I'm glad they had the LA concert at the Shrine, which after all is owned by the Shriners, because North American Mayday concerts are like secret club meetings. The five lads may be Grand Potentates For Life or whatever, but we all know the secret handshake. Nobody else in town knows what's going on.
OK, so it didn't sell out. (There are about 6,300 seats.) Some people got free tickets. The crowd was a little slow to get on its feet. But so what? Eventually the place rocked. And I had a great time hanging out with new and old friends who are also, as my friend Eileen simply put it, "insane."
The story begins in San Gabriel, where there were like 300 people at the autograph session. I didn't even have time to get starstruck. No, I just didn't get starstruck. The guys are so nice and laid back, they just put me at ease. They're our club officers. Less than an hour and it was over.
Of course, instead of going to class or doing boring jobs like the rest of us, those five guys sing and play instruments -- quite well, I might add.
The 7:00 show started at 7:20, so fast that most of us had to rush to our seats. The house lights went down and then there was the strange smell of a Mayday concert: Nothing. Not a whiff of marijuana smoke. They started with "Armed," then "Perfume," not exactly slow songs, but everyone seemed really subdued. More fast songs, more sitting down. When they actually did a slow song, "Goodnight, Earthlings," it felt like everyone was still getting settled. I thought, gee, this is a really good song. Last time, in San Jose, they did all that weird drumming stuff at the beginning and the sound mix got messed up. This time I realized it's one of their best songs. It's like a slowly blooming flower -- but a very manly sort of flower, of course, since Stone wrote it. A majestic rock song, I guess you could call it. Then they went right into "Crazy World," and something about that, well, I only actually cried for a split second or something. So beautiful.
"Masquerade" got some people on their feet but it finally took the rather literal "Leaving the Earth's Surface" to really do the trick. Shame, shame, shame. Well, I did stand up for most of the rest of the concert......
Amazing guitar duet on "I Love You (Hopeless)." A grand "Angel" including this children's chorus thing that I guess was on tape, even though all that song really needs is the melody of the chorus. Couple rock songs and then, lo and behold, "Armstrong." Never heard it live before. But then somehow "John Lennon" rocked even more. Some girl behind me screamed over and over when it started, and the whole place came alive. "I" was a great followup. Ashin may forget his lyrics and sing flat sometimes, but there's nothing wrong with his sense of rhythm.
Then suddenly we were all friends, and there were shout-outs to friends from different places, and they sang "Garbage Truck - Friends Version" nearly a capella, like at church camp or something. Hey, guys, it's even better with the guitars and the violin. Especially the violin.
A perfectly good, traditional arrangement of "Embrace," and then finally the moment some of us had been waiting for: Masa's solo set! He turns out to have a high, sweet voice and did a very nice version of "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton. His solo first verse of "The Most Important Trivial Thing" sounded good, too. In fact, the whole song sounded good, even the totally blown-out anthem part after Masa came down from the piano. It sounded really substantial live, even though the album version is pretty, well, trivial. It's music for soccer moms, yet there I was, standing and pumping my fist. "Peter and Mary" -- though a way better song than "Trivial" -- is the same way. Mayday can make something out of nothing. After all, "Peter and Mary" is a song about a soap opera, and it became the anthem of a generation, as far as I can tell.
Then a seemingly seven-minute "Love-ing," a seemingly 25-minute "Motor Rock"-plus-introductions -- but I'm sure it would have been more interesting if I hadn't forgotten all my Mandarin. "Tenderness" was gorgeous, explosive. Glorious guitar work by Monster as usual. Wouldn't "Fool" be better with the real music instead of so much singing? But then those incredible distorted chords by Stone to kick off "People Life, Ocean Wild."
Oops, time to cheer for the encore. If I weren't nearly falling over from exhaustion already, I guess there'd be no need to ask for one. We got two songs, the first one by Beyond, which was a nice tribute. (Was it in Cantonese? I wasn't even listening for that.) Then "Stubborn," the perfect sequel to "Fool" and a great way to end a concert. If, you know, it has to end at all.
The show clocked in at about two and a half hours, shorter than the usual three. I suspect that had to do with having to clear out the venue by 11 or something. Heaven forbid we should disturb a bunch of USC students curled up in their beds at 11 p.m. That said, we certainly got our money's worth. The stage layout was simple and perfectly proportioned, just the five guys across the front and a few backup musicians behind them, a little elevated stage in back that was only used a couple of times, and high-quality video screens in the corners above them. There was also an wide LED screen right above the stage, which seemed dumb at first because nothing was in focus. But it turned out to be just right, because it wasn't distracting the way a real video screen would have been. Mostly it showed words and abstract animation. (I thought the pictures of Che Guevara and the word "Freedom" during "Motorcycle Diary" showed off the naivete of that song a little too well, but everything else was quite pleasant.) The sound quality was excellent overall, the best of any Mayday show I've seen (the others were the Taipei farewell concert in 2001 and San Jose in 2005), with just a few blips of unintentional feedback here and there.
The costumes were simple and looked good, though there was nothing like the Monkey King outfits from Final Home. Ashin wore his Sgt. Pepper sweatsuit thing, which sounds awful but is actually quite nice. For "Angel" they came out with white jumpsuits and jackets with feathers across their shoulders, which looked especially good on the square-shouldered Masa. Later, Stone had a beautiful green jacket that matched his guitar. Still with the headbands, though. If someone who knows him reads, this can they say something, please?
And most importantly, they really work for it. I think the dream Ashin keeps talking about, what he's really "Stubborn" and a "Fool" about and so on, is moving the audience. He actually cares whether the audience stands and sings along. Just as I think the lads actually enjoy signing autographs for fans, and Masa really meant it when he screamed back at the screaming audience at the end of the show, hands cupped around his mouth, so loud I could hear him without a microphone in the 26th row. These guys are having the time of their lives, and that makes it more enjoyable for everyone.
The full setlist:
Armed
Perfume
My Life
Born to Love
Goodnight, Earthlings
Crazy World
Masquerade
Leaving the Earth's Surface
Let It Out
I Love You (Hopeless)
Angel
Motorcycle Diary
Sun Wu Kong
Armstrong
John Lennon
I
Garbage Truck (Friends Version)
Contentment
Embrace
Wonderful Tonight (by Eric Clapton)
The Most Important Trivial Thing
Another First Love
Love-ing
Loneliness Terminator
Motor Rock
Peter and Mary
Tenderness
Fool
People Life, Ocean Wild
Paradise (by Beyond)
Stubborn