Boo Jian Wen Jeremy
People revel the start of 2009 with 10,000 wishing spheres floating in the background
Singapore celebrated 2008’s final hours at one of the biggest countdown parties in town at the Marina Bay.
While celebrities prepared for the Countdown Show at The Float @ Marina Bay, thousands attended free performances at Esplanade‘s Outdoor Theatre. Bands, such as Quasimodo, You and Whose Army?, and Tiramisu, kept the crowd excited with energetic shouts and brisk dance manoeuvres .
In between gigs, New Year wishes and shout outs by various celebrities, embassy ambassadors, spokesmen, and other people were projected at the Theatre. UrbanWire had concluded that 4 most used words were: “Trying”, “Challenging”, “Difficult”, and “Uncertain”.
Except the Paralympians, who state their admirable goals of breaking their personal limits and soar to greater physical achievements. Salute.
We know the past year hasn’t been easy, but there’s really no need to remind us (over and over and over and over and over). Yawn.
2009 is a wonderful year of opportunities. Whether good or otherwise, UrbanWire says: CELEBRATE THIS NEW YEAR.
As if reading my thoughts, an elderly man left his seat in the middle of Quasimodo’s gig and started to dance in front of everybody. Boy, did he swing and sway. He put everybody young in that crowd to terrible shame.
Meanwhile, Channel 5 celebrities had gotten the crowd groovy at the Marina Bay SINGAPORE ‘live’ Countdown show. Despite haunting voids, reminder of a cancelled Party @ The Float, the crowd engaged in frenzied screaming and a Marina Bay Wave, adapted from the Kallang Wave.
While Gurmit Singh, Michelle Chia, Fiona Xie, Utt, and Andrea Fonseka made valiant attempts at hosting, homoegrown stars, such as Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza, Adrian Pang, Jade Seah, Broadway Beng and Phua Chua Kang, and Rabbits from Superband, wildly entertain.
We heard regional rock band Rivermaya also came to wow the crowd, but we weren’t able to catch them for you because we had to prepare to capture enthralling fireworks.
Here are some more pictures:
[flickr album=72157611963343006 num=39 size=Square]
Happy New Year, dear reader.
Photographs by Lee Xian Jie