Last week, I watched Super Junior in concert. In Seoul. Super Junior Super Show 4 World Tour in Seoul. It was their first show of their world tour - yup, you read that right, no more Asian tour, them boys are poised for world domination now - and it was memorable not because I was watching my fav boys on home ground. It was memorable because this time, we didn't have any fancams of previous tour stops for reference - everything was a surprise.
Thr first surprise of the evening was me and my sis getting front row seats. Yup, you read that right again. Front row seats, baby! We didn't even think we'd be that close to the stage. We received our tickets from the tour guide, went in, asked the usher where our seats were, and were kinda glad that our seats looked like they would give us a good view.
Then we walked down. And down. And even further down. OMG. Did we just get the front seats?! The first thought that ran through my head was, "I think I just died and gone to heaven." They were the best ever seats to have gotten - the stage and set in plain view right in front of us.
After we got over the initial shock, we scrutinised the set. This time, there was no revolving stage, but we spotted tracks. OMG. A moving stage?! Come on over, boys! Not only was the stage on tracks, there were tracks in front of the second storey of seats - so the boys could reach out to the fans at the back. There were the usual pop up from underground boxes - but this time we were thinking, "Who's gonna pop up in front of me?!" Lol. The other thing different about the set this time around were the cranes - they lifted the boys right up in your face, haha.
Super Show 4 was four very entertaining hours long, but I think my mind went blank during the concert. It's one thing to dream about something, but quite another to be experiencing the dream coming alive right in front of your eyes, literally.
The boys put up an awesome show - and "awesome" is a gross understatement. This time, the boys showed a more mature side of themselves. No more water guns, no more throwing sweaty towels, no more boys dressed up as fruits or animals. They still had dorky fun segments, but that was kept to a minimum.
Instead, they chose to utilise the set to bring out their performances, and they chose to put up a concert that was not for 14-year teenage fangirls. It was refreshing to see the boys allow themselves to grow up and mature - they are after all, in their mid- to late twenties.
Almost everyone had a solo stage and they were able to show off their talents - playing the piano, saxophone, keyboard, harmonica, guitar, dancing a routine they choreographed themselves, singing songs they composed themselves or just standing there and singing without any frills. While it is indeed a teeny bit try-too-hard like all the other boybands out there, I appreciate these stages because it is quite a feat to want to be recognised for your own talent in a group as large as Super Junior. I guess because of their experience, the company allowed them to finally break out of their boyband formula and show the world why they survived their company's audition in the first place.
For me, the concert had two highlights. First, the acapella segment. The boys stripped down all the frills and slick dance moves, sat on stools and serenaded the audience with a little known song, "Lovely Day". It was like magic - and you never even thought SuJu was capable of that. It was beautiful to sit through that and feel your heart swell with pride and your skin tingle with good goosebumps, because at that point, you were able to feel the boys' ardous journey to the top. Being number one is never easy, even though they make it look so.
Lovely Day
The second highlight was the last song. They sang the Korean version of "Destiny", which was only released in the SuJu-M mini-album earlier this year. Their two SuJu-M members, Zhoumi and Henry, participated in this song too, and suddenly you felt that SuJu was complete. Sure, two of them are in the military, one left, and one is on hiatus, but before this, Zhoumi and Henry were usually cast aside and only taken out of the closet for SuJu-M-related activities and promotions. It felt as if SuJu was now one, singing one song, and telling their fans that this is the way it was meant to be all along.
Destiny - there are no good fancams of this song, so here's the audio of the original Chinese version
The other parts of the concert that I got excited about mainly involved pretty stage lighting, pretty ballads, or pretty boys looking all suave and hot. Haha.
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The set is amazingly chic - I never thought they'd do this song this way. Love the props and the lighting. Kudos to Donghae for writing such a good song.
Storm
K.R.Y.S.D. - the singers of the group. They've done such arrangements before, but this time, the background suited the song well, and I loved the simplicity of it.
Walkin' - no good fancams of the first show, so it's a recording from the second show
One of my favourite songs off the fifth album - and I love the use of the treadmills and the various scenery in the background. A tad cheesy, but the flying bicyle added a fun element. Nice touch with the birds, too.
Kiss Me Darling
This is me being biased. I can't make out what Yesung is singing cos his pronunciation is horrible, but oh wells. I still love him.
VCR in New York - the best vid I could find. TT
One of the prettiest pre-song vids of the night. I want to run into that boy coming out of the cab. Can?
Opening VCR
The VCR that got everyone all excited - the show begins now!
A-Cha
One of the first few songs of the night - and great use of the moving and lifting stage. Oh, let's not forget the water fountains too.
Mr. Simple - again, the second show's fancams are better
Why would I leave this song out of my hightlights list? It's the title song of this tour. :)
Needless to say, we had a great time at the concert. In my best concerts list, Super Show 4 goes right below Jason Mraz's concert in Singapore in 2009. Nothing beats watching one of your fav bands playing their first show of their first world tour on home ground. The memory is etched in my mind and heart, even as I am looking forward to watching the boys during the Singapore leg next year.
Thank you, God, for this wonderful opportunity. <3
See you again soon, boys!
PS See more photos here!
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Since I'm on it, let's document our other fangirl encounters.
We went thrice to Handel & Gretel and this time I talked to his little bro! Ish.
The first time we went, it was too crowded so we got some snacks from Holly's and went back instead. We stopped by Sukira, but the boys (Leeteuk and Eunhyuk) were not on - they probably were too tired from the concert that night. The second time was with the tour group, and it was still too crowded so we had supper at Coffee Girl. We tried our luck with Sukira again, but again it was a no-show.
Before going off however, I somehow managed to pull some courage outta somewhere, walked into the cafe past all the fangirls who was wondering who the hell I was to walk right up to the counter like that, and asked Yesung's lil' bro, "내일 아침에 몇 시에 문을 열어요?" I asked him what time the cafe would open the next morn. He told me about eight. I kinda spazzed once I was out of the cafe. Haha.
Our plan was to visit the cafe the next morn since we had some time before heading to the airport.
Handel & Gretel was pleasantly empty in the early morn. We managed to enjoy our toast, milk and latte. However, that pleasant-ness started dissipating once more fans came in. It wasn't so bad, though, until the Chinese fans came and starting making noise.
My sis made new friends from Japan - I asked two fans to come in and sit at our table since they were about to settle for a table outside. It was freezing outside! It turns out they were Japanese and so we now have Japanese friends, Yuri and Kumiko! :)
Before we left, I dragged my sister to the counter so she could give the print she drew of the boys to JOngjin (that's his bro's name). Well, I did most of the talking, and most of the time, the adorbable boy looked like he couldn't believe I was talking to him. Boy, it's kinda the other way round, really, lol.
<3
2 comments:
ano,,
can you tell me what the song title VCR opening - Super show 4?? Thank you :)
Hello!
Sorry, I do not know what the song title is! I think it was written specially for the VCR.
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