Why I attended The Click Five’s concert in Singapore with strangers for nostalgia

Has anyone else met with this same plight when it comes to finding concert mates? An artiste you love announces that they're coming to Singapore. You forward it to your friends on Instagram. Then, silence.

When you're as avid a concertgoer as I am, it's not easy to find friends who are always enthusiastic about shelling out hundreds of dollars to see the next headline act in Singapore.

So, when American pop-rock band The Click Five released tickets to their reunion concert earlier this year, I considered going solo, but decided my experience would probably be enhanced with another fan who shared the same sense of nostalgia.

Game plan: Get tickets first, find concert buddy later

Within 15 minutes, tickets at the presale for The Click Five's May 6 concert in Singapore were sold out. It would be their first show here in 15 years since they last performed at the Celebration@Marina Bay event in 2010, and clearly, music fans here missed them so.

I emerged with a pair, deciding that listing my extra ticket (singular) on Carousell was worth a shot. My ticket was listed without markups, just a plea to find a kindred spirit.

To my surprise, unlike the lukewarm responses my friends had shown prior, my ticket (and I) was in high demand: What a feeling! Within minutes, I received multiple friend requests from strangers.

New friendships forged thanks to old tunes

I met up with three women who adopted me into their friend group for the night. There we were, four grown-ups who'd come off from a full day of work and were ready to unleash their inner child, immersed in the soundtrack of our early teens.

I offered my newfound friends a friendship bracelet with The Click Five's music references to mark the night's events. Speaking of which, fans would be happy to know merchandise were available for purchase, and items ranged from guitar picks to band tees.

The sights and sounds of nostalgia

We agreed that old and tired Zillennial bones were not built to squeeze in a sweaty mosh pit, so we stood comfortably flushed towards the back of the room.

Still, the concert itself was such a blast - I found myself in a Time Machine, transported back to the early 2000s as The Click Five strummed their timeless hits such as Jenny, Just the Girl and Pop Princess - tracks that I would have felt so cool displaying on my Friendster account from way back when.

The setlist comprised a good mix of pop-rock hits with the band's recognisable trademark of confessional lyrics, such as Happy Birthday and Addicted to Me, with numerous ballads that saw the crowd gently swaying along to. The spotlight sometimes lit the faces of fellow concert attendees aglow, and I saw bright smiles and some tears stream down their faces.

There was also something beautiful about singing along to songs I hadn't thought about in years - it was like meeting a long-lost friend and realising they haven't changed all that much. And despite this being the first time I'm meeting my concert buddies, I doubt I would have enjoyed myself this much if it weren't for the same enthusiasm they brought.

 

 

 

 

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All night-long, lead singer Kyle Patrick also playfully bantered with the audience with his laid-back humour. He verified if we were all born before their last concert here in 2010, and mentioned how the songs reminded him of shopping for slim-cut pants in the women's department back in the early 2000s when it was cool. One lucky concertgoer even joined the band on stage as he showed off his guitar-playing skills!

The song of choice for this fun participatory segment? Hot to Go!.

It was the first time I'd been in a crowd that danced along to the song's viral cheerleading moves that spelt H-O-T-T-O-G-O. As a massive Chappell Roan fan, a core memory was formed.

I shed a tear or two to their acoustic rendition of Don't Let Me Go. The stripped-down performance and the lyrics "Every night I long for this, making up what I miss" seemed to echo both the band's address to fans since they stopped making music together in the last decade, as well as the crowd's yearning for a time from their younger days.

Now, in my late twenties, I think nostalgia might just be my favourite feeling: It's bittersweet, and as I learnt last night, warm like a cup of hot chocolate when shared with friends - whether they're new, old, or ones you made in a crowd of music fans.

kimi.ang@asiaone.com

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