To live a life of luxury and dissipation seems a distant possibility for me, not to mention wearing clothes bedecked with shining diamonds and glittery pearls, or riding in a carriage made of real gold. But that doesn't prevent me from enjoying such a visual feast for two hours.

For 680 yuan (US$82) I was able to sit within 50 metres of a fairytale on stage. At least for a short period of time, the brilliant sight dazzled me, so that I almost forgot it was actually a concert, rather than a luxurious fashion show. During the one-and-a-half hours, my eyes certainly enjoyed more than my ears.

After the show, when the gold carriage rode away, I couldn't help sighing over my 680 yuan, earned through sweat and toil. My friend comforted me that it was worth the expense if the ticket price was weighed against the cost of the whole grand performance. It is said that the gold carriage alone cost nearly US$8 million.

The scenes and costumes would outshine most concerts held in any part of the world. The stage for the Shanghai concert was three-sided and decorated with newly designed palace-styled backdrops, crystal lamps and Broadway curtains. Even the gold horse carriage was refitted with movable wheels to make it more realistic. All these made the concert production cost extremely high. It was reported that 12 security staff had to guard the carriage around the clock and the organizers had also paid dearly for insurance.

But is this the reason that we go to concerts?

We have to admit that the answer might be "yes" - the concert held in Shanghai last Saturday did enjoy a full house.

Surely the singer herself was greatly appealing to the audience with a large number of fans in the city, including me. But we couldn't deny the fact that the gorgeous costumes and backgrounds are gaining more attention than the songs themselves.

Nowadays, we tend to judge a concert by how much money the organizer has spent on marketing it rather than how much effort the artist has made on the stage. If the artist failed to change their beautiful fineries several times during the performance, perhaps more people would be sighing about the money they had spent on tickets. Thus, to avoid disappointing the audience and to give them a fresher experience, it seems the most important role the artist has to play is that of displaying various new sets of costumes together with expensive ornaments costing millions of US dollars.

No wonder concerts are more and more similar to fashion shows and artists are acting as amateurish models.

As we become more concerned about the external spectacle of the concerts, their real meaning gradually fades from our minds. After all, it should be the music that attracts the audience. Putting too much emphasis on ornamentation can only weaken the charm of both music and artist.

The media have to be blamed partly for this. Their excessive reportage on the scenery and costumes at concerts has driven both the audience and the artists to pursue such visual extravagance.

I still remember that just one week before the concert, an article in a local magazine declared that "without 10 sets of costumes, how could a singer dare to stage a concert in Shanghai". Although the writers didn't mean it seriously, it was indicative of the way the media look at concerts.

As Shanghai has become a hot spot for concerts and other entertainment activities, it is important to cultivate a sound atmosphere for the public to enjoy artistic forms without paying too much attention to anecdotes.

The artist has left Shanghai to continue her concert tour. I do hope that it is her beautiful voice that will leave an impression on the audience, not the "gold horse carriage".