With the venue packed with 350 spectators, rthe rising pop group from Singapore, Sam Willows totally rock-ed the night.
The group that was formed back in 2012 had their first gig for their fans in Malaysia after the released of their first album last year. Clearly this music sensation had the Malaysians’ heart through the songs they performed on that particular night.
Singapore's latest buzz band The Sam Willows brings their easy listening pop to The Bee, Publika this March. Made up of siblings Narelle and Benjamin Kheng with friends Sandra Riley Tang and Jonathan Chua, The Sam Willows's 2012 self-titled EP shot the quartet to fame when it became part of the top 30 most downloaded albums of 2013 and 2014 on iTunes.
Arriving few minutes before the group enter the stage, it is hard get through the crowd. Placing myself closer enough to the main stage for clearer view, the night witnessed the awesome-ness starts right after that.
When the group hits the stage, the music blaring with the upbeat tempo and everyone was jumping to the first song, Rest of Your Life which happen to be the first song in their Take Heart album as well. This continues with several songs like Crimson, River Dance, Stay and Nightlight.
Everyone was nodding their heads with excitement and as soon they start performing, you can see several arms are up high with either iPhones or any android phones blocking the view. It shows that people nowadays don’t really appreciate live music anymore. They rather watch it are at home later or probably just want to share it on their social media.
I remember when they came to Malaysia last year when they were promoting their Take Heart album, Sandra sang a verse from Joe Flizzow’s Apa Khabar. This time they do it properly by sang it with their rendition. This follows with 3 more cover songs, Secret Love Song, Love Yourself and Eyes Nose Lips.
What really makes this band exciting is their ability to play instruments. I have to give it up to them because having the ability to charm people with that talent and at the same time they can sing well, it is truly fantastic. Benjamin with his acoustic guitar, Narelle with her bass guitar, Jonathan with the electric guitar and Sandra with her tamborine, it is good enough to make the band almost complete (though they need a drummer to complete the live show).
The night ended with 3 encore songs which The Sam Willows sang beautifully. I was surprised to see that they performed very well with the encores. The last time I went to a youtube group concert, it was very dissapointed as they don’t match the singing on their youtube channel and at that point I realize how much editing they did before they post it online.
