9/23/05 Friday morning 12:50 am Somewhere in the sky…

Once again, I’m back after disappearing for what seems like quite a while. I’ve been calculating how many months I’ve been back to Asia from the US and I realized that it’s almost been four months now. So much has occurred during these past few months but mainly everything has been revolving around the new Love Can concert tour that so far has toured Shanghai and Beijing. The weeks prior to the shows were filled with stress, hard work but still some laughter for everybody involved. The two performances so far have been very successful and the media and audience reactions have been overwhelming much to our delight. This makes all the hard work and planning worth it but also tells us that what we set out to create is felt and appreciated by people. Yes, I’ve been thinking about the new album but haven’t started actual production on it just yet. As I said, getting this brand new show off the ground was very demanding so much of everybody’s attention and priority was on it.

Firstly, I’d like to thank everybody who participated in the production of this show. These are the people behind the scenes who you never see or really hear about but who make the magic happen. Secondly, I’d like to thank those of you who attended, supported and prayed for the show. Your love and positive energy carried us through and gave us all the strength to continue what was sometimes very difficult. Of course, all thanks and glory goes to God for His guidance and safekeeping of all us. The audiences in Shanghai and Beijing (including many people who came from all over the world) were truly overwhelming as we were told from many people that rarely did they see such a passionate reaction from an audience. It was my first time playing in Shanghai and Beijing so I had nothing to compare it with but judging from experiences in other cities I have to agree and say that these two shows empowered me with so much love and energy. I hope our future shows in other cities can generate such feedback and interaction.

One of the reasons this show was challenging was that I wanted to do something different yet at the same time keep “music” as the central theme just as in the previous Soul Power Tour. Often times with concerts, the music remains the same or similar while the visual elements are changed from tour to tour. That’s something easier to do since changing things such as your wardrobe, the stage design lighting and choreography is really just coming up with different ideas than before. However, the same cannot be said about the music aspect. For the band and singer, it can become monotonous and boring playing a song time and time again the same way. However, to completely change the arrangement of a song or the way it’s sung is also not always possible. Musically perhaps it can be done but often times the audience simply wants to hear a song played the original way they remembered it on the album. Also, sometimes it’s not musically sensible to drastically rearrange certain songs since that could ruin it original flavor or feel. I’ve sung “愛很簡單“ over a hundred times the same way just like 張學友 has sung “吻別“ probably over five hundred times! Often times I think whether the audience tires from hearing that song played and sung the same way during each performance. Should I rearrange it into a dance song or perhaps do it with an acoustic guitar with an orchestra? The results may not necessarily be favorable both musically and to the audience. However visually, whether I sing “愛很簡單“ in a red velvet suit or white linen shirt probably makes little difference to the audience and could be easily accepted. Therefore, my point is that making visual changes to a show is easy but making effective and musically sensible changes to a show is quite difficult.

Many changes that were made to this show (as compared to both my Soul Power tour and other people’s shows) are “invisible” to the audience. However, this is not to say that they are minor or trivial. These changes I’m about to share with you are not “visual” changes such as the stage design, wardrobe or any obvious things you can easily notice. I’ll leave those things for your discovery. Often times, while “invisible” changes you make to something are very important they are, unfortunately, are very easily overlooked. It’s akin to car design (something I love) in that often times we only look at the exterior changes of a new car (as compared to it’s previous model) but rather overlook the hundreds of interior and mechanical changes and improvements that make the car drive and perform better and safer. The key, however, is that these “changes” are not a means to an end but that they are more importantly improvements to the previous effort.

One thing we are constantly trying to improve upon is the sound during a concert. There are many variables including weather (if it is an outdoor venue), venue size and design, audience capacity and, of course, available sound systems. First of all, a quick lesson in what the “two” sound systems do in a concert. There is the sound system that provides what we hear onstage (the PA) and the system that you, the audience, hears (the House). Both systems are equally important though the system that directly matters to the audience is the house. However, the quality of the music and sound out in the house depends greatly on how well we, the singer and band, hear and feel the music as we are performing it onstage. If I cannot hear myself properly onstage then I may sing off pitch or often times sing too hard wearing my voice out. If the band cannot hear themselves properly then they may play the wrong parts or not “get into the music”. These things can then directly affect what you hear and feel. Even if we have the greatest system and speakers out in the house you may still feel that the music is uninspired and lacking in impact.

Therefore, this time we have decided to begin using in ear monitoring systems rather than relying on using traditional floor monitoring systems. There are two main problems with traditional stage monitors and one being that they fill the stage with loud sound levels, which then in turn are picked up by the many open microphones onstage causing an audio “loop” and feedback. This means that the audience hears a cluttered and “dirty” sound in the house. The other problem with onstage floor monitoring systems is that they don’t provide the clearest and most direct sound for the band and singer. Can you imagine up to ten to fifteen speakers sitting on the floor playing music loudly at you while you’re trying to hear your own voice or instrument? Of course, these floor monitor systems are also unsightly and clutter the stage quite a bit. How do we remedy this problem? Well, like I said we’ve decided have thentire band use wireless, in-ear monitoring headsets. I dare say this is one of the first, if not the first, large-scale Chinese pop concerts that has used this form of monitoring onstage. It’s expensive to equip the entire band with these systems, plus, there are other complications such as having to deal with frequency interference and having the band “learn” to use such a system. Most seasoned have learned to accept and get used to traditional floor monitoring systems despite their weaknesses. Therefore, having my band switch to a new system initially was quite challenging. I had to convince many of them to try it but when they got used to it they now all insist on them! Again, this is something rather “invisible” to the audience but a way we’ve chosen to improve the sound and experience of this show.

There are many other things I will share with you about this tour in the near future as it comes to a city near you. There are still many dates scheduled and many more surprises we are planning for you. I hope as fall approaches you are all able to enjoy the change in weather and season.

Till then…take care and God Bless.
DT