Groupies Nite Out @ Esplanade Outdoor Theatre

Shirlyn from The Unexpected

Michelle had a pretty packed day....but she had lotsa fun with good fwens (or "Frins" as Muffin would pronounce it....so poser lah he, he's adopting that pronunciation cos Brooke Fraser says it that way. *rolls eyes*). After classes...I ran down to Raffles City to meet up with crazy Steph cos she's back for a rare visit from Japo land. [Hey crazy gal: I really enjoyed our little meet up. :) It's like we just picked up from where we left off....dunno how many months/yr? ago.]

When Steph dumped me to meet up with another grp of frens, Muffin joined me for a little shopping at Marina Sq, and Audrey came by soon after. We headed to Esplanade for dinner...and it was CRAZY crowded cos of the Singapore Fireworks Festival (we.don't.like.crowds.). After waiting for ages, we finally got some dinner at this new cafe, "Sour Puss" opp Thai Xpress. It turned out to be quite serendipitous...cos we had a pretty gd view of the fireworks from our dinner table. Can you imagine, the throngs of pple had gone down hours earlier just to jostle for a good STANDING position for 15 min show in the rain! Haha!

I'm not really the kind to jostle with the crowds to ooh and ahh over fireworks ....but it really turned out to be quite fun. :) Saw some pretty fireworks, and it did feel rather celebratory cos it coincided with Singapore's historic silver medal win at the Olympics. A part of me felt very proud of our little island nation. hee! Anyway, the rain didn't stop for quite long.....persistent drizzle it was. BUT the groupies felt like we couldn't let it hinder us from grabbing good seats. haha! So we made our way to the newly opened Esplanade Outdoor theatre which was heavily packed with waiting spectators already. We were very lucky to get decent seats....cos A LOT of pple were just standing around. While sitting in the rain with our umbrella...we joked about how majorly groupie we were. Hardcore lor....wait for Ngak/Jack & Rai/Shirlyn Tan in the rain.

Sitting there also brought back great memories of my previous gigs at that Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. :) I remember years ago...I caught Corrinne May there (yes, when her concerts were still free). And I told God that it would be a dream come true to perform there. :) And I was so blessed to have that dream fulfilled....more than once in fact. I think I've sung there around 4 separate occasions by now. Each gig was amazing in its own right...and I've grown so much through each gig. Muffin: I hope you get a chance to see that dream of yours fulfilled too! :) Go for it!

Ngak + Clement

So the line-up just now included opening act rocker chick Shirlyn Tan, Ngak + Clement, Kewei (yucks! I really cannot stand her. Too showy for me.), Wu Jiahui (I only know of him through Dawnie. She actually called me during Jiahui's set to ask us to record it for her. haha! Well, I must say...after listening to him tonite, I think he's really quite good, especially as a vocalist. And I like how down to earth he is. This is quite a big deal, considering how Mich doesn't listen to chinese pop), and crowd favourites Jack & Rai! Their funny "Fa la la la" song was a great way for us groupies to end the night. (We left before finale act Jonathan Leong. haha!)

Quite enjoyed the whole concert which featured mostly original compositions....the band that backed up all the acts was very very tight. I spotted famous keyboardist Mei Sheum....and the band even had a string section. Added a lot of class and fullness to the music arrangements I must say!

Tmrw night, the groupies (together with Dawnie) shall return to the Esplanade again to catch Ngak's new band, "The AMPs" (Ang mo pais). Awesome! :) Just realized something through today's turn of events....that life will be enjoyed or endured through our perspective. I can get all grumpy over today's horrid crowds, the mud and dismal weather....OR I can celebrate the joys of frenship, music, a surprise fireworks display and nature's refreshing drizzly symphony. :) I choose the latter. Mich is simply..quite happy. :)

To end, I shall post a little snippet of Jiahui set...the 2nd song is the duet with Ngak, taken from the 881 soundtrack. Dawnie: This is FOR YOU!! :) First time my blog got chinese/hokkien songs leh. haha! I'm really quite surprised at how much I like Jiahui now. :p Yeah...I've got this video on repeat mode. I'm turning into you Dawnie!! Aiyoh!