Music / Idols
20111129_seoulbeats_kpopmastersprev

Experiencing K-pop in person: part 2

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Written by On December 6, 2011

Like Young-ji mentioned in her earlier recount of Kpopmasters, experiencing K-pop in person and being around giggly idols can melt even the iciest of K-pop fans’ hearts.

Okay, it’s not that dramatic, but it did make me see a lot of artists in a different light, because while these acts were performing songs they’ve already performed hundreds of times before, they were doing so overseas and in front of an audience that probably don’t have the same palates as the Korean audiences the songs were meant for, which means that they did have to put in more effort.

As a K-popper who has paid attention to MBLAQ sparingly — only through certain song promotion periods — I was genuinely impressed with how much I liked everyone. It helps that they’re a group and they can bounce off each other when there are awkward lulls in front of audiences and press. I never really paid attention to G.O. or Joon, but in a moment of semi-crisis when there were some rocky parts during the press conference, they broke the ice. I know that these guys are entertainers and this shouldn’t stick out to me as much as it did, but that impressed me. Thunder and Mir were comfortable enough to properly rile up the crowd and we know it can be tough — they’re all tired enough to not care, and know so little English that they could’ve not tried, but they did.

All of these are obviously important aspects of a live concert. Watching artists perform on Youtube ends when the videos end; there’s no physical element of patiently waiting for the artists to transition themselves on and off stage, or what they have to do with themselves when they have to address a crowd that’s very foreign to them. Even watching recorded footage of concerts is different and hard to translate. Some artists were a lot more graceful at preventing awkwardness from taking center stage, like G.na and MBLAQ, while others were not, or at just reverted to the same sort of lines and statements that they’ve used thousands of times before, like DBSK and SHINee.

The live element also made me reconsider certain songs, performances, and the artists themselves. DBSK’s Keep Your Head Down was just ridiculous live. I don’t love that song in any manner but it was one of the most powerful performances I’ve ever seen, no doubt maximized by the extreme bass, and all the roaring fires and shooting sparks doing their part to rope me in.

The same goes for Brown Eyed Girls‘ Sixth Sense. I might be the only person who doesn’t like Sixth Sense, but I admit it, I don’t like that song. The girls are good, but I always found the song too shrill by itself without the aid of sound systems that only arena stadiums house. Well, let’s just say that that performance also blew my mind during Kpopmasters. BEG are insane live and know how to work the hell out of a stage in all manners, something you can maybe see on Youtube from time to time, but don’t really know ’til you feel it in person.

In terms of changing my perception of artists, I was surprisingly taken aback by SHINee. They performed for only one night of the two, but I was pretty disappointed with the performances. Here’s the thing: I’ve liked and followed SHINee since they were first announced by SM Entertainment. I love watching them on stage because I think they’re such disciplined artists that they take professionalism to a whole new level. But because they’re so good and so on point all the time, when I finally watched them live, it felt like their performances are not so much about enjoying the performances as they were about SHINee getting on stage and just going on autopilot. It’s become routine for them, and they were always so good with routine, that it doesn’t look like they enjoy performing the songs that they did. I’m sure it’s because they were barely rested with their busy end-of-year schedules, and they only flew in a couple of hours before the concert started, so I don’t blame them at all. It was just a whee bit surprising because they weren’t even bad — they were just so good yet emotionless that the performances felt empty.

Watching this concert gave me a lot of food for thought. I’ve seen a fair amount of K-pop artists live, but only at their own concerts, not at a mixed event like Kpopmasters. Seeing all of them perform after one another did remind me of the variations in styles, techniques, and concepts between entertainment companies.

And this wraps up our coverage on Kpopmasters. Hope those of you who went had fun, and hope those of you who didn’t go got to relive some of it through Seoulbeats. Enjoy the remainder of our Kpopmasters footage on Facebook!

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  • Anonymous

    I also don’t like Sixth Sense, but I like Abracadabra.  Before we went, the only one I was excited about was BEAST. After experiencing all the groups live, I’d say I enjoyed all the groups, but BEAST the best. Watching all the live clips on Youtube gives a pretty good idea of what to expect, but being surrounded by the energy of the fans really is the reason why live shows are special. I hope Kpop Masters is a yearly event and I can’t wait to get my tickets for the next show!

  • Maddy

    Just to clarify, do you mean KYHD was ridiculously good or bad? lol 
    You finish the para with drew me in so I’m inclining towards good. 
    It’s always nice to hear fan accounts about seeing Kpop idols live. Thanks for sharing yours~

  • frou-frou

    Out of all the live acts I saw this year, the best performances were from Super Junior, Kylie, The Gossip, Elton John, Yamashita Tomohisa, Beast and 2PM – loads of energy, warm rapport with the audience, and professionalism all the way.

    A litlle off-topic, but one of the many nice things about living in Southeast Asia is the great access to K-pop acts. We’ve had just about all the big groups visit us this year, (except maybe Big Bang I think?) and I even saw a couple of them twice in the same year. And I’m not saying this to rub it in anyone’s face, it’s just that we get so few good western artists visiting our neck of the woods. I’m still waiting for Radiohead and Madonna and Justice and Sia and Fleet Foxes and Miike Snow, but they never get any further than Japan. And REM broke up, so that dream is over.

    But it looks like the times are changing, and more and more K-pop acts are heading to Europe and the Americas and the Middle East so I’m happy for you guys. But I’m hoping it works both ways and more western acts head over here too. Who knows, maybe I’ll finally be able to see Bjork live one of these days. Not holding my breath, but definitely keeping my fingers crossed.

  • Anima

    Wow, I said the same thing about Shinee in another post… I saw them live at another event and when they perform, it’s as if it’s a job to them and they are doing their best, interacting a bit with fans just so they can leave the stage afterward. Jonghyun and Taemin were particularly obvious about it when I saw them. I don’t hate Shinee (I quite like Onew and after seeing him irl because he seems the most sincere, Minho) but I do wish they could be a little more human-like (real) and less like robots whose sole purpose seems to solely consist of meeting expectations and performing their duties. Even their smiles and ‘randomness’ seemed as though it was planned out for certain situations and moments which was a bit disconcerting. But they work like hell so I do somewhat hope things work out for them. 

    With Mblaq and similar groups, I think that these groups tend to have more heart when performing and engaging with people simply because they have more to prove and find enjoyment in doing so. I think that groups that don’t come from the biggest name or aren’t the most appreciated are often the ones that seem to put on the greatest show imo. I am now curious to see these guys and B2st live because I’m indifferent to them but people say they are much better live.

    • Ilovemandoo

      I agree with this comment for their recent performances, but I also disagree if I think about other performances. Like I said in my other comment, they’ve been performing Lucifer for well over a year and they’ve been overworked to death. Given some artistic freedom or some well-deserved rest, they are very good performers who do try to interact with their audience. It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this..

  • Boo

    The thing with SM groups I think is that they’re trained to perfectIon. They practice so much in order to be synchronized that they aren’t really given the opportunity to loosen up and enjoy the stage. They probably focus too mch into just getting the steps right. Of course not all SM groups are like this. The older ones like TVXQ or Super Junior have had so much experience performing in concerts that when they perform, they know just how to engage the crowd and their confidence and love for the stage really shows.

  • http://twitter.com/alianessa Alia Nessa Utami

    LOL I agree that live performances can change our view on K-Pop idols. I went to TVXQ’s Asia Fan Party in Singapore and can I just say………. their live performances for KYHD and Before U Go are just plain AWESOME. This is special to me because before I went to the event, I was mad bored by watching TVXQ’s performance for KYHD and I didn’t like BUG’s performances at all. LOL. There are things that you can only feel when you see the performances yourself, that’s what I think.

    Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience! :)

  • jess1

    Who didn’t like MBLAQ during Kpop Masters? Onstage, offstage, presscon, I didn’t read on twitter or fanaccounts from fans of all the groups who attended, any bad thing about them. On stage, some may not have been converted to becoming a fan, but were all praises for them. They also really appreciated the interaction they had with the audience. Everyone who saw them offstage loved them.

    By the way, I know about the press conference you’re talking about. It was really one awkward press conference. AbsoluteMBLAQ has a fancam of the whole thing. Making G.Na the interpreter was just hilarious. :D

  • http://www.kfashionista.com Jessie

    I have to agree with you about SHINee, I had seen them last year at SM Town in LA and went away from that show extremely impressed because I had only been a casual fan of them at this point so I was really looking forward to seeing them again at Kpopmasters.  In the end I was disappointed because the show was very uh…robotronic :D  There was pretty much no emotion present at all.  

    Beast really looked like they were enjoying themselves on stage and it translated into a very entertaining performance that did a good job of warming up the crowd.  MBLAQ was great as well, and had some pretty good crowd interaction, especially on the first night IMO.

    TVXQ just makes me giddy and awestruck every time I’ve seen them live.

  • Trish

    Shinee’s performances have been lacking in fun and spirit for a while now i.m.o. I’m guessing they are overworked (it’s mindblowing how many plane hours they have accumulated this year), plus they haven’t had a new fresh song to perform in well over a year. Just the same old RDD+Hello+Lucifer drill. And guess what, they get to do it for another year, in Japanese this time. I feel so bad for the boys, I really do. I don’t blame them for going through the motions. Onew will have a hard time as a leader to keep this group going.

    • Ilovemandoo

      :( I feel bad as well. Shinee has been performing Lucifer since July 2010.. It’s been well over a year by now. During the long period in which they did promote Lucifer (from July to at least January), they were overworked (especially Onew) and performed the song nearly everyday. Add the fact that the song isn’t very good to begin with (I loved it, but I know it’s partly because of the performance).. and it makes for some very uninspired performances.

      The sad thing is when they’re well-rested or given some freedom, they do amaaazing. (Like in their Shinee world concert or SM Town).