Hello hello hello!
I was thinking about titling this post BIGBANG vs. SHINee and then letting the fanwars commence...
but yeah. Maybe that's not the best idea...
The real question: Is BIGBANG or SHINee Naruto in this analogy? And who then is Sasuke?
This past month or so I have been in blissful fangirl heaven as both of my favorite KPOP (Korean Pop) groups held solo concerts in Seoul and I fought with my entire being to obtain tickets to both concerts: BIGBANG MADE World Tour (the very first day of the tour! Saturday April, 25th) and SHINee WORLD IV Concert (again the very first day! Friday May, 15th)
This post will be confusing, because I am a fan of both groups. So you will read quite a bit of fangirl freaking-out jargon that might not make sense, coupled with theater-loving/stage-design based, generally strong critique. And photos. Prepare yourself for lots and lots of photos of unreasonably attractive young Korean men. In fact, there are so many photos, I will make them different sizes so hopefully they are less overwhelming. Remember you can click on them to see full size! ;)
I am going to try and make this accessible to all readers though! Here's a very very basic introduction to each of these groups... so hopefully you won't be too lost. ;) I know, the constantly changing hair color makes it difficult to tell everyone apart in the beginning...
Bigbang
A 5-member all male KPOP group from YG Entertainment. Their name is sorta self-explanatory. Their music has more of a hip-hop foundation, though since they debuted in 2006, they have had quite a lot of growth and style changes over the years. In general, I think they make the best music in the "kpop" field. The members names are: G-Dragon (GD), Taeyang, T.O.P., Daesung, and Seungri and their ages are about 24-27.
Left to right: Seungri, TOP, Taeyang, GD, Daesung
Left to right: TOP, GD, Taeyang, Seungri, Daesung
Got it? hehe
SHINeeAnother 5-member all male KPOP group, but this time from SM Entertainment. First of all you pronounce their name like "shiny" but their name is supposed to mean "one who receives the light" (from their fans) with the combination of 'shine' and the suffix 'ee'. Their goal as a contemporary band is to be a trendsetter in all areas of music, fashion, dance, etc. But I suppose you could say their music is usually dance genre... Speaking of dance, they are indisputably the best dancers in the KPOP industry (hence my indisputable love for them). They were also the very first KPOP group I discovered. So you could say I'm in this mess all because of this group... 다 너 때문에~ 왜 이렇게 열심히 한국어를 배우고 이제 한국에 사는 이유는 다~ 너 때문에.. Ahem. Finally, they debuted in 2008, their names are: Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Minho, and Taemin and their ages are about 21-25.
Left to right: Onew, Taemin, Jonghyun, Minho, Key
Left to right: Onew, Jonghyun, Taemin, Minho, Key
I have had the great fortune to have seen Bigbang in concert before when I was studying abroad in Tokyo in 2012 (though the resale ticket I bought ended up being a scam, so I was on the third floor aka the furthest seat from them as possible) so I'm super happy to actually have been kinda close to the action this time.
And I've seen SHINee two times before this! Once was at a big concert for their entire entertainment company in 2012 and the other was a free concert last fall (read about it a bit here!) but well... both occasions only had four of the five members. In 2012 Minho was filming a drama and couldn't perform at the concert, then last fall Onew was still recovering from vocal surgery and couldn't be there... SO I FINALLY GOT TO SEE THE OT5! All of them united! And a concert with no other random groups that I don't care about! Three and a half hours of only SHINee <3
Here is a photo series of some crazy fan at these concerts... oh wait it's me! (and the only photos of anyone other than the above 10 idols in this whole blog post...) I look absolutely miserable in them all, don't I? I just really hate KPOP... ㅎㅎ
BIGBANG MADE Seoul Spring 2015
SHINee WORLD IV Seoul Spring 2015
Now let's get started! One (not so) small comment (which quickly has become a rant) before the actual concert starts. Oh hey why don't we make it it a little section of its own...
Overall organization
Okay. Seriously. BIGBANG was kinda a mess. They could've used more time to clean things up or really take some tips from SM Entertainment with their concert organization. I have several specific criticisms about their organization.
First. Merchandise sales.
The morning before the concert, a tent in front of the concert venue (Olympic Gymnastic Hall for both of these concerts) sells things for the fans. Light sticks. Towels. Clothes. Here, this is what each concert sold:
If you want the best stuff you need to line up early because it will be the first to sell out (not be available in the evening when you actually go to see the concert). So I lined up in the morning for BIGBANG, not too far from the front. Maybe a hundred or so people were in front of me. Now the logical thing to do, considering that the fans are sitting outside for several hours just waiting for the store to open, would be to hand them order forms so they can fill out what they want ahead of time. They did hand out flyers with the products... but when it finally did open, it made no difference. As each individual went up to order they stood there staring at the large signs above the tent like fools at coffee shops do, staring, slowly saying "I'll take one of those... but wait. Not that color. Well... okay that color. Oh and two of those things. But wait. I don't want the first one."
It took another hour and a half before I even got to order my stuff. SO. Inefficient.
SHINee and the SMTOWN concert I went to three years ago all had the order forms so you just hand them a paper with everything you want checked off. They confirm with you. You pay. Bam! So much faster! Are you reading YG? No? Well... take note anyways!
Next main criticism is their "standing section" aka the area on the floor by the stage (not in stadium seats). BIGBANG's organizers decided to open up the area around the stage on the floor to thousands of fans they would squeeze in to "stand". In my section alone there were 2,000 people. This is a great way for fans to get into the concert, and not worry about tickets selling out before anyone has a chance... but it meant literal chaos inside the venue. The concert started over a half an hour late, and that meant for that entire period each barred off section like mine was a swaying, shoving, sweaty mass full of increasingly angry fans. No one likes being shoved, so since everyone was shoving, everyone was angry and I completely lost most of the friends I entered with. I spotted one of my friends and stuck to her like glue, giving up on the insane forward, stage-nearing direction and going to the back where you could kinda breathe and I could hang out with my friend. The security guards could do absolutely nothing (especially since their shouts of "hold still" "stop pushing" In Korean completely went over the hundreds of Japanese and Chinese fans heads). So even though filming/recording wasn't allowed, just about every other fan (so at least 1,000 people in my section) had their phones out to record. In the end, I have to rebutton up my shirt about 5 times as angry fans ripped at my clothes. I lost my watch. And if I weren't kinda tall-ish so I could see from the back of the pile, and over all the cell phones, I would have been completely miserable.
For comparison, the SHINee "standing" area all had assigned seats. We of course all stood (danced) for the whole concert, and people nearest the action moved away from their seats for short spans of time, but the security guards could actually enter and reprimand people, no one had their stupid phone up, no one was crushed, and you could actually breathe.
Okay~ sorry rant out. Now to the actual concert! Yay!
For comparison, the SHINee "standing" area all had assigned seats. We of course all stood (danced) for the whole concert, and people nearest the action moved away from their seats for short spans of time, but the security guards could actually enter and reprimand people, no one had their stupid phone up, no one was crushed, and you could actually breathe.
Okay~ sorry rant out. Now to the actual concert! Yay!
Concert fashion
Yeah. These aren't just costumes, these are fashion. Something both of these groups are known for on and off the stage. And they didn't disappoint~ Both concerts had aMAZing fashion for the boys.
Let's check out BIGBANG first.
Check out the detail on this! ^
Just like their music style, their fashion was very cool and hiphop. Lots of suits and jackets.
Art-lover TOP of course had a custom suit designed from Mondrain art de stijl:
The suit
(unfortunately the lighting didn't match the neoplasticism rules of primary colors... why green, light designers? why??)
TOP later posted this piece ^ on Instagram of Mondrain's Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow
ahhh~
Yay jackets
Moving on! SHINee was also super fashionable, but all their outfits were very very different and coordinated with each other for each set (nine total I think). They had super challenging dances to do in all of them, except when they had their ballad set. That's when they busted out the giant hats.
This ^ was one of my favorite looks~ you'll find out why ;)
Another one of my favorites was these white military/prince suits~ look at all that detailing! (Though it looked really hot; the poor boys wore this first so they were mad sweating)
These red and white ones were so fun and cute (they all had ears and tails~ It was a really fun set too)
Basically all their outfits were unique and different and yet fit very well with the mood of each set. Good job costume designers/fashion assistant/whatever you are!
Fanservice
Fanservice is just what it sounds like. It's the stars, doing what the fans want. Servicing our needs so to speak (wink wink).
And well... Honestly the Bigbang concert was kinda lacking on that front. Oh there was definitely some fan service like little maknae Seungri being cute:
And Daesung was on fire. He's got this really unfortunate haircut for the new album promotions. It's basically a "hair-in-your-eyes" look. Throughout the concert, whenever they took a break to talk, they always joked about it. Daesung himself totally played along too, joking like, "guys~ I can't see a thing~"
And they played with his hair.
And he did these big swooping hair flips, raised an eyebrow, grinning at the audience like, "oh this is what you want?" and then put his hair back over his eyes.... well, too bad!
TOP and GD would sometimes do really smooth fanservice like wink or point at someone. At the end, TOP was grabbing all the water bottles and towels for them and tossing them into the audience (like wiping a tiny bit of sweat off one time then just tossing it out for fans to go crazy over).
But otherwise they were kinda distant in my opinion. Maybe it's just because they have an image to maintain. They're too cool for embarrassing stuff.
No cheesy, big smiles and giant heart poses from these cool oppas...
SHINee really did their best to give attention to every single fan in the venue. From beginning to end. Here is their final greeting to all the fans, a good slow sweep from one side of the seating to the other.
Melting hearts all the way to the third level of the stadium.
They also had tons of audience interaction props like big drum things that you pat at one end to make a puff of smoke come out. And streamers. And other things I don't even know what they were. They either walked around on stage with them, or they got on these movable stages (more like giant shopping carts) that slowly moved around the venue at the area between the standing section and the stadium seating. So they really got close to every seating area and gave attention to all the fans!
Also not one of them was afraid of doing cutesy fanservice. They were giving hearts and buing buings to everyone. It was sickeningly adorable.
And lots of butts.
And dorkiness.
And kisses.
Then this happened:
Yes, this is the same guy who made the kissy face above. Minho bared all and flexed as every single person in the venue shrieked and melted with joy.
This was all a part of that set I mention as one of my favorite's above. They just finished their incredibly cutesy set with the animal ears (combination of all these songs: Wowowow, WOOF WOOF, Dream girl, Runaway, Ready or not, Beautiful, and 321) So everyone was all happy and smiling, then there was this little break and then BAM. They all come strutting out in these fine suits and do all the most sexy dancing (singing Nightmare, Dynamite, and Everybody). I actually was clutching my heart and trying to calm myself down. It was just way~ too much for my little heart. Especially because the most energetic body-rolling and hip-thrusting member, Minho, was usually facing the direction my section was... and since I gave him a big, arms-above-my-head heart sign when he was looking my direction earlier I was super self-consious like "he knows I exist. And now he's seducing me in this way~ 어떡해 어떡해 어떡해~
Here watch it for yourself (let me just say it had 100x more impact live)
Staging
Worry not, I'll try to be reasonable with my critique this time...
But really. Bigbang's stages were underwhelming. There is a reason for this of course. They were trying this new concept called the "nude stage" so they use as little as possible on the mainstage so as to not obstruct anyone's view in the audience. There was this kinda cool new thing, steel framed truss that doubled as a moving pathway (I'll show you more of that below). But really... platforms and levels add so much! It's so much more exciting! And much more beneficial to the shorter people on floor level so they can actually see the performers... And and! Sigh.
I was basically expecting something like this: (below three photos from GD's solo tour in 2013 ((yes that's a custom glass car that GD drove onto the stage))
And instead got a bare stage:
So maybe a true fan should just be happy to see the idols themselves on stage... but I was really looking forward to seeing some awesome sets since they are known for that...
There was two songs when they had actual sets. Both were for promoting their new songs. One, was a round set piece (I can't remember if it rotated or not) when they first sang their brand new song "Loser". They mostly just used it to lean against the mirror-type-things in angst.
And the other for their new song Bae Bae. Yeah... Bae Bae is a very interesting song... don't ask me why there's a statue of an angel...
"Big Bang’s energy throughout the concert was amplified by the impressive stage equipment. To ensure a clear view of the stage from all angles, the concert used steel truss (stage frame) instead of an aluminum truss. Moving ramps on both sides of the stage slid over the standing crowd to the center, creating a bridge to the central walkway when needed. A total of 106 lasers were set up for the show in various colors, flushing the stage green, red and blue for different songs."
You can also see from this video the little cameras attached to the railing, right? Well there was some serious miscommunication or technical difficulties, because the members (particularly Seungri) would sing into those little cameras all the time and the image was never projected onto the jumbotrons. Like seriously? If the camera isn't even working can you at least look at the audience? We need attention too...
There was a song when they sat on chairs...
Oh and women! They're basically set pieces right? (cough~ sure used like them)
Finally something both concerts were not lacking in, explosives.
Fireworks, bursts of flame, you name it these concerts had it. Also raining all the confetti. Since I was a bit closer to the stage for the SHINee concert, the fireworks lining the edges of the stage were that much louder. And each time they went off, everyone in my section jumped ㅎㅎㅎ
I felt really bad for all the dancers in these concerts. They often have to do their choreography on the edges of the stage right as fireworks and giant bursts of fire go off. I applaud them for their bravery and was seriously worried several times I thought a dancer was way way wayyy to close to them.
I felt really bad for all the dancers in these concerts. They often have to do their choreography on the edges of the stage right as fireworks and giant bursts of fire go off. I applaud them for their bravery and was seriously worried several times I thought a dancer was way way wayyy to close to them.
Since I've already started talking a bit about SHINee lets continue! SHINee's concert had tons of different looks for the stages. Just like they had different costumes, the stages all had different feels as well.
There was one where five phone booths were placed on different edges of the stage (the stage itself consisting on a main stage, a branch out in the middle leading to a smaller stage in the middle of the floor section, with two more branches off of that)
For this number, the members all went inside one of the booths and sang to a camera in the top corner of their booth, which was projected onto the many jumbotrons. If they weren't looking at the camera, they were dancing suggestively on the door of the booths, or leaning against it with all the angst.
Like I mentioned before, there were also mini moving stages they used for a couple numbers. Then on the far edges of the main stage there was a moving walk-way (basically right in front of me) that was used a few times. Also the giant screens always had different images to go with the songs (like Bigbang as well)
They also had tons of lasers like Big bang but they used it really well with other projection like for Taemin's dance solo in Alarm clock:
Also some nice floor dust to make cool effects like in Onew's tap dance solo:
So, as I'm sure you can guess, SHINee had lots of dancing. And they were of course awesome. But I truly think the dances themselves, combined with the moving stages, made SHINee use their space so much better. They went to every edge of the space, or in Minho's case, sprinted from one end to another. It gave a much better sense of filling this giant arena than Bigbang did... and it was much more natural too. Even though Jonghyun accidentally started walking back to the mainstage as all the other members were doing choreo on the center stage, he caught himself, cooly walked back waving and winking at fans along the way, and joined right in with everyone. It really just gave a more confident feeling I think.
Ahem.
There were more looks for the stages, but I'm seriously having difficulty tracking down images of them. I guess the tighter control of fancams isn't such a good thing since there are less photos online ㅠㅠ
This little car was one of my favorites. So tiny and fake looking, but they all looked like they were having the time of their lives "driving" it across the stage (walking it).
Final notes about Bigbang concert
I've been really harsh about the Bigbang concert, so let me be clear about this: it was a great concert. Bigbang's members are all so talented and they put their all into every piece they performed. Their music is still the best. I really love their new songs. Seriously, listening to "Loser" made me cry the first few times.
Just look at the passion:
There was some good audience interaction. Taeyang especially loves to point his mic to the audience and have them sing parts of the song. His hit solo number, "Eyes, Nose, Lips" was sung by the fans about half the time.
Another cool thing was for the song 'Blue' the fans turned off their yellow torches (or were at least supposed to do so) and raise their phones up with one of two images, that flooded the arena in blue. I got pretty annoyed with the people around me who clearly had no idea what was going on, waving their yellow fan lights and recording on their phones.... I wanted to be like, "Are you even fans? Why were you pushing me so much earlier if you aren't even real fans anyways?"
Ahem. But yeah that was cool!
Their setlist was pretty good. About 26 songs, though two of these were repeated... You see this concert was the big kick off for their new giant album production "MADE". We were the first people to hear their two new songs. So they wanted to promote them, I understand... but I didn't need to hear them again at the encore instead of other songs... But hey they only have so much time during a concert and obviously couldn't perform every song they ever made...
It was a kinda emotional concert because BIGBANG hasn't had a new album as a full group in almost three years. But I think the members were more nervous than they should've been. In interviews after the concert they even said they had more fun the second day of the concert after all their nerves from the first concert were gone. Daesung in particular was really moved to finally be back on stage in Korea (the other four members have done solo albums in Korea over the years, but Daesung was doing solo work just in Japan and almost never in Korea).
I think I've talked at least a bit about all the members except one. Sigh. Here we go.
Oh GD...
He's normally a pretty cute guy.
Cute? More like crazy. Seriously, when I saw BIGBANG in 2012, this man was jumping the whole concert. He did call and responses with the audience every other minute. He was dancing and grooving and I could feel his energy from my seat on the third floor, in the back of the Tokyo Dome.
At this concert he seemed tired. He seemed exhausted. Like a shadow of that crazy energizer bunny I saw 2.5 years ago. Yes, some people might interpret this as being a cool guy. Brooding in his own little world of superstardom.
But I felt bad for him. Like, dude, if you're this exhausted please just go home and sleep. I feel bad as an audience member that you have to keep going from this edge of the stage to the next.
Other people have told me they don't think he looked that bad, and other people agree with me 100%. Regardless of how much sleep he got or whether he is still struggling in his slump, I just missed seeing him smile.
So, I want to apologize to Bigbang. This post didn't really talk much about the positive aspects, but you had a great concert! I hope the rest of their world tour is more fun and relaxed as they will have rehearsed more and know what to do... 화이팅!
Final notes about SHINee concert
In case you couldn't tell already, I liked this concert. I loved this concert. This concert was fantastic. I barely even noticed the fact that it went on for three and a half hours (a whole hour and a half longer than Bigbang's, yet Bigbang's actually seemed long because I was suffocating in a sweaty mass of jerky fans). This first concert was especially magical I think. All the members were full of so much emotion and passion.
It seriously felt like we were giving each other power during that whole concert. We were each other's life support systems. They all looked out so eagerly into the audience as if they were surprised we were there and we like them. It was a similar situation to Bigbang's, SHINee hasn't had a new album in over a year and a half.
... I realize this might sound weird to my friends back home. Musicians in America just take their time to write new songs and release music whenever they are ready. It really isn't that big a deal how much time is between their albums. In Korea it's different. The KPOP industry is a well-oiled machine these days that is constantly debuting new artists and groups. There is so much competition and expectation, and it's very possible that if you don't make a comeback soon enough or your music for that comeback isn't good enough, your "fans" will leave you for another one of the dozens of groups promoting.
So SHINee had this desperate feeling to their performance. They truly gave every number their all, like as if we were holding their hearts in our hands.
And one of SHINee's fanclubs was totally prepared for all that emotion. On every single seat in that auditorium, there was a little sign that said "보고 싶었지? <3" (missed me?) and instruction in Korean, Japanese, and English on the back. The instructions were to wait until SHINee's final encore song, then hold them up. Not a moment sooner.
You can see the fans all holding the signs up here ^^
When we did that, all the SHINee members were spread out at different parts of the stage. The member who was right in front of my area was poor, dorky, cute, sexy Minho. He didn't have any lines to sing until the chorus, so he just sort of grooved around on stage a bit, then looked over at us. He leaned out and squinted to read the signs. I could see him mouthing the words. And I saw it hit him. He sort of froze. Then his face started to scrunch up. His eyebrows bent and he bit his lip~ Then he looked down and tried to compose himself. This wonderful human being was about to cry!
He then broke out into the biggest, most beautiful of smiles and slowly started to look at every person in the audience. All the way to the second and third levels. His eyes were shining and then I knew that I was a part of something amazing that night.
After that final song all the members had one final chance to talk to the audience. And they couldn't. For the longest time, all the members just looked out at all their fans and whenever they tried to speak they immediately choked up. Here are all of them in their various stages of emotion:
Okay, honestly, Jonghyun cries all the time. It was so easy to find photos of him crying at this concert because I think he cried all three nights they performed... still love him though <3
I couldn't find photos of Taemin crying, because I don't think he actually shed any tears, but when he addressed the audience, he chocked up and needed several moments to compose himself. You could hear the crying emotion in his thick voice, asking us why we still love them after all these years.
(this video works! really! It just doesn't have a preview image)
Key was adorable too~
Haha Key, what are you turning around for? You realize you're on the center stage so fans still are there when you turn around right?
The most precious and moving of them all was, without-a-doubt, Onew. This poor baby. He has been through so much. All the members mentioned it too, how he had a really hard year and been through a lot. He had vocal surgery and couldn't even talk much less sing for months. He battled depression. I think he just kinda lost his purpose. But this whole concert he was just so full of inexplicable joy and by the end he (and all the other members) said "ah, this is why I'm a singer. This is why I perform and make music." (Minho said the sweetest thing, "Since I was born, the greatest (luckiest) thing in my entire life is being a member of SHINee"). At the end, I could just feel his neglected heart bursting and overflowing with the much needed love and attention. I honestly liked Onew least before this concert, because I thought he wasn't as good of a dancer and he was really awkward with children on 'Hello Baby' (a show SHINee was in years ago). This concert completely changed my opinion of him. His beaming smile was just so full of true and genuine joy. One time when he was at my area of the stage, quite a few fans were facing the other way to try and see the other members on the opposite stage, but I went on my tip-toes and I think he saw me. Because he had a giant smile already, but I grinned back and waved my arms and he grinned wider (if possible because he already has a giant smile) and jumped around a bit before moving on to another area.
Back to the end of the concert: When it was his turn to talk he broke into his giant smile, tried to speak, and couldn't. He kept trying to start again and again and he just would stop talking and cover his face with a huge smile on yet tears streaming down. All the members either went to comfort him, or ending up crying more themselves. In the end he just kept repeating how much he missed us. He really missed us (pointing to all the signs asking "missed me?")
By this point, everyone around me, including myself, was sobbing right along with them all.
The next day, at the Saturday concert, SHINee announced that they all signed to renew their contract even though it was around expiration time. So I honestly think that our synergy at the concert is what changed their minds (particularly Onew, who I think was considering terminating the contract). More years of SHINee!
Whew.
I loved being a part of this audience. This fandom is amazing.
The audience would spontaneously start chanting and it was just so much fun. When the members were crying at the end we would shout in unison, "사랑해! 사랑해! 사랑해!" (we love you) or "울지마! 울지마! 울지마!" (don't cry). In the talk break times they would often tease each other, like trying to get the other members to show their abs like Minho did so we'd shout their names to encourage different members. At the end, when they all went to change for the encore and there were no more videos to show, the whole audience sang SHINee's song"Hello"... though when it got to the rap we awkwardly broke off.... which Minho complained about when they came back on stage, asking "You really surprised me singing the whole song, I was thinking, how could they know all the words? And I was really anticipating the end, but then it just stopped? Why didn't you try my rap?" and we all laughed awkwardly (sorry Minho...)
The one member who didn't really cry much, Taemin, asked the audience some questions with a choked up voice (even though the tears weren't falling) things like "You know you could like other groups right?" and the whole audience roars in protest, making Xs with their arms. I guess you saw that in the video... but yeah. This fandom is the best.
And you know what was the absolute best thing about this concert? They had fun. All five of them. Heck, even the back-up dancers looked like they were having the time of their lives. And SHINee members all totally appreciated them too, giving them high fives and hugs throughout the concert. They even gave them their own bow for recognition at the end.
They all looked like they were happy to be dancing. Happy to be singing. Happy to be on stage, in front of all of us. Happy we were there. Happy to be alive.
They all looked like they were happy to be dancing. Happy to be singing. Happy to be on stage, in front of all of us. Happy we were there. Happy to be alive.
That kind of joy is contagious. And magical. And after that concert, I too, was just exploding in happiness. Happy to have been a part of it all. I'm so glad I went this first day. I'm so glad I'm a SHINee fan. I'm so glad I came to Korea.
영원히 샤월~ 가비
