:: the AMPs ::

was at Esplanade recital studio earlier on
for Esplanade Late Night concert
featuring the AMPs (better known as the ang moh pais)
with Eric Ng leading Ngak Ng, Jim Lim and gang
it was a night of feel good, hard rocking music
in a good mix of english and mandarin songs
new remix of covers
as well as some original compositions

it was like a family affair
but maybe due to the friendliness of the them
it felt really cosy
sharing the fun moments and little jokes
the small space made it feel right at home.

Eric started out with in informal intro of the band, and mixing the members up
and he also added that the local music scene is small
and players aren't getting well paid
thus he has to "bao" everything himself.
They were dressed casually
but really good looking
especially lead singer Ngak.

Ngak said at the start tt he was down with flu n sore throat
but would try his best
due to him repeating it many times thru the 1.5 hour gig
even Jim made of of it at certain point.

The band sounded quite tight
but maybe due to the public's expectation of them being the group which brought us
881 and 12 lotus
the reception to thier new compositions and covers of English songs
was rather cold.
it was during the band's performance of songs Eric and Jim writes for others
(like Jolin's Yi Ge Ren, A*Mei's Wo Yao Kuai Le and Ren Zhi)
that the audience was more willing to applaud.
their more famous works which resonated amongst the crowd would have to be the songs
found in the two Royston Tan movies' soundtracks.
Royston was also in the house to watch.

at the end of the main show
after credits have been done
Jim reminded everyone to ask for an encore
thus the audience obliged.

the rather calm crowd was sure glad that there was an encore
if not the 1 hour show would have appear a tad short
and was the encore the ultimate highlight of the whole show

Jim appeared to be excited about the encore
because he wanted to give a great rendition of a song which completes every AMP performance
that is "Bu Zhi De (not worth it)"
a song made famous by the group Dreamz FM which he was once part of.
Eric joked repeatedly that Jim was once a member of a boy band
and is ready to prove he is a talent
not a "has-been".
to pump it up, Jim asked the two ex-dreamz fm buddies
Ric Low and Cavin Soh on stage to sing with him
as it is a rare occasion, since they specially took time out for this gig.

the final two songs really brought the house down.
an unfamiliar intro kicked off the first song
which turned out to be "yi ren yi ban (half each)"
the song that made introduced AMPs to everyone
But this rock version of yi ren yi ban was really fun to listen to
and what could be more fitting
that a hyped up rendition of "Yi Bai Wan" to bring a wonderful
homely show to a rousing finish.

great job AMPs!
oh ya, the concert was being recorded for a release later next year
and as Eric said
AMPs are meant for greater things than just 2 OSTs
this gig at Esplanade was sold out,
a first for a local indie group
more importantly
the group has yet to have a album to its name
and yet could have attained such a result was a great compliment.
credits also goes to their good friend Xiao Han who was also in the front row
being the wonderful lyricist bring many of their music entries to life.