Asian idols F4 a disappointment in concert

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.