Day 5 – 5th Day (26th Apr, Sun)- Part 3
For those of you who loves Korean music, I think you would understand my feelings then. I’m actually watching a live Korean concert, with some of my favourite singers like Jo Sung Mo (esp Jo Sung Mo!!!), SG Wannabe, Loveaholics…. At the end of the concert, I discovered a few other singers that I like too, like Position, Lazy Bones etc. For some sample of the music sang by these singers, you can refer to this thread where Jos has posted some information.
Finally, 2 guys stepped onto the stage. A wave of excitement swept through the air. It was about to begin. The first guy started to speak in Korean. He was explaining about cameras not being allowed during the concert and some other rules, which unfortunately we could not understand due to our limited Korean. And then the next guy spoke…… in Japanese!!! From the reaction of the audience, it seems the Japanese fans formed half of crowd. I really do wonder how all of them managed to get the tickets as we got ours through our Korean friends. I just wished they had done some explanation in English too. They must know that he has fans from Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan in the audience. So why only Japanese?
During the concert, when they weren’t filming the concert, a male MC would be around to host the event. Unfortunately, he seems to think there were only Japanese fans at the conert. He asked the audience where they were from: “Osaka? Tokyo?” It was at this point that I had this very strong urge to stand up and shout: “I’m from SINGAPORE!!!!”
Of course I didn’t do that or you would have seen me on the headlines of the newspapers the next day. But I really wished I had though.
Announcements before the concert.
The group Lazy Bones started off the concert as a warm up, which meant that their songs were rather upbeat. I actually like the band. At this point they had yet to start filming, but it was getting darker and colder by the minute.
By the way, the audience at the concert today were a little different from those at the concert rehearsal. At least the group sitting in front of us looked as if they were university students.
And then lights dimmed and this girl, dressed in a skimpy, sleeveless green dress, sitting in a “fireman’s chair”, in mid air came on. She was the MC for the concert. The concert had started, the filming had began…
To tell the truth, we really felt sory for female MC. Here we were, with our collars up, in our long sleeves shirts and huddled together for the warmth, I really don’t know how she managed to speak without her teeth chattering away in the cold.
The first few acts were marred by frequent NGs and had to be filmed a few times. I think the worst was Position. Poor guy had to resing the same song about 4 times due to wrong position, wrong lights etc. But boy, he has got one fantastic voice.
The artistes were really great. If you’ve never watch a live concert, you should really go and attend one. And unlike Singapore, where the security normally stop you from being on your feet, at this concert, if the song is great, the audience is spontaneous in standing up and singing along. Waving my little neon light, and singing (or trying to sing) to the songs, I feel like a teenager again during the Alan Tam, Anita Mui days. Oops, now you know how old I am.
But of course, even with all these distractions on the main stage, my eyes (and thousands other as well) never strayed far or for long away from Da MAN.
The lighting director of the concert, ‘Oel Chool’ Super Live concert, hard at work.
During the entire concert, he was at the control station most of the time. Someone asked the question whether he “actually” controled the lights. I believe he did for the simple ones. He was very serious and professinal looking.
Halfway through, it began to rain. Did I tell you how cold it was? Well, it got even colder, if that was possible. Including my “ahem” inner wear and the disposable raincoat, I was wearing 6 layers and I was still cold. Gosh, a hot drink would have been heavenly then but I dare not leave the seat (well, except to go to the ladies, that one got no choice lah) just in case… you understand what I mean right?
The concert should have ended by about 9.30pm but by 9pm, it was only halfway through. Suddenly, the big screen showed the trailer (about 2 secs) to Jo Sung Mo’s latest song. We screamed, as we thought he was going to be the next performer. This went of for a few times and then we saw this: “The Making of April Snow”. A gasp went through the audience. And for the next 6 minutes, we saw snippets of the movie for the very first time.
And also for the first time, saw the heart breaking scene of In Soo (Bae Yong Joon) crying. The music, the scene… it sent a pain through my heart. I heard some Japanese fans cried upon seeing this scene. I did not cry but I did feel a tug at my heart. I think I may need a few boxes of tissues when I watch this movie in Sept. I’m only glad it’s a 2 hours movie and not a 44 episodes drama.
At the end of the trailer, a round of thunderous applause erupted in the stadium. We all marvelled at the “new” style and image of BYJ. It seems different from his previous works. I am so looking forward to it.
You can download the trailer and photos of the filming sites from this link. The video was prepared by Jos and shown at the recent JF gathering.
By about 10.30pm, most of the artistes had performed- Min Woo of Shinhwa, who showed off some fancy dance steps and a very toned body, the very sexy Jewelery, the popular Loveholics and the fantastic (I mean fantastic, I bought their latest album) SG Wannabe. But then, many people had left too. The program had run late because of the NG scenes but I do feel sorry for Jo Sung Mo, who was the closing act for the concert.
Now, if you have never heard Jo Sung Mo sing, you should get yourself familiar with him as he will be singing the theme song for April Snow. He was also the singer for ‘Goodbye My Love’ (Bae Yong Joon’s only MV), theme songs for the hit drama, ‘Lovers In Paris‘ and many other hits. He’s not very good looking, but his voice is like honey and to hear him sing live is WOW!
He sang 4 songs- 2 from his latest album and 2 from Lovers in Paris. At one point, they released millions of bits of red ribbons and it looked as if it was raining red cherry blossoms. By the time he sang the songs from ‘Lovers In Paris’, all of us were on our feet and clapping and singing along or waving our little neon light. Most of us also moved closer down the steps as there were many empty seats by then. Unfortunately shouts of encore did not get him back again. I guess because it was very late by then.
And just as I was thinking, ‘what next?’ It can’t end like that.
The group, Clazziquai came back on stage again. We were told to move closer together to the stage and join them in the chorus of this fast song that they had sang earlier. With each repeat of the song, the electrifying feeling in the air got hotter. We were on a high, so to speak and I could see the camera capturing the scene. So perhaps I may just have my 10 seconds of fame on movie. hahaha!
Finally, it was a wrap!. It was done.
But what then?
We shouted: ” BYJ! BYJ! BYJ!”
He took off his headphone, and walked to the stage.
There was silence when he took the microphone.
And of course he spoke the few sweet lines to us, his fans, who came all the way from different countries and stayed right till the end in the cold rainy night.. because of him.
His words? It went something like that: “Thank you everyone who sayed on despite the cold weather and hard seats. Please go back safely and have sweet dreams tonight” (this is by memory).
And then he was off, with all his fans screaming away. Me? I was just thinking, “Will I see him again? When will I see him again?” And so the night, the highlight of the trip is now almost drawing to an end. It also meant it would be time to go home as we neared the end of this very special April Snow trip.
As we all filed out of the stadium and walked towards the main road, everyone was still in high spirits. I stopped by the main entrance and took a photo with the Yonsei University signage together with some other girls. It would be in our memory for a long time.
Just at that precise moment, I heard shouts and his car came down the road and stopped at the junction of the main road and waited for the red light to turn green. The fans, mostly Japanese rushed towards the car. I took one step forward and then changed my mind and stepped back. I do not want him to feel pressurised and it was also very dangerous as there were cars turning in. I am certain he would be worried for his fans. I am not sure but I think some fans were pounding on the car windows. Suddenly, I saw some security guards running down and taking control of the situation. I guess they must have radioed for help. I actually heaved a sigh of relief for him as I saw his car sped away.
And that, was really the last time I ‘saw’ him during the trip.
After all the excitment, some decided to go and have supper, whilst the rest decided to go back to the motel.
Happiebb and I decided to go back to the motel and have what I’ve been craving for the entire night……………. instant Korean noodles.
So at 1.30am, in the quiet of the night, when almost everyone was asleep, the 2 of us sat downstairs at the motel’s reception and had a bowl of delicious instant noodles from 7-11. We had a good chat, recalling the whole concert.
What better way to end such a wonderful night– having dinner with a good friend, talking the common interest of our life- Bae Yong Joon. ^^
Tomorrow would be the last day of our trip.
But before I go, take another look at the super cool looking lighting director of all time.
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