After the concert in Sepang, I was trying to convince my mom to allow me to go for another Rain concert in Bangkok or Singapore. Since its his last concert tour before he goes to army, this would be my only chance to catch him live before I wait 2 years for his return. After talking about it over and over again, my mom finally granted me her permission to go! I choose Singapore over Bangkok because the flight to Bangkok was so pricey!
Bought my tickets through Soo Lan. I was a lil 'kiasu' cause they had Priority Sales and I wanted to get my ticket as soon as I could. Ended up paying slightly more than the original price. :S But realised it was worth it in the end. ^^ Drove down to Singapore that weekend with my parents!
Morning of the concert
Arrived at the concert venue at 11 a.m. (FYI, the concert starts at 7pm! :P) Since I already paid so much for the ticket, I might as well, go earlier and get a good spot and make every cent count right? Arrived there and totally didn't have any idea where to go! There were NO posters or banners AT ALL at the stadium. I walked around and saw 2 guys queuing under the blazing hot sun. I found it impossible for 2 GUYS to be queuing that early! So I thought they might just be very jobless people and just continued walking to the SISTIC counter since that was the place I was suppose to collect my ticket from.
Walked towards there and finally saw familiar faces and a group of girls/ladies queuing in line! Met up with Ina, N Unnie, Kher Ning and Joey. Awhile later, met Lilian too. Us Malaysians were the first to arrive at the concert venue! There were a group of Japanese fans too besides us Malaysians. After waiting for awhile, we were told we could go in to wait. Since we were there so early, they pitied us for waiting in the sun and allowed us to go in only if we had a ticket.
The never ending queues
I still haven't collected my ticket so I headed to the nearest mall with Kher Ning to get some water and food for us while waiting. We managed to convince Kher Ning to come for the concert as well and she finally got her ticket, the moment the ticketing counter opened. :D She went on in to queue with the rest of them and I had to wait at the fanclub queue alone. After awhile, an Indonesian girl, Ayu joined me at the line. It was nice meeting her! :) She was my companion the whole time before the concert. My only regret was not taking a picture with her! :( Soon the 2 guys who I saw earlier joined the line too. Actually they were there queuing for their friend who had to take care of her baby. That made more sense rather than actually such crazy male clouds! haha!
We queued while waiting for Soo Lan to arrive with our tickets. While waiting, we managed to take turns and go get some concert merchandise. The merchandise were surprisingly cheaper than expected! Managed to get myself the whole set of merchandise! :D Finally met Soo Lan and collected our tickets from her. Only then we found out that since we bought the tickets from her, we have the priority to enter the stadium through the fanclub entrance. Which means we will be the first few in the stadium! Which also means, I came to the stadium so early for nothing! hahaha! But it was worth the experience, being there so early, I could meet so many people and share our stories while waiting.
Went to get something to eat with Ayu since we were free to walk about, not stuck in the queue. My number in the queue was 119. It was already set, probably in the order of payment I guess. We were allowed to go in and before that they checked our bags. The security wasn't very strict, and I managed to smuggle in my camera. Days before the concert I was in a dilemma whether or not to bring along my camera. Thank God I did or else I would be regretting it until now. Got myself a locker so I can have less baggage during the concert. Took locker no. 82 since 1982 was the year Rain was borned. :)
Went in and waited for the rest to join me. This was the closest I have ever been to the stage. There were only 2 people in front of me. It was near to the T stage but was kinda far from the main stage. I guess you just can't get the best of both worlds. :( Snapped pictures while waiting. The stadium was sadly quite empty. The publicity in Singapore was really disappointing. How can there not be any posters or banners at a concert venue?! The day before I was walking in Orchard Road and there weren't any posters there too. The concert was quite on time. It started at about 7.15 p.m.
Light stick made by a Japanese fan! So nice! ^^
Let the awesomeness begin!
For the first few songs, I was screaming my heart out. Without realising it, tears started flowing from the side of my eyes. I guess this is really what you call 'Tears of Joy' :) I was really so happy to see him perform live again! And this time I was so close to the stage! I could practically see the sweat flowing down his neck. *hyperventilates*
Started of by singing "I'm Coming". Other songs he sang include "Touch Ya", "You", "Harudo", "One", "How To Avoid The Sun", "Only You" and "Why Do I Love You Again".
Then he proceeded backstage to get changed. Even while changing backstage, the cameraman was still filming him! *drools* But he pushed the camera to his accessories when he was changing his pants! Haha! Do check out the link for the video at the bottom! ^^
"My Girl" - Lilian Yap (:
Then he came out for the most anticipated part of the concert. As most fans should know, before Rain sings "My Girl", he will choose a girl from an audience to bring up on stage. Rain picked up the video camera and started looking for someone. Rain is known to have a soft spot for little girls, he spotted a little girl, probably around 5-6 years old from the audience. There was a problem with the camcorder and he couldn't zoom on her. Once that was fixed, he zoomed onto that girl. She looked so scared! Rain was asking her whats her name, asking her to come up on stage. The girl was probably too terrified and just shook her head. Rain then said "I am waiting for you" with a disappointed look on his face.
He then continued walking to the other side of the stage. Then he spotted another person. At that time, us Malaysians in Pen C were all screaming in excitement because the girl he choose was a person we knew, LILIAN YAP! She didn't realise it was her until she turned back and saw the screen. She quickly agreed to come on stage and the body guard brought her on stage.
For the next few minutes, she sat on stage, singing along with Rain to "My Girl". He gave her a huge teddy bear and a bouquet of roses too. They danced on stage and then her headband which says "MALAYSIA" fell on the stage. He picked it up, and stared for it for awhile before putting the headband on his head. When he took it out, he looked at it again and said "Oh! Malaysia.". At that moment, all of us were screaming like crazy! Never been prouder to be Malaysian. Showed him how supportive us Malaysian fans are! So proud to be a Malaysian Cloud. ^^ Hopefully he will suddenly decide to have a full concert in Malaysia before he goes off to Army!
The concert continues...
He continued bringing us more awesome performances, singing "With U", "Fresh Woman", "Hip Song", "Don't Stop", "Love Story", "Love Song" and his signature performance "Nan" (For those of you who don't know, thats the song where he rips his shirt and rain falls on him!). While I was shooting "Nan", suddenly my camera ran out of memory! Luckily I brought an extra along and managed to record just before he rip his shirt! :D But it didnt really show his chocolate abs. :(
He then took off the half-ripped top and wore a coat and sang to "Rainism" and "It's Raining". There was some technical error with the sound system when he performed "It's Raining", then he had to go backstage for a few seconds. He came back on stage to perform "It's Raining" with twice as much energy! Then he started talking to the audience, saying he loves Singapore, he loves chilli crab, he loves butter crab. The man just never forgets about his food! :P He announced it was the last song before singing "Na" and disappeared backstage.
Encore
The same video which was showed in Sepang was showed. The video that put tears into my eyes back in Sepang. And he came back on stage with "Bad Guy". Seeing him come up on stage with the Adidas track suit, I knew that the concert is gonna come to an end very soon. I put that thought aside and continue enjoying the concert.
Then he sang "Instead of Saying Goodbye", the finale song, the final song, the last few minutes witnessing Rain live. Though the song is a pretty happy song, I couldn't stop the tears. As I watched him perform his last song, I just teared. Because I know, after this, I will really probably never see him live again until he comes back from the army. Just before leaving the stage, the song "Jump" by Kriss Kross was played and I just jumped along to the song. :) While jumping I then realised how hungry I was. Nevertheless, I still continued jumping! :D
Farewell
Throughout the concert Rain came down from the stage, towards the audience but I didnt get to touch his hand. :( I guess the handshake during Sepang is special enough for me and I shouldn't be so greedy and let others have their chance (; Lingered inside the stadium for awhile then met up with the oh-so-lucky Lilian! Even while we were talking to her, so many people came up to her to get their picture taken. She became a celebrity overnight! Haha! We went out to the back to join the whole bunch of people who were there waiting for Rain to leave the stadium. While waiting we managed to exchange emails with some Japanese fans and talk with some of them too.
He finally appeared, I wasn't near enough to get a good view of him sadly but I was using my camera to just zoom towards him. He walked all the way in front to shake hands with his fans before proceeding to his car. Even inside his car, he winded down his window so he could wave before leaving. So sweet of him! ^^
All good things must come to an end
As all good things must come to an end, after bidding farewell to Rain, we Clouds had to bid farewell to each other as well. We managed to take some group photos before leaving and one picture with the CJ Entertainment people who were in charge of the concert merchandise. Those of us who were using the MRT to get back, proceeded to the Stadium MRT station.
We met the Japanese fans at the station, and they needed help to get a taxi. So Kher Ning, the only one who is staying in Singapore and could speak a little Japanese, offered to help them out. We bid farewell to Lilian, who was going the opposite direction. We were kinda noisy as we were not only bidding farewell to her but her teddy as well! :P I had her bouquet of flowers with me because she had to fly back to Malaysia and wouldn't be able to bring flowers on board. I got to spend a day plus with a bouquet of flowers given by Rain! :D
The rest of us took the same train and went out separate paths. Kher Ning and the two Japanese fans went off at Paya Lebar while N Unnie, Ina, Chai, Joey and her mother went off towards Changi Airport. As for me, I headed back to Pasir Ris and got myself McDonalds for my dinner/supper!
Here are links to some of the videos I recorded during the concert:
My Girl (Lilian)
Backstage Changing Scene
Fresh Woman
Hip Song
Love Story
Post Rain's Concert Gathering at KLCC
I had to deliver flowers to Lilian, so we all had a mini gathering that night in KLCC on Tuesday night. Those who were there were Hazel, N Unnie, Sen, Amy and the lucky girl herself, Lilian together with her huge teddy! We had some quality time chatting among ourselves, watching videos and just talking about our experience on Sunday. It was nice meeting up with these people again!
The headband which Rain picked up and read "Oh! Malaysia." :)
The teddy now wears a shirt! ^^
I love being a Cloud. :) Every Rain outing, whether its just a gathering or a concert, I get to meet someone new. :) Not only people from Malaysia, but from all over the world! To all who made that weekend such a memorable one, THANK YOU! Nice meeting all of you and hope to meet you guys again someday! ^^
Labels: Kpop Culture, My Life I LOVE, Rain