Christina Perri Rocks Singapore
By Nishant Store
Christina Perri, heart on her sleeve, captivated an audience of thousands for a length of time that elapsed too fast, without warning. Playing songs from her debut album, ‘Lovestrong’, Perri’s dynamic melodies reverbrated soulfully across Kallang Theatre.
Kicking Off
Not one for subtlety, Christina Perri asked the audience to join her at the foot of the stage soon after the show commenced. A stampede ensued as hundreds of fans hurtled themselves forward, throwing caution to the wind. Brandishing a guitar, Christina set the wheels in motion.
She kicked off with a bang, starting off with ‘Bang Bang Bang’, and proceeded to play up-tempo numbers, resting only to drink invisible liquids from a dark-colored glass or to throw out red roses to the audience. Perri repeatedly expressed gratitude for her fans’ support, without which she wouldn’t have been able to play world-over. On that note, she played ‘Distance’, a song that she wrote with Jason Mraz.
Encore!
The concert reached its climax when Christina Perri hit the first few notes of ‘A Thousand Years’. Fans fished out cell phones from pockets, bags, socks, shoes and other people’s pockets, hoping to get a clear video. Arms swayed as the audience took up the chorus, filling the room with swaying arms and emotional bursts of song. To the audience’s chagrin, Perri went off-stage for a couple of minutes, but soon returned drinking invisible liquids from a fresh glass amid thunderous applause and screams of ‘encore’.
Christina Perri quelled the audience with a rendition of ‘Jar of Hearts’, her most famous song. People burst into tears, wiped them with handkerchiefs, paper napkins and sweat towels, and then proceeded to burst into tears again, as the notes twisted and twirled around their emotional cores, flooding them (literally and figuratively).
The Wrap Up
Despite moving the audience to tears, Perri was determined to end on a happy note. The band broke into ‘Mine’, an energetic dance number, and left the yelping crowd in a tizzy. As she waved goodbye, Christina Perri thanked the crowd gracefully, and promised to be back in Singapore very soon. Forlorn fans brightened at the prospect of another Christina Perri concert looming over the horizon. Eventually, after the dust had settled, everyone methodically proceeded towards the MRT station with bovine reliability, punched in and headed out, all smiles.
