Local quartet, The Sam Willows successfully held their first ever concert at the The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel last Friday. The three hours concert was complete with full production, dancers, rearranged tracks and invited performers. The ticketed concert attracted more than 2700 fans ranging from the young to the old. Such a rare sight to see families going for a local band’s concert.

Credits: Aloysius Lim

Doors opened at 7 pm, however, because wrist tags were given after doors are opened, the queue was halted hence, most of us did not manage to catch the opening acts. Unfortunately, I was not able to catch local singer, Sam Rui which is disappointing because I have been looking forward to watch her live. When we reached the venue after security checks, Indonesian band, TheOvertunes were already performing. Performing songs from their EP and covers, the boys gave me the Jason Mraz’s vibe.

Credits: Aloysius Lim

The Bro Code, Gerald Koh and Joakim Gomez, from 987 FM, then teased the crowd with merchandise and got the crowd to a sing along session of The Sam Willows‘ Take Heart. It is so heartening to hear the crowd knowing the lyrics to a local song. Finally, it is the moment everyone is waiting for!

Loud cheers can be heard when Benjamin Kheng (Ben), Narelle Kheng, Jon Chua and Sandra Riley Tang appeared on the elevated stage. Singing hits from their EP and album, each performance is filled with energy and it is evident that the band carefully planned each acts as you are able to see they try to incorporate something different for each songs. Other than showcasing their great vocals, they also took this opportunity to showcase local talents such as dancers and invited guests. These performers added oomph to their performance!

As everyone already know, the band consist of talented individuals hence, it is great that the band segmented part of the show where they are able to showcase their talents. Ben shared with a poem he wrote which talks about being young and how it is important just to be yourselves and it resonates with the crowd. Narelle and Sandra wowed us with their vocals. Jon on the other hand did what his does best; showing off his guitar skills. I have got to give a shout out to Jon because I believed he has improved a lot. He seems more comfortable being on stage; grooving and dancing. And it is nice to hear him getting more more solo parts! Say goodbye to the shy Jon I saw three years ago. Way to go Jon!

Credits: Aloysius Lim

As if opening acts are not enough to wow us with local talents, ShiGGa Shay made an appearance. Of course, the crowd went wild. He is no stranger to the local scene being a rapper who always ensure that his rap is localised so people can relate to it.

Credits: Aloysisus Lim

What a great night witnessing local band, The Sam Willows performing at The Coliseum at their own concert instead of an opening act. What is even greater is that local celebrities and performers such as Nat Ho, Jae Liew, Nathan Hartano, Hirzie Zulkiflie and Fakkah Fuzz were also there to lend their support. The Sam Willows not only show us what local acts are made of, they made use of their own concert as a platform to show us that there are more local acts out there that needs to be recognised. It is such a great sight to see that they invited local acts to perform alongside and shining the spotlight on other local talents.  Such class acts that other performers should look up to!

The Fifth Parlour would like to thank Sony Music Singapore for giving us the opportunity to attend the concert!