The last time I watched a1 in concert, it was back in 2012. I missed them when they came back 2 years ago for their concert as a 3-piece because I was in London at that time. How ironic. I was so gutted. I had booked everything and it would be too difficult to move my flights and date to catch a1 in Singapore or within South East Asia even.

Needless to say, I was so bloody excited to watch a1 live in concert again! And as a 4-piece even for this special 20th Anniversary Reunion Tour at the Mediacorp MES Theatre yesterday, 20 October 2018.

Setlist for the night:

1. Forever in love (a capella)
2. Same Old Brand New You
3. Be The First To Believe / Summertime Of Our Lives
4. One More Try
5. Make It Good
6. Ready Or Not
7. Walking In Rain
8. Don’t Want To Lose You Again
9. Heaven By Your Side
10. “The Songs We Never Did” medley
11. • Here Comes The Rain
12. • I’ll Take The Tears
13. • Tomorrow
14. • Make It Through The Night
15. • Hey You
16. • When I’m Missing You
17. • The Things We Never Did
18. Learn To Fly
19. No More
20. Armour
21. Everytime
22. Caught In The Middle
23. One Last Song
24. ENCORE: Stand By Me (a capella cover)
25. ENCORE: Living The Dream
26. ENCORE: Like A Rose
27. ENCORE: Take On Me

When a1 walked out on stage one by one singing “Forever In Love” a capella, I lost all chill. It’s only one of my all time favourite songs. Ever. Even if it wasn’t the full song, that verse + chorus in a capella was enough to get the whole venue on their feet and go crazy.

However, I must add hat being on the second row from the stage does have its downsides. I couldn’t really hear much of a1 singing “Forever In Love” on the speakers; and it certainly didn’t help that everyone was screaming their lungs out.

From the get go at 8.15 pm until the concert ended at about 9.50 pm, I forgot that it was 2018. I was transported back to the good old days of the late 90s/early 2000s. It was truly the good old days because there was no such thing as terrorism.

Admittedly, even though I haven’t listened to quite a number of a1 songs for at least 10 years, I could still remember all the words (except the new song “Armour”) to all the songs. And I even remembered which album which song was from!! I was quite amazed by myself actually.

Anyway, I really loved the medley of “The Songs We Never Did” because those are exactly the great songs that was rarely/never performed live; I was especially excited when I heard “Tomorrow”, “Make It Through The Night” and “When I’m Missing You” in the medley. I would love for those 3 songs to make it to the setlist in full for the next time. Please?

Honestly, the 1.5 hours of the a1 20th anniversary reunion concert just didn’t feel long enough. It should have been like a 4 hours concert. I’d be totally ok with it. LOL. Actually, I was thinking that the next time a1 tours in South East Asia, I just might want tag along on their tour because seeing them once is just not enough.

Also, it was so good to see Paul again after so many years! The last time I saw him was probably around 2001 or even earlier. It’s so crazy. It felt like there was no time lost from then till now. Hopefully, it’s going to be more than just for the reunion tour.

It’s been more than 24 hours and I’m still not over the high that was the a1 “20th Anniversary Reunion Tour”. Please come back again soon for another concert!