K-pop royalty make it wild, wet and weird in Singapore
K-pop fans fighting and crying, queuing seven days ahead, and ignoring pouring rain and muddy roads made Singapore's first SMTown Live World Tour a story of drama, drama and more drama.
But all of that, as it turned out, was worth it for the 24,000 people — mainly teens and 20-somethings — that showed up at the Marina Bay floating platform Friday to watch the bands under the wing of Korean record label SM Entertainment.
Watch Yahoo! Singapore's exclusive video coverage here:
The 50-song, $5-million extravaganza, complete with pyrotechnics, stunning light displays, and an impossibly star-studded line up made for the most epic K-pop concert ever held in this sunny city.
For those of you who decided not to brave the rain but wish you had been there, Yahoo! Singapore gives you the low down on SMTown 2012 — what was hot, what was not, and what was just... weird.
What was Hot:
The sheer star-studded power of the line up. You had Girls' Generation, Super Junior, TVXQ, BoA and SHINee. Need we say more?
All crowd-drawers in their own right, their performances on Friday night were packed with energy and they stayed enthusiastic despite clearly withering in the humid Singapore weather coming off the plane from 4-degrees Celsius Seoul. Even through sporadic drizzles, the artistes showed they were determined to make sure the crowd had a good time.
Acts rotated — a great idea as that kept the pace high. From the delightfully campy "Oppa Oppa" by Super Junior's Eunhyuk and Donghae to SNSD's sexy "Run Devil Run", interspersed with SuJu's very masculine "Superman", there was no time to get bored as act after act appeared on stage.
Adding variety to the mix were covers of English pop songs - from Ryeo Wook (SJ), ONew (SHINee)'s strangely dated version of Journey's "Open Arms" to more recognizable dance hits "Like a G6" (SHINee's Key, EXO's Kris, F(x)'s Amber) and Usher's "DJ's got us fallin' in love" - which got the crowd screaming along.
A particularly cute performance was Katy Perry's "California Girls" by real-life sisters Jessica (SNSD) and Krystal (F(x)) at their cutesy, candy pop best. The duo displayed some serious vocal chops and their pronunciation was perfect, carrying not a hint of Konglish.
Despite the introduction of new, slicker songs, old was clearly gold on Friday night as the loudest cheers filled the platform for songs like SNSD's "Kissing You" and "Gee", Super Junior's (minus Siwon) "Sorry Sorry", SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong", BoA's "Number One", and TVXQ's "Mirotic".
In terms of "fan service" aka cute winks, smiles, or funny dances performed by artistes for fans, the SM family was also on full on charm mode - SNSD in particular rewarded their Soshified fan club with dozens of sunny smiles, flying kisses, and pretty waves.
Of course, the SNSD girls' famous pins were also flaunted - super short leather shorts followed by super short denim shorts showed those long, slim legs to full effect (and clearly to the delight of all the men present)
What really made the concert worth its hefty price tag was the way the artistes clearly gave their all - SHINee in particular were especially intense performers, leaving the crowd enthralled by their exceptionally well co-ordinated dances and strong energy.
Fountains, fire and mobile platforms also greatly enhanced the watching and interacting experience as all of the concert goers were treated to an up close look at the stars.
Finally, a stunning fireworks display marked the artistes' last song "Hope", putting a strong, satisfying end to the four-and-a-half-hour extravaganza.
What was Not
Halfway through the concert, one of the three huge "Live" screens broadcasting the artistes broke down, seriously cutting off visibility for a huge moshpit of fans. Although the fans continued their enthusiastic cheering, many were disappointed as they had waited hours to get in but weren't able to enjoy the concert to the fullest.
The Live Tour also took off to a rather slow start with girl group F(x)'s Hot Summer. Now, we know Singapore is hot, perpetually summery, and very humid, but it wasn't an excuse for the girls' clear lack of energy as they languidly performed their signature leg-tapping dance.
There were also a couple of strange performances - New boyband EXO performed "MAMA" after a very long and noisy prelude that sounded like the soundtrack to The Exorcist, complete with creepy Satanic-sounding chanting - which just looked like they were trying too hard.
Midway through the concert, the SM Family's boybands also seemed to decide that heavy metal and head shaking was the theme of the night - "Ring Ding Dong" was remade into a thumping, pounding, guitar-riffing version that hurt the ears.
Finally, there was the constant threat of rain as heavy rain clouds hovered above the platform, some concert goers were so antsy about the idea of getting drenched that they left early once a slight drizzle started - But kudos for the free ponchos provided by the organisers.
The nightmare queues and muddy grounds were also a common complaint from those at the concert.
"The area outside the floating platform was really limited. There wasn't much space for fans to move around and queue to get in, it was so messy. The ushers were not helpful in controlling the crowd either," said research assistant Evelyn Ng, 23.
"There were about one thousand fans queuing here from 7 am - there was a lot of miscommunication. Security said those queuing cannot re-join if they leave the queue, so no one dared to move out," said student Carmen Siew, 21, a Super Junior and EXO fan.
Still, the consensus that night was that it was all worth it in the end - was SM Town Live World Tour III the mother of all K-pop concerts like it was touted to be? Y! Singapore's answer is a resounding Yes.
Related links:
Y! Singapore gets personal with SHINee
Check out Y! Singapore's slideshow of the SM Town Live World Tour III
