It was inexplicable, that strange concoction of delirium, excitement, nostalgia and desire that brewed in my heart. It was the familiarity that stung, the faces which I knew and the vibrant personalities I so fondly loved.
The whole concert, while truly amazing, is of course tinged with pain from the scar that might not have healed. While it was enjoyable, as my memories are, they came with a certain sense of hurt I wish I could ignore. The thoughts of actually being part of those on stage certainly did appear, and it made being an audience even more difficult. But nevertheless, this pain did not undermine the blast I experienced from the concert. In fact, it is this pain that made the whole experience even more impactful. The joy that came with the pain in familiarity – it’s what memories are about, and what makes people hold them dear.
Speaking of which, this band has indeed improve remarkably after where my memories ended. Looks like what Fary says about exponential improvement is afterall true in this band. To be honest, I was tad disappointed with the first MUSE held at the Esplanade. While technically, it was sound, it just didn’t have the ACS touch to the music played. It lacked spirit and passion in expression, of which made ACS bands truly a class and genre by itself.
What really defines an ACS band is not it’s technicalities, or it’s penchant in choosing the most unique pieces – those, many other bands are capable too – it is a certain spirit in it’s music that actually bores right through our hearts. It is not so much the amounts of running notes, or the high notes the brasses hit, but more on what the music says and what the band wants to say. An ACS band is a band which does not so much focus on playing without mistakes, but rather, on playing with spirit. Because it is this spirit that manifests into the sound they produce, the distinct euphony of an ACS sound. Even with mistakes, and slips, because of this ACS sound, which is so filled with passion and emotions, people leave the performance feeling touched, like they had been part of the music themselves. That, I felt it in this performance, finally.
Music is a magical experience, it is one of those mediums that bears no hindrance of boundaries. It is not physical, and speaks to people like no other tongues can. What differentiates sound from music, wonderful bands from not-so-wonderful ones is really the ability to sync the hearts of the audiences to the band, and feel and think on common paradigm. That is something today’s performance has blessed me with, notably, “Les Miserables.” To have been able to witness that spectacular performance left me profoundly speechless. My hair, of course, stood on their ends. It is the kind of performance that only an ACS band is capable of – and I’m not talking about the technicalities – it is that inexplicable oomph and kazaam which leaves us feeling speechless but impacted. It is certainly not delicate, but overwhelming, and stirs up all the bottled emotions in you. Besides, technically, it was quite a aural feast as well, the alumni band has an extremely open band sound that was very remarkable, not to mention impeccable cleanliness. But if you move on from those, and dwell deeper beneath those aspects, you find a distinct, unique sound that speaks of so much conviction which you cannot fathom from where does it come. That was what made the performance magical, and of course, their emotional utilization of dynamics too. I do not care for technical perfection, because those are but sounds played correctly, I care for music, the manifestation of the muse.
That was the kind of performance many bands are unable achieve, despite their reputation to be the best bands around. They’re too delicate, technical and too tamed. It feels like they’re locking the muse within them and feeding only their spirits to create a technical masterpiece, redirecting those energy instead to hitting a robot-like accuracy to their sound.
Of course, my views may be biased, due to the fact I such an ardent Romanticist. That I implore music to be more of epiphany over euphony, with ideas of the Romantic rather than Classical or Baroque, which so purely pursued the beauty of sounds. So I do admit my opinions are flawed, but nevertheless, what makes a piece of music impactful is really, how it made you feel. Being impressed only lasts so long on a person, being touched, moved and inspired – that’s everlasting.
And those were what the performances left me with.
Of course, I cannot deny that there were certain parts of the concert that I did not exactly enjoy, and as much as I emphasize on feeling over technicalities, the artiste does require a certain level of technical proficiency before being able to effectively express those feelings. Therefore, it is inevitable to scrutinize some of the performances because the technicalities hindered the audiences in receiving the intended expression of the performers.
Nevertheless, this is truly one of the best concerts I ever attended. Of course, I am saying that not based on the concert itself, but by the influences of my memories, experiences and all. It was beyond the performances, and it was emotional. It may be another good concert by a good band to the many other audiences of the public, or maybe not good, I don’t know. But to me, the experience itself delighted me, as much as it brought back much pain, it gave me catharsis.
That while my flesh may never be with this band, my heart always is.
After the whole concert ended, I left feeling inspired again, while reminiscing on those memories I do not know whether to call happy or painful. Because it is as pleasurable as it hurt to think of them. Sitting by the river of Singapore outside the Esplanade, I couldn’t help myself but let those fluid escape from those corners of my eyes, before curling up into a shameful sob. Again I say – the dream, while it lasted, was the best time of my life. I was not crying because I was sad, I was crying because… I don’t know, I just felt like it, like it was the right thing to do.
I still want it all, really, really badly.
