Mayday takes fans down memory lane

DESPITE a lip-syncing controversy in China, the show must go on for Taiwanese band Mayday.

Some 40,000 spectators showed up each day this past weekend at the Singapore National Stadium, where the Taiwanese band brought the house down on the final leg of its Nowhere world tour.

The performance was a visual treat, with pyrotechnics, light sticks that changed colour in tandem with the stage lights, and a cinematic video that starred former F4 member Jerry Yan and Taiwanese actress Ariel Lin.

Positive messages such as “seize the day” dominated the almost 3.5-hour concert. Influenced by The Beatles, the band believes rock music has the power to change the world; its members have long been spreading ideals of love and peace through music.

Mayday is one of the few groups that can boast about being on a decade-long world tour. After more than 100 performances – beginning in 2011 at Taipei Arena – the Nowhere tour concluded on Sunday (Jan 14) as the band played hit after hit.

Fans were taken down memory lane with songs such as Motor Rock (1999) from Mayday’s first album, to more-recent singles such as Party Animal (2016).

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It was such a nostalgic moment that even lead singer Ashin’s vocal issues could be forgiven.

While his stage presence was on point, the 48-year-old sounded croaky, pitchy and had trouble hitting the high notes, especially around midway through. He had to stop singing at certain points during You Are Not Truly Happy (2008), completing it only with encouragement from the audience.

Ashin admitted: “I sound hoarse tonight. I am in a dilemma. Should I sing less and ‘torture’ you less? Or should I sing more, which I really want to do?”

And indeed, the fans wanted more.

So they cheered and sang together to tracks from Suddenly Missing You So Bad (2008) to Starry Sky (2011) and Three Fools (2011).

The band also made time to engage fans with a song-request segment – which was probably a reprieve for Ashin, who sounded screechy by this point – as his bandmates took turns to croon the crowd’s picks (to much laughter, as they struggled to recall lyrics). 

The concert hit a fever pitch towards the end with three adrenalin-pumping songs, A Song With You (2022), Don’ts Don’ts (2013) and Love-ing (2005); screams filled the stadium. Warnings from ushers to not take photos and videos were blatantly ignored as fans got their Instagram game on.

As the show approached its end, the band appeared on a “ship” – a cheeky play on Noah’s Ark, from which a defining track on the Second Round album (2011) drew its name. 

Not willing to let the quintet retire for the night, shouts for an encore had them gamely belting out another three songs (after some covert discussion).

The set list included Womxnly (2018), which Ashin had written for Mandopop queen Jolin Tsai. This number paid tribute to Taiwanese student Yeh Yung-chih, 15, who was bullied by his classmates due to his gender non-conformity; he was later found dead in a school toilet.

Throughout the concert, the band members promised they would come back to perform in Singapore; one even professed his love for Hainanese chicken rice.

Who knows, Ashin said, there may be another Nowhere Concert Tour 10 years later – hopefully with his usual unique tenor voice on full display.