In a somewhat surprising move, Mnet hosted a hour long special for C.N.Blue‘s comeback and their first full length album, “First Step.” While I’m not complaining because C.N. Blue just happens to rank among my fave Kpop groups, I am surprised that they were held in high enough regard to get a special. They’re fairly popular, but not like ‘Big Bang‘ popular and they’ve only been gone for what 6-8 months, not over two years like Big Bang (which is actually longer than C.N. Blue has been in existence, I think). Anyways, they’re back a little bit more mature in their music and harder on edge. Here’s C.N. Blue live and plugged in, and to all the haters that called them a ‘fake band’ I just got one thing to say: Fake band, my @$$…
The one that started it all, “I’m A Loner.” It’s really a great song, no wonder they blew up. How’s cutie Min-hyuk‘s lead in on drums? He really is a pleasure to watch performing because he ALWAYS looks so happy to be playing the drums.
One of the songs that Yong-hwa composed was up next, “Love Girl.” Yup, a great live performance can make all the difference in liking a song or not. Love Jung-shin on bass, kid got skills.
Jong-hyun takes the lead in “Lie,” I really like his voice. The two ulzzangs from Busan really know how to play off each other vocally.
In “One Time” we get to hear a bit of the bass playing maknae Jung-shin, singing 9or is that considered rapping). Anyways, loved it- “Boom, boom check!” There’s some awesome musicality in this piece: Min-hyuk’s awesome beats, Jung-shin’s solid bass, and some stellar guitar riffs from Yong-hwa and Jong-hyun.
The boys go a little mellower with the song “Thank You.” I wonder of the cries of “Arigatou” was an indication of the presence of Japanese fans or over the fact that the song was originally a Japanese release for the band? Again, love Jong-hyun’s sweet voice.
So will a live performance of their comeback title track “Intuition” make me like the song better? Ummm, not really. I just think the chorus brings a dissonance to the rest of the song, which is great, and brings it down.
“Ready N Go” is probably my least favorite performance of the night. The music is great, but not a fan of the vocals on this one.
Some of C.N. Blue’s friends sent the boys some special messages.
The boys also showed off their other skills as artists. Not bad boys, but don’t give up music.
A true test of how good a singer, musician, group, etc. to me has always been how good they sound live compared to how they sound on their album. In this case, I have to say that C.N. Blue live is way better than how they sound on their album.
