Welcome to the Brotherhood: SJS Concert 2006

A month or so ago, I gave my review of the Teresian Concert, and some side comments. Today, I'll give you my review of our school's Concert. Along with plenty of pictures.

First off, I'd like to say, with RM30 tickets, you get bad seats at the side, where you'll miss seeing the other side of the performance, as reflected by the photos that you'll see at the end of this review.

So, to begin, the concert started off with your usual speeches, and some ceremonial sine qua non such as presenting a brand new euphonium for the band. Then the SJS Band kicked it off with 'Saving Metroville' and 'The Incredits'. I must point out, however, that a frightfully ugly note was audibly heard, and I found it much worse than hearing errors at the St 3 Concert. So, I docked 0.5 points off my review because of this, but that aside, the entire piece was performed excellently. After that came Part I of the performance, and the band played some jazzy pieces by the Brass and Wind Ensemble. I think David himself did about three solos throughout the performance; this one being his first solo for the night.

Oddly enough, despite being Part II of the night's performance, the D'Artes Ensemble, comprised of ex-Josephians played after the B&W Ensemble. Very enjoyable, since personally, this is my first live strings performance. And I thoroughly enjoyed that. Later, we had guest artistes performing, rather like the Band Idol last year, also by ex-Josephians. This one's by Yap Ling and his wife Grace Lee, and together, they treated us to a marvellous piano and violin duo. Joel would love seeing Mr. Yap Ling's handling of the violin. In my opinion, Mr. Yap Ling plays the violin just like Mr. Joe Satriani on electric guitar: which, in other words, is absolutely enthralling. The husband and wife played for us 4 pieces, but I particularly enjoyed 'Haffner'. After that, they wrapped it up with 'Reflection', from 'Mulan'. For this number, the vocals was provided by Teresa Chan, along with a ballet by Iris Liew. I have to agree with Ronnie, who was sitting on my left, that the vocals wasn't that all great. Part I ended with a 15-minute interval, and I left to stretch my legs.

Part II began with the SJS Band taking it off with 'The Muppet Show Theme'. Here I echo the same comment by Ronnie, that this is my first time hearing that theme. Oh, after that, came a vocal performance by Mr. Michael Toh, singing the late Teresa Teng's 'Tian Mi Mi'. The audience loves it whenever a teacher sings, and Mr. Michael gave us a good number. Then the band performed an Italian Folk Song Medley, no doubt inspired by their trip to Italy two years' back. Then came a performance by our teachers' children, with musical accompaniment by the band. Probably the best part of that particular performance was 'Old MacDonalds'. Fantastic stuff, and plenty of people got up to wave along during the encore. Later, the band played Paul McCartney and Wings' 'My Love', as the penultimate piece to the night's performance.

For the Grand Finale, the SJS Band played for us a very energetic piece by the Beatles, 'Can't Buy Me Love'. After that, just like any other school concert, they closed it off with our school rally, 'Sons of St. Joseph'. Altogether, it was beyond words to describe, but I've tried my best for this one. Despite the ticket costing RM10 extra than the St3 Concert, I must say, every sen was well worth it, as the band delivered a spectacular performance with panache. As David said on Friday, "...four times the value!"

Notably, the background of the stage was pretty plain, with 'Josephians in Concert' being the only words decorating it, unlike the St3 Concert, with more stuff to read. But it's not the lack of words that matter, because, ironically, I must say in this case: It was a truly spectacular evening of music and dance!

That concludes my review of the SJS Concert '06. My final rating for this, after all things considered, and impartiality added: 9.2/10. That said, here are the photos. And since this is a concert, a picture this time can't be worth 1000 words, since music cannot be recorded in a photo, but this'll suffice. Just like the St3 Concert, I'll put up a poll so that you guys can vote on the concert.