RICHARD MARX The Solo Tour – Live in Kuala Lumpur

I was fortunate and honoured enough to be able to catch Richard Marx on his Solo Tour- LIVE in Kuala Lumpur recently, thanks to Fatboys Malaysia. Richard Marx was one of my most favorite singers back when I was just a teenager and I distinctly remember singing along to his songs like how my daughter would now to her favorite songs...

So you can imagine how delirious with delight I was getting to see one of my idols come perform LIVE!!!  

The opening act was a local band who called themselves No Tyra who sang a few songs including their hit "Selamanya". No Tyra is a Alternative Rock/ Pop Rock  band consisting of Aryton Soliano, their charismatic front man, Kieran David Jumawan & Jude Macson Bensing on the electric guitars, Alvin John Michael on the bass and a few other...

There were some whooping 3500 people  who turned up for the concert help at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Plenary Hall to indulge in 2 hours of Richard Marx's classic and new hits....and the concert was organized by Fat Boys Malaysia with Malaysia Major Events & The Ministry of Tourism as the official main supporter with supporting partners - Prestige & Lite FM.

 The crowd cheered when Richard took to the stage clad in a white shirt and black waistcoat but when Richard started singing the very apt Endless Summer Nights (considering how our lovely Malaysian weather), everyone was so engrossed and mesmerized with his voice, the whole Plenary Hall was quiet and focused on him...

Richard Marx is a performer, songwriter and producer, and his nearly three-decade-long career has had innumerable of highlights. The Chicago native has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, starting with his self-titled debut which went to #8 and spawned four Top 5 singles, including the chart-topping “Hold on to the Nights,” with “Don’t Mean Nothing” earning him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. 

The follow-up, 1989’s Repeat Offender, was even more successful, hitting #1 and going quadruple-platinum with two #1 singles in “Satisfied” and “Right Here Waiting.” When both Rush Street (with two #1 AC hits in “Keep Coming Back” and “Hazard”) and Paid Vacation (with its #1 AC hit, “Now and Forever”) went platinum, Marx achieved a seven-year string of triumphs that rivaled any in pop-rock music history. 

Do you know right up to this day, he is the only male artist in history to have his first seven singles reach the Top 5 on the Billboard charts.

Finding the hall too quiet, Richard teased his fans and got the crowd to start singing along with him on his third song, Keep Coming Back , where all of his fans sang along with him...

  

When one of his fans asked for Right Here Waiting, before he started on his next song, Richard pretended to look annoyed as he quipped,"Dude, do you really think I am going to go through this concert without singing Right Here Waiting...."

Richard made everyone in the hall laugh when he introduced his song Hazard, one of his worldwide hits. He told the crowd that the song was about a girl who got murdered in Nebraska. He had wrote it just for the fun of it, being a fan of mystery novels and never thought much of it until it managed to surprise him by becoming a chart topper.

However he has had fans coming up to him asking if the song was autobiographical- and if he had actually killed someone  and have been running all over the world hiding behind stages....LOL

I found it ingenious when Richard decided to have a song, Save Me done with his three sons Brandon, Lucas and Jesse accompanying him via video, on drums, piano and guitar... He was  definitely a proud father and his sons naturally did inherited Richard’s talent, as I think he did mention that they are all connected to the music industry in one way or other..... Richard says he calls his sons the "Marx brothers"

Another memorable moment for me was when Richard started telling us the story on how he works with NSync by composing songs for them, and how some of the girls would stalk the group and how members of the NSync had to enter and exit the recording studio via some secret exit and how he could simply walk in and out of the studio through the main door without anyone actually recognizing him until one day, a beautiful girl about 21 years old ran up to him asking if he was Richard Marx. He answered, "Yeah" and she replied "OMG my mother loves you!!"

And with that he dedicated the track "This I Promise You" to all the mothers out there....

The concert was really amazing and Richard Marx still can sing very well . Considering it all, he is really brilliant since with the exception of Save Me, the whole concert was done all by himself either on the piano or guitar. 

It evoked warm memories and it surely was a great performance with a little chaos when he decided to do an unplugged rendition of Angelia . Since the plenary hall was quite big, those seated in the balcony seats and behind the hall could only here very soft music... Richard finished the song and quipped, "Wow, that was dangerous..."

 Personally, I had the time of my life at his concert singing along to all those memorable songs I loved so much in my younger days....

Thank you Fatboys Malaysia for this amazing opportunity... it sure is one of the most memorable nights of my life.... 

For more information, do check out www.facebook.com/FatBoysMY

WWW.RICHARDMARX.COM

https://www.facebook.com/RichardMarxMusic

All of the above pictures are my own taken via my Canon Powershot SX610 HS with the exception of the first photo which is credited to Fatboys Malaysia

For more pictures of Richard Marx, please check out HERE