Following two successful concerts last year, Thailand's renowned love balladeer/songwriter/producer Boyd Kosiyabong returned with the third and final instalment of his themed concert series "Boyd50th #3 Million Ways To Love", which will take place on Sunday at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani.
The trilogy concert covers Boyd's long career -- Rhythm & Boyd (1995), Simplified (1996) and Million Ways To Love Part 1 (2004) -- and in each show pop music fans will get to see a parade of top artists featured on each album from the Bakery Music days.
"Boyd50th #3 Million Ways To Love" is in support of Boyd's third album, Million Ways To Love Part 1, and this four-hour-long concert will feature, among others, Setha Sirachaya, Kamala Sukosol, Moderndog's Thanachai Ujjin, Nop Pornchamni, Burin Boonvisut, Ben Chalathit, Noi Pru, Nadia, Boy Peacemaker and Poe Yokee Playboy.
The concert also marks Boyd's 50th birthday.
Boyd Kosiyabong at his office in Bangkok. Photos: Somchai Poomlard
"At first we planned to do all three shows in the same year, as I turned 50 in 2018. But due to the venue difficulties and waiting for each guest artist to be free on the same day, we had to postpone the final show to 2019," said Boyd in an exclusive interview with Life at the headquarters of LOVEiS, the studio he founded.
"It's been 25 years in the business for me, so I think it's the right time to do all these concerts as a gift for our fans while I still can," said the songwriter. "The next one I do could be in 25 years, and I'm not too sure I'll be around then, or all my friends will still be active in music. We're getting older every day."
Boyd is also an avid fan of games, toys and his favourite childhood films by directors like George Lucas. That's why the songwriter chose Star Wars as the theme of his concert trilogy.
"The first three parts of Star Wars are among my all-time favourite stories in film. And I think somehow those stories are very similar to the timeline of my life," explained Boyd.
He described the first Star Wars film, A New Hope (1977), as being similar to his first record, Rhythm & Boyd, when he just started out as a proper artist and was working with all his friends for the first time, similar to A New Hope, where all the main characters -- like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo or Princess Leia -- first met each other.
"Then came The Empire Strikes Back (1980), where the main characters in the film are facing a lot of obstacles, which was very similar to my life during the making of Simplified," said Boyd.
"There were a lot of ups and downs in my life during that time. I lost a great number of family members as well as my hope and confidence. Unlike the movie, I didn't fight against the Empire, but I fought with myself, my thoughts and the dark side in me. It took me many years to overcome those weaknesses and fears as I found love from God, and finally made a comeback with my third album, Million Ways To Love Part 1, which I would compare with Return Of The Jedi."
Boyd Kosiyabong at his office in Bangkok. Photos: Somchai Poomlard
Boyd is a devout Christian with a shelf of Bibles behind his office table. He believes that God helped him get through difficult times and become a better songwriter.
"I used to worry a lot about my songwriting. I worried if the songs I wrote were good enough or people will like them or not.
"But now my head is clear as crystal. I don't need to worry about that anymore. Any music I write these days isn't coming from me but straight from God. And I'm only a messenger who does all the work for him. So it doesn't really matter if the song is a hit or not."
Two-thousand and nineteen will be another busy year for Boyd and LOVEiS, as once the big concert is completed, he will begin production on a few new releases this year.
"There will be a couple of new releases happening in 2019. First, I have already finished recording demos for my sophomore album Million Ways To Love Part 2, and am now talking with renowned American producer Larry Klein, to see if he'd like to work on the project with us," he said.
Another release this year will be a LOVEiS special Christmas album, and it will feature lots of guest artists from both Bakery Music and LOVEiS, and should be released just in time for Christmas.
"When I was growing up, I found myself in love with Christmastime and all the festive seasons," said Boyd.
"My favourite Christmas music growing up were albums by Phil Spector, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole. I have always thought about writing all original Christmas songs too. It never really happened, not until now. So far we have recorded around four songs. And I hope this new effort I've been working on will satisfy our fans whenever it comes out."
Boyd Kosiyabong at his office in Bangkok. Photos: Somchai Poomlard
"Boyd50th #3 Million Ways To Love" will be staged on Sunday at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani. Tickets cost from 1,500 to 5,000 baht and can be purchased via thaiticketmajor.com.
