Check out Natalie’s recap and photos of Daughtry’s concert at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Singapore on Saturday.
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Having already seen the band live in Singapore twice, I still cannot get enough of it! The day I heard about Chris Daughtry coming back to Singapore to perform at the F1 was the day that I arrived home from the Netherlands, after spending 1 month there on study exchange. My bank account looking incredibly ugly from excessive spending in Holland, I consoled myself saying that money can be earned back, shelving out cash for a ticket. It’s been a good 2 years since I last saw Chris live.
Here’s a little about myself: I am a soon to be 23 year old college student from Singapore studying written communications and I’ve been watching Idol since season 4. Up to now, the only contestant whom I’ve ever cried over from getting eliminated was Chris Daughtry. For a good two weeks back in 2006. Other bands that I love include Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Van Halen and Jimmy Buffett.
I had yet to get photos taken with the band, sans Josh Paul whom I got lucky with meeting twice! Label me a crazy person for all I care, when it comes to being a fan, sanity doesn’t exist in my vocabulary.
I basically end up meeting the whole band and having individual photos with them. I finally get my coveted photo with Chris Daughtry, at McDonalds. He was very quiet but broke out into a smile and said “all the time/always am” when I showed him the fansign I made which said “Chris= female viagra” His body guard only allowed one photo, when I asked if I could have another- my mouth was wide open when my friend took the photo! Well, I was starstruck, you can’t blame me! Brian, the other guitarist and Josh Steely the lead guitarist were very nice. Steely was very friendly, and has a smile that you see in toothpaste ads.Josh Paul was quiet, but obliged when I asked if I could get a photo with him. Robin, the drummer made the biggest impression on me. He had no “celebrity ego” present and was the sweetest out of everyone in the band. The way he spoke to me felt like as though I had known him forever! I would have never expected it to happen, but Robin was very talkative and warm, and humble. I certainly hope he becomes the permanent replacement in the band!
Fast forward to the day of the concert. I wanted to be on the first row of the stage- it was a standing only venue. My friends who came along to the concert consisted of a college professor in his late thirties originally from Chicago and an engineer and her friend in their early thirties from the Philippines, all of them working in Singapore. We arrived at the entrance to the venue at 1pm, two hours before the gates were scheduled to be open, and waited it out. There were 10 or so Adam fans who were ahead of us in the line already! It was raining for a good hour or so while we waited for the gates to open, then rushed like mad to the entrance to the stage where they were distributing out wristbands for us to wear, before racing to where the queue to enter the pit…again there were 10 or so Adam fans who beat us to the front of the line. The ushers allowed us in to the pit half an hour before the show started, and my group managed to score first row, front and center! Unfortunately the stage was very much higher than expected, and being 5″2, it does not help much.
Shortly after 6:15 local time, the band takes to the stage… Chris yells out to the audience to start clapping their hands, starting off the show with Feels Like Tonight. I am spazzing and already going crazy, yelling out every word to the song. The pit is rocking. Feeding off the crowd’s energy, Chris kicks into Over You. Unfortunately, not everyone knows the words to the song, and Chris decides to “teach” us what to sing out loud after he does. (crowd: never saw it coming, should’ve started running, the main bit) I feel a little upset as Over You is the anthem song of the band, with the catchy and meaningful lyrics. The rest of the songs that he played- in no particular order were: Ghost of Me, No Surprise, You Don’t Belong, September, before ending it off with It’s Not Over and Home.
After every song ends, I yell out “ROBINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN”, trying to get the drummer’s attention, but failed at every attempt as the crowd is too loud. Chris hardly made any small-talk with the audience, but that is understandable as the concert had to end at 7pm sharp, due to the start of the F1 practice. Midway through the song, he asks us to bounce/do the pogo when the band kicks into the chorus! I am jumping up and down till my ribs hurt.
You Don’t Belong could be their next big hit, in my opinion. The lyrics keep me going, when I get knocked down and screwed over by people in life. It makes you want to carry on, get rid of the people that don’t belong! As for September, it is pretty emotional for me, relating to my last days in Holland, I kept playing September over and over again. Even though everyone was cheering and screaming, I was on the verge of tears, as this year has been by far the best in nearly 23 years of living! Home, as the last song was a little too predictable, when Chris took out that guitar, I had a bad feeling that it was the end- all the anticipation and excitement building up to this day was going to end in a few minutes. I screamed, and waved my signs for the last time in the pit. When the band walked off the stage and put their instruments down, Robin throwing out his towel drumsticks, my heart sank into disappointment. It’s over. 35 minutes of seeing them live was too short, but it certainly was better than NOT seeing them live at all, icing on the cake to end off what I would say had been the best weekend of my life!
