Mark's review reposted with thanks from DT Forum

I want to write a few things about last night's concert, before I forget, and before the magic slowly starts to wear off.
Before I even get on to the concert, I'll talk about the venue. Beijing's Capital Gymnasium seemed a most unusual place to host a major concert. I had thought that "Gymnasium" would have been a loose translation of something other than a large sports hall with a sprung wooden floor, but that's exactly what it is. Just walking in, it was a magical moment to realilse that you were about to see a major concert in an oversized school assembly hall. And the Love Can stage set was in its full glory at the end of the hall. With who knows how many state of the art stadiums, halls and facilities being built for the Olympics, sadly, the Gymnasium may be ignored in favour of "better" venues in years to come. Although the Gymnasium is probably not as acoustically friendly as some of its younger cousins, the atmosphere more than made up for it. There were a number of security personnel around, but the "security barrier" separating the audience from the stage was nothing more than a single piece of ribbon, which gave the event a more intimate feel. Before the show, I thought that I would maybe try not to get so high, with a view to concentrating on as much detail as I could - but I quickly discovered that I was just kidding myself.
The lights dimmed at 7:30 sharp and again, after the opening video, David was lowered to the stage and confidently somersaulted on his way down (well - he was in the Gymnasium after all), and opened with Rain and Shanghaid. Not wanting to be confined to the limits of the stage, when David wanted to get closer to the side audience (which he did, many times), he leapt from the stage to the speaker units at each side. David made some remarks after the opening numbers and, I may be wrong, but he sounded a tiny bit hoarse when he spoke, leaving me wondering if his voice would hold out (although there really was no need for concern on the part of the audience).
After Airport 10:30, the strings provided a graceful prelude to Who Do You Love, followed by an Er-wu intro to Moon Over My Heart. Quickened pace for Let's Fall in Love and Runaway, which brought the "white" section to an end.
After a short video interlude, Kheng Long played the piano, and David came on to sing his medley of Blue Moon, Ye Lai Xiang and Spring Wind. This time, Ye Lai Xiang was not in falsetto, although his red and white roses, Lisa and Ker Wei, still danced. Spring Wind? It really can't be getting better, and it must be that my memory simply fails me - but I was just amazed at the power of this rendition.
Lisa followed with a short rendition of La Vie en Rose, with Kheng Long playing a strange looking accordion attached to a pipe leading to his mouth. He also used this for Everything's Gone. Lisa and Ker Wei sounded truly angelic when Everything's Gone merged into Angel.
David then played a Chinese gong, with Lewis providing some other percussion, and, after explaining that his mother is from Beijing, he both acted out and sung some Peking style opera, a nice lead in to Susan Said. The following song, Small Town Girl, was "blues-ed up" a little, by David producing a mini harmonica from his pocket, and playing along with the band - it worked a treat.
There was then a departure from the published playlist - it's always good to hear surprises. David, accompanied by only Kheng Long on keyboard performed a Lou Da Yuo rendition, to be joined by the band afterwards for a Beatles classic, Let it Be. As David has lived in a number of places, I am never quite sure where he would say he is "from" (Taiwan, Shanghai, US?), but at the guitar solo part, he gave the "take it away Jamie" instruction in a very convincing cockney accent, adding the East End of London to the list of places he must have spent some time.
Seasons of Loneliness ended the segment, with stringed accompaniment, and his silky smooth voice drifted effortlessly over the top.
The mood turned to rock, and despite some black marker pen censoring on the programme, we were treated with Ghost overture and Ghost. What I hadn't noticed before, but what I noticed this time, was how Kheng Long and David put the string section through their paces on some of the faster numbers such as Black Tangerine and Art of War - although they are competing with semi-heavy rock guitars and could easily be overlooked, it was a joy to see the energy going into their performance.
I do get hazy on the order of events, but I think it was at this point that a young lady noticed that security had let their guard down as a result of an enthusiastic but well behaved audience, and took this moment to sprint the length of the hall, hurdle the security ribbon without any hesitation and deliver a bouquet to David which he gratefully received, to many cheers from the rest of the audience.
After a moving rendition of Close to You came unplugged time, with Regular Friends and 22. Once again, David handed the honours over to Singapore lad David Tan for his wonderful rendition of Fated. Had I not heard Tan before, I would have thought there is a risk of disappointment to hand over a great song to another band member almost in its entirety - but I was really looking forward to hearing Tan once again, and possibly would even have been disappointed if DT kept it for himself.
The energy levels where brought up once again with Kung Pao Chicken and My Anata, and the tango sequence with his red and white roses really does work well. What's Love was next, and I had forgotten the great climatic ending of guitars competing with keyboards competing with orchestra competing with percussion - it ends in a whole load of wonderful noise.
There were then some soothing vocals from Ker Wei (I think - or was it Lisa?) on Amazing Grace, followed by Dear God.
David played a slightly different piano intro to I Love You, but then started vocally off key. He adjusted as quick as a flash and recovered, but wasn't happy, and so started again. The minor mistakes at the start of the song were more than made up for towards the end as he really "went for it" in a way that he would probably not let himself do if there was to be a show on the following night.
He left the stage, but the whirring of the helicopter engine and the turning of the blades signaled his swift return to the stage, to encore with Bastard - again - being the good boy that he is, he did not want to curse in China's capital city, nor encourage others to do so, and so he just closed his eyes and lowered his head both times the "Wang Ba Dan" line was due. Butterfly!!! It made the set, much to the delight of many, and then Love Can finished the show - as David was about to leave the stage, he seemed to change his mind and return for one last farewell to the crowd.
Yet again, another night of magic. It was made all the more perfect by being in such a unique venue.
In a 2003 SCMP article, David, when commenting about Asian artistes recording in English, is quoted as saying "I think for an Asian artist to make it in the States or Britain we need to bring something different to the table. You don't go to an English person's [dinner party] and bring bangers and mash. You bring something unique to your culture." Although I don't understand Chinese, I love David's Chinese music and have no desire to hear an English album - but on Saturday night, amongst all the Kung Pao Chicken served up in Beijing, the side dish of bangers and mash tasted great.