Amplify @ Career Fair Live Concert 2006

The day started well. The night before, we practised one last time. Just to make sure everyone was in sync with each other. We simulated the whole night and anticipated what we needed to perform. It was a great and much needed practice.

At 3pm, we went for sound check. It was a blistering hot day and the sound people came late. They took their sweet time, as always. By the time we actually got to sound checking, it was almost 5. The gig was held in the car park near the chiller plant. It's a really nice place to hold outdoor concerts. I think it could fit in about 2000 people easily.

At 8.30, it started to rain. Typical of such an extremely hot day to end with heavy rain. But I prayed. I asked God to let it rain, but let it stop at 9pm, just in time for the concert to begin. I couldn't bear the thought of having the rain spoil the whole night's event. Imagine the number of people who would have been so disappointed. While waiting for time to pass, I did my devotion. And at 9pm, the rain stopped! It was a prayer answered. Better later than never.

The concert was suppsoed ot begin by 9pm, but the rain set everything back by more than half an hour. So by the time the guest band and first band came on, it was 10pm already. The whole show was supposed to close by 12am. With 2 hours and 9 bands to go....I foresaw it would be a little messy at the end. But I tried my best not to worry. The rain was good in that it made the night weather more cooling and refreshing. More and more people started coming in as the bands continued to display their songs. It was a Malay majority crowd. I think it was only 5% non-malays in the audience. And out of 10 bands, we were the only Chinese band. Later on, we were labelled as 'band Cina' by the emcees. Whatever makes them happy :P

To be honest, the sound system was a wee bit whacked. Didn't sound too nice, but there was nothing we could do about it. Amplify was excited and we were anticipating the countdown to our turn to get up on stage. Most of the bands were ok. But some plain boring. Some had great musicians, some had lousy vocals. It was....well, okok only-lar. On schedule, Amplify was supposed to be number 9 on the list. By the time band number 3 was on, most of our friends that wanted to support us came. Still a long way to go before our turn came. They endured it all. I was thankful that there was no metal-screaming bands, and grateful that our friends were willling to sit in the whole time as they waited for us to come on.

By the time band number 6 was on, Amplify was already tuning our instruments backstage. We were that excited. We ran through the whole run of our performance one by one. We motivated each other. We got enthusiastic. We prayed, though not all of us. We tried to calm ourselves down. Adrenaline was already pumping so bad, that no matter how much I drank, I felt thirsty.

The time soon came. And we found ourselves walking up the stage to rock the show. Finally, the time had come. Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we were asked to only play one song. A sudden feeling of unfairness crept it. Why us? What about the earlier bands? But, we set up our stuff and got ready to give a great performance. I knew I was going to sing, but more important, I had prayed that my main audience would be God. Since he gave me the courage to sing, I would sing for Him first before anyone else, even if it wasn't a Christian thingy.

There were some glitches. Time wasn't on our side, so were the organisers. They kept asking us to hurry up. We tried our best to set our equipment right and make sure everything was fine before blasting off, but before we could set everything the way we wanted it, the show had to start for us. Time had run out.

Our plan was to start with a warm up song. But I really felt we couln't afford the time for that song and told the rest to get into the main stuff:) So, away we went! Guitars screaming and drums rolling, we took off with such energy. It was a sudden change in atmosphere. The whole band was feeling the music and radiating its energy. Everyone on stage was grooving with the beat, one way or another.

This is our first ever performance as a band! It's a milestone. And I don't get to play the guitars. Instead, I just have to sing. Being a guitar-person, I felt naked without a guitar but what could I do? I mean, like what am I going to do in between songs and solos? Since I don't have an instrument to play. I saw the singers of the earlier bands standing like sticks and stones while the rest of the band members 'rocked' on with their solos. I didn't want to be like that. So, I did what many others have not seen me done before. I danced to the music, or grooved or whatever you want to call it. I was jumping to the beat. It was a part of me I never knew I could do and a part of me no one has seen before. It was something birthed of desperation, of not wanting to be a stick among the 'rock-ers'. It felt odd behaving a bit like a primate, but looking at my bandmates feeling the music and grooving with it spurred me on.

I can say that we really gave our best. All out! I felt the energy as we played. I felt the flow of each musician with the other. We played as one and it really felt good. The first song we played was Someone Else's Arms by Mae. When we ended, we were just about to move on to the next song, which is a song I wrote called Life is for Living when we were told to stop playing by the authorities. I already positioned myself to launch into the next song. I already dedicated the song to Nicholas Chan and his family. I just wanted to sing. We were all ready t go. But we had to stop. It was a heartache. After all that practice and not even a chance to play it. I knew some of my friends even came all the way to support us and also to hear the song I wrote, for the first time. But it was not to be. Part of me wanted to rebel. Part wanted to spur the crowd on and just play on and ignore the authorities. But the other part knew what was the right thing to do.

So, we reluctantly disconnected eveything and got ready to get down. I felt so uncontented. I felt unfairness. I was feeling disappointed to have been turned down from singing our second song due to time running out. It had apparently ran out for us, and for the night as well. When I got off the stage, I was feeling angry and disappointed. After such an energetic performance for the 1st song, it was a terrible blow to have to stop. So close yet so far!

But after awhile, I came to my senses. It's not the organisers fault. They wanted the show to go on. It was the security and the FMD department that was pushing for the show to end abruptly since the time was up. On the part of the organising committee, they were apologizing profusely for having to ask us to stop. And couldn't stay upset. It's not their error. After thinking it through, I felt even worse for the last and final band, who didn't even get to perform a single thing. They were totally turned down because there just wasn't enough time. And I really felt terrible for them. After all their practices and anticipation to put up a great show, they had to go home deprived. I took comfort at the fact that at least we manage to play one song.

Maybe it just wasn't time for my own song to be let out just yet. Maybe another suitable time would come by. Maybe God had other plans for us to perform elsewhere at another time. I really don't know. But I am thankful that I was given the strength and boldness to do what I did. And thankful that Amplify managed to give out a great show, no matter how short it lasted.

Thank you people for coming all the way and enduring everything just to watch us and give support. I really appreciate it. You guys are just awesome! Without you, we would have been making noise for no one. For Amplify, you guys really rocked so hard and I'm proud to be playing alongside all of you. Keep it up. Bright future:)

Here are some pics of the night.