How does it feel to finally meet a long-lost friend from your youth? For sure, it would undeniably be a sweet and memorable one. That’s how my wife and I had felt when we recently went to the Westlife concert at the Axiata Arena Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.
The concert, part of the
‘Wild Dreams’ tour, was held two nights in a row. We attended the second one from
last Friday night (or was it Saturday night? I could never get the concept
right), and it was definitely a moment to remember. The KL traffic was brutal
that day, yet we persevered till we reached the venue, and made our hasty steps
from the parking lot to the venue, with the Westlife playlist playing inside
our head, rent free.
We actually arrived there earlier
than expected, yet we had to queue behind a big ocean of people. Honestly
speaking, we thought the visitors would be among those from between the Late
Gen Xers to the Young Millennials (or Xennials, but the label’s deemed as
scandalous and debatable). Surprisingly, there were a lot of youths, so young
that I wondered if they first knew about Westlife while lying in their cradle.
Anyway, we had almost an
hour to spare, of which the fans totally utilised the time singing to a lot of multigenerational
popular songs being played at the indoor venue (My fav was Everybody Wants to
Rule the World). It was already a concert on its own.
Then, they came. It was a
soft start with a fine montage display, together with the slow instrumental
version of their hits, and the crowd was joining the momentum by becoming more excited
and restless. With the escalating mood and lights and special effects, Shane,
Mark, Kian and Nicky finally made their presence on stage. The crowd was
cheering and singing along to their first performance, Starlight, while the
fans were shouting excitedly when the two big screens were showcasing the
members for the first time. The group looked genuinely happy to see their
Malaysian fans too, and that brought passionate cheers from the crowd.
The night was filled with
their greatest hits. Uptown Girl was of pure energy, My Love triggered memories
of youthful love from their (Correction: our) generation, and If I Let You Go
evoked the what-could-have-been moments when you were young.
What’s more rewarding that
night is that the band was really showing their appreciation of their Malaysian
fans, as they interacted with the crowd a lot between songs. Shane pointed at a
baby from the audience, with the display focusing on the youngest spectator of
the night, being clueless and all. They also acknowledged and made jokes on
them being older and with kids, together with the fanbase, thus the noticeable lack
of energy of both as compared to two decades ago. They
also funnily made remarks on the lack of fans at the KLIA for their recent
arrival, as opposed to what it was when they came for the first time in 1999,
much to the amusement and laughter from the crowd.
The concert ended well, not
without them making their last group pose on the stage before making their
exit, leaving the crowd fully satisfied. Or perhaps, there was an inner wish by
the fans for the night to be a little bit longer, before returning to being
adults with responsibilities waiting at home and the workplace.
I guess there were mostly
true fans who came there that night, as they disregarded all the miniscule
shortcomings of the event, but rather appreciate the rich and interactive experience
of being transported to when life was positively simpler and brighter. To sum
up, the concert was ‘More than Words’ could say (pun intended).
Hope there will be a next
tour soon. And Shane, if you’re reading this, we promise we’ll be at the KLIA
next time. Be seeing all four of you. Or five, hopefully.
Nazreen
- We had Joy. We had Fun -
