Let the good times roll

Popular singer, musician, composer and producer Chatree “Ohm” Kongsuwan returned to the stage on Sunday night along with many of the singers who shot to fame thanks to an Ohm-composed or produced hit.

The concert, dubbed “Ohm Chatree Live 2014: RPG Replay”, staged at Thunder Dome Muang Thong Thani, starred several well-known singers and bands from the ’90s and 2000s, namely Christina Aguilar, Peter Corp Dyrendal, Sunita “Beau” Leetikul, Palmy, Sakda Pattasima of Inca, Teerapat “Tui” Sajjakul, Chawin “Jugg” Chitsomboon, Y Not 7 and Mr Team. Many had not taken part in a concert for years.

All had earlier worked with Ohm and sometimes with each other at RPG Records, a music label under GMM Grammy. RPG, which stands for Rewat’s Producer Group, was formed in memory of musical legend and Grammy co-founder Rewat Buddhinan, who died in 1996 at the age of 48.

The three hours fled by much too fast for the audience, who loudly and enthusiastically welcomed their favourite singers and sang along to their favourite songs. 

Ohm played guitar on most of the two dozen odd songs pausing only to take one brief break during the show. He also lent his voice to some of the numbers including “Pieng Krasip”, a hit of his 1980s band “The Innocent”, on which he was joined by Peter and Teerapat. The shy and soft-spoken Ohm, has confessed that he became the band’s vocalist by default and has always felt more comfortable playing lead guitar.

He played piano on Y Not 7’s hit “Thing Rak Long Mae Nam” (Dump Love in the River), which was performed by the band’s vocalist Kasem “Neng” Wongsankorn and just about every member of the audience.

Sakda, singing and playing guitar, revved up the excitement level with a terrific performance of the Inca hit “Mak Game Nee” (This Game). Ohm jammed on the guitar and their superb show was rewarded with long applause and cheers at the end. Sakda switched to the mouth organ “Ao Pai Loey”, another hit from yesteryear, leaving Ohm to solo on guitar.

Sunita too covered an Innocent hit, “Pieng Krueng Jai” (“Just Half the Heart”) while the duo known as Mr Team drew screams with their hit “Chao Chor Malee” (Flowery Girl). Sunita and Mr Team also provided back up vocals for much of the concert.

Palmy mesmerised the audience with an acoustic version of “Stay” to a guitar soundtrack by Ohm and Chawin. She also sang the fast-paced “Yak Rong Dang Dang” (I Want to Cry Loudly) before handing over to Chawin for “Tua Jing Khong Ther” (“Your Genuine Man”).

Crowd pleasers Peter and Teerapat didn’t disappoint, each performing their hits “Chai Kon Nueng” (Just a Man) and “Song Jai” (Two Hearts).

Christina put on a high-powered performance with a string of hits from yesteryear that included “Pai Duay Kan Na” (“Let’s Come Together”) and “Plik Lock” (“Totally Unexpected”) and had the audience up and dancing.

All the singers gathered for the final song, Christina’s “Prawatsat” (History) with the audience moving towards the front and singing along loudly, so loud in fact that they were rewarded with a three-song encore.