I am regrettably unfamiliar with JJ Lin’s repertoire. Sure, I have a few of his songs on my Mandopop Spotify playlist, but none whose lyrics are so deeply embedded in my memory that I would hog the mic during karaoke.
Believe me, I am well aware I’m missing out. When the 43-year-old Singaporean singer surprised audiences with a guest performance at Ed Sheeran’s concert at the National Stadium in February this year, a musician friend – whose taste I trust – told me he had attended the show an Ed fan and left a JJ fan.
So I knew I was in for quite a treat at the JJ20 Final Lap World Tour concert on Saturday night (Dec 28) at the National Stadium, even if Lin’s lyrics wouldn’t roll off the tip of my tongue.
Turns out I had little to worry about. The lyrics for each of the 38 songs (yes, 38) were flashed on screen throughout an almost three-hour concert (yes, three hours) that marked his first show of the tour.
After another show here on Sunday, the tour will then head to cities such as Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Beijing and Seoul.
For Lin’s fans who may be experiencing some deja vu reading this, the JJ20 Final Lap World Tour follows on the heels of his JJ20 World Tour – a two-year concert tour that spanned close to 80 dates in Asia, North America, Europe and Australia and concluded in November this year. He had also kicked off that tour with two shows in Singapore in November 2022.
Clearly, Lin is a man who hates to rest. In other words, he is still as Singaporean as they come.
