Wonderful Whitney

By : Shuib Taib
2007/12/04

There were some wobbly moments but Whitney Houston still delivered. SHUIB TAIB remains a fan.

THEY were there for her! And Whitney Houston could do no wrong. Despite several announcements made prior to her performance requesting that no photographs nor recordings be done while she performed had the crowd go “boo”... they waited.

Then there was the time factor. By the time “Mr Lover Lover” Shaggy ended his segment, it was 11.30pm. It took another hour for the stage to be set for Whitney and despite it being past midnight, the crowd stayed on.

The presence of a journalist from BBC London also showed the magnitude of the event. After all, the diva was making a comeback and Kuala Lumpur had the honour of being the venue of her first stage re-appearance!

“Beyonce may have given us a miss but thank God for Whitney!” said a fan just before the tall and stylish singer came out.
When the stage lights were off, the 8,000-plus crowd started to chant her name. They got even more excited when the six musicians and three back-up singers who included brother Gary Houston walked to their stations.

Then she appeared. Clad in silver-coloured pants, beaded mid-riff, leopard-print shoes and a trench coat, Whitney opened the show with If I Told You That, a duet originally sung with George Michael.

Anyone who has been following her career would have known by now that Whitney “live” is not quite the same as Whitney the recording artiste.

Even in her heyday, Whitney had always performed differently when on stage.

However, at Live & Loud KL 2007, it was not only different, it was clear from the start that Whitney would struggle with the high notes. However, there were time when her superb vocals were back, especially the lower registers.

Whether the fans were in awe or in shock or simply knackered, most of the time they were rather subdued.

Whitney told the audience that it was the first time that she had ever been to beautiful Kuala Lumpur and that she was coming out with a new album soon.

If the crowd were rather reticent early on, they came to life when they heard the introduction of the songs that followed which go back to 1985 when Whitney just started.

Saving All My Love for You, Greatest Love of All, All at Once and You Give Good Love were rendered in a medley.

The crowd sang with her, sometimes a note faster, and that made her smile. At times she appeared distracted by the off-key singing of her fans — so much so she had to politely request them to “shush” at one point so that she could do a better job.

Whitney is also one singer who has the habit of ad-libbing the lyrics and doing “sing-talk” to her audience.

Instead of saying “You give good love”, for example she changed it to “Malaysia, you give good love, yes you do...”

Hardly pausing in between songs, Whitney continued with Waiting to Exhale (Shoop Shoop), Heartbreak Hotel and It’s Not Right (But It’s Okay).

Sensing that the crowd were getting restless, she would walk and sometimes run from one end to the other and get them to clap to get them come alive again.

Although Whitney hardly communicated with the crowd, the smile never left her face. The “I love you Whitney!” shouts were responded with “I love you too!”

Whitney treated the audience with Step by Step and for the following song, My Love is Your Love, she surprised the audience by introducing daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who sang along with her. The already grown-up and at times forgetting-the-lyrics Kristina certainly had Bobby Brown’s smile on her.

The impromptu singing was certainly one of the highlights of the evening.

After the segment, Whitney went backstage to change while brother Gary took over and delighted the crowd with his version of Eric Clapton’s Change the World.

When Whitney came back, she launched into the fast number, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and How Will I Know.

“Do you love my dress? I put it on just for you,” said Whitney who was decked in a one-piece royal purple gown.

With a towel in hand (which she later threw to the audience) and her trademark stylish hand movements, Whitney soldiered on with an impromptu number, I Believe in You and Me, a song she obliged after fans requested for it.

She capped the night off with I Go To The Rock and I Will Always Love You before coming back for an encore belting out I’m Every Woman.

“I don’t care that she struggled a bit. I still love her. It’s Whitney, man,” said a fan.

Source:[The New Straits Tmes Online]

愛上Whitney，真的是絕症...
全新復出大碟，到底何時才會問世啊！