Out & About #123 | TAIWANfest 2015 + MP Magic Power Concert

8/28/2015

I'm a firm believer that having an artist's or group's music on repeat prior to attending his/her/their concert fully heightens the experience. For the week leading up to Magic Power's appearance at TAIWANfest, I've had their two most recent albums playing in a constant loop. Undoubtedly, I was in utmost joy when Friday finally rolled around.

To kill some time before the food vendors at the event were to open, we stopped by Maman to quench our thirst.
As commuters going about locating a specific shop in the Financial District, it did not help that First Canadian Place, nor the connecting Brookfield Place for that matter, had not included Maman onto their store directory. After pacing about both the lower and main floors of the building, I suggested trying the Food Terrace located on the uppermost level.
Lo and behold, Maman was present, and shown to occupy a convincing chunk of the food court.

Taking time to capture almost every detail of the hidden cafe, I was given quite a number of stares (or perhaps they were glares?) from the cashier. It got to the point where I almost - the key word is almost - replaced my camera into its case after getting a few satisfying images. We took a good, long look at their drink options, which had been scribbled onto a small, framed chalkboard in almost indecipherable font. Ultimately, it was settled that Homemade Iced Tea and Homemade Lemonade were the drinks of choice.

View the full album HERE !

I have had my fair share of lemonade-drinking in the past, so I was really rather surprised when the Homemade Lemonade that I received had tasted of lemon juice with little to no sugar. The modest pieces of lemon pulp and subtle aromatic essence added an interesting touch to the acidity, but the drink was still much more sour than I would have enjoyed. I was also informed that the Homemade Iced Tea had tasted "watered down".
For being located right in the food court of a busy commercial building, I had expected that their markups would be lofty enough that they did not need to resolve to plastic, disposable cups to serve customers. The fact that their products were merely distinguished by slapping a "Maman" sticker on top disappointed me greatly. It was also saddening to discover that Maman was a food court vendor, opposed to an individual coffee shop serving up unique selections (such as Lavender Hot Chocolate). The Maman hype was, unfortunately, just not worth it.

After draining the remaining liquid from the cups, we headed over to TAIWANfest. It was still quite early at that point, though due to this early arrival, we were able to catch MP Magic Power was having an open (non-ticket-holder permitted) dress rehearsal. It didn't possess as much as energy as a live performance, but was great to see nonetheless.

The World Cafe, which was composed of six vendors (hailing from both street food stalls and restaurants with physical locations in the GTA), was set to open at 6 PM. Astoundingly enough, lineups comprised of famished, festival-goers had already formed ten minutes prior.
One of the stalls had technical issues with their cashier, and thus their opening time was delayed about another five minutes. Their lineup consequently expanded during this time. No matter though, as I was the first in line and snagged a Blood Pudding (sticky rice topped with green onions and a dusting of sweet nuttiness) and a Taiwanese Hamburger - more accurately speaking, a steamed bao containing pork belly. Both items were great and a total steal!

The vendor names were not indicated on the directory, but were simply all denoted as "Taiwanese" instead.

Immediately after receiving my items, I had tried to locate the "Bubble Tea Lounge", which was supposedly adjacent to the World Cafe in the Lakeside Terrace.

Given that the Lakeside Terrace could only be accessed from within the building, and that the only door providing entry to the booth was partially closed, it was another sign that Formosa was still in their preparation stage and not yet open to the public.

We went for Green Tea Shaved Ice from Cha Me. Cha in the meantime.

Returning some twenty to thirty minutes later, the doors were wide open and a small line had formed. At this point, they had sold out of milk tea and were making desperate attempts at being efficient. I cannot comprehend the reason behind why four members of staff required a total of ten minutes to add two spoonfuls of ice, fill them with already-made tea from a drink dispenser, and seal them.
The un-uniformed member, presumably the manager, wasn't exactly friendly either. Upon noticing that two drinks that bore a strong resemblance to my order had emerged from the sealing machine, I inquired about whether they were the Wintermelon and Lychee Green Teas. In response, he uttered a coarse "These are mine.", before proceeding to walk away. (I mean, talk about amazing customer service!)

In the end, they even got my order wrong - they gave me Wintermelon with Lychee Jelly and Passionfruit Tea with Lychee Jelly, instead of the Lychee Green Tea with Frubo. But I had had enough waiting and just decided to head back to the concert venue.

View the full album HERE !

The concert was crazy awesome! While it did take the first half hour for the crowd to get hyped, MP did an amazing job at gradually convincing attendees to stand up and participate. To be quite frank, I've never witnessed such a high degree of audience involvement before! From short and sweet MC cuts to a brief dance tutorial, and from PK cheering matches to using mobile phone flashlights as lightsticks during mellow ballads, the concert was an adventure in itself.
Far from the lacklustre expressions worn during rehearsal, the boys were brilliant stars on stage. With unceasing bursts of energy, continuously stunning performances, and a beyond-friendly atmosphere, Magic Power has officially won me over. They were destined to be on stage.

The sky had darkened before I even knew it, and the concert had been concluded with a solid encore and the tossing of Sean's drumsticks into the crowd. (No, I wasn't skilled enough to obtain it. The girl in front snatched it up instead.) We grabbed and munched on a shaved ice concoction from Cha Me. Cha while sticking around for MP to make another appearance at their photo session with ticket holders.