One Day in May…

This hilarious and very comprehensive (!) report of Mayday’s recent DNA concerts in Hong Kong comes to us from commenter “L,” and can I just say, I don’t think giant white balloons would scream “nuclei” to me, either. I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I did!

My first Mayday concert experience started at around 7:00 p.m. on the day of their first Hong Kong show when I went to line up to buy concert goods with my cousin. The line was quite long, so we were waiting for a while. And while we were waiting, what do you know, the wind suddenly got stronger and it started pouring rain. Yes, I`m looking at you, Chen Hsin Hung you rainman. *Shakes fist* My cousin and I would have gotten soaked from head to toe had it not been for the super nice Mayday fan who lent us her umbrella. Anyways, since it was raining pretty hard, we were allowed inside the venue early, so my cousin and I went inside as soon as we finished buying goods. It turned out we had been waiting in line for nearly an hour already, and by the time we got inside it was almost 8:00.

The setup of the stage was pretty simple. It just went straight across with short extended runways on both ends. There were white balloons in different sizes hanging down from the ceiling. (I did some reading and according to the press release from B’in Music they’re supposed to be the nuclei of cells. Like, what? I went two nights and did not once think of nucleus when I saw these things. Hahaha.) The big screens started showing MVs from the last album at around 8:15 I think, and the show actually started around 8:30-8:45.

The show started of with the short film that they made for the tour. It introduced each member, and each one said a short line about DNA, how they`re the building blocks of life, etc. I think each line builds on from the previous one. (i.e., The first line talks about the number of dna strands, the next talks about the number of pairs of chromosomes, etc.) I don`t remember the exact lines; too busy screaming along with everyone else. I just remember how Ashin had a line about how “his dream is him,” and a photo of John Lennon flashes across the screen. The next part depicts a car chase. The five of them were all in a taxi, and in the backseat there’s a boy in a white hoodie with the hood covering part of his face. The car crashes, some fireworks explode, and the music to “Motor Rock” starts. Without stopping, they went straight into “Liver Bursting,” followed with “God of Gambling,” “Viva Love,” “HoSee.” After “HoSee” there was only a brief pause before the band began to play the beginning notes of “You`re Not Truly Happy” There were a couple places where Ashin did sound a bit off-key, but he did manage to hit the high note at the every end. Then the five of them went offstage for a costume change.

The short movie continued from where it left off. Or I guess you could say it was the prequel to the part in the beginning, since it showed the events before the car chase. Basically, it showed an alternate universe where Mayday wasn’t Mayday. Ashin was a teacher (lookin’ goood in glasses and rockin’ the nerdy look =P). Guan You was a taxi driver; he suddenly brakes and Monster, who’s in the backseat, ends up spilling his coffee. From his outfit I’d say he was probably an insurance salesman or something of the sort. Masa is some kind of bear mascot. Stone seems to be a Laundromat owner. Ashin’s monologue for this part of the video really made me think. He basically talked about how we’re all expected to be the same ever since we’re little – have the same haircut, wear the same uniforms, have the same dreams, etc., and one day he thinks, “Is this my life?” Day after day, month after month, year after year… White dress shirt, black tie, my life. He asks if this is the kind of life he longs for, he asks if he can start over, start to live again, begin to chase after his dreams again. He wants to clone a new self and start anew. And if that’s not possible, then let him clone a new world, a new world that isn’t filled with monotonous days and despair. A new world…

The clip stops there and the stage lights come back on. Ashin is at the center and to his left is someone in a suit wearing the bear mascot head that Masa had on in the video and playing the guitar. Ashin starts singing the first verse of “More Than Surviving, Less Than Living” with only the guitar as accompaniment, which sounded quite nice. It slowly builds up, and then the entire band joins in at the chorus. The balloons hanging from the ceiling were lowered and a big globe was lowered onto the stage behind the band for “Crazy World.” My music knowledge is kind of non-existent, but for what it’s worth, I really liked the arrangement they did for this song for this concert. They also incorporated the chorus of “Migratory Bird” into the song, which was really cool, and it served as the bridge before they went back into the chorus for “Crazy World” for the last time. After that came “The Apple,” followed by “The Yet Unbroken Part of My Heart,” and I almost cried. Those lyrics. His voice. Just, wow. Plus that line about how a day may come when there won’t be people singing along with him just got me thinking about what a depressing place the world would be without their music…

But I digress.

Anyways, so the next song was “Contentment”, and since the music was softer you could actually hear everyone singing along. It was pretty amazing. Following “Contentment” was “People Life, Ocean Wild”. I don`t remember much from this song other than that it was fun “la la la la la la la”-ing at the end with everyone and that Ashin was doing that spinning in circles thing that he does during our “la la la la la la la”-ing and I thought it was cute. Hahaha.

After that, the band left the stage again for another costume change and the big screen showed the next part of the short film. Continuing from where the last part left off, it showed the five of them sneaking into this high-security facility to steal John Lennon`s DNA. Ashin knocked over the entire tray of test tubes after he got the one he wanted, setting off the all alarms and causing the guards to chase after them. They drove off without Masa (Hahaha) and then had to drive back to let him in. I remember being surprised that it wasn’t Guanyou. Isn`t this the kind of thing that usually happens to him? Did Masa like lose a bet when they were filming or something? Hahaha.

The band steps back onto the stage wearing black and neon yellow outfits. They actually looked pretty cool, despite how tacky they sound from my crappy description. Anyhow, so they sang “Spring’s Scream” and “Call Me Number One.” At the end of “Call Me Number One,” Ashin did this “Whoa oh oh oh oh” chant thing and was getting the audience to do it with him, but he complained that we weren’t loud enough so he did it a second time. Hahaha. After he was satisfied with our performance, the music changed and went into the new song “放肆” [Unbridled[. Not too sure how I feel about it yet. It`s not bad, basically just a fast upbeat song encouraging people to chase after their dreams and all that. Following the new song was "Interview with the Vampire," and then "Masquerade." The next song was "DNA," the other new song for the tour. Personally I didn't feel it was anything special, but it's a fun song to jump to, much like the theme song from their last tour "Leaving the Surface of the Earth." The song following "DNA" was heh, "Leaving the Surface of the Earth."

After this song, and more than two hours into the show, the band finally pauses the music for a bit and stops to do the member introductions. I cannot, for the life of me, remember what Stone said, so apologies to any Stone fans who were interested to know what he said. Masa said something about how every year they come the HK Coliseum seemed to get smaller, so he asked someone whether or not the venue got smaller after the construction changes and the answer he got was "no" so it must mean that every year there were more and more people coming to see them. Monster was talking about how a lot of his brain cells died as a result of them having to write new songs for the tour, and since the tour already began tonight it means no more brain cells have to die. Hahaha. Guanyou was talking about how their holding a concert in Hong Kong every year in May has become a sort of promise with the fans here, so he was pondering how long this promise can go on. Then he kinda copied what Ashin said during the Final Home tour and was asking us whether we'd still come to see them when we all need canes to walk. As he finished talking, music started playing and the spotlight was on Ashin, who had gone and taken Guanyou's place behind the drums and started playing. Guanyou was singing, but I kind of had no idea what song it was. Hahaha. After that Ashin introduced himself and started talking about how they try to speak Cantonese every time they come, and although they aren't very smart and can only speak one phrase each year it doesn't matter, because in ten years they would have spoken ten, and in a hundred years, one hundred phrases. Then he introduced himself in Cantonese, and said how there are a lot of goodlooking boys and girls (in the audience) and how we were all really cute. Hahaha. Sorry, it sounded funnier in his Cantonese. Then he thanked everyone and said that he'll come every year so he hopes everyone can come. After that he asked the audience whether they came with their friends to see Mayday today; then he laughed and he noted that a lot of people were shaking their heads. Haha. Well, anyone who has seen the TV-aired version or the DVD of the 10,000 people concert from last X'mas will probably be familiar with this song intro. After the "Song of Laughter and Forgetting" was "Like Smoke." It`s probably one of my favourite, if not the favourite, songs from the new album, so I was just really glad for the chance to hear it live. The next song was "Monkey King [Sun WU Kong],” which included solos from each member of the band.

Then the band left the stage again, and the last part of the short film was shown. Basically, they had successfully escaped and arrived at this big empty field where many of the child clones of people who have had major impact on the world (i.e., Einstein) were already waiting. Side note: Che Guevara was also included, which kind of made me go “Huh?” Like, really? Anyhow, so the little boy in the white hoodie in the backseat is revealed to be clone-child John Lennon and he runs off with the other kids. He turns back to wave to Mayday and then puts on sunglasses like the one John Lennon has in the photo. Ashin holds up the photo, compares it to the boy and smiles. Then they all hop back into the taxi and the bumper falls off as they drive away. Hahaha.

The band comes back on stage and plays a medley of “John Lennon” and “Me,” followed by “The Most Important Trivial Matter” and “Angel.” After that came “Stubborn” which is really one of those songs that is made infinite times more awesome live because the atmosphere is amazing with so many people singing along.

The band left the stage again and we started screaming for encore. After a while, the screen showed the video of the five of them dancing to “DNA,” and then they came back out and started singing “L-O-V-E-ing.” Of course, there`s the requisite “L-O-V-E-ing” with the audience and they played this screaming game, where we had scream or be quiet according to their hand gestures. Masa was totally messing with people (he made this wavering gesture with his hands and people had to follow), and everyone looked like they were having fun and really enjoying themselves.

After “L-O-V-E-ing” the music stopped, then Ashin thanked everyone for coming again and asked if everyone was tired. Since we answered “no,” he said it was time to read the sponsors list; but then he couldn’t find it (hahaha), so he said that he guess he can look for it while he sings and the music to “OMG” starts. After the song finishes, he`s like “Okay found it,” and he starts reading. His reaction to our lack of enthusiasm and weak clapping and cheering was pretty funny. He started telling us how we should be showing more support since without the sponsors they wouldn’t be able to come and perform, so after that we started clapping and screaming like crazy after he read out each name. The list was pretty long, halfway through he laughed and said “Haha, this has good entertainment value.” After reading off the rest of the list of and thanking BenQ, he started talking about how there were still two more night but they’ve already used up a lot of energy. Then he asks if anyone was going to come again tomorrow and a lot of people screamed, so he asked if they could just stop singing and save up their energy since we were all going to be here tomorrow anyways. Of course we refused, so he was like “Aiyoh, are you guys bosses (你們都是老大嗎)?” and when we all answered “yes” he said “Sorry, boss.” in Cantonese (唔好意思, 大佬). Hahaha. It was adorable.

So after that they played two more songs, “Suddenly Missing You” and “Tenderness” before leaving the stage. We kept screaming encore even though the credits for the concert was already playing and it kind of seemed like they won’t be coming back on again. Guess our endurance paid off and our killing our voices was worth it, ’cause they came back on stage. They kind of looked like they were discussing what songs to sing and in the end I guess they decided on “Nobody Else in My Heart” and “Peter and Mary.” But once Ashin started singing I started laughing. Like, I do not claim to be an expert or particularly knowledgeable in regards to their Hokkien lyrics, but Ashin did seem to be replacing a whole lot of lyrics in “Nobody Else in My Heart” with “da la la la la” hahaha. Couldn’t they at least have chosen a song that he remembered all the lyrics to? All in all, I really enjoyed the concert. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but that’s alright. I mean, life would be pretty boring if everything was perfect all the time, right? This was the first Mayday concert I ever went to and I am looking forward to going to many many more in the years to come. I wish it could be May next year already!

Full Setlist (May 20, 2009)

Motor Rock
Liver Bursting
God of Gambling
Viva Love
HoSee
You`re Not Truly Happy
More Than Surviving, Less Than Living
Crazy World-Migratory Bird
The Apple
The Yet Unbroken Part of My Heart
Contentment
People Life, Ocean Wild
Spring`s Scream
Call Me Number One
放肆 [Unbridled, I'm calling it for now, ed.]
Interview with the Vampire
Masquerade
DNA
Leaving the Surface of the Earth
Song of Laughter and Forgetting
Like Smoke
Sun Wu Kong (Monkey King)
John Lennon
Me
The Most Important Trivial Matter
Angel
Stubborn

First Encore
L-O-V-E-ing
OMG
Suddenly Missing You
Tenderness

Second Encore
Nobody Else in My Heart
Peter and Mary

The rundown of the last night (May 22) is pretty much exactly the same as the first night, so I won’t list the entire setlist and talking about every song individually again because otherwise I’m afraid this will turn into a monstrous 10-page essay. I’ll just list the things that were different and note some stuff that I thought were interesting or cute from the last night in point form.

One of the major differences I noticed on the last night was that unlike the first night, where one song just blurred into the next, they actually had time for brief pauses in between songs. They also talked a lot more, and Ashin actually took the time to briefly introduce “You’re Not Truly Happy” rather than going straight into it from “HoSee.” And overall I just thought his singing was more consistent compared to the first night.

Differences in setlist

Not much was changed other than that “放肆” was taken out of the regular set and replaced “OMG” in the first encore. The order of “Suddenly Missing You” and “Tenderness” were switched, and they sung “Breakthrough Day” and “Fool” instead of “Nobody Else in My Heart” and “Peter and Mary”.

First Encore
L-O-V-E-ing
放肆
Tenderness

Second Encore
Suddenly Missing You
Breakthrough Day
Fool

Random things that I found cute and/or interesting:

The sea of blue glow sticks in the audience was stunning. There weren’t as many on the first day, but on the last day I think nearly everyone there had one. Looked so awesome.

Everyone demanding that Ashin dance. Then the cameramen being very cooperative and panning over and focusing on fan-made signs demanding that “Ashin Dance! (快跳舞)” and “Don’t run away (不要逃)”. Hahaha. Mayday has awesome staff. And fans. =)

Speaking of signs. There were also signs saying “Come Back (回來吧)” and “Won’t go home (不回家)”. Hahaha. I also remember seeing one that said “Let CIRCUS release an album (讓CIRCUS出唱片)”, which I thought was hilarious.

During the first verse of “Leaving the Surface of the Earth”, Ashin got most of his jacket off and only left one sleeve still on when he was getting ready to fling it off in time w/ the lyrics, but then when the line actually came up the sleeve was stuck and he couldn’t get it off. Hahahaha. Then he laughed and was like trying to get it off by stepping on the half that was already off. Omg too cute.

Guanyou saying he’ll probably feel lonely after the show ended (since it’s the last night already) and Masa asking him if he wanted to find someone to fill the void. Hahaha. Boys. *shakes head*

Ashin had the sponsors list this time. And before he started reading it out he was like, “You guys know what to do.” Hahaha.

The five of them actually dancing(!) like how they did in their short video hahaha.

Ashin sorta looked like he was holding back tears during “Tenderness” when he stopped singing during the chorus and everyone was singing. The big softie. =P

Ashin taking off his socks and shoes during the last encore and stepping barefoot on the stage. He seems to like doing that? Hahaha. So random, at first I thought he was tying his shoe. I remember thinking, “Eh, it’s like the last song already, your shoe-tying can’t wait for another couple minutes?”

How everyone continued to sing after they stopped all the music at the end of “Fool”. All you hear is clapping and voices singing “la la la la, la la la la”. Sounded so amazing. We kept going at it for the longest time, and then they bowed again and waved to everyone as they were leaving the stage. Then people started calling encore again and Ashin was laughing and like pointing at his watch as he left (‘cause it was like 12:00 already).

Everyone refusing to leave. Hahaha. We just kept screaming louder every time one of those announcements telling people to leave came on. And man, doing the ‘wave’. Hahaha. So much fun.

Everyone screaming and going nuts when the concert staff came on stage to pack up all the equipment ‘cause we thought it was Mayday. Oh, the disappointment, but still, it was pretty funny.

Thanks so much, L! (Wait, is that a Death Note reference? If so, i just got that.) I’ve still got one more guest post from Sydney – maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will write from every stop on the tour?!?

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