Asian idols F4 a disappointment in concert

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The voices veered off tune whenever the lip-synching stopped. The dance moves were unsmooth, the series of costumes ridiculous and communication with the audience was limited to "I love yous" and "Thank yous".

However, Taiwan boyband F4 is not to blame for many of the failings that left one wondering whether the two shows here this weekend actually qualified as proper music concerts (a laser show, dancers and screens spread across the venue do not compensate for a lack of a good voice and a stage act).

Blame the record company, Sony Music, for handing the boys a three-album deal even though the foursome are not singers and dancers.

Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu and Ken Zhu were just four young actors in their early 20s who skyrocketed to stardom after Meteor Garden, the TV series they star in, became an Asia-wide phenomenon.

Even their acting is mediocre, although as a soap opera Meteor Garden, the second season of which began last November, is surprisingly enjoyable and well made.

Blame the industry for constantly accommodating bubble-gum pop groups who rely on their looks -- in this case long fluffy hair and great bodies.

And you can probably blame the local audiences, who were willing to swallow the garbage and even paid Rp 200,000 to Rp 2 million for the pleasure.

Amazingly, nearly 70,000 people packed the humongous Jakarta Fairground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, for the first of the shows on Friday night. Everyone was so hysterical and devoted to the group that if F4 asked them to protest against the One China Policy, they probably would have gone out and started painting posters.

We had Puan Maharani, daughter of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, in the audience, along with a retinue of presidential security guards.

We also had 16-year-old Mariati, who came all the way from Bekasi and was at the venue at 11 a.m., almost nine hours before the show, because "I'm afraid to be late".

A mother brought her family all the way from a village in Central Java, only to pass out half-way through the concert from fatigue, though she still had a smile of satisfaction on her face.

In that sense, it was indeed phenomenal that a pop group could attract such a massive audience, most of whom could not understand a word the band was singing, being in Mandarin.

Regarding this phenomena, some experts have concluded that F4 represents the "rise of Asia", with Asians growing tired of Western idols.

It is sad, though, that the rise of Asia has to be so superficial. F4, and the public relations machine and all the hype surrounding them, is really only a copy of all the Western boybands that have come before.

This was succinctly summed up when Vanness Wu danced and sang Like I Love You, a song by Justin Timberlake, a member of American boyband 'NSync.

Unfortunately, he could not even sing it right.