Softly Into The Night

AFTER KEEPING FANS waiting for a full 10 years, Canadian singer Michael Buble returned to Thailand for his second concert last Saturday and showed exactly why he had been worth waiting for.
Such is Buble’s remarkable talent for crooning across genres and friendly yet professional showmanship that by the end of the first song, it was as if he’d never been gone.
The crowds packing the auditorium at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani were held in thrall as the Grammy Award-winning recounted his affection for the country following his first visit in October 2005. His khob khun krab and sawasdee krab drew long and loud cheers, as did his praise of the Land of Smiles.
Maintaining his reputation as a charmer. Buble offered heartfelt and amusing descriptions of each member of his five-piece backing band and “Team Buble”, the eight-member horn section.
In addition to walking around the main stage and greeting fans in the front row, he twice waded into the crowd. The first was an apparently impromptu walkthrough and the other, a scripted walk to a smaller stage on the opposite side of the hall to sing with his opening act, Naturally 7 near the end of the show.
The seven-member New York-based Naturally 7 entertained the audience for the first hour of the concert with a delightful repertoire that blended a capella with beat boxing. With the first song “Summer Breeze”, a famous Seals and Crofts cover, receiving cheers, the septet further impressed with a show in which each of them was “unplugged” by another member.
With each member disabled, the sounds of each their mouth wind instruments stopped until total silence reigned, only to ramp up as each member was gradually “plugged back in”, drawing loud applause as they went into the final minutes of the set.
After a 30-minute break, Buble came out on stage singing both covers and his own titles and occasionally breaking off to chat with the crowd. His five-session event began with a series of covers from various eras and his major hits including “Haven’t Met You Yet” and “Everything”.
Buble’s sense of humour stood out when he teased a bodyguard he called Jose about being too serious on his job. He gently tried to rattle the well-built and unsmiling man with some obviously private stories then swung into Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”, which is famously covered by Whitney Houston in Hollywood movie The Bodyguard, in a falsetto feminine voice yet still failed to bring a smile to Jose’s face.
Buble next set started with a song he told the audience had been played at his grandparent’s wedding then segued into Backstreet Boys’ debut single “Everybody”.
He interacted well with his musicians who were spread over retractable platforms and occasionally took over the spotlight for solo breaks.
He continued with a ballad/string section that opened with “That’s All” and the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and affectionately referred to its composer, Barry Gibb, as a bad ass. Also performed were Buble’s megahit “Home” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”.
He then joined Naturally 7 for a Jackson 5 rendition of “Who’s Loving You”, the Bee Gees “To Love Somebody” and the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love”, as red and white heart-shaped confetti drifted from the heavens.
Buble followed up with Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love” and his own hit “Beautiful Day” and closed out with “Cry Me a River”, “Save the Last Dance” and late Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You”, whose ending was sung without the benefit of a microphone, rendering loud and long cheers from the crowd for one last time.