The American perfect-pitch possessor, record producer and thirst-trapper Charlie Puth returned to Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani for his third concert in Bangkok on Friday.
The world tour 'Charlie' Live Experience, which is named after his latest self-titled album, was his return to Bangkok in five years and Thailand was his second stop for the Asia leg.
Puth kicked off the memorable night on an upbeat note with pop rock Charlie Be Quiet!, the second track from Charlie, during which he performed his Roland keytar, which resembles an oversized cleaver out of an RPG video game, and asked the audience to sing and snap their fingers along. Up next is catchy and easy-to-bop-to No More Drama, the last track from the same album, before the first few guitar chords of Attention, one of the best tracks from his second album Voicenotes, sent fans screaming and singing along to the midtempo pop rock. Towards the end, he surprised the audience by hitting high notes which weren't in its original version.
Next, Puth served a cover of Stay, which he wrote for The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber, in a new arrangement. He then came back to Charlie with Left And Right, a breezy collab with BTS's Jung Kook, before Boy, an addictive 80s synthpop about a man being judged by an older woman he pursues from Voicenotes, was impressively delivered next along with his keyboard solo.
Light Switch, Charlie's lead single, was up next for an upbeat vibe before Puth treated day one fans to his early hit Dangerously, which he said was performed at his debut concert in Thailand in 2016 (as the second song on the night of Aug 12 at GMM Live House, to be more exact).
It was then followed by We Don't Talk Anymore, a collab with Selena Gomez, which promptly incited an enthusiastic singalong. Before he performed a cover of Dreaming Of You by the late "Queen Of Tejano Music" Selena on a piano and moved on to the first verse and first chorus of I Don't Wanna Know, another early hit of his, which he surprisingly changed into We Don't Talk Anymore while hitting high notes at the end.
Puth returned to Charlie once more with a pop-rock vibe in I Don't Think That I Like Her before he delivered the biggest surprise of the night with Cheating On You, during which he showcased both his vocal and instrumental abilities, completing with a keytar solo and extended instrumental outro of a different arrangement. To my best research, the song, which is a soulful R&B number in its original version, had its tour debut at a September show in Bahrain and was recently added to the setlist. It's also one of several non-album singles that he released between 2019 and early 2020 during the gap between albums Voicenotes and Charlie.
Two more Charlie tracks namely That's Hilarious and Loser were next before Puth seemingly ended the night with Done For Me and How Long from his Voicenotes era. The Puthinators didn't have to wait long for the encore part where Puth sent fans off on a wholesome kumbaya note with One Call Away and See You Again while showering stage-side fans with confetti.
There was no costume change (or shirtless moments) from Puth but there's no need for them. Had Lipstick, his latest single released in August for his fourth upcoming album, been included in the night, it would have made his third Thailand concert even more memorable. Throughout the almost 20-song setlist, Puth went back and forth across his discography to give the audience his old and new hits, of which there are impressively many, despite the fact that he has released three studio albums so far.
The 'Charlie' Live Experience continues in major cities of Asia and is expected to conclude in Australia and New Zealand.
