Ray ChoonAn opening ceremony of the magnitude and colour as ION Orchard’s, is almost unheard of for a retail centre in Singapore. Oct 23 marked the finale of a 9-day long celebration for the architecturally iconic shopping mall. A glamorous and star-studded lineup featuring American-born Taiwanese music heart-throb Wang Lee Hom rocked the heart of the shopping district.
He was featured in an open-air concert in the centre of Orchard Road, following American Idol Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood, as the curtain-raiser for the commemoration leading up to the grand opening ceremony.
Hosts MTV Veejays Utt and Denise Keller kicked off the 2-hour street party by introducing the fashion previews that included world-renowned labels Herve Leger and DSquared2, which have made their debuts on our shores at ION.
An hour into the showcase, fans were treated to a 20-minute segment by singer-songwriter Wang Lee Hom.
He got the crowd pumped up to his opening song, “摇滚怎么了!!” [literally What’s Happened to Rock!!] from his last album, Heart. Beat, released last December.
Lee Hom changed musical gears immediately when, together with his dancers, he danced and sang to the upbeat track “蓋世英雄” (Heroes of the Earth), the title track of an album he released 4 years ago.
More than a few hearts were won by his intimate rendition of Elton John’s “Your Song”, which Ewan Mcgregor covered in the award-winning movie musical Moulin Rouge.
Preceding the memorable performance by Lee Hom and the fashion show was the launch of charity project “We are One”, that hopes to unite all Singaporeans as one during these economically trying times. Gracing the launch of this project were Singapore President S R Nathan and Lucas Chow, CEO of MediaCorp, the organiser of the cause, whose beneficiaries are the President’s Challenge 2009 and Community Chest.
The climax of the night was a visually stunning finale of fireworks rocketing into the sky, as seen through the wavy glass roof of the building that left the guests and members of the public in awe.
