Post by sugarsnspice on Apr 1, 2005 13:28:24 GMT -5
F4 minus three still packs ’em up
(April 12, 2004)
F4’s popularity is surely waning after the conclusion of the Taiwanese television series Meteor Garden, now living an after-life existence through replays. This was evident by the lower degree of media attention bestowed upon the preconcert activities of the Crazy in Love with Vanness Wu. The concert itself confirmed this soon enough.
The venue—Araneta Coliseum was only 1/3 filled as of 8:30 p.m., a half hour past the original starting time. Not surprisingly, approximately 85 to 90 percent of those who showed up were females and a good third of them were minors including kids between 5 to 10 years old and a sprinkling of 3 to 4 year old tots.
And yes, there were no clusters of long-haired male bodies trying to emulate the famous boy band to no avail, which was a very common sight just six months ago - a testament on how the F4 fever that caught the local fans at the middle of last year may be cooling down.
Among the males that came along were dads who accompanied their wives and children, boyfriends who came along with their F4 die-hard girlfriends and a sizeable of those who may be keeping make-up kits inside their bags.
Nevertheless, the seats were eventually more than half-filled by hysterical F4 fans at way past 9 o’clock. But streamers that read “Only Jerry Supports Vanness, “Jerry Yan Family Supports Vanness” and “Ken Shou Family Supports Vanness” seem to express that the wrong ‘flower’ among the four was the one brought over as it seemed unlikely that there was a Vanness fan club in the house.
But fans more than made up with the oversight by bringing over posters that say “Vanness I Want Your Body” and “Marry Me Vanness.”
Concert organizers did spruce up the event with a long line of front acts that started with aging rapper Francis Magalona (who needs to find a new job pretty soon, perhaps at the call centers?); Star Struck winners Yasmien Kurdi, Mark Herras; Eric Santos of the “Star in a Million”fame; new pop idol JR and the so-called concert queen Pops Fernandez.
The type of crowd that showed up can be easily gauged by the way they warmed up to such performers as newcomer Erik Santos. This is a star struck crowd itself that screamed at every remake Mr. Santos sang to them.
Meanwhile, JR and Pops Fernandez seemed hardly amused of the fact that concert goers were there for other reasons than to watch them perform. At any rate, they tried to play it along and kept teasing the audience of how soon Mr. Wu would perform before them (that never failed to get a kick out of the crowd to their seeming displeasure).
After a lengthy curtain opener that makes one wonder whether they’re actually watching a Vanness Wu concert, the main attraction made his entrance with the Hotlegs Dancers to a Chinese song and dance number. As energetic as he was in dancing, he was inept in singing the opening song. At most times he seemed mumbling the lyrics as the song got drowned by the poor sound system and the shrieking the female fans emitted.
The next number was a slow song, also in Chinese, but Vanness later joined Pops Fernandez in singing and dancing to the hit song of ‘Crazy in Love,’ to which Mr. Wu seemed to be translating in Chinese. At this stage, it was obvious that the crowd was simply swept by the superstar aura instead of the quality of his performance. Except for Mark Herras who seemed to have been hastily included just to prolong the concert, Wu was easily the lesser performer in the group during that evening.
Does any of the concert goers actually think that Vanness can pass for a ‘Star in a Million’ winner without any Cebuana, Bicolana, Ilocana or Binondona crying her heart out that she was cheated? No wonder Piolo Pascual is having a concert of his own and FPJ is running for President.
Wu then concluded his repertoire of six songs with three more Chinese songs, the last of was from the Meteor Garden series. All in all, it was evident that there was a lot yet to be squeezed from the left-over of the hype that once swept the country as fans screamed for more of the Chinese star. And yes, Vanness promised to be back again to strike while the iron is still lukewarm. - Cesar E. Tordesillas
(April 12, 2004)
F4’s popularity is surely waning after the conclusion of the Taiwanese television series Meteor Garden, now living an after-life existence through replays. This was evident by the lower degree of media attention bestowed upon the preconcert activities of the Crazy in Love with Vanness Wu. The concert itself confirmed this soon enough.
The venue—Araneta Coliseum was only 1/3 filled as of 8:30 p.m., a half hour past the original starting time. Not surprisingly, approximately 85 to 90 percent of those who showed up were females and a good third of them were minors including kids between 5 to 10 years old and a sprinkling of 3 to 4 year old tots.
And yes, there were no clusters of long-haired male bodies trying to emulate the famous boy band to no avail, which was a very common sight just six months ago - a testament on how the F4 fever that caught the local fans at the middle of last year may be cooling down.
Among the males that came along were dads who accompanied their wives and children, boyfriends who came along with their F4 die-hard girlfriends and a sizeable of those who may be keeping make-up kits inside their bags.
Nevertheless, the seats were eventually more than half-filled by hysterical F4 fans at way past 9 o’clock. But streamers that read “Only Jerry Supports Vanness, “Jerry Yan Family Supports Vanness” and “Ken Shou Family Supports Vanness” seem to express that the wrong ‘flower’ among the four was the one brought over as it seemed unlikely that there was a Vanness fan club in the house.
But fans more than made up with the oversight by bringing over posters that say “Vanness I Want Your Body” and “Marry Me Vanness.”
Concert organizers did spruce up the event with a long line of front acts that started with aging rapper Francis Magalona (who needs to find a new job pretty soon, perhaps at the call centers?); Star Struck winners Yasmien Kurdi, Mark Herras; Eric Santos of the “Star in a Million”fame; new pop idol JR and the so-called concert queen Pops Fernandez.
The type of crowd that showed up can be easily gauged by the way they warmed up to such performers as newcomer Erik Santos. This is a star struck crowd itself that screamed at every remake Mr. Santos sang to them.
Meanwhile, JR and Pops Fernandez seemed hardly amused of the fact that concert goers were there for other reasons than to watch them perform. At any rate, they tried to play it along and kept teasing the audience of how soon Mr. Wu would perform before them (that never failed to get a kick out of the crowd to their seeming displeasure).
After a lengthy curtain opener that makes one wonder whether they’re actually watching a Vanness Wu concert, the main attraction made his entrance with the Hotlegs Dancers to a Chinese song and dance number. As energetic as he was in dancing, he was inept in singing the opening song. At most times he seemed mumbling the lyrics as the song got drowned by the poor sound system and the shrieking the female fans emitted.
The next number was a slow song, also in Chinese, but Vanness later joined Pops Fernandez in singing and dancing to the hit song of ‘Crazy in Love,’ to which Mr. Wu seemed to be translating in Chinese. At this stage, it was obvious that the crowd was simply swept by the superstar aura instead of the quality of his performance. Except for Mark Herras who seemed to have been hastily included just to prolong the concert, Wu was easily the lesser performer in the group during that evening.
Does any of the concert goers actually think that Vanness can pass for a ‘Star in a Million’ winner without any Cebuana, Bicolana, Ilocana or Binondona crying her heart out that she was cheated? No wonder Piolo Pascual is having a concert of his own and FPJ is running for President.
Wu then concluded his repertoire of six songs with three more Chinese songs, the last of was from the Meteor Garden series. All in all, it was evident that there was a lot yet to be squeezed from the left-over of the hype that once swept the country as fans screamed for more of the Chinese star. And yes, Vanness promised to be back again to strike while the iron is still lukewarm. - Cesar E. Tordesillas