Sorry for taking so long. Had to take care of some other stuff first.
SAKURA MATSURI – ANIME GARDENS – MAY’N - 17TH MARCH 2018
If you have been around the Gardens by the Bay, you’ll would noticed there’s quite a lot of stone Lions lying around. As I walked passed one, I suddenly heard ‘Psst! Song Request!’ I was like Wha? Wutt….? As I moved closer to one of the Stone Lions, I heard it again….. ‘Song Request!’ Obviously it was requesting THAT song! ………. OK, BACK TO REALITY! I was telling my friend it would make a nice opening to this article but little did I know, LION was actually sung this night!
The concert stage was set at the Supertree Groove and it’s absolutely FREE! At around 4.30pm people started lining up in front of the outdoor concert stage, in spite of the hot weather. Fans wanted to get the best viewing position. Concert started at 7pm with Mika Kobayashi. After that, there was a break as the musicians set up their instruments, the Gardens Rhapsody began playing (a light show on the Giant Trees). The band had completed their setup and was waiting for the light show to end, some of the audience got bored and amused themselves by humming along with the of popular movies theme songs being played. Some waved their light sticks as if were a concert. (I think May’n snuck out the back, and took a few pictures of the light show!)
As soon the light show ended, everyone focused back to the stage and began to chant ‘May’n!, May’n!... A few seconds later she came on stage and immediately the band began to play! 1st song of the night – Vivid! Even though the music was a bit too loud and almost drown out her voice, the crowd recognized the song and they were waving their light sticks and jumping to the beat. The start of an electrifying concert!
By the time of the 2nd song, the people in the sound dept. managed to equalize the audio. By the 3rd song, May’n decided to do something different. She explained that though she’s Japanese, she will perform for us a Mandarin song – much to the delight of the audience and her pronunciation was spot on! It was the theme
A short break as she spoke to us. This is her first LIVE in an outdoor concert in Asia and she’s loving it! Immediately the concert pace goes into overdrive with Taboo Tattoo! Next is the ever popular LION and you can hear fans singing along with her and light sticks moving in unison.
I was hoping that she would sing her new song ‘YOU’ – the 2nd OP for Mahoutsukai no Yume and she DID! This is the first time this song was sang LIVE outside of Japan and all those who attended were indeed fortunate! Already some in the audience had memorize the song and sang along with May’n.
A sip of water, and the band began playing in the back ground. Judging from the reaction, many already knew the name of the next number – ‘Shine A Light’ I would say this is one of her more memorable songs that are not Anime related. She tells us that she’s been performing in Singapore for 10 years and she loved it! Also this will be the last song for the night. A loud sigh came from the audience. She informed that she’ll be back and that lifted the spirits a little bit. It was a really a fun song and you can tell she’s enjoying herself presenting it to us as much as we were enjoy listening, watching & waving our light sticks to the beat.
The end came and with her Band she thanked everyone for coming and walked to the back of the stage, occasionally waving to the audience. As usual, the audience didn’t want to leave. It felt sooooo… short, even though she had already performed 8 solid songs, (same as Mika Koyabashi) they started chanting ‘Enkoru! Enkoru! (Japanese word for Encore!). The MC had to come out on stage to confirm that the concert was indeed over.
May’n performance was top notch but unfortunately no video or photography was allowed. It would have been a fantastic edition to share with the rest of her fans around the World. When I got back to my hostel, I asked my hostel mate who had come from Indonesia whether he and his wife had attended the concert (never been to an Anime concert before) and the first thing he said ‘Wow! That singer - May’n was fantastic!’
Song List :
1. ViViD (OP Blood Lad)
2. Love, setsuna and reassuring
3. Little Luck (Theme song from a popular Taiwan movie)
4. If You Wish For (Valkyria Chronicles 3)
5. Belief (OP Taboo Tattoo)
6. Lion (May ' n ver.)
7. You (OP2 Mahoutsukai no Yome)
8. Shine A Light
