Namewee fulfils dream with 'super powerful' concert in KL
Saturday, 04 Jan 202012:00 PM MYT
THE STAR
By SETO KIT YAN
Namewee’s 4896 Final Call World Tour in Kuala Lumpur concert at Axiata Arena was the stuff of legends.
Namewee’s 4896 Final Call World Tour in Kuala Lumpur concert at Axiata Arena was the stuff of legends, a story that will remain the talk of the town for a long time to come.
The fate of the countdown concert was the subject of much buzz all over the internet for the two final weeks of 2019, following its ‘cancellation’ by prominent local concert organiser Star Planet in addition to having all three performing permits (PDRM, DBKL, PUSPAL) revoked.
The Muar-born musician-cum-filmmaker, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, dubbed his world tour concert 4896, which sounds like the Hokkien slang term meaning super powerful.
And super powerful is exactly how one would describe Namewee’s friends and supporters as they all joined forces to help Namewee put together the concert of his dreams in less than two weeks’ time.
His show featured an interesting list of guest performers who had previously collaborated with him on his music and movie projects – Meu Ninomiya, Karen Kong, The Real Masta Clan, 5forty2, Fara Dolhadi as well as his parents.
The controversial entertainer and his guests delivered some 30 songs in the three-hour-long show, singing in several languages including Mandarin, English, Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese.
Namewee made his entrance with a flurry of fiery beats and ferocious rapping
Making his entrance in a super-sized stripey top, Namewee launched into a flurry of fiery beats and ferocious rapping with 4896 (his concert theme), We Are Gangster (theme from his movie Hantu Gangster), Wake Up (from his 2017 album Crossover Asia).
His passionate fans were so excited that they started singing along. Among the 10,000-strong crowd were overseas fans who flew in from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
His only international guest performer for the night was Japanese actress-singer Meu Ninomiya, whom he collaborated on Tokyo Bon 2020 (also known as Makudonarudo) from his 2018 album All Eat Asia, a catchy jingle which has 71 million views on his Youtube channel alone.
Malaysian singer-actress Karen Kong also dueted with him during the concert.
His good friend, Malaysian singer-actress Karen Kong who starred in his 2011 directorial debut film Nasi Lemak 2.0 also sang a duet with him on the movie's themes Curry Neh and Rasa Sayang 2.0.
With local singer Fara Dolhadi (Good Morning, 2018), he sang his most popular hit Stranger In The North (171 million views on his Youtube) and his most challenging song High Pitch Together.
And of course, the most heartwarming segment of the night was when he brought his mother Ong Kwang Fang and his father Wee Ann Hee on stage as performing guests. His parents were elated to sing for his adoring fanbase and expressed their heartfelt thanks to fans who supported their son throughout the years.
Namewee with his mother Ong Kwang Fang and his father Wee Ann Hee.
But for me, the most surreal moment of the night, for me, at least) was when Namewee loudly expressed his gratitude to StarLifestyle for the article I wrote about his show. I was so surprised that I almost jumped out of my seat. Not many people say thank you these days; even fewer say it as loud as Namewee does.
What fans saw on stage was a funny guy with quirky eyewear and colourful costumes who sang his heart out and kept his audience in stitches with his witty remarks and daring jokes.
But, what went on behind the scenes backstage must have been quite a harrowing affair.
His fellow Youtube friends revealed that it was the first time they saw him surrounded by four to five bodyguards.
For concertgoers, security was extremely tight with stringent bag searches and full-body scans before admission into the venue.
He revealed at the very last minute on his social media accounts that he managed to obtain the three performance permits (from PDRM, DBKL, PUSPAL) in the nick of time, just three hours before his concert was scheduled to begin.
Namewee later divulged in another post after the show that a group of VIPs, industry leaders, and influential businessman decided to band together to lend him their support and help to cut the red tape and push through with the paperwork. And they were led by none other than the nation’s Olympic hero Datuk Lee Chong Wei.
The 36-year-old artiste also joked to the packed hall that after he said he needed to take out a loan to continue with his concert, many loan sharks had called up to offer to lend him money so that he could carry on with his show!
Namewee managed to sell out his 10,000-seater concert in 9 days.
It is the first time that anyone has attempted to organise a concert this big in less than two weeks, re-apply for all three permits and still manage to sell out all tickets to fill a 10,000-seater venue and garner the support of sponsors at the same time.
It was a most Inspiring concert that ended on a high note, for thousands of concertgoers and many more who rallied around Namewee as he pulled out all the stops to fulfill his dream concert, a seemingly impossible dream that took a decade in the making.
Here’s wishing that everyone will be inspired to achieve their own impossible dream and find similar success in year 2020!
The concert ended on a high note with Namewee bringing all his guests for a song.
By SETO KIT YAN
Namewee’s 4896 Final Call World Tour in Kuala Lumpur concert at Axiata Arena was the stuff of legends.
Namewee’s 4896 Final Call World Tour in Kuala Lumpur concert at Axiata Arena was the stuff of legends, a story that will remain the talk of the town for a long time to come.
The fate of the countdown concert was the subject of much buzz all over the internet for the two final weeks of 2019, following its ‘cancellation’ by prominent local concert organiser Star Planet in addition to having all three performing permits (PDRM, DBKL, PUSPAL) revoked.
The Muar-born musician-cum-filmmaker, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, dubbed his world tour concert 4896, which sounds like the Hokkien slang term meaning super powerful.
And super powerful is exactly how one would describe Namewee’s friends and supporters as they all joined forces to help Namewee put together the concert of his dreams in less than two weeks’ time.
His show featured an interesting list of guest performers who had previously collaborated with him on his music and movie projects – Meu Ninomiya, Karen Kong, The Real Masta Clan, 5forty2, Fara Dolhadi as well as his parents.
The controversial entertainer and his guests delivered some 30 songs in the three-hour-long show, singing in several languages including Mandarin, English, Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese.
Namewee made his entrance with a flurry of fiery beats and ferocious rappingMaking his entrance in a super-sized stripey top, Namewee launched into a flurry of fiery beats and ferocious rapping with 4896 (his concert theme), We Are Gangster (theme from his movie Hantu Gangster), Wake Up (from his 2017 album Crossover Asia).
His passionate fans were so excited that they started singing along. Among the 10,000-strong crowd were overseas fans who flew in from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
His only international guest performer for the night was Japanese actress-singer Meu Ninomiya, whom he collaborated on Tokyo Bon 2020 (also known as Makudonarudo) from his 2018 album All Eat Asia, a catchy jingle which has 71 million views on his Youtube channel alone.
Malaysian singer-actress Karen Kong also dueted with him during the concert.His good friend, Malaysian singer-actress Karen Kong who starred in his 2011 directorial debut film Nasi Lemak 2.0 also sang a duet with him on the movie's themes Curry Neh and Rasa Sayang 2.0.
With local singer Fara Dolhadi (Good Morning, 2018), he sang his most popular hit Stranger In The North (171 million views on his Youtube) and his most challenging song High Pitch Together.
And of course, the most heartwarming segment of the night was when he brought his mother Ong Kwang Fang and his father Wee Ann Hee on stage as performing guests. His parents were elated to sing for his adoring fanbase and expressed their heartfelt thanks to fans who supported their son throughout the years.
Namewee with his mother Ong Kwang Fang and his father Wee Ann Hee.But for me, the most surreal moment of the night, for me, at least) was when Namewee loudly expressed his gratitude to StarLifestyle for the article I wrote about his show. I was so surprised that I almost jumped out of my seat. Not many people say thank you these days; even fewer say it as loud as Namewee does.
What fans saw on stage was a funny guy with quirky eyewear and colourful costumes who sang his heart out and kept his audience in stitches with his witty remarks and daring jokes.
But, what went on behind the scenes backstage must have been quite a harrowing affair.
His fellow Youtube friends revealed that it was the first time they saw him surrounded by four to five bodyguards.
For concertgoers, security was extremely tight with stringent bag searches and full-body scans before admission into the venue.
He revealed at the very last minute on his social media accounts that he managed to obtain the three performance permits (from PDRM, DBKL, PUSPAL) in the nick of time, just three hours before his concert was scheduled to begin.
Namewee later divulged in another post after the show that a group of VIPs, industry leaders, and influential businessman decided to band together to lend him their support and help to cut the red tape and push through with the paperwork. And they were led by none other than the nation’s Olympic hero Datuk Lee Chong Wei.
The 36-year-old artiste also joked to the packed hall that after he said he needed to take out a loan to continue with his concert, many loan sharks had called up to offer to lend him money so that he could carry on with his show!
Namewee managed to sell out his 10,000-seater concert in 9 days.It is the first time that anyone has attempted to organise a concert this big in less than two weeks, re-apply for all three permits and still manage to sell out all tickets to fill a 10,000-seater venue and garner the support of sponsors at the same time.
It was a most Inspiring concert that ended on a high note, for thousands of concertgoers and many more who rallied around Namewee as he pulled out all the stops to fulfill his dream concert, a seemingly impossible dream that took a decade in the making.
Here’s wishing that everyone will be inspired to achieve their own impossible dream and find similar success in year 2020!
The concert ended on a high note with Namewee bringing all his guests for a song.
