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Wakin 20: "A Night of Love, Passion and
Memories" |
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My
"Happy Place" |
It was with a nostalgic and overly-sentimental sense of
déjà-vu that I walked through the glass doors of the Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco for the
second time. Here, a little less than two years
ago, I had seen Papillon V--my
first real Wakin Chau concert.
It was a dream to end all dreams for me then--one of
those happy little moments that make life in all it's
struggles seem more worthwhile. As I stepped into the
concert hall this time and found my way to my seat on
the floor--on the aisle of the VIP section impossibly
close to the stage, with a virtually unobstructed view
of the center steps--I could hardly contain my
enthusiasm. This really was almost too good to be
true. My most favorite artist in the world was
about to take the stage, and not too far away from where
I was sitting, I was at the show with some very good
friends, and I had extra batteries and a new, super-huge
memory stick for my camera...could life get any better
than this?
Everything in the VIP section was laid out so
beautifully. The tables were covered with a gold
lame tablecloth, and each seat came equipped with a bag
of goodies from the concert sponsors. The
centerpiece was a lovely bowl of floating candles and
fresh flowers, and each seat was identified by number
and letter on a printed place holder.
This was to be the view from my seat:
As I got settled in for what promised to be an
incredible night, I glanced up towards the balcony
section where I had been sitting the last time. I
never would have imagined in just a little under two
years' time that I would find myself sitting here, on
the floor. It was so amazing I could hardly
believe it!
I noticed about the same time that both screens were
displaying special text messages sent in by fans to a
special number listed at the top of the screen.
Each message was different. Some included names,
others did not. Some even sent in photos! A
very cool idea!
A
Feast for the Senses
Preceding the show, the VIP's were treated to a
wonderful gourmet dinner catered by many of the best
restaurants the Bay Area has to offer. Needless to
say, the food was DELICIOUS! Dinner was accompanied by a
soundtrack of Wakin's music, serving as an appetizer of
sorts for the show to come. Below is the
printed menu for the VIP dinner, thumbnail-ed, so that I
could include a version large enough to read.
Everything was beautifully presented and absolutely
delicious! Though I thoroughly enjoyed every
dish, if called upon to choose a favorite I'd have to
say it was the tea smoked sea bass in the last course,
from the HK Flower Lounge. It was so good you
didn't even have to open your mouth to eat it!
MENU!
After dinner,
there had been a raffle. Pretty gold statues
from CH Jewelers and cellular phones from Verizon
Wireless were the prizes for several extra-lucky VIP's!
Unfortunately, I was not one of them, but that did not
prevent me from being happy for the people who won! After the raffle was finished, we were told that one
more prize--an extra special gift from CH
Jewelers--would be given away by Wakin sometime during
the show itself! (At which point I found myself humming a tune
from My Fair Lady..."Oh, wouldn't it be lover-ly?")
ELITE SPONSORS!
"The Time Has Come!"
The stage was set. The audience was ready to go.
The band, minus its front man, was in place. The
introductions had been made and thank-you's had been
issued. Finally, the lights dimmed. The large video
screens began to scroll through some memorable moments
in Wakin's long career to the accompaniment of a
musicbox-type tune that was both sad and joyful at the
same time. It was time--finally time,
for Wakin to take the stage!
Disembodied, a cappella notes filled with wistfulness
and longing drifted towards the audience as if carried
on the wind. A crescendo of
anticipatory applause rippled through the crowd, and very soon after, Wakin burst
onto stage in a sudden blaze of light. The audience
roared with applause and cheers welcoming him, and the
show was off and running with the song, "Direction of
the Heart."
I was thrilled with the view from my seat--for the first
time ever, I didn't need the viewing screens to see
Wakin! However, close proximity, I discovered,
is not necessarily a remedy against bad photography, as
many of my shots did not come out as clearly as I would
have expected the distance between my shutter and the
stage to guarantee. My excitement exacerbated this
effect, too, unfortunately. But even the worst
photographers accidentally snag some good photos
occasionally, and at least this dynamic worked for me,
as well.
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