Last night Ed Sheeran kicked off his Asian tour in Taiwan. I was one of the lucky twenty five thousand people who managed to get my hands on a ticket, but this evening was nearly ruined by a bunch of thickoes.
TAKE TWO
This is the second time he's organised a gig in Taiwan. The first time was over a year ago that got cancelled when he broke his arm. There were a lot of moans and groans, not to mention disappointment when that happened. Last night he apologised to the audience for not making it last time. I'm pretty sure everyone forgave him the moment he stepped on stage.
I can understand why the gig had to be cancelled last time as it just wouldn't be the same with his injury. Ed Sheeran standing on stage singing is great, but him and his guitar is what elevates a great gig into an amazeball gig.
Considering that English isn't the major language in Taiwan, I was amazed how the fans knew pretty much all the lyrics to the songs, and understood his jokes - at least they laughed at the right moment. Sometimes the British humour can be difficult for non natives (or even some natives) to grasp! Ed Sheeran worked the crowd really well and I think we did a sterling job as his chorus. By the end of the evening, everyone was on an absolute high when we left.
THICKOES
The concert didn't start off on such a high note for most people. The thicko organisers managed to annoy most people from the word go. My friend Amber made a very interesting comment yesterday. She said she wasn't looking forward to the gig as much this time because the whole way it was organised was such a shambles. And I agree with her, it felt like a chore to a certain extent.
- From the moment the tickets were released, the system froze because it couldn't handle the traffic. The thickoes issued a statement saying they hadn't forecast that level of traffic. Honestly? You release 25 thousand tickets for the first and only one Ed Sheeran gig in Taiwan and you didn't expect people to rush out and buy them?
- A week before the gig, the thickoes issued 'guidelines' for concert goers. For example you can't take food or water inside. On top of that, ID is required to stop ticket touts. I don't have an issue with that, only I didn't offer to show it when I entered (I had my passport with me) and they didn't ask either!! So what's the point of asking me to bring my passport out and risk losing it?
- The thing that sent many fans through the roof were the security checks. The thickoes said your bag couldn't be larger than A3 size, and all the contents had to be put in an A4 plastic bag (to be provided) for security checks. Now I've been to the London Olympics, I've been to football matches in England with eighty thousand capacity, and I've been to quite a few other concerts. Not one has this stupid requirement. Come last night, none of the stupid plastic bag security check happened, and I went inside with some snacks to last me through the evening. I mean honestly, why say something to annoy people and dampen their mood a week before the gig?
- The venue is a baseball stadium, that's fine because I imagine there aren't that many venues large enough to hold 25k people and a stage. However public facilities were sparse, I waited half an hour to go to the toilet. Good thing I wasn't desperate. I could only see one stall selling drinks and that was in a section that I couldn't enter.
- One of the main aisles flooded after a light drizzle of rain. It was a section that everyone had to walk pass. My Converse soaked all the way up to my ankle as soon as I stepped onto it. Not a nice way to spend the rest of the night.
- Today I read on a forum that some people with tickets in my section were led to another section when they entered the stadium. That section was at the back furthest away from the stage and the price of the tickets there are half of ours. What a great way to scam money off people.
- The location of venue didn't have the adequate public transport for people to get away afterwards. I walked around for ages trying to find a taxi to the station. Luckily I booked the last train at 11.30pm and got to the station with 10 minutes to spare.
Wow! I feel a lot better now that I got it off my chest.
Good show Ed! Ace gig, shxt organiser.
昨晚去看英國歌手紅髮艾德的演唱會。 原本一年多前他要來台灣表演，可惜他的手受了傷要取消行程。今次再到台灣，我和另外兩萬五千名粉絲們都非常開心。 可惜主辦單位實在超級爛。 從售票當機， 進場時苛刻的要求（ 不准帶食物和水）， 嚴格的安檢 （私人物品要放入透明膠袋檢查），場內公用設施不足（我去洗手間要排隊半小時），和交通配套不足，全部都氣得粉絲怒火沖天。
幸好紅髮艾德的表演沒有讓粉絲失望。 他精湛的演出，自彈自唱近兩小時，把現場氣氛帶推到一個又一個的高峰。 國際巨星的演出由爛透的主辦單位安排，幸好沒有破壞兩萬五千名粉絲的晚上。
Check out all my travel posts here on Steemit Worldmap, and also my latest project @LadiesOfAsia where we share fun and cultural diversity across Asia Pacific.
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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://livinguktaiwan.com/ed-sheeran-and-some-thickoes/