Permanent Fish acappella concert!

YES! My last mid term is finally over! I have anticipated very long for this day to come. No more tests for the next 2 weeks! BUT LOH AH LING DON'T EVEN THINK OF SLACKING YOUR TIME AWAY, because there are still tutorials to catch up, a report to hand in and a stats quiz in November. About the test, I think the test today is not as hard as I have imagined because all the questions can be found directly in lecture notes, BUT due to the fact that I didn't study hard enough, I couldn't recall the answers and so was tickam-ing for more than half of the questions. It's quite frustrating because I have read the notes and I was so close to extracting the answers out from my memory bank, but they just wouldn't come out. It felt like constipation.

Despite having a test today, I went to catch an acappella concert at Esplanade on Wednesday! The group performing was a Japanese male acappella quintet called Permanent Fish and they came from a part of Japan called Kobe. If I did not attend the concert because of the test, I think I would have missed out one of the best acappella performances I have ever watched in my whole life!!! (Erm actually I have only watched a few acappella performances haha but THIS IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST!) Initially I was sceptical about going to the concert because firstly, the ticket costs $32, which I thought was rather expensive and I could have spent the money on buying something useful, like a new bag, because the current bag I am using is CHUI. Secondly, I have the test on Friday and I barely revised it. Thirdly, I always see myself as a K-popper and that was a JAPANESE acappella group performing. HAHA

However when my friend told me that the group does sing Korean songs and has even recorded a Korean album before, my attitude changed 180! Then I started thinking reasons WHY I SHOULD GO instead of why I shouldn't. I came up with reasons like "it is a once in a lifetime chance; they will only be performing for one night!", "Even if I don't go, I also won't be studying at that time, so might as well go!" SO, I decided to go haha

So when my friend and I reached Esplanade, we headed to the a ticketing booth to buy the tickets. The person thought both of us were NTU students and sold the tickets to us only at the price of 2 for $30. THE PRICE CUT BY HALF!! I was trying to hide my smile but inside I was screaming with joy because I have saved $17. HAHA. I think the price cut is one of the reasons why I enjoy the concert so much, because for only $15, I get to watch such world class performance!! (Not only in my world, but the real world!)

When the performance began, a local youth acappella group did the opening act by singing 3 songs. One of the songs was a Japanese song, but the tune of the song followed one of Zhou Hua Jian's hit songs called "Hua Xin". It seems weird listening to a familiar song in a different language, but I was enjoying the singing so the weird feeling disappeared shortly. The last song that they sang was quite an energetic piece, but I forgot the title of the song.

After the local group's performance, it was time for Permanent Fish to come out! I was really excited because it has been really long since I last watched an acappella performance and it was my first time watching a Japanese acappella group! Throughout the entire performance, they sang a lot of songs, in English, Japanese and Korean. Some of the English songs that they performed include Maroon 5's Harder to Breathe, Boyz II Men's In the still of the night, The Tokens's The lion sleep tonight and Oldies like Hound dog and Ben E. King's Stand by me. They also sang Japanese songs, and the song that left the deepest impression is the title song from their album. I couldn't remember the title of the full song but when the person introduced it, I remembered him saying "Moshi something". When I first heard that, I thought I heard "Mochi" and "Green tea mochi" came to my mind immediately, making me feel a bit hungry at that time haha. Anyway, when they started singing this song, I don't know why, but I felt goosebumps throughout my whole body. This song has a lot of high notes and they sang it perfectly well. I am really absorbed into their singing for this song. They also sang one of DBSK's song called balloon!!! At first when they sang, I found the song super familiar but I just couldn't recall where I heard that song before(it was the same feeling for the test I had just now). It was only till almost the end of the song that I remembered it was DBSK song. haha

For the last song, I think the atmosphere reached the peak because the group performed a song that got the audience really high. When they left the stage, the people around me started chanting "Encore! Encore!" The group came on back and they sang a bubbly, cheerful song called " Don't Worry, be Happy!" HAHA. That was really a very cute song! When the performance ended and they left the stage, the chant started again! But they still didn't come out. The ushers were standing at the side waiting for us to leave but most of us still stayed, clinging on to the glimmer of hope that they would perform for us again. When the ushers told the people that the members of Permanent Fish are actually outside, they rushed out of the studio like mad. My friend and I joined in too. I managed to get their autographs on a postcard (see picture attached) and shake their hands!! Though they are not immensely popular, I am certain that they will make it big in the future!! Their motto is " From Kobe to the world", which I find really inspiring! Maybe I should stop supporting popular bands like Super Junior and DBSK because their fans can form a population of a country, and start supporting acappella groups like Permanent Fish! They need to be recognised for their singing talent!!!

After writing such a long post, I want to summarise by saying that this concert was WORTH EVERY CENT that I paid and I am really glad that the test did not stop me from going. I really hope that they would come perform here again!!! If they do, I will help promote their concerts for free! Haha



The picture is so cool! The picture looks even cooler with their autographs on it! This is my first time getting autographs from people. I am SO going to frame this up, or laminate it.


The access to one of the best acappella performances in my life! Need to really thank the acappella society in Singapore for bringing Permanent Fish to Singapore!


This is the music video of the Japanese title song I mentioned just now. This song is really nice!! Their soothing voices are so suitable for singing ballads like this. The high notes in this song gave me goosebumps. Goosebumps in a good way.