2011 KBS Music Festival: Performance Highlights

For KBS Gayo Daejun, the year-end music festival was another fun way to bring the music of 2011 to a close. The stages were lively and nearly everyone brought out their A-game. Also, for some reason, nearly everyone was dressed in the worst stage outfits I have ever seen in 2011. From the awful lighted Super Junior jackets to Sistar’s dangerously short red dresses, the fashion for this years performances were ghastly. There some moment that had me dazzled, a few that had me snoozing and even others that made me say “oh my”. The entire show had me going in circles of love and hate with the constant ups and downs of the night’s festivities. With that said, let’s take a look at some the performances and dish out the dirt.

Let’s start with the one and only Super Junior.  Although I love Super Junior to no end, those fireworks jackets were simply inexcusable.  The grey jacket, black shirt and pant ensemble looked very nice on all the boys, but the lights were excessive. But they did make up for the crappy jackets with a stellar stage. What I’ve come to realize about Super Junior stages over the years is that when the boys bring their energy to the forefront, it’s very noticeable and enjoyable, plus the boys have all got great chemistry and flow when together. Though this was just the typical Mr. Simple song and dance for the majority of the performance, all of SJ’s elements were in motion that night.  While predictable, they were still enjoyable to watch.

f(x)‘s performance wasn’t anything special; as expected, the girls sang their song well. Thus, there isn’t much to be said in regards to the execution, which was disappointing because I expected a little more from them.  On a random note, I absolutely adored Luna’s crimped ponytails, and Krystal is still hotter than her sister.

The stage outfits were simply awful. Black, grey, and leather? No, no, no, that’s not f(x)! Where are the bright neon colors and the sparkles and the glitter? The girls’ energy even seemed to be more drab than usual.   I love f(x), but these outfits did neither them nor their performance any justice.

Now put your hands together, or should I say put your hands up, for 2PM!  Was the Electricity intro hot or what? I can’t remember the last time I saw 2PM playing up their bad boy swag like that, and I enjoyed every second of it. Granted, I could’ve done without Taecyeon’s whiny lyrics during the intro — they should’ve left those lines to Chansung in my opinion; he could’ve rapped them better than Taec sang them.  Also Khun was kind of killing the buzz with the higher pitch of his voice.  But those things aside, the intro altogether was great.

The transition to Hands Up was very rough, but I really liked the remix of the song. The choreography came together in a dark, hauntingly cool way with slower moves set to the slow remix. As Chansung went solo on stage in a dance break, the boys ditched their dark hoodies for outfits that matched their personalities. Though that decision left them slightly disjointed conceptually for the song, it actually brought out their charisma more as a group. I thought it was cute, being able to see a glimpse of each member’s personality rather than seeing them as uniform, as we normally do. It was especially nice of them to run through the bottom rows.

The entire performance was one of my favorites of the night. It was much more spirited and lively compared to what other groups did with their performances, and I think it matched well with the festivity of the event. Good work, boys!

Onto the talk of the town, Sistar!  Oh Sistar, you have seen better days. You girls really did dance and sing your hearts out that night, but those dresses, they killed it for you.

So Cool is a song with fun choreography, and the vocalists in Sistar are notably talented, but these red dresses from hell were total turn offs — I couldn’t even enjoy the performance because I was busy lamenting about their dresses.

First of all, yes the dresses were way too short, especially for the vibrant choreography in So Cool.  I love Hyorin, but I saw too much of her ass that night to be content with this stage. The length of the dresses didn’t bother me so much as the necklines and the skin-colored mesh sewn in underneath, which looked very cheap.  I also felt bad for Sistar because although they worked the stage 110% that night,nobody noticed because their dresses were too distracting.

Beast’s “Fiction” was perhaps my favorite song to come out this year. I’ve talked to no end about how much I loved this song, and Fannie and I even picked up it as our #1 personal favorite of the year.

The performance wasn’t anything over the top, in fact, the boys sounded a bit tired. The dance interlude was paced unevenly with the beat of Fiction, and it fragmented the overall flow of the performance when it was placed during the middle of the song. I really would have just liked for Beast to have done their penguin dance and called it a night — a rare instance in which I thought less would’ve been more.

The lovely dolls of SNSD were probably the best dressed for the evening. I absolutely loved their sparkly, frilly, bridal-esque/princess outfits, and the assorted crowns were also a nice touch.

It was cute how they ripped the skirts of their dresses off during the intro, but the beats of the intro did not match their image on stage. It was a little awkward to watch these nine bridal barbie dolls trying to rock some hard beats, but thankfully it didn’t last long.

As far “The Boys” performance went, what’s new? Nothing. I was never too much into this song, so this performance bored me, which made sad. They looked so hot (especially Sunny) and yet they just fell flat.

Miss A’s “Goodbye Baby” was another great performance of the night. If anyone has any questions about what a hot midriff outfit should look like, please turn your attention to Jia.

The intro was one hot little number, and had the girls starting their song while still on the floor. This was a fun stage full of Miss A’s feisty attitude and vibrant energy. It was simple but entertaining enough for me to be happy with. Not much else to comment on here, so moving onto U-Kiss.

All the boys planted formation and hit all their moves to almost eerily exact precision. One thing I’d have liked is some differentiation in the all black outfits. They looked a little dull and the boys seemed to be blending together at some points, but overall, this was still a good performance.

Though there’s been plenty of end of the year music festivals going, these boys still managed to take the stage with their killer moves.  Neverland has been one of the better U-Kiss songs to date in a long while, and I’m glad they experienced a growth in popularity after that album release. These boys have mad dancing skills, but could work on their vocals and line distribution a little more. All I’m still seeing is Kevin, Eli, and more Kevin. Hopefully U-Kiss sticks to their guns and keeps cranking out good music while they’re in the spotlight.

DJ Koo decided to spice the night a bit with remixes of songs by IU, f(x), Infinite, 4minute, and Super Junior!  Said artists then took turns showing off their versions of the shuffle dance. I must say, DJ Koo really knows how to mix some damn good beats. I thought this special stage was really cute and fun to watch.

Okay first of all, Changmin, thank you for finally covering your tiny chest up. You’re a fine piece of meat kid, but you’re too small for your usual plunging necklines.  And secondly, Yunho, you’re not my disco-dancing grandpa. Yunho, you are in your prime. Take. Off. Your. Clothes. Let me see those moobs.

This was another performance where I thought the boys looked a little tired. Though they performed both a bit of “Before U Go” and “Keep Your Head Down” very nicely, I didn’t think the Yunho and Changmin had enough energy for that night. But I won’t be too hard on them. They’ve been busy in Japan so they’re probably on an extra dosage of sleep deprivation; I’ll let this one slide.

Hopefully in 2012 this duo finds a better stylist.These gold and black jackets are interesting but not exactly flattering.

Did T-ara girls look fabulous in those purple trenches or what? I felt like there was so many dark colors that night and I was getting bored with them all too quickly, but these outfits were a win.

The “Cry-Cry”: performance was so-so; I prefer the ballad version of the song more. The dance break was weird, and the white cane was unnecessary to hold the whole time. What I did love the was retro transformation of the stage for “Roly-Poly”.

This song has to be my favorite T-ara song because the concept for the John Travolta Wannabe album was so different and the choreography for this song is simple and yet very flawless, without looking too easy. You can’t help but feel happy when listening to the beat of this song.

Nothing extra-jazzy about this performance either, but still a fun watch.

I never thought  I would say it, but 4minute’s “Mirror, Mirror” really impressed me. Everything about the performance just seemed perfectly in place, and believe me, I’m not regularly a fan of 4minute or one to compliment them. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this performance was the added drama that came with the use of a battalion of back-up dancers. When the beats picked up, all the girls, 4minute and their dancers, moved into the flow of the choreography smoothly. This point really was the climax of the entire performance simply because this was the moment that would either make or break the rest of the stage. Using so many dancers, whose legs are accentuated by long white coattails, is practically asking for trouble. This portion of the choreography could have been a train wreck of sloppy moves, however, the girls were well-rehearsed and delivered the energy with on point synchronization.

I also appreciated the fact that the Hyuna-aspect was much more toned down. Don’t get me wrong-I love Hyuna and quite frankly she outperformed everyone else on the stage that night, but she is all to easily over-hyped. I was glad all the other members got their deserved 15-seconds of fame. Another plus from this performance was the outfits. As I mentioned before, the white coattails accentuated the wealth of legs on stage, but luckily to an advantage. The coats were absolutely adorable and the black dresses underneath were sleek and classy, and fit well with ambience of the stage and the song itself. 4minute may have very well been the best performance of the night.

Well, there you have it! Thanks for staying with me through all of the commentary! Those were just handful of the many performances given that night the KBS Gayo Daejun. It was nice  to ring in the new year with another fun music festival. Now let’s hear what you all have to say! Let us know which performances were you favorites and which you thought fell flat.