“Singapore, you guys are the loudest crowd we’ve played to in a while.”
For most, this would be a white lie said to appease fans at every part of the world. But these words mean so much more when a band like Our Last Night has spent months touring Europe before coming over to Asia – they never thought they could be greeted by such enthusiastic fans in the little island of Singapore.
Opening for the the American band at concert venue TAB was Heir of Hounds, a local pop punk band who played at Baybeats Festival in 2013. They invited a guest appearance from Singapore’s current favourite local artist Gentle Bones (aka Joel Tan), who sang a couple of lines together with Heir of Hounds. He injected a refreshing sound to the opening band’s performance, from post-hardcore to melodic rock, much to the satisfaction of the audience who cheered at Joel’s presence on stage.
https://instagram.com/p/3ULohSBMTD/?taken-by=heirofhounds
After a short transition period where Fall Out Boy’s best tracks were played over the speakers, Our Last Night burst onto the stage with a high-energy track, Same Old War. It seemed like Trevor (vocals), Matthew (vocals, guitar), Alex (bass) and Tim (drums) have become very accustomed to performing on stage, perhaps thanks to their decade-long history since the formation of their band in 2004.
Spilling genuine exclamations about how the Singapore crowd is “insane”, “incredible” and “amazing”, Trevor quickly got the crowd anticipating for more. The band played Age Of Ignorance and Fate, before dropping their crowd-favourite, Dark Storms.
The band then soulfully delivered a more feeling track, Reason To Love, making sure to create heart-shaped hand signs to the crowd towards the end of the song. The band took effort to make eye contact and handshakes with fans, even swooping down to the audience’s level for selfies.
Our Last Night took their performance to a new level when they played their first cover song of the night, Skyfall (originally by Adele). While Our Last Night is not entirely a cover band, they must credit some of the band’s popularity to having their rock covers of top pop tracks spread like wildfire. Their recent cover of Blank Space by Taylor Swift has reached over 2 million views on YouTube in just a few months.
The band then medded with older original tracks Invincible and Home, making sure to satisfy their loyal fans here. Between songs, Our Last Night then asked the crowd cheekily: “Do you guys like Katy Perry?”
Our Last Night’s rock cover of Dark Horse has reached over 5 million views on YouTube. Giving Katy Perry’s bubblegum pop an alternative rock rendition, Our Last Night went all out in delivering the heavy notes and defiant screaming of lyrics, altered to suit their post-hardcore vibes.
The band’s musical progression were evident in their next track Liberate Me, with tricky guitar riffs and collectively intensive beats they impressively delivered live. It was truly on point.
The audience, mostly teenagers and young adults decked in dark-coloured band shirts, immediately started cheering and recording the performance on stage with their smartphones when Sunrise was performed next. Being the band’s most popular song, it was no surprise that Our Last Night fans in Singapore screamed along to every word.
As their final two encore songs, Trevor soulfully delivered an acoustic version of Falling Away with just his charming vocals and guitar instrumentals. For a couple of lines, the band sunk into absolute silence, with nothing but the voices of the crowd filing the arena. It was almost magical.
The band then wrapped up their performance with another crowd-favourite, I Never Felt This Way Before. The band members remained chaste onstage, even when a few fans started climbing on stage and took selfies with them mid-performance.
Before leaving the stage, Our Last Night promised to come back here to play for Singapore fans. The band then took time to personally meet all their fans that night, staying back to say hi and take pictures with everyone.
For a band who has progressed so much and explored a diversity of genres to cover, what could be next for Our Last Night? Perhaps their soon-to-be-released new album, Younger Dreams, would fill us in about the next chapter for this seemingly unstoppable band.
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Cover Photo: Sheryl Teo for Popspoken
Special Thanks: Collide
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