John Legend New Album Promotion in Hong Kong

Wow, what a totally kickass last minute opportunity! Around 7pm Shan got a call asking us if we wanted to attend a Sony BMGAsia Promotional event in Central.  It was for John Legend's new album, titled 'Evolver',  which will be released worldwide on Oct 28, 2008.  木曜日晩、John Legendは香港のCDプロモイベントをした。とても面白かった！第３枚CDもすぐ出たから、CD Listeningパーティだった、CDの新歌見せた、その後、４０分ぐらいピアノした。とてもよかった！下のビデオを見て下さい！

So what was so special about it?  unlike Madonna's CD release party, in this case John Legend was actually THERE. Not only was he there, but he performed!  

It took quite a while before he came out actually... and when he first came out we were a bit confused - he said something like 'this will be a bit strange,  I am going to play some songs off of my upcoming CD,  so while you listen,  you can also watch me bob my head to the music...  " ... and then he gave an intro to several songs and did just that... bobbed his head to the music and at some points mouthed the words too (basically lip synching himself... )   If thats all he did, that would have been totally annoying...  but John did hint, "it happens there's a piano here... so I might do some things on it..." 

Here's a first few minutes of him 'lip-synching' tracks from Evolver:

Video: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=4cBtEYmBtJI&fmt=18

Doh!   I felt like running backstage and breaking the CD player to force him to sing them for real...  actually all the songs he played off the CD were duets, with the likes of Brandy,  Kanye and Will I Am.

THEN all the waiting around paid off.. he got in front of the piano and did an amazing 40 minute set!   I was quite amazed at the quality of his voice.  Check out this video:

Part 1: Good Morning + This Time Video: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=ik1jMM7WFJI&feature=user Part 2: Save Room Video: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=erZYCu-PaMI&fmt=18 Part 3: Used To Love U Video: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=6F4C7P6U1ts&fmt=18 Part 4: Ordinary People Video: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=PKo4RffbN8k&fmt=18

Really amazing, don't you think?  (if you missed it, go to part 2 and skip half way through, you can here him mess up and just jump right back into the song,  very impressive!

After 40 minutes he answered a few more questions from the cheesy MC lady, and called it a night.

too bad Shan didn't stay til the end,  she could have shook his hand! :-P

Here's a blurb on the album:

One of the most eagerly-awaited releases of 2008, EVOLVER is the first full-length studio album in two years from five time Grammy-winning recording artist and concert performer John Legend. In addition to OutKast's Andre 3000, guests on EVOLVER include emerging UK hip-hop artist Estelle, R&B/pop superstar Brandy and John's longtime collaborator Kanye West.

Songs on EVOLVER include "Green Light," "It's Over" (featuring Kanye West), "Everybody Knows," "No Other Love" (featuring Estelle), "Satisfaction," "This Time," "Cross The Line," "I Love, You Love," "Good Morning," "If You're Out There," and "Quickly" (featuring Brandy).I really recommend you guys check it out.  As you can see from the videos, he's quite talented!

PS - HK star Fiona Sit was there too,  she was singing along with the rest of the fans.  (you can see her briefly in the 'cd listening' video actually),   here's a photo too:

(yes that is Thai Piano superstar Tor Saksit behind her... more on him in an upcoming blog!)