Don't Worry...

That's right, you know what comes next.  Be happy!  I was soooo happy tonight because I went to see Bobby McFerrin in concert in Macau.  I loved him when I was 12 and I love him again today.  Words really cannot do justice to his ability so I've included some videos below of a few of the songs he did for us that I snagged from YouTube.

 This is the poster that got my attention in the first place.  A huge one was posted along my morning bus route and even though my parents are coming to town tomorrow and I should be doing other things, I knew I'd regret it if I didn't go.

The advantage of going to a concert by yourself is that you can get a good seat between groups of people.  I was right in the middle of the fourth row.  He was so close that I could have thrown my chapstick and hit him without even standing up.  Simple stage - just a chair, a mike and four speakers with a single spotlight when he came out.  This is about how he was dressed, just a t-shirt and black jeans and dreads.  Oh, there was also a bottle of water next to the chair.  He walked out, bowed to us, sat down, took a drink, hummed a little scale and began.  He spent the next 10 minutes on an improvised scat/beatbox/humming extravaganza.  He never stopped to take a breath, he just works it into the music.  After the first 10 he stopped, we clapped, he took another drink and started again.  Unbelievable. 

I've never been to a concert that was so fun and so beautiful.  He's incredibly talented, but uses that talent to include you and have fun with it.

He does a lot with audience participation and did this routine with us.  So fun!  I was amazed at how well the crowd did too!  I guess musical types are the likely audience members, but still - not everyone knows how to hit the notes on a scale.  But everyone around me was doing quite well!  It was fun to see who was in the audience too.  I'd been wondering if Bobby's style would appeal to the Chinese.  There were a lot of Portuguese and Westerners there, but the audience was more than half Chinese and judging by the volume they were totally into it!

This was amazing too.

He did an even longer version of this - I love the microphone-to-the-neck effect.

And by the end he had us all singing this, and the William Tell Overture, and a couple more I can't remember.  We did not sing the words, just the melody, but still - it was pretty amazing how many people knew it.

For the grand finale they brought out the Macau Cultural Center children's choir, and I can honestly say, you ain't seen nothin' until you've seen this guy lead a bunch of 12-year-old Chinese kids in Ave Maria - in Latin.  Wow!