love Singapore!”

After several energetic performances, it was a refreshing change when Hebe Tien came out, singing her ballad My Love ( 田馥甄). The S.H.E. member looked like an ethereal celestial being who had decided to grace the world, with her loose long hair and her flowing translucent gown. As the spotlight shone on her, it almost seemed as though she was literally glowing as she shared her thoughts about Love.

“Everyone must learn to love – to love one another, to love oneself,”

With that, she serenaded the crowd with her song, To Hebe (田馥甄) as they waved their light sticks, seemingly transfixed by her beauty and her voice. She gracefully made her way off stage later as the stage lights dimmed and the screen started to play a montage of photos of Show Lou.

Show Luo has been proclaimed as the Dance King of the Chinese Pop World and was the artiste just about everyone was waiting for. And boy, he certainly did not disappoint. His fans in the audience went crazy when he appeared in a sleeveless shirt that displayed his toned arms. Performing one of his most famous dance songs, The Dance Gate (精舞門), he got everybody jumping and bouncing along.

The multi-talented entertainer even traded witty banter and jokes with the audience as he prepared for his next performance, asking whether everyone has watched his television shows and dramas. Other than being an acclaimed singer with and variety host, Show Luo has even been nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Drama thrice!

The baby-faced entertainer certainly had a charm to him and was very charismatic. The cheeky entertainer even took the chance to promote his concert DVD of which he forgot the title to, eliciting peals of laughter in the crowd.

It almost seemed at some point that Sundown Festival had become a one night only Show Luo Concert – with years of experience, the seasoned entertainer knew exactly how to work the crowd as well as how to fully utilize the stage. And he knew how to have fun and it clearly showed. He even prepared pyrotechnics for his dance performances which helped further fuel the electrifying energy of the music festival.

At the end of the showcase, all the invited artistes stood together on stage to raucous applause and ear-shattering screams. It was clear that everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves with many even sending in their messages of thanks to be displayed on the two side screens. Sundown Festival 2011, organized by Red Spade Entertainment, was once again another resounding success and now we can barely wait for 2012 for the next one!

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