This is a review. A very laid back open personal review on the concert... maybe I should actually call it a fan-account... but I am going to be critical about it so... I shall call it a review. A review on Kim Junsu or Xia Junsu's solo concert. Yes.
Anyways we arrived at around 2:30 at the venue and there were a lot of people already. Never underestimate Junsu fans. First thing first, we decided to get our fan goods. There was a total of 9 goods that you could buy but to be honest most of them look tacky and the only thing I wanted was a light stick and possibly a slogan because they looked classy. The line up to buy the goods was very long. So they tried to make it shorter by lining up everyone with 4 people per row. The weather was hot and it was a good thing those who were part of the Junsu's fan club started handing out small Junsu fans. I am so glad because although they were small, it helped quite a bit with the heat.
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| Fan goods! |
The concert didn't start until 6 so my friend and I chilled at a coffee shop until 5 and lined up to get inside. Unlike other concerts I've been to, they were really strict here. We were lined up in 4 people per row again and everyone had to get their bag checked. You were not allowed any food or cameras inside. Especially cameras. That was the big thing. That is why I am surprised a lot of people managed to film fan cams of the concert.
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| Standing section lining up to go inside |
Once inside, we were on the 3rd floor and although it was high, we could see everything. To be honest I came to hear Junsu's voice rather than seeing him up close. For the first part of the concert, I kind of was glad that I was up on the 3rd floor. When we got to our seats, we saw a fan project taped to the seat. So basically when a certain song came on, we were to turn off our red light sticks and break the white light stick attached to the note. I was kind of excited to be part of a fan project like that!
So the concert started with an awkward narration by a girl with an awkward british accent. It said something a long the lines of like you will not remember the show but you will remember it in you subconscious or something. It was to put on a like "spell" kind of thing. Slightly awkward... Anyways the first song was "Breath." The choreography was great! I really enjoyed this song and then he went on to singing "Lullaby" and I was disturbed. He had two girls sleeping on his lap and completely changed the meaning of the song for me. I don't know... it didn't really match him. It almost looked slutty... I don't know. I think he performed "No Gain" next. This is my favorite song so I had pretty high expectations for it. I was not disappointed it. I liked the choreo to the song, I wish I knew the name of the dance moves that were my favorite but yeah. Also somewhere he performed "Set Me Free." I like the choreo here as well... but... I can't really remember the order perfectly. sorry.
That's when they set up for the next stage, in which he performed... Intoxication. uhm... They placed mirrors around him and he danced the first verse and chorus with him facing the mirror. yes. Awkward.
When he started to take off his jacket, I realize... he needs to gain more weight. He looked so skinny... what was once beautiful arms... is just skin, muscle and bones... he needs more fat... Anyways it was awkward to look at. Despite the stage being awkward, for the most part his voice was stable and amazing. I don't know how he can dance and sing at the same time and still maintain such a powerful and stable voice. I tried to focus on that part.
To be honest I can't remember...the exact order of which songs came out but I think after that, he had a video playing of him practicing and stuff and afterwards he sang his OST song from Scent of a Women. Afterwards he finally had some MC stuff where he granted 3 wishes of the fans. First he sang a cover of the korean version of Snow Flower and afterwards, he did a cute action (bbuing bbuing) and his signature angel pose. He was so awkward and cute, it was really nice to see him smiling like that. The next two songs were ballads and I was really touched by his powerful singing. He really sings so powerfully that it really touches you deep down. The first ballad was accompanied by the piano at first and the second song was just him singing. I thought, he would have a dancer in the background for this song because it sort of has a waltzy feeling to it but he didn't and it kind of disappointed me here. When I went to the JYJ concert in Vancouver, when he was singing "I Can Soar" he had like a dancer in the background doing a piece and it was beautiful and it matched the song perfectly. However, this song, it would've been great if something like it happened again but it was just him singing. I'm just saying this in terms of presentation of the song. He sang the song beautifully but it would've been better if there was sort of a contemporary/waltz dance piece solo or duet in the background. It would've been perfect, especially as he was wearing some long white jacket thing.
After a video of showing us of places JYJ has gone on tour, (Vancouver was on there and that was also when I realized it was exactly a year ago, since I've gone to see them at a concert. Wow) it was time to perform some songs from his musical. He sang one song from Elizabeth and two songs from Mozart. I think Mozart fits his role better than elizabeth. Although it was only one song, the range of the character he plays is pretty low. I could hear him struggling with it. However, the songs from Mozart were really pretty. In between this and the next, the dancers had their time on stage and did the Be My Girl flashmob dance with everyone. It brought a lot of nice memories of Vancouver and our very small flashmob before the concert.
I think Tarantallegra was next. I have to admit this was actually one of my favorite parts of the concert. The music video of this song is really awkward and artsy but the stage performance of this song is really amazing and cool. He had the red coat outfit from the music video, which was a really good idea. At the end of the performance, his boss chair came out and he sat there for a long time. It was really awkward because we could hear him breathing while everyone was screaming out his name. Then he performed Fever. This performance was fun!
The lights came down and different lights were signaling an encore. What I found strange was that he never really came out to say that the concert was over so I didn't think that we needed to call for an encore but apparently it was and he came out to dance Mission with the dancers. Afterwards he talked a bit. Something along the lines of being worried about making the album and not being able to promote and was glad to be able to meet fans through a concert because that's all he could do. (on a side note: when he talked about not being able to promote, a fan in the back was dissing his former company, which I found pretty funny.) So he performed, I hate love and afterwards he sang the fan project song. As soon as the song came on, everyone turned off their light sticks and you can hear the breaking of the white sticks and it was basically a white ocean everywhere. I was really amazed and I can only imagine how Junsu felt on stage to see the white ocean in the audience. It was really beautiful. Really really beautiful. It also made the song even prettier because at one point, he made the fans sing "I love you" and it was a really touching moment. He said his thank yous and that's when I felt the concert was really over and when I could actually scream out Encore. (although when Korean fans say encore it sounds like ankle.)
He came out and sang "Fallen Leaves" and was on the verge of crying. What am I saying, he did cry. It was a nice song to end the concert to be honest. Even when he stopped singing, the fans continued to clap and he went to every corner of the stage and bowed 90 degree to all the fans before he left.
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| Taken with my cellphone at the end of the show |
It was a really nice and an enjoyable concert to go to. I enjoyed the second part of the concert more because it was perfect with his image. Ballads, cuteness, soft image rather than the sexy, artsy, weird concept in the first part of the concert. I don't know... the most awkward performance to watch was "lullaby." I had to close my eyes and listen to the song that way. I thought this song would be performed slightly more innocently because it is relatively innocent but it was very.... moulin rouge? hahaha. Nevertheless, Junsu's stamina is amazing. His voice was stable the whole time despite him dancing around a lot, singing high notes and etc. I was very very impressed by his singing abilities.
I want to listen to him sing live again. I wish I could've gone to seen Mozart but I wasn't even in Korea then. I am sort of glad that I didn't get to see him do Elizabeth, because just by listening to him sing that one song, I could tell it would be a little hard to listen to the musical. The role of Death from Elizabeth, has a deep low baritone almost bass voice, whereas Junsu has a tenor baritone kind of voice. Close to tenor. Mozart fit his vocal range better.
Well, if anyone has the chance to go see him perform live, go to it! His voice is really heavenly.
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