Concert Review: Up-Close With David Tao

Getting Into His Grove

Singapore welcomed David Tao back, like an old family friend who never left.  Getting his groove back after his last concert here in 2010, David Tao returned to Singapore Indoor Stadium with his Up-Close concert on 9 June 2018.  Sporting a refreshing clean-cut hairstyle, David Tao energized the 8,000 strong crowd first with a rock section and invited everyone to Runaway with him.

The multi-talented David Tao has obviously prepared well for this concert and impressed with his versatile vocals and stamina for almost two hours.  The audience cannot help but sing along to favourite songs such as Just a Friend, Airport in 10:30, Who Do You Love?, Everything’s Gone, Black Tangerine.

Showing how comfortable he is with the Singaporean fans, just like the old family friend David bantered with audience with a mixture of singlish, Taiwanese and his American-accented english.  At one point, David announced into his microphone that it was “very smokey, cannot see”, likely due to an over-enthusiastic smoke machine coming off the right side of the stage, and requested the stage technician to turn it down before he loses his voice too.

Being a supportive veteran, David gave local acapella group MICappella the stage at the midway point, and sang Our Story with them.  The audience was roused to expectations when David hinted that he was touched by a special guest in the audience, only to reveal that it was that was JJ Lin’s mother.  He thanked JJ’s mom for bringing him soup and fried bee hoon, to laughter from the audience.

David premiered the poignant Mars Baby, a song personally close to his heart, which he hopes to bring everyone “positive energy” when faced with life’s tribulations.

Night Safari Moment

My favourite part of the roller-coaster evening was during the funk medley, where the beats from Chinese Lady got me moving, and he got everyone to sing along with Shanghaied.   Finally getting to his theme of the night, David got Up-Close with audience in front by coming off the stage to mingle while singing Close To You. Fans got to shake his hand, and take selfies.  After he got back to stage, David said he felt like he was at the Singapore Night Safari, obviously feeling somewhat violated by the physical contact.  One fan had apparently bumped David’s mic against his teeth during an over-enthusiastic hug, causing him to suggest that had his teeth broken, he wouldn’t be able to continue the concert.

With only two simple costume changes, both chosen more for comfort during the high-energy performance, David Tao proved that one can deliver an entertaining concert with stage presence, great songs and great vibes.

The concert certainly brought back fond memories for many of David Tao’s fans, judging from the crowd responses. David promised that his next performance in Singapore will be sooner. Up-Close With David Tao’s Singapore concert was organized by Universal Music Singapore, sponsored by Singtel Music and Samsung.

Songs that night:

1. Runaway
2. Small Town Girl (小镇姑娘)
3. Bastard (王八蛋)
4. Susan Said (苏三说)
5. Moon Over My Heart (月亮代表谁的心)
6. Just A Friend (普通朋友)
7. Airport At 10:30 (飞机场的10：30)
8. Black Tuesday (黑色星期二)
9. Black Tangerine (黑色柳丁)
10. Spring Wind (望春风) + My Anata + I Feel Good
11. Our Story (Feat. MICappella) (我们的故事)
12. Zhong Yu Neng Hui Jia (Feat. MICAppella) (终于能回家)
13. Funk Medley – Chinese Lady (中国姑娘) + Let’s Fall In Love (讨厌红楼梦) + Shanghaied (今天没回家)
14. Mars Baby
15. Marry Me Today (今天你要嫁给我)
16. Who Do You Love? (爱我还是他)
17. Everything’s Gone (流沙)
18. Close To You (天天)
19. Love Can (就是爱你)

Encore

20. Rain (找自己)
21. I Love You (爱很简单)