Watching a concert is a good live-in-the-moment experience. In the concerts, you are in a different place, and forget about a lot of troubling happenings in the world, or stress at work, or other hardship. You got into the theatre, you waited as a collective unit for the star to show, you clapped, sang, or screamed collectively. The audience came alive as an entity.
Last October, we went to Napa, California to watch Christopher Cross in the uptown theatre. It brought back childhood memories of how we listened and discovered our favorite songs, and how much the world has changed since. We carried the theme of childhood reminiscence into 2024.
Valentine’s day this year was a few days after Lunar New Year. On Valentine’s day, we caught the Air Supply concert at the San Jose Civic center. There was nothing more fitting to watch their concerts on Valentine’s day. Their songs literally created love in the air. The songs in their 1980 “Lost in Love” album and the 1981 “The one that you love” showcase their talents at the peak. At one time, I remembered the lyrics of almost each song. Several decades later, the duos are still at it, still passionate at singing in concerts every week at different venues. I can no longer remember the lyrics as well as before.
We continued the ageless concert theme during the President’s long weekend a few days later. We went to watch the Wynners, from Hong Kong, at the Reno event center with a friend. We watched Sam Hui last May at the Reno event center. If you were in Hong Kong in the 70s, it was impossible not to have heard of the Wynners, just as every HongKongers grew up with the songs of Sam Hui in that era. The Wynners, made up of Ah B, Alan, Chan Yau, Ah Kiang, Ah Jian, was the most popular boy bands of the era. The five members never broke up even when they went solo over the years. Ah B, Alan and Ah Jian went solo with great successes. Chan Yau, the drummer, went to film production. Ah Kiang, the most quiet member, immigrated and kept a low profile. For one night at the Reno Center, they were together again. They sang and danced. They were energetic in their 70s. They looked happy, healthy and united. I was particularly impressed with the solo of Chan Yau and Ah B. Alan Tam was the most popular of them all in the 90s. Alan seemed to have grown so much in width and in depth. Maybe he just enjoyed food and enjoyed life with all the money earned. We had a great time as their songs transported us from our childhood to the present. Ah B seemed to still be at it, while others looked more settled into other things in life. It was a good show!
It took us almost eight hours to drive from Reno to the Bay Area due to the heavy snow and rain. The concert was worth the hassle.
In a nostalgic way, it could be the last time they would show up together in the US to present a concert. Check out our Wynners 2024 Reno Sound Track on YouTube.
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