Live '08 @ San Diego (Epilogue)

So, after the concert I was trying to reunite with T.

As mentioned earlier, T left his floor seat after the second song in order to sit somewhere in the general admission area (i.e. somewhere on the sideline), so that he would not be easily detected by the venue security personnel when using his new amateur camera to take as many photos as possible.

I got to admit, the venue security personnel was quite overzealous. I saw a number of people being "warned" for taking photos (!). There was this one incident where a big burly security guy stood right in front of an audience and made the audience put away his camera or cellphone in a relatively intimidating way. I understood that the ticket clearly said: no camera. Having said that, I always believed that such type of rule enforcement could be done in a non-draconian and flexible manner. After all, none of us would remotely think of using these images or sound clips to make a profit or something. Unfortunately, I saw a few people being "kicked out" of the concert just for using their cellphone or camera... The tactics of the security personnel were certainly distracting and "party-pooping".

Guess what, after the concert was over, I stayed behind the crowd to find T. He was nowhere to be found. Then a security personnel approached me and asked me to leave the premises (or should I say "shoo" me away?). Oh well, I knew where we parked our car, so I slowly trailed behind the crowd. While waiting for the crowd to move out the gate, I overheard numerous conversations around me.

There was this one group who kept commending how great SL was, and said over and over again that singers of "her generation" were truly talented, who had no need to rely on any gimmicks, extravagant outfits or dazzling fireworks to make their performance spectacular. All she needed was to deliver her songs competently. Shortly after I overheard a young man who was telling his girlfrield that he only knew six or seven songs in total that evening!

The event organizer set up a tent by the gate and many people were selling SL's cds. I overheard one person that if SL was in the tent selling cds, he would certainly approach and try to take a photo with her..... Wow, how very so imaginative. As if SL would do something remotely like that! At least not in a gazillion years.

I was glad to find out that when leaving the premises, the event organizer was distributing "moon cakes" (white lotus seed flavoured) to each audience. After getting one myself, I saw T waving at me near the entrance. I asked him where had he been, and he told me that he was "kicked out" around two-third into the concert, as he took pictures too frequently and his big-a**ed camera was just a bit too obvious. The security personnel thought he was a papparazi or something (yeah right) and ta-tum-ta, off he went. He was even denied a moon cake after being kicked out. I was glad that at least I got one so we could share later back in the hotel. I thanked him for "sacrificing" himself to help me take all these photos and was sorry that he probably felt a bit humiliated in public. T did catch the rest of the show outside by watching the big screen projection and just laughed off the whole thing.

Before we drove back to San Diego, we made one more rest stop in the casino. Admist the busy traffic in the men restroom, there was this one middle-aged gentleman who held six or seven newly-bought cds in his hands, apparently he bought them from the tent after the concert. Judging from the colour schemes of the cds, I could tell they were 鏗鏘玫瑰﹐林憶蓮's﹐2001 蓮﹐and Truly.... It appeared that SL just won herself more fans after a night of impeccable performance.

After the rest stop, we walked through the hotel lobby and we literally ran into SL, who was proctected by her assistant and Kim Robinson (two fearless bodyguards!). There was this one fan who was fortunate enough to get SL's autograph. I was tempted to ask for a photo, but knowing how tired SL was, I would rather let her get some rest. And on our way leaving the hotel, we also ran into Alice and Anthony.

Well, what more could I ask for?

_____________________________◇ Part I
◇ Part II
◇ Part III