Sally Yeh (葉蒨文) in the Media...

Review from the Straits Times.




Feb 12, 2007 No frills, just thrills With few costume changes and no battalion of backup dancers, Sally Yeh used only her powerful voice to impress the crowd - By Ong Sor Fern

LOVE, Sally was billed as 'A Special Valentine's Day Concert'. The 21/2-hour gig was certainly a love fest in every sense of the word.

The 45-year-old singer flirted easily and sang her heart out for the 5,000 fans who had turned up, filling the venue to 80 per cent capacity. She promised them: 'No guest, no husband, just you and me.'

And her screaming fans repaid her obligingly with unabashed adulation, lapping up her easy banter in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, and her polished vocals.

The concert was a fairly no-frills affair compared to the flashier concoctions of young pop things who come armed with a battalion of backup dancers and multiple costume changes.

Yeh had only three costume changes. And she joked self-deprecatingly about the two dazzling outfits she wore. Of the white ball gown, the singer confessed in Cantonese: 'It's a little bit tight and I'm afraid it's going to pop.'

Reappearing in a daring backless green dress, she said coyly: 'It's held up only by this thread. If it falls off, let me know.'

But Yeh's honeyed voice needed no additional frippery. Her versatility was evident in the varied programme which leapfrogged from Abba songs and Queen numbers to her own hits and Mandarin pop covers.

She could do girly crooning as well as diva-esque belting, pop opera coloratura and folk song warbling.

The strong singer understood that a little vibrato and melisma go a long way. Her earnest delivery plumbed sweetness even from an overwrought pop chestnut like My Way.

The only gimmicks in the show were when the veteran star lobbed cute soft toy pigs for the upcoming lunar Year of the Pig, and hit shuttlecocks, into the audience, prompting some scrambling for the souvenirs.

By the end of two hours, the audience was obviously unwilling to let her go. Those few who sneaked off early to beat the post-concert rush missed an energetic encore.

Yeh appeared in her third costume change, a backless sequinned top emblazoned with Sally, HKPO (or Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, with which she has performed) and silk cargo pants. She belted out Dancing Queen as she went on a walkabout amid ecstatic fans, handing out more soft toy pigs.

By the time she ended with My Love Goodnite and declared: 'I will remember here (tapping her head) and here (hand on heart)', her satisfied fans would agree wholeheartedly.
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