Just returned from the Sound Stories Concert, a celebration of old-time bands from the past at Zouk - the icon of cool in Singapore. Held in conjunction with the Singapore HeritageFest, the bash brought back many vintage acts like Max Surin (of Tokyo Square fame), Matthew and the Mandarins, Vernon Cornelius, Jive Talkin', and Robert Fernando.
Hosted by the ever effable Brian Richmond, the concert certainly rocks (especially for the...umm... young at heart). As I swayed to the beat of some of the numbers, I realised too that - gasp - I am getting on in years too! This, plus my latest inclination towards listening to Gold 90 FM.
Our party began at Singapore's number one nightspot of the year. Of course, as it was only about 9 pm when we went in, the regular party-goers hadn't quite gathered yet.
Matthew and the Mandarins doing their retro ditty and charming the crowd of largely baby boomers interspersed with the odd Gen X and Gen Y-ers.
Brian Richmond was all smooth schmooze and charmed the crowd with his knowledge of heritage happenings.
Jive Talkin' with the cross-dressing lead singer Jeffrey took the stage next. I recalled that they used to be one of the headlining acts at Hard Rock Cafe.
A special guest start for the evening, Robert Fernando, wowed the audience with his rendition of oldie goldies like Frankie Vallie's Can't Take My Eyes Off You. Apparently, he is going to kick off a solo concert in September this year.
Another nostalgic favourite Vernon Cornelius, also known as the "Peter Pan of Singapore Pop". He certainly played to the crowd with his antics and charisma, plus rendition of favourite songs from the 1960s (which unfortunately I can't recall as they...err... are not really in my era).
A shot of the mostly mature crowd mesmerised by the magic of musical memories. Most would probably not be your regular Zoukettes.
The final act for the evening was a contemporary band playing heritage hits. I can't remember the name of the band but it did bring the evening to a nice close.
Thereafter, Zouk went back to its regular programming of progressive house, hard trance, tribal, garage and other genres of electronica. The crowd was also noticeably younger as the night passes.
Still, it was a night to remember for those of us old enough to swing to those sweet sweet sounds of yesteryear.Labels: events, Heritage, lifestyle marketing, NHB, Singapore HeritageFest, Zouk