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A Night to Remember |
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by: Carole
Laberge |
What a great news!
WaKin will be on tour in North America! Nov. 9,
2007 in Los Angeles, CA, USA, Nov.13-14, 2007 in
Vancouver, BC, Canada and Nov.17, 2007 in San Francisco,
CA, USA. I joined my friends in San Francisco for
the show.
Bill Graham Civic
Center
We had VIP tickets.
They came with a gourmet dinner. Six course meals by six
different famous Bay Area Chefs. It was DELICIOUS.
All this watered by fine Valley Wine.
In the floor section of
the arena, there were VIP tables and chairs in rows on
each side and in the back. People had a good time
during dinner and they entered the arena in the same
mood.
The
Show
Lights out. The
crowd went silent. Soft light, soft music...the
crowd applauded timidly. A voice comes from back
stage--pure, strong. WaKin's unique voice.
Suddenly, bright lights, loud music. WaKin appeared on
the top of the stairs in the center of the stage--a
shinning star, he wears a white sequined shirt and suit.
The song is "Direction of the Heart". The crowd is
already conquered, you can tell.
First song is done. We
know that the show will be UNFORGETTABLE. WaKin
is very thoughtful, so he asked if the public speaks
Mandarin or Cantonese. For me, there is no
difference. I understand only French and English.
Mandarin was the language he used for this show.
WaKin is a funny man;
he makes jokes all time. People are laughing
loudly and sometimes they answered to him. You can
see that WaKin likes to make contact with fans. Nice to
see, as I wish I can say nice to hear.
He sang many popular
songs, such as "Yu Ren", "A Man with Stories",
"Somewhere Out There", "Ming Tian Wo You Jia Gei
Ni/I Truly Gave My Love To You" and "Long Chang
Fa Pat Cho/Deep Unmelted Love." WaKin then leaves stage,
lets Lee Chi play his blue violin while he's going to
change his clothes. Lee Chi is a musician of great
talent. He makes his violin singing, crying.
WaKin gets back in a black sequined shirt and pants,
singing, "Pa Hei/Fear Of Darkness" that Lee Chi
introduced with his violin. After that, he sang "A
Sad Song/Shang Xin De Ge", "A Man Like Me" and
"Fly Me To The Moon". His voice was so
rich, full and beautiful.
He had invited to sing
with him for the four concerts, Patty Austin. They
have done a duet with the song "Wo Yo Yi Tuan Ching". She sang in English and him in
Mandarin. How difficult it must have been to do,
they have to be very concentrated and listening
 to each
other to be on the same beat. It went without a
hitch. WOW! What a great performance from those
two breathtaking artists. The crowd applauded
warmly this duet.
She sang another song
in Mandarin, "Wang Bu Liao/Unforgettable." Then one of her greatest hits before
WaKin came back on stage.
Mrs. Austin has such a
huge talent, I can't believe that we don't know her.
Maybe it's only me, but I never heard from her.
http://www.mosaiccontemporary.com/pattiaustin.asp
will tell you everything about this fabulous singer.
WaKin has a way to
disappear to change his clothes. One minute he's on
stage, then he disappears, gets back in a second,
changed from head to toe. This time is back with a
brown pants and a white shirt embellished with square
brown material on left side.
WaKin likes to speak
with the people, he sat on the stairs and talks.
The arena was
vibrating with love. From the audience was love
for the artist, from the artist was love for his public.
Mutual love--may I say more about that evening?
Throughout the show, WaKin sang with more power, more
energy--he was nourished by the crowd. We fed him; he
fed us. We were at the unison.
He sings a few more
songs, including, "The Widow Village" and "New
Everlasting Love", along with songs like "Wo Men Bu
Ku", "Fong You Wo Chao/Nothing Will Stop Me To Love
You", "Ching Ching Wo De Bao Bei", and some
probably very old ones that I don’t know. One is a
children song, very cute. He sang them with
all his heart, you can feel it. It seems to me
that he relives his career in these songs.
I share with WaKin love
for the Beatles, so he really pleased me when he sang,
"Yesterday". A lovely ballad sung by my favourite
singer, can I ask for more?
Later he came back in a
pair of blue pants, an apple green silk
jacket
and vest with
sequins.
For me, the best change of the evening. WaKin has
a way to dress that’s particular to him. Some of
his clothes could make other men look effeminate, but
not WaKin. He looks elegant with a twist of originality
and non-conformity. He doesn't wear his clothes,
they are part of him. I like that a lot about him.
A whirl of pleasure
fills the arena. There's so much the air;
love, friendship, admiration, pleasure, enthusiasm,
communication, exchange, vibrations, happiness. The show
changed to a party. People began to rush to the
front, to be near the stage. More and more people.
I didn’t resist and follow the crowd.
Now he sings with
enthusiasm. The fan are just as enthusiastic as he
is. "You Mei You Yi Shou Ge Hai Rang/Any
Song Reminds You of Me", "Ai Xiang Sui/Love
Follow Us", "Ku Zhen Nan Men/Lonely Sleepless
Night", "Xiao Ten Tang", "Wang You Chao /Day
Lilies" and "You Make Me Happy and Sad"
are songs he sang next. They always please his
fans.
 We are happy, WaKin is
happy. WaKin is so happy, he can't go. He wants
more, he wants to give more. I don't understand a
word but I can guess that WaKin said: "You liked the
show so far, but it's not over." May not be those words
exactly, but the result was the same. When the
audience asks for more, he comes back for an encore.
He manage to find time to change his clothes again for
the encore--a black suit and white shirt. He was
classy, absolutely gorgeous.
WaKin was unchained,
moving frantically on the stage, giving all he has.
Body, sweat, soul, and heart. The emotion was at
his roof. "Hua Xin,/Flowery Heart",
was part of the extra moment, and his huge success, "Peng
You/Friends". You can hear people singing with
him. He sang "I Don't Intend to Go"
for the finale, of course.
The Arena could have
cracked, exploded as it was full of positive energy,
love and pleasure. WHAT A GREAT SHOW! WaKin
thanks his fans, he showed by touching his heart as much
he was happy by all this affection, support we gave him
that night.
Sadly, even though I
didn't want it, it was the end of the show. WaKin
invites each musician in his band to come forward as he
introduced them to us and gives them a hug before they
form a line to bow. Everybody on stage looked happy and
satisfied with the evening, and the crowd, too. It
was as the Beatles have sung:
"And
in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you
make."
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