Taipei concerts postnotes

Not many pixs of DT Taipei concerts but here's a nice one with Liz, model in his VW Eos vcd. They pretended to be lovers but later explained it was only rumors as Liz aleady has bf.
Here he is surrounded by 6 dancing beauties haha vry cheeky of him as kinda using the paparazzi love of secretly taking pixs of him with 'rumored gf' Now he has 6 *__*
He also specially designed a 'No Paparazzi" cap for his concert merchandise -- not many but vry classy & well-designed. Scroll down & see 1000 David dolls still available heehee guess not vry good merchandising idea as it is his voice we want not his body. But the cap is nice, really want that, guess he is really mad at the loss of his privacy. In fact before the concert he hardly ventured out of his new residence in Taipei. Even gave up dining with his friends as paparazzi kept following him. When he is hungry, he cooked a simple meal for himself avoiding starch.
Vry simple staging. He avoided the use of fireworks & as usual relied on purely music to entertain. The audience on 1st nite was too 'refined' according to DT & he asked was it cos he did not sing well. The 2nd nite was better I believe.
He got a bit emotional on the 1st nite while singing Dear God as he said the world is too chaotic. He always gets emotional singing Dear God but then I get emotional too listening to it. Dear DT, even if others don't get it, many of yr fans appreciate yr efforts to educate us abt the ways of the world. Critics always said he is too preachy like its a bad thing. He is not trying to preach to us but to let us know there is an alternative way to live & I don't think that is a bad thing at all. I love you, respect you, commend you for never giving up on passing that message to us no matter what. You are the truest, most sincere singer I ever have the grace to know so don't give up on that no matter what.
Posing with his beloved guitar during rehearsal. More complete rundown of concerts later but most wonderful was he sang medley of 7 songs he wrote for others including LA Boyz's Kingston Man's Dream & Ronald Cheng's Thinking of your love. Below vid can hear him singing some of it & I almost died from happiness. Even though I cannot listen to it live but I am satisfied to hear him sing Kingston Man's Dream at last.

Vid links credit to Tao Mi Tian Tan who also posted 2 absolutely enjoyable clips of the concert singing Let's Fall in Love & Susan says. Apparently he sang I'm Free on 10/27 & VW website in TW has been updated with the song & Eos cm -- vry nice, very classy as with all his commercial ventures. Loving this song more & more, his freestyling voice just incredibly soothing. The cm has been released but he is almost invisible in it ^__^

123 Taipei Concert!

Good luck & best wishes to DT. Hope you will set off a million tempest tonight with your wings of desire & chariot of fire.
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
(William Blake's New Jerusalem)

1 day to TP concerts

Just posting a few vids on the eve of his TP concerts.
Big John photo shoot
Power of Live promo
(Vid links credit & thanks to DTFC)
He was just so gorgeous in the photo shoot with his model poses ^__^ Hope to see them soon. Apparently he is wearing a face mask all the time as he is terrified of catching a cold & losing his voice >"< I too am getting nervous as always when he has concert. Dear DT, sending you all my love & best wishes. You are always in yr element on stage so don't let anything get you down. One of the most enduring images of his concerts is DT hugging his guitar. Not often in Asia do you find a singer, unless he is part of a band, who played the guitar so often in his concerts. Most audience look forward to his unplugged section where its only his voice with the backing of guitars. Guitar is most definitely DT, he uses it to compose, he has quite a good collection which he cherished. Also just watch the way he handles a guitar with respect. Here's one of the earliest pixs I have of him with a guitar:

2 days to TP concert

Here he looked sulkily beautiful in Big John jeans ad. I love it when he wears checked shirt. He wore 10 pairs of jeans for the photo shoot but said that he would normally wear jeans without washing. This drove his mom crazy so he agreed to wash them once every 3 or 4 mths.
The electric guitar is his, maybe get to see it onstage this Fri or Sat *excited* For sure he will rock the little egg & maybe crack it ^__^
Power of Live already on pre-order @ Yesasia:
David Tao sends fans his "Power Of Live"
Ever since the gifted Taiwanese singer-songwriter released his debut solo album in 1997, the Chinese music world has paid much attention to the works linked to his name. Often referred to as the Godfather of Chinese R&B, Tao has put music lovers under his spell with his unique style of soulful songs mixed with all kinds of other music elements. He is also known for his passionate on stage performances. This two-disc combo presents a live cut from his 2003 Soul Power gig in Taipei including songs like "Evening Sonata" (CD - Track 9), Over The Rainbow, and Melody. The 2007 Volkswagen EOS series CM tune Free has also been included as a bonus track. As for the POWER OF LIVE DVD, it features an 80-minute compilation of choice songs performed by David Tao from 2003 to 2007.
I have no idea what the Evening Sonata song is abt. Anyway it sounds great, hope can get it soon. News report said that this yr David earned close to 1 million NT from concerts, endorsements & live performances making him one of the big money-earners in EMI. So far he has 25 live concert performances in China & I believe there is another one coming up in Nov. Really hope he is able to fulfill his dream of directing a movie nxt yr.

3 days to TP concerts

Caught a news snippet of DT trying on his new concert outfits. He looks really good, slim, fit & vry dashing. One of the outfits is black/white zigzag shirt & a little bit like Jay's cowboy outfit without the silly hat of cos. They told him abt it & he went "hee haw!" ^__^ It was quite funny. Apparently he invited Liz the eurasian model who is featured in his VW mv to appear onstage with him in the concerts but not to sing Marry me today I hope *sigh* Although rather squeamish abt his inordinate fondness for nubile girls young enough to be his daughter, still its his life & image *shrug* He has also been photographed for his jeans ads & apparently his legs are perfectly long for wearing jeans. The ads will not only be seen in magazines but on the sides of buses in TW as well. Wow, hope someone will take some pixs so we can all enjoy Daddy Long Legs hee haw!

5 days to TP concerts

Quite a scary promo pic as he is wearing a lot of makeup including dark mauve lip color *shiver* Although I do understand his eagerness to strip cos he is already 38 & probably his last opportunity to show off his fit torso. Something for himself & his fans to cherish in yrs to come. Tracklist of Power of Live courtesy of TW Yahoo Grp:
Power of Live DVD
2003 Soul Power - Taipei
1. Black Tangerine
2. Rain
3. Bastard
4. Airport in 10.30
5. Everything's Gone
6. Blue Moon & Over the Rainbow
7. Melody
8. Kung Pao Chicken
9. I love you & 晚安曲
2006 Love Can - Taipei
10. Love Can
11. My Anata
2007 123 We are wooden men - Shanghai
12. Regular Friends & Ghost Overture
David Tao Power of Live 訪談實錄
Power of Live CD
1. Rain Overture
2. Bastard
3. Airport in 10.30
4. Everything's gone
5. Black Tangerine
6. Blue Moon & Over the Rainbow
7. Melody
8. Kung Pao Chicken
9. I love you & 晚安曲
10. Regular Friends
11. Free (VW Eos 2007 CM song)
Sry to post a forbidden stolen pix but if there is one good thing abt paparazzi is the pixs where he is caught unaware. I like them better than when he is posing. He usually looks softer & a bit vulnerable with his guard down. There's a girl next to DT which I cropped. She is a 23 yr old model called Liz who will be featured in the VW Eos vcd which will be shown in the TP concerts. David met her with a group of other ppl to discuss the filming & of cos now they are rumored to be in lurve *sigh* I don't know but all I can say is the man who wrote Free doesn't sound like a man embroiled in a clandestine love affair. Maybe it takes one lonely soul to recognise another but he sounds like someone embarking on a lone journey for salvation perhaps. No time for love *__*

6 days to TP concerts

Its extremely scary >"< Has the chinese music world gone absolutely bonkers? First, we have Jay taking on the Village People singlehandedly. Wonder which image he will go for next? I'm tossed between the chief or the miner but the miner wins easily. The helmet, the sunnies, the sleeveless vest, how can he resist ^__^
Now we have David going topless & changing himself into a huge, extremely creepy icky purple butterfly AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *sigh*
Actually just joking haha cos he looks amazingly fit & as the adage goes "If you have it, flaunt it!" :P This is for the cover of Power of Live cd/dvd which will contain footage of his 2003 Soul Power concert in Taipei. David said this is his most memorable concert with 400000 attendance record. He felt that to have such a concert in his life is enough & he wants to let his fans revisit the memories as well as let them see how he has grown & developed. I believe he is also fulfilling his promises to his TW fans that he will release live TP concert dvd & expose his marvellous chest *__*
The cover concept is also his idea. His inspiration came from the Butterfly Effect:
If a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world, the ripple effect could cause a tempest on the other.
He feels that the Butterfly Effect really exist in his life. A single line from his lyric or melody can slowly but surely permeated our emotional world to change our lives. Some may think he is very arrogant to say that but it is true that many of his songs has affected a lot of his fans & sometimes even change their way of thinking. Anyway I don't care what other people think cos I honestly feel this is the best gift he can give his fans. His physically fit body, his inspiration from the Butterfly effect, his newly arranged songs, concert footage from 2003 Soul Power - arguably still his best series of concerts to date. Power of Live will be released on the first day of his TP concert - 10/26.
The other thing that the butterfly represents is metamorphosis & I think this is what he wants to tell us as well. Metamorphosis is an irreversible process, the caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Many of us always want David to do another Soul Power series of concerts, another Black Tangerine album, another Airport in 10.30, another old song cum accapella. David has so far resisted any of them. Perhaps this is his strongest & also his weakest point. I have often wondered why he doesn't revert back to the simple format of Soul Power in his concerts. It could be that he just stubbornly doesn't want to do the same thing again even though it is his most successful & fairly obvious that this is what the majority of fans want. The same with accapella. If he wanted to, he could have become the king of accapella in Asia cos he is one of the most successful incorporating into mainstream music. Probably the only reason it hasn't caught on like his chinese flavored r&b is cos its not a vry easy genre to do well. Also we want David to stay the David we like best but just like the butterfly, the change in David is irreversible. It is totally organic & came about not because he wants to change but cos of the different circumstances in his life journey.
Maybe a lot of fans cannot accept this barechested image of David but don't forget this is not the 1st time he stripped. He did it 5 yrs ago in Black Tangerine mv & its amazing how little he has changed physically apart from being more muscular. Anyway nudity is not such a big deal really. I think I will be more offended if he is posed holding a rifle. I like it & I even think he looks better than Brad Pitt but only cos I am such uber fan totally mesmerised by him ^__^ such a hunk *sigh*
There will not be a third concert in Taipei as the ticket sales for both dates are only 80% sold. Glad he is so open & realistic abt his concert ticket sales cos I am vry tired of this cavalier attitude to holding concert here. Almost every artist is striving to hold the biggest, most attended concert & its just like album sales where extravagant figures are being bandied abt when really most everybody knows that piracy & illegal download have taken their toll. Still no one has yet dared to claim a record-breaking concert probably cos they will be hardpressed to provide evidence of actual sales vs free tickets. Its easier with albums where record companies have been know to buy up thousands of albums to push up sales figures. The most widely claimed though is the lame fastest selling tickets or most sales revenue within the shortest time. David is vry lucky to be able to hold 3 series of concerts so far & not having the concerts entirely sold out is the least of his worries.

8 days to TP concerts

Sweet sweet boy ^__^ glad he is letting his hair grow & fall over his forehead. Free mv will be included in a cd/dvd release of his newly arranged concert songs called Power of Live. More fab pics here
Here he sits with the troubled married couple. Actually the mv sounds vry interesting. Nice change from the depressingly similar chinese mvs where there is always so much drama & angst in a boy/girl relationship. At least here we get to see something more realistic - a married couple trying to work out their differences. I find DT music is usually able to inspire his mv directors to come out with something different. Watch news clip & below

(Clips link credit & thanks to TW Yahoo grp)

9 days to TP concerts

David filming Free mv. Apparently he plays the good friend of a married couple who is growing apart. He drives the car & I suppose has a part in bringing them back together. Sounds good & vry suitable for the gorgeous song. This song is so refreshing. Its not the sort where you can have on repeat. After listening, I feel so peaceful that I just want to close my eyes & put my head back with his soothing voice echoing through my mind. I love the simple arrangement, the intro & the fabulous refrain in the ending ... just perfect. A belated short writeup abt Global Awards @ cctv.com:
Chinese excellent pop singers hornored in HK
Source: CCTV.com
10-15-2007
The annual Global Chinese Music Awards, honoured the best of the year at Hong Kong's Coliseum. David Tao, the prolific singer songwriter and singer Stephani Sun were the big winners.
The Global Chinese Music Awards are a prestigious pop event. This is its seventh year. The Awards are jointly sponsored by seven of the most influential radio stations in Asia. Last Sunday's awards ceremony saw David Tao snap up five prizes and half of another. Stephani Sun raked in five, all by herself. Tao and Sun are the new reigning king and queen of Chinese Music.
Stephani Sun ascended to "most popular female singer" for the fifth time. Her other awards came in: "twenty golden songs of the year", "best album", "outstanding singer from Singapore", and "popular female singer top five". Joey Young won the overall "best female singer" award, pop diva Jolin Tsai only managed one award sharing with David Tao, for their duet "Today You Will Marry Me".
David Tao won "best male Singer", "twenty golden songs of the year", "best album", "best duet" and "popular male singer top five". But he came late for the show, delayed by a typhoon. So he missed collecting the duet award beside Jolin Tsai.
Eason Chan won four awards, including the big one: "most popular male singer". It's a first for him. He beat out rivals David Tao, Jay Chow, Allan Luo and Zhang Jingxuan.
Rising female stars Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang and Zhang Liangying won "twenty golden songs of the year", and "most popular female singer top five". There was more: the got the "media recommendation award", "all around entertainer" and "best stage performance" which is a repeat of their award last year.
Editor:Liu Fang

10 days to TP concerts

At last, a new song from DT & its a beauty, vry simple, vry classic DT. Called Free, its the cm song for Volkswagen, listen here (Link credit & thanks to DTFC). It has the feel of driving alone on the highway & being free. Methink its a perfect car song & he sang it freestyle too. Vry nice, thank you DT ^__^ VW should be pleased & hopefully David will sing it @ Taipei concerts. Also a female singer called Joanna Wang covered the eng ver of I Love you in the TW drama series Sweet Relationship. She did exceptionally well, basically she took his demo ver from Ultrasound & put a nice jazzy finish to it. Grab it here if u wanna. Not sure to upload Free but maybe wait for a few days & see if he gonna released it as ep or make it available online. Last thing I want to do is intrude on his copyright.
Also caught his hr long program on E-News@Asia which is basically his meeting with 123 fans attending his concert. It was so nice to see him relaxed & chatting happily. He is such a hunk haha at least I think so. It was funny when they told him abt Tony Leung giving it all up in Lust, Caution & asked if he would do the same for his movie. He didn't quite understand the question & looked abashed which is cute cos he can be quite shy when asked abt such personal questions *__*

13 days to TP concerts

Nice pix of Gold Label dinner after Global Chinese music awards. Caught his speech after receiving Best male singer & he said that he didn't often receive this award & he didn't know why he receive this award. Dear DT I think you must be getting old cos I think you received best male singer award quite a few times in the past ^__^ But its true that he is known more as a talented songwriter & producer than singer. Not like Eason or Jackie who most people would mention as great singers. Media asked him how he felt defeating Eason *sigh* & he said that he has never considered competing with other singers, much less Eason who is a good friend. Also it was rather nice of Eason to thank him during his acceptance speech for best album saying he likes Tai Mei Li vry much. I wondered why singers received awards for best song or album, shouldn't the songwriter/producer receive them?
David attended his dad's birthday celebration but did not bring any presents. He said cos he 'spoiled' his dad too much in the past. He will probably stick around in TW or maybe fly to Shanghai as he has yet another concert to attend in China on 10/17. Hope he gets plenty of rest before his TP concerts. Updated concert news with tentative dates. His plans to stage 10 concerts this yr did not materialise but really its extremely difficult to stage concerts in provincial cities in China. Maybe that's the reason he has been attending so many largescale concerts all over China. At least this way, his fans in various parts of China could still get to see him. I noticed in DTFC forum that fans get really thrilled & honored when he appeared in their cities.

17 days to TP concerts

Vry charming, vry DT ^__^ He was, not surrpising, late for the ceremony but since most of his awards were major, he was in time to receive them personally.
Here he received not sure what award from famous mainland Chinese Olympic medalist.
Here he gives his signature acknowledgement wave to his HK fans who always have a special bond with him as he is HK bred. He said once again he is working on his movie script & hopes to start filming nxt yr. It will be a musical in the style of Chicago "ugh" Not too fond of that movie. He may not even released new album nxt yr. Still hope for a few singles like promised cm song for VW & hopefully he might even write for Brappers if rumor is true he will be branding for them. He thanked his fans for still supporting Tai Mei Li so long after its release. Actually surprised it even got Best Album along with Eason Chan's & Stefanie Sun's 07 albums. Didn't they both released mandarin albums last yr?
So basically Tai Mei Li released in 06 is competing with both 06 & 07 albums from some artists who have released 2 albums & still won? Vry strange. Maybe it as they said they only give awards to those who attended but still they didn't have to give him best album & I think he got the gold award. They could have given him the bronze award. Sry just trying to fathom why this album most chinese critics panned as his worst album is now receiving more awards than his previous much better albums *scratch head* But then with DT I have learnt to expect the unexpected *__* Anyway below vid of David singing I love you credit & thanks to HK fan who posted @ DTFC. He sounded much better than mid-autumn nite but still not at his absolute best & of cos he forgot a chunk of the lyrics *sigh* It was cute though during the first part when he kept standing at the far side & the girl lamented in cantonese why he didn't come over but finally he did & they screamed at him, so sweet:

18 days to TP concerts

David @ 7th Global Chinese Music Awards. OMG he looked dreadfully thin & tired *heart pain* Apparently he almost didn't made it cos of typhoon in the region. He won 6 awards including best male singer, best producer, best album & most favorite duet. He sang I love you probably cos he didn't have time to rehearse so fall back on this old fav.
Here he thanked his fans for their support. This is a vry strange award show as doesn't seemed to be any time limit for the albums nominated. Anyway the awards seemed rather arbitary to avoid offending any record companies. For instance David got best singer, Eason got most popular singer, Leehom got 1 of the popular singer/composers, Show Lou got 1 of the most outstanding singers & Jay got something. As usual Sina doesn't really feature David even though he is the biggest winner. He is usually not regarded as trendy anymore but maybe the judges of this awards are more cluey abt the music business. Could be why Tai Mei Li got so many awards even though it was released more than a yr ago. Its influence is still being felt. The most obvious is Marry me today unleashing a spate of boy/girl love duets & sappy love songs. The more subtle is the return to melody driven albums that are coming out now. The songs are less quirky or gimmicky with a slight retro feel, more soul influenced than r&b & more ballads than hiphop or dance tunes. Music that offers an alternative to Jolin Tsai or SHE. So it has been said that every time David Tao released an album, he will influence changes in the chinese music world *sigh* He is just the most genuine music-maker I have the pleasure of knowing. But dear DT, do look after yr health & put on more weight or your voice will not be at its best for the Taipei concerts & that will be a tragedy.

19 days to TP concerts

According & credit to Tao Mi Tian Tan, the jeans branding could be Brappers which is a vry successful Japanese clothing brand in Taiwan. Currently the lovely Tianxi is the face of Brappers. Anyhow it should be quite appropriate branding for DT considering he wears denim 90% of the time & looks to die for *__* He also has a scheduled appearance in China on 10/17 which hopefully will be his last before his TP concerts. Hope he is having a good break now.
Was randomly watching mtv & FIR's new controversial mv was on. The song was not bad, a passionate not sappy love duet between Faye & Shin although Faye was mostly drowned by Shin's distinctive soaring vocals. The mv was not controversial at all, just a cheap imitation of the classic Bonnie & Clyde with rather tasteless violence that went nowhere. The thing I found amusing was that mtv got around it by fuzzing the firearms *roll eyes* So we are supposed to be clueless abt what they are waving around? Give me Mayday's creepy beluga whales anytime ^__^
More randomly: had a sudden craving for dumplings then realised I did not know how to say steamed in chinese & the lady selling them did not undersand steamed. Turned out she didn't steam them but just drop them in boiling water. Feel such a failure here in Asia *sob* Anyway went home & listen to David's Butterfly while consuming the boiled dumplings. He really has an extremely heavenly voice esp in that song, vry comforting.

20 days to TP concerts

Some random news abt DT. Apparently he will be branding some kinda jeans, not sure which brand. Guess EMI really want their pound of flesh from DT for not releasing album this yr. Pushing him to limits with China appearances & now selling jeans although any nice pixs or cms of him in denims are more than welcome ^__^ Then rumors he has asked A-Mei to be his guest in the Taipei concerts but not confirmed. Also it seemed A-Mei has agreed to be guest for Show Luo in Nov so may not be possible for her to be David's guest. Anyway hopefully its not more paparazzi lies & A-Mei can find time to be onstage with David as for sure it will be wonderful to see them performing together.
David has moved house in low-key fashion & hopefully his new residence has 24-hr security. So I changed blogskin to celebrate his temporary flight from round-the-clock survelliance by the media hoping to take some incriminating pixs of his personal life. Honestly dun understand what they hope to find. Sometimes I think one of the reasons why he is so reluctant to hold concerts in US esp LA is that he fears losing more privacy. Imagine walking down a street in LA where there might be posters advertising his concert & being recognised? LA is his sanctuary where he can live a normal life.
There is some talk that his concert tickets esp 9/26 is slow selling but so what. Why it is so important that concerts should raked in the most money & be sold out within a few days? Does that mean that concerts of talented but less packaged & therefore less popular singers are not worthy cos they are not so well-attended & make less money? Cheer Chen got 5 encores in Singapore although that concert was neither huge nor sold out. A friend told me abt a Wubai concert where they didn't want to let him offstage till he had to coax them to leave by singing 'go home, go home, go home' *__* That concert was also not huge, abt 3000 ppl but it was certainly memorable for both audience & singer. Like Rain/Bi holding his concert in Shanghai this mth chose the smaller Hongkou Stadium than the monstrous Shanghai Stadium. Previously his management would chose the biggest venue like the disastrous Sydney concert perhaps to proclaim his growing international status. But then Rain sings in Korean & while a lot of Chinese may support & like him, they may not be so eager to attend a concert where they dun even know what he is singing.
Actually I respect him for bouncing back from his ruined world tour & being realistic abt his concert. Main thing is to show his sincerity like DT & let his fans know he is holding the concert for them not some hyped up promo abt how big & international he is. Could be the reason for messup of his world tour cos he is nowhere as big as his publicist want us to believe. Besides the undisputedly king of concerts has already been revealed -- Rolling Stones ^__^

Puffy DT

Pix of DT's performance on 9/30 & he looked dreadful >"< His eyes all puffy, this is the worst I have ever seen him *sigh* Hopefully he is having a good rest now. Plse EMI, cancel all his performances until he gets better. The man seriously need a good long break.

Seriously DT

David seemed a lot better according to DTFCers who saw him perform on TV today. He sang Wan Bu Liao & Susan Says without too much trouble. Hope this will be the end of his performances & he can get some rest. Although its tough going, I believe he does enjoy travelling around China to perform & meet his fans. For those asking, I don't think David has any concerts planned either in US or UK. At the moment its just Taipei then back to China & possibly HK. He really don't have any ambitions to become an international star. Maybe with his movie but I don't know. Do the world really want to watch a chinese musical in modern dress? Also he kept saying that there hasn't been a modern Chinese musical filmed? Excuse me, but has he seen Hong Kong Nocturne? Arguably one of the best chinese modern musicals ever filmed. Also his lofty aspirations to show the world that chinese movies are not all kungfu & ancient martial epics. But other chinese directors have already done that. Has he seen Shower, Sunflower, Still Life, Peacock, Lost Gun, Devil at the doorstep, Getting Home? Just to name a few. Especially Getting Home, a fabulous road movie that should have been China's pick for Oscar last yr instead of the overbloated Curse. Considering he only ever mentioned western directors & movies as his inspiration, its hard to believe that his movie will be quintessentially chinese. He is actually still a foreigner in China. His movie can only reflect a Taiwanese American's viewpoint of China like his music.