One Day in May…

Mayday’s Kaohsiung (高雄) concert went off with great success, the fans were delighted, the band played well, and Ashin… forgot the words. Twice. It doesn’t say what song he was singing – one can only hope it wasn’t the new song “Forgotten Words (忘詞)” – but in both cases, the fans laughingly helped him fill in the gaps.

The rest of the band could not help but laugh at him, naturally, then they played through the rest of their songs, so Taiwan’s southern Mayday fans went home happy and satisfied. And probably still laughing.

As I noted, the article doesn’t say which songs he forgot the words on, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was “People Life, Ocean Wild, (人生海海)” though I’m basing that only on the words the article says he started to sing before forgetting. [有一天我相信……(忘詞)，會不會………根本就不算東西！]

The concert was a wild success. This sums up much press on the issue, but 30,000 delighted, screaming fans can’t be wrong. I’m amused by this article, that expresses strong sympathy for the unfortunate Masa because Fish Leong was on the mainland and not at the concert – in spite of their protests, the press continued pushing the two together. It notes that “everyone else” in the band had someone there – Stone and Guanyou had their wives present, Ashin’s long-term, behind-the-curtains girlfriend Dan-dan was there, but poor Masa was on his own. Er, what about Monster? Presumably, he was on his own as well… but there’s no fun gossipy implications to make there, so no mention.

To celebrate, the boys had a party after the concert with their buddies from Champion, the latter of whom have kindly agreed to be the special guests on the subsequent nine concerts. Champion then challenged Mayday to a drinking contest. Conveniently, lightweights Masa and Ashin had “colds” and could not take part, but Stone and Monster were up to the challenge (Guanyou dutifully went straight home after the concert to his wife and daughter). Stone and Monster, however, have alcohol tolerances that far exceed that of any of the members of Champion, and apparently drank the young upstarts under the table.

In album news, at an event in Malaysia, the new album sold out in 15 minutes, disappointing many fans who came long distances or waited in long lines for their chance to buy the album. Fortunately, the record company was able to get in touch with the band, and signed copies will be delivered to fans who ordered the album on site after the copies ran out.

Finally, I will note, with a sigh, that in D.C., the wait for my copy of the album continues.

Did I not say nearly every Mandopop artist in the world has a song called “Angel” or some such?

Netizens have noticed that there are two song-title simularities between Mayday’s new album and the latest offering from artist Tank:  Mayday has a song called “Angel (天使),” and Tank has a song called “Like an Angel (專屬天使),” then Mayday has a song called “Another First Love (我又初戀了)” and Tank has a song called “The second first love (第二次初戀).”  Officials at the record companies say this is just a coincidence.  I’m sure it is, but that’s what happens when you write songs with the word “Angel” in the title.

In my iPod alone, I have songs called: Angel, Angel of Harlem, Angel of Mercy, Angeleyes, Angels, Angels of the Silences,  Fly to the Angels, 天使, 我的天使, a song called “Angel” in English but sung in Mandarin… you get the picture.  One does not avoid duplication with such a song title, though I’m sure it really is just a coincidence.  The Mayday song “Angel” is apparently at use in an ad campaign.

Mayday held the first of its “New Song Concerts” on January 6 in Taipei County, Taiwan.  In putting together the concert, Mayday raised NT$200,000 for poor families and children.  The concert was opened by Champion (強辯樂團), then Mayday went on to perform many of the songs off of their new album, but also some old favorities like “Peter and Mary (志明與春嬌)” and “Fool (憨人).”  For an encore, they played crowd-favorite “Tenderness (溫柔).”

The concert was the first of ten that will be held all over Taiwan in honor of the new album – tickets are mostly free, found enclosed in copies of the new album sold in Taiwan.

Mayday earned NT$ 4,000,000 (around US $123,000) for their thirty minute performance at the Taipei City New Year’s celebration, beating out some stars that played two or three cities.  There were reports that boyband 5566 earned even more for their performance in Taoyuan County (NT$5,000,000), but some of the managers say those reports are false, though the fee was “quite good.”  Ashin noted of Mayday’s impressive fee that the band has five members, and now a few wives and kids to take care of, so they’ll naturally need a bit more than an act consisting of a single person.

After their performance, Mayday signed autographs – and signed them for about ten hours, until morning came.  (I thought they were doing concerts instead of autograph sessions?)  Some fans had waited in line for three days, and rather than disappoint anyone, they simply signed autographs until they were out of waiting fans.