Hello there,
Since I'm "Cookie Monster", I think I can post this here.
I had posted this earlier on the Fort Minor message board.Of course, like any music album, this is the DELUXE edition of my posting. With more goss.
What?? You think that this is insane? Naaaaahhhh ...
Mike Shinoda, if you ever read this, I hope that you'll be happy to know that your FM is how I would launch my 2nd blog.On 1 March 2006, Wednesday, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Fort Minor, a hip-hop fueled musical side project by Mike Shinoda, held its first ever concert there.
All types of FM fans went, from the 7-year-old to the 70-year-old.No joke, it is true. That is the joy of music, to be shared by one & all. Ain't it so?
3 types of tickets were sold by Sistic, including the "odd" S$2 surcharge:
- S$70 free-standing (nope, I'm NOT paying others to let me stand 2 hrs
- S$60 NUMBERED seating (that's what I got myself)
- S$40 numbered balcony seating (I hope I got the price right!!)
I came back from the exciting FM concert. Wanted to share this with you guys.
THANK YOU to Mike Shinoda & the rest of the FORT MINOR members for such a good & energetic "live" performance.When are you guys coming to Singapore next? Heheheee ... post-concert blues, man.
A couple of gripes first (get the bad stuff outta the system):
- management of queue system is screwed up
- sound system sucks
- concert started 8.40pm (the energetic performance made it understanding)
SG did not get to watch Holly Brook perform, whom I hear is perfect for the female vocal part in the FM song, "Where You Go?".
Questionable:the guest artiste was Singapore Idol season 1 contestant Jessea Thyidor.
Now, the GOOD stuff:1) SG fans got to see guest CHEAPSHOT (hope i got the name rite)
2) rest of FORT MINOR team (Mike, Ryu & Tak)
3) the 3 guys tat Mike introduced as "The 3 Black Violinists", who played fantastic pieces, both FM songs & non-FM ones.
The backup singers & drummer were also on par with the others, just that I did not manage to catch their names.There was some concert merchandise on sale:- about 3 types of T-shirt (S$35 each)
- 1 scarf/bandana (S$15)
- 3 types of FM cloth signs (S$10)
- 2 (or is it 3??) versions of TRT album CD (S$20 per copy, by HMV)
Wish there had been posters that I could buy; instead, I bought a "scarf" or do they call it a bandana?
The stage set-up was simple: a cloth (at least, that is what I think it is!!) banner with the FM symbols & artwork here & there. 1 area for the drummer, 1 set of gear for DJ-ing, 3 spots for back-up singers, 3 spots that (I knew only later) for "The 3 Black Violinists" as introduced by the man himself.
The show started off with Cheapshot "DJ-ing". Sad to say, the SG crowd didn't really take to it very well (for watever reason) BUT were generous with applause for Cheapshot. Could be that the audience did not take to the music that Cheapshot played, which wasn't too bad in the first place.
FM started at about 8.50pm with the song Rember The Name .. blah blah ...
In between, Mike playfully sprayed bottled (mineral) water at the free-standing audience ($70 tix). He & the others (Tak & Ryu) also threw some towels into the audience. Man, I wish I was amongst them who got it!! I was a "softie", in the S$60 section.
2 Linkin Park songs were in the playlist:- In The End
- Numb Encore (3,000 pairs of ears couldn't be wrong; Numb was played)
FORT MINOR songs in the playlist (that I remember & not in order):- Petrified
- Cigarettes
- Remember The Name
- Believe Me
- Where You Go?
As we all know, every concert must have ENCORE, if not, it ain't a concert.
How could a Fort Minor concert end without the signature song? It finally ended at 10.10pm with "Believe Me".
Then, Mike & later, Ryu & Tak went down to shake hands & greet fans, perhaps even sign a couple of autographs.
As I wasn't feeling good by then, I had to forgo going down to the front rows to try getting Fort Minor group autograph. Instead, I ran for the bus & MRT home.
Size of the crowd overall?? an estimated 3,000. One Singapore paper even put the figure higher, at 3, 500.
Saw Shan Wee, the DJ from the radio station Pefect 10, at the FM concert. He was dressed in a light-blue T-shirt & blue jeans, in the S$70 free-standing area. He did not come in straight away when the gates were opened but rather later, before 8pm. Hence, he stood somewhere behind, near a sound set-up. I think he was with some friends. Who? I didn't know nor recognized them.
Like any of the other concert goers (including me!!), Shan Wee "hip-hopped" to the music.
Kudos to Mike Shinoda, who really knew how to whip the crowd into a frenzy over FM. When he wanted the crowd to sing, we sang. When he wanted us to "get up & swing/hip-hop to the songs", we "hip-hopped".
Perhaps this is due to the fact that Mike himself already has prior experience via his other "day job" in Linkin Park. Still, this is FORT MINOR, different from LP. Some might support LP but not FM.
Mike Shinoda even taught us a hand sign that represented his hometown, Los Angeles - LA. Said something about not missing home too much, if we did that. And we did, every 3,000 pairs of hands.
I'm glad for Mike that things work out great.
On each & every FM concert ticket sold,
it was stated "no cameras" ... but but I did see plenty of camera flashes going off. Guess that there were certainly some bootleg copies of the concert floating around somewhere.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself very much at this concert. It's a perfect 10 out of 10 that I give for this concert, minus the gripes that I wrote earlier.
