For the second time in two years, the Bay Area came alive with music, dance, comedy and videos during the International Secret Agents (ISA) concert, held Sept. 24 at the San Jose Civic Center.
Originally formed in 2008 by music group Far East Movement and Pasadena-based film company Wong Fu Productions, the ISA concert series showcase the talents of the rising stars of the Internet Generation, most made famous via YouTube.
Other venues have been in New York, Los Angeles, and most recently in Seattle.
With most of its acts predominantly made up of artists of Asian descent, the concert also paid homage to ISA’s original intention to show that Asians aren’t just about martial arts and Far East philosophy.
Since the company’s inception, the ISA Concerts have gained diverse audiences.
Singers made popular off YouTube made appearances on the show, such as David Choi, Kina Grannis and New Heights.
Choi was able to summon his pitch perfect, soulful voice as he gave performances of his hits “By My Side” and “That Girl,” as well as “You Were My Friend,” a new song from his upcoming album.
Grannis meanwhile was wowed by her supportive fans as she skillfully sang some of her own songs, such as “Valentine” and “Cambridge.”
New Heights made the journey down to the Bay Area from Seattle to put on some of their own songs also, as well as a well-received rendition of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love.”
Mainstream performers joined the artists from the Internet, however their performances were not as well executed.
Roshon Fegan from the Disney Channel series “Shake It Up!” performed a few songs as well as a couple of dance moves for the audience. While he proved himself to be a good dancer, he wasn’t as strong when it came to singing, let alone rapping.
The Season Six winners of “America’s Best Dance Crew,” I.aM.mE Crew, were the other mainstream outlet that appeared at ISA.
Although they won this year’s best dance crew, I.aM.mE Crew’s performance wasn’t as strong as expected. Since all the members hardly danced at the same time, the performance took on the form of a dance-off.
In between acts, hosts YouTube comedians Ryan Higa and Kevin Wu and singer Cathy Nguyen took turns pulling out their own best performances.
The trio even performed their song “Nice Guys” at one point, while and Higa and Wu also took on their personas as members of Best (Bumblebee Extreme Step Team) Crew as they had a dance-off with two of the audience members.
The founders of ISA, Phil Wang, Ted Fu and Wes Chan, made appearances in the show as the last two acts.
They reminisced on how good it was to be back in Northern California again, revealing that all three members hail from this region.
They premiered a new video they had just finished editing hours before the concert that featured them humorously figuring out how to celebrate reaching 1 million subscribers on YouTube.
The show ended with a big bang as Far East Movement took the stage, getting the audience excited all over again as they performed songs from their mainstream album “Free Wired,” including their singles “So What,” “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer.”
They brought energy and hype to the concert, as well as pleasing news when they announced the close completion of their second major record album.
It was a night of high energy, cheering for familiar faces from the computer screen and getting excited for what most people in the entertainment industry seek, originality.
