Black Eyed Peas Concert

An overdue post on the Black Eyed Peas' Concert on Tuesday, 20 September 2005

• 6.30pm: waited for cab
• 6.50pm: finally got one
• 7.15pm: reached Mac's@kallang
• 7.40pm: started walking towards Kallang Indoor Stadium (Big mistake. It's not as near as I'd thought!)
• 8.10pm: finally got into the stadium after getting past the queue to enter.
• 8.20pm: Perfect 10's Beatbox Competition Finals. The winner is just 15 years of age!
• 8.40pm: Daniel Ong creates hype and anticipation of BEP's arrival.
• 8.45pm: Floodlights go out. Stage's illuminated with dim blue lights.
• 9.00pm: Still waiting.....All we can see are shadows darting about on the stage with no concrete indication of the concert commencing......Quick trip to the washroom.
• 9.10pm: Screams have died down. Some people behind me jeered as BEP's recorded songs filled the stadium. (Hello? It's a c-o-n-c-e-r-t!)
• 9.15pm: Finally. Fergie belts out an intro.
• For the next 1hr45mins: Hot, Hot, Hot! Prior to the concert, I was only familiar with Where Is The Love, Hey Mama, Shut Up, Don't Phunk With My Heart, Pump It & My Style. Still, the catchy beats were hard to resist even though half the time it was hard to make out what those guys were rapping about. Heh. The crowd went wild when the first few notes of Where Is The Love resounded. BEP got everyone to fish out their cellphones and wave in sync as they sang. Each light represented a life in the various disasters that hit the world recently - the tsunami, Katrina, Iraq War, constant civil unrest in Africa,etc. They gave a touching short message with reference to that and some were moved to tears. BEP's music isn't exactly the most intellectual, soothing or grooviest but they sure know how to work out a crowd! Even the staid white-collared men present jumped to their feet and bobbed their heads to the music. Not a single soul in the stadium was seated.It was better than clubbing!
• 11.00pm: A rather abrupt end to the concert. No encore? Bah!
• 11.10pm: Out of the stadium. Walk, walk, walk to the bus stop at PA. Stopped at Katong to hail a cab.
  
• Before 1am: Finally home! 4 hours of sleep till reality strikes again in the form of work.