Super Junior kicks off world tour in Seoul
REPORTING FROM SEOUL
It was not so much a concert but a four-hour musical extravaganza.
K-pop boyband Super Junior kicked off their Super Show 4 World Tour in Seoul over the weekend, playing two sold-out concerts in front of their home fans at the city's sports complex.
[SLIDESHOW: Super Junior in concert]
It had everything. Fireworks, stunning light-and-laser production, water works, flying bicycles and suspended cranes, topped off with a sprawling 360-degree stage that extended to all corners of the stadium venue.
Throw in the boy band's tight trademark choreography, mixed with elaborate music video production, multiple costume changes and skits and even a fake marriage proposal and you have all the ingredients for a enthralling musical production.
Oh, and not to forget a capacity crowd of 11,000 -- mostly made up of teenage school girls waving their blue lightsticks in unison -- shrieking individual band member's names each time they got.
The band, led by the affable and multi-talented Leeteuk, breezed through a set list of 40 songs, interspersed with solo performances and English cover versions, showcasing not just their singing talent but their expertise with a variety of musical instruments too -- harmonica, keyboards and even the saxophone.
Formed by Korean media group S.M. Entertainment in 2005, the group started with 12 members but its latest incarnation is now down to nine -- newest member Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Yesung and Ryeowook, all aged between 24 to 28 years old.
Han Geng out is pursuing a solo career on the Mandopop scene while Heechul and Kangin are both serving their national service in the military.
Kicking off with the high-tempo single, Superman, from their latest "Mr Simple" album, they raced through a setlist that included all their hit singles, saving the best for last with U(2006), smash hit Sorry, Sorry (2009) and the uplifting Miracle being part of their curtain-closing encore.
But the real piece the resistance? The nine boys, all sitting on the stage, sweaty and tired, at the end of their four-hour concert and bantering with their fans for over 30 minutes.
Next up on their tour is Osaka in Japan on Dec 10 and 11th, before the boys -- who I must say really go all out to please and impress their fans -- descend upon Singapore in Feb 17 2012.
Die-hard ELFs (Ever Lasting Friends, as their fan club is called) will get a chance to see them even sooner as the boys are due to attend the star-studded Mnet Asian Music Awards at the Indoor Stadium next Tuesday.
(This writer's trip was made possible by Korea Tourism Organisation and concert organisers Running Into the Sun)
