I don't even know where to start, it's been such a crazy weekend. SHINee World Concert V hit Seoul for three days September 2~4. Figured I'd split things into sections and just write about different parts like that since it helps organized my thoughts better, but here we go~
Global Package
For the first time I did SM's Global Package. In the past I've had friends do it, but I always felt like it was a lot of money to spend since the package includes accommodation and I live in Korea already. That said I was surprisingly pleased with the whole process. It was a little annoying that they occupied the whole of Saturday with touring around places. We went to SHINee's dressing room early in the morning and got to walk around stage and take a picture which was nice. There are little paper X's taped all over the stage with writing like: Savior Minho and Replay Taemin marking where they need to stand during songs. So when SHINee are staring contemplatively at the stage and wandering forward during ballads you know they're just looking for their little X mark on stage. We went down the stairs SHINee uses to come on and off stage and got to see all the scaffolding and tunnels under the stage that SHINee have to crouch and run through to get back and fourth from the front stage to the back. There was a security guard standing there and holding a flashlight so we could see the stairs properly and I couldn't help but hope there was some guy doing that during the night too so SHINee weren't at risk of tripping and falling.
The backstage change room was surprisingly small. They had 5 dressing tables with mirrors lined up, a pile of hairdryers heaped in the corner on the floor and covers over all of SHINee's stage outfits. But the shoes...the shoes were so beautiful. I have the same shoe size as most of SHINee and I wanted every shiny, black leather pair of shoes they had. Dr Martens and creepers and beautiful black stomping boots with rings and hoops in them. I think I was moaning over the shoes and the staff member assigned to guarding SHINee's stuff was having a good laugh. We got to leave letters for SHINee in the dressing room as well and I wrote something really incoherent and random and dropped it in. Not sure they get to read all of the letters since there are probably so many but it was a cute idea. My favorite part was how amused the staff were and how unimpressed the security were. They looked like they'd rather be absolutely anywhere but watching fangirls fawn over cut out standees of SHINee, taking pics together frantically while tour guides tried to usher them out and back onto the buses.
After that it was just kind of old hat. I don't think I would have found the whole thing so boring if I didn't already live in Korea. They took us to Silla Duty Free which was useless for me because I don't have a ticket out of the country and it didn't look like any of the girls in our tour group actually bought anything. We then went to SUM at Coex, SM's merch store, cafe and screening theatre. I went inside, got the SHINee set, which has a little SHINee cake and a SWCV mug and a little stirring wand for drinks, and then took myself outside because I visit SUM at least once a week normally and the lines and crowds were insaaaaaaaaaane. Then we were taken to SM's grill restaurant which I didn't even know existed, and were fed a Korean style meal with a cute SHINee colored cake for dessert.
The parts I really enjoyed about Global Package was that I literally did not have to worry or think about anything. I checked into my hotel Friday night after the concert, got my pre-ordered merch, went upstairs, slept, and then got ferried around by bus all weekend. I live on the other side of Seoul so I would have had to rush for last train or taken a taxi with friends which would have been hell with all the people trying to do the same thing. Instead I got to wander off to the bus, they took me straight to my hotel and I got a post-concert snack of cookies and SHINee decorated bottled water. I was sharing a room with a friend and had a couple other friends staying at the same place, so we got to hang out a bit. It was all very relaxing and the hotel was really nice so I felt very pampered.
Of course the main reason I did Global Package was because getting tickets to SHINee's concert is becoming more difficult than pulling teeth. You're too popular SHINee!! Stop it!!
The Concert
SHINee World Concert V was amazing. I always know it's going to be and what I always adore about their concerts is that they make every effort to try and include content you haven't seen before. It would be so easy for SHINee to just redo old tracks and insert solo stages where they only need to worry about what they're doing themselves, but they push to create new choreography for songs that we've never seen them perform before and make the effort to carve time out of their busy schedules to come together and practice those choreography's. It really showed, how much time and effort and energy they put into this concert. It showed in that they were amazing and put on a fantastic show and it also showed in the way that they looked completely exhausted. When they stopped to do a talk segment in the first part they were completely covered in sweat. It was glistening on their faces like they were fresh out of the shower. There were machines on the sides of the stages that were pumping out cold air, trying to make it cooler for them. Where I was on the floor on Saturday night was actually freezing cold in parts if you weren't jumping and dancing. They were still sweating so much and panting and exhausted. I get the feeling...they practiced too much? They pushed too much? I was really concerned in parts that they were dancing too hard. Taemin and Onew especially gave this feeling. Spoke with a friend about it and Key seems to know his limits and Minho is superbly fit, but Taemin and Onew just looked like they were giving everything 3000% effort and they were really suffering for it. Especially during later songs like Picasso. Taemin looked like he was dancing his last dance before death and giving it everything he had in him. It was beautiful, but heartbreaking.
Over all I feel like my perception of the concert might have been colored by Onew's injury on Sunday. I had such an amazing time but the circumstances left me extremely sad and confused and none of that was Onew's fault in any way whatsoever. Onew hurt his ankle and wasn't doing well basically for the whole of the beginning of Ready or Not. I think he pushed too hard in Picasso which was the song before. SHINee put 3000% percent into everything they do and it was so heart-breaking to see him put too much into his performance. It felt like he was giving and giving and we as an audience were taking too much from him. I felt horrendous seeing him on the floor and Key gesturing him to get off stage and get his leg looked at. I wrote notes about the whole experience to myself the night it happened and the thing that stuck out to me was how worried and horrified SHINee were. They had to keep performing, not knowing whether Onew was okay or not and that feeling of uncertainty that made me sick to my stomach must have been worse for SHINee who are essentially his brothers.
Taemin was in front of me for the next song and he was jumping up and down. All the other members were jumping, Key and Minho especially were forcing themselves to smile as brightly as possible, but I think Taemin was so tired he couldn't force his expression away from troubled. It was a really surreal moment because I could feel myself starting to cry and I didn't want them to see their fans freaking out so I was jumping and trying to smile and everyone around me seemed to just be trying to do the same, or maybe some people hadn't even realized Onew was gone because he slipped off stage as unobtrusively as possible when you're limping out and people don't always watch the screen closely. I feel like any other time I would have been worried about Onew, but it wouldn't have been as bad as it felt that night. Emotions were already running super high and you go from an astounding high to feeling cold and sick and worried. It was completely awful. Being so close I could see Key constantly glancing backstage, Minho was glancing around between jumping and trying to distract us, Taemin saw the whole thing and looked worried sick and Jonghyun was on the front stage and seemingly missed everything but was glancing back trying to act normal, looking very serious and worried. I was way too close. The seats which were so close that I'd been crying happy tears for seemed like a curse now. That I was so close and seeing their expressions in such detail.
The worst part is that Onew came out again for Everybody. Everybody is one of their most intense routines, involving a lot of jumping and landing. For Onew who had an ankle or leg injury at that point it was the worst song for him to come out for. Honestly all I can remember from where I was right on the stage is watching Onew stumble and collapse onto the ground for his starting position as soon as the lights went down and Taemin frantically clawing his way over to him and grabbing his arm telling him not to lift him or throw him at the beginning of the song. I don't think I'll ever forget how worried and freaked out Taemin looked. After that it was just a blur of screaming fanchants as loudly as I possibly could and crying because Onew gave it everything he had. He wasn't landing on both feet during the jumps, but he still did them. He didn't lift Jonghyun, Jonghyun just wrapped an arm around him. But when it came time to do the propeller move he gave it everything and went so hard. It was completely devastating. I wanted to scream at him to get off stage and go rest. I feel like he was desperate to finish the concert, that he desperately wanted to see it through to the end and not disappoint fans or his group members, but it hurt so much seeing him force himself for our sake. I really wanted to beg him to stop. Since it seems Jinki is going to be okay I think it's okay for me to say...he looked like he was in total agony at the end of Everybody. He kept a strong face for the whole song but as soon as the song finished and the lights went down he was on the ground and his face was scrunched up in pain and he was heaving like he couldn't breathe and was trying not to cry. Even as SHINee were heaving Onew off stage and down the stairs people around me were sobbing. Eventually we had to get enough air past sobbing to be able to sing the encore song. Every night during the wait for the encore shawols sung a SHINee song in the silence. That night we were singing An Ode To You and it was so hard to sing past all the crying, but we still managed pretty amazingly I think.
When SHINee came out for the last set and didn't do the teaser dance Onew was apologizing and I was really grateful to the fans who started chanting 'It's ok, It's ok,' wanting him to know we weren't angry or upset and just wanted him to take care of himself.
I was also so thankful to Taemin who didn't leave Onew's side. The whole final segment while the others were talking, Taemin was muttering to Onew, smiling and holding him and trying to make him laugh or make him feel better. It worked because while Onew looked very teary and upset in the beginning, he began to laugh and smile more naturally the longer Taemin talked to him. Jonghyun had all of SHINee shift along the stage so Onew didn't have to move and had an arm around him, helping him off stage in the end. They sung the last two songs from the front stage so Onew didn't have to move and honestly I'm glad the concert director or someone made the call for him to stand as still as possible and not move around or stress his injury at all.
After SHINee left we were supposed to start chanting SHINee's Back because on the last night of the concert it's normal for SHINee to come back out for a second encore and spoil all the fans. In this case I knew it was impossible. Onew needed to get treatment and it had been too much for him to come out and finish the concert already. He'd already given too much I think. So fans started chanting SHINee's back and I felt myself mumble it a few times and then I was shaking my head and wishing the girls would change the chant to just SHINee or we love you or it's ok or anything that wasn't demanding them to come back out on stage. I felt like they were already burdened and feeling awful that they couldn't finish the concert perfectly even though it wasn't their fault. I wish we could have changed the chant to something more supportive and filled with love, but everyone was following instructions. Eventually everyone left and I couldn't help but feel happy to escape those awful chants for SHINee to come back on stage.
Overall I left the concert feeling sad and worried. We didn't know if Onew had done something serious to his ankle and frankly I didn't give a shit about the concert or SHINee's upcoming comeback or anything. I could hear people muttering about the comeback and glancing at twitter there were a few tweets already about it possibly being delayed and it just made me feel sick and upset. None of that mattered. I went back to my hotel and met my shawol friends and we all huddled together and cried as ridiculous as that may sound to outsiders. Being so close and seeing all of SHINee's faces like that...I was sitting a little further away on Friday and Saturday night and both those nights I couldn't make out their facial expressions all that clearly. Sunday night I was right on the stage. There was nobody between where I stood and Onew as they were carrying him off stage after Everybody, SHINee crowding around him looking sick with worry.
Monday morning I left my hotel room very very early to make it home and drop off my piles and piles of merch and clothes and make it to work on time. I started re-organizing the concert in my head and as the day went on and more and more reports kept coming out that Onew was ok and there wasn't anything serious wrong and his ankle would heal with a little rest I felt like a weight lifted and I could start remembering all the beautiful moments instead. The 3 concert nights really were like a dream from beginning to end. I feel like I want to live more like Jonghyun and when I feel emotional and teary I want to just embrace it and let it go. I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of. I cried during Prism and Feel Good, SHINee's new songs. I know that sounds crazy cause they're pretty fun, sexy, upbeat songs but all I could think was: It's been more than 8 years and hearing a new song from them still makes me feel so alive and happy. My pulse still races and I'm still full of wonder and excitement and joy. I've been going to recordings and concerts for a long time now and it used to be that seeing SHINee I always felt panicked and full of adrenaline and my heart would be pounding and my palms were sweaty, knees weak, eyes wide. Now a days I don't get that feeling very often anymore; usually only at fansigns or if I'm in the front row and too close to them. It's like I settled into a comfortable relationship and I feel warm and safe and content and my face splits cause I'm usually smiling so much. But I do miss that feeling of panicked, frenzied adrenaline-pumping joy from my early shawol days. Seeing new songs and going to concerts I get that pumping of crazy over the top panicked joy again.
Sunday night Minho was standing in front of us and he's such a terror. Minho is so lovely and kind but he's also an absolute demon because he's wonderfully attractive and pretty aware how much we adore him because he's all about looking into your eyes and winking and beckoning you to him with his finger and smiling this beautiful wide smile. My heart pounded. Oh how it pounded, I felt like I couldn't look straight at him because he was like the sun and he noticed and smirked some more. Minho likes making eye contact with people and making people feel happy and acknowledging people. I strongly believe we have no way of truly knowing who SHINee are as individual human beings behind the idol mask, but there are a few things you will never convince me otherwise about. Minho radiates kindness and that rare, warm light of someone who's just inherently good. Even if he plays jokes and teases the other members, he seems to do it with all the kindest of intentions. The way he runs full speed around the concert stage, arms open and waving and smiling. He jumps and playfully calls people out if they're no jumping, pointing and encouraging them to join in. During the ments he was always telling us very sincere, kind things like: you're my hope, I missed you, I love you guys. This sounds like the kind of crap idols might say to fans as fan service but I dare you to sit in on this concert and doubt Minho's sincerity. I had a re-awakening of Minho feelings at this concert. I adore Key with every fibre of my being but first and foremost I consider myself an OT5 fan. Concerts always remind me of this and I feel like it's been so long since I've been around Minho that I was just being sucked into him like a bug attracted to light. Everyone I spoke to agreed that Minho was captivating and all of our little hearts pounded for him all weekend long.
Jonghyun was as always this amazing little walking ball of contradictions and talent. He's extremely unflappable. Minho would try and embarrass him by pointing out he started singing too early during Ring Ding Dong on Friday and Jonghyun would nonchalantly reply it was the charm of a live performance. He does an amazing job of keeping the others on track and his years of radio dj experience really shows when he's kind of directing and leading the talking sections of the concert. But for such a composed, unflappable little mister, he still sobbed during the ballad section on Friday night and during the duet with Onew had trouble singing through tears. He later said he was just overwhelmed by the fans and the sea of SHINee lights and all the emotions from practicing and preparing just exploded out of him, but for me seeing Please, Don't Go for the first time live and Jonghyun singing it with tears running down his face was a completely incredible experience. I wasn't at the AGIT concert that Onew and Jonghyun first performed this song at so I was so excited to hear them do a song that I've loved for many years. I have no words for Jonghyun most of the time. I respect him so so much and watching him belt out these incredible notes while dancing complicated routines just blows my mind to this day. Jonghyun has a different method of destroying fans to Minho. He doesn't make eye contact and smile, he stands and claps and smirks into the crowd and has this incredible body language. I don't think we talk about how charismatic Jonghyun's body language is enough. He can play a crowd without even having to sing just by the way he stands there and exudes energy and charisma. Incredible, incredible live performer. Absolutely born to be on stage without question.
I attending Key's The Moment lecture where he interviewed Bridgehouse which is the name of the designer who drew the SHINee cartoons and concert posters where they have 3 eyes. She had a lot to say about Onew and how she had a hard time figuring him out and puzzling out who he was as a person. I think any SHINee fan will tell you the same thing about Onew. You might have a good idea who he is, but there's something extremely private about him that he keeps to himself. I 100% respect that, but I also adore seeing Onew in concerts. It goes without saying he has an incredible singing voice. I love how joyous Onew looks though. More than anyone, when Onew smiles, really smiles properly, he has this glitter in his eyes and you can't help but smile and feel joyous in return. He does slow sad songs and ballads extremely well, but for me his charm really shines through during songs like Colorful where he's waving his arms around like a maniac and dancing and smiling. His energy is the kind that sucks you in and he exudes the correct emotions to match a song which is just another reason he's an amazing live performer. I don't really have words to describe how much I respect Onew for how he dealt with his injury on Sunday. He was just exuding sorrow and frustration and more than anything I could feel how much he cared about SHINee and the concert and all the hard work they'd put into everything. Onew doesn't say big speeches or pretty words very often, but I still feel like he very sincerely cares about fans and the members of SHINee deeply.
We can't talk about Taemin without mentioning his Goodbye solo performance. I was lucky enough to attend his recordings in Korea of Goodbye so I've seen it a few times and every time is as breathe-taking as the last. Seeing it at this concert though was something new. Taemin has this spark as a dancer and performer which I think exists in 0.01% of talented performers and singers. There are many incredibly talented people on this planet and, in my opinion, SHINee rank within those people and Taemin has that spark of IT whatever that may be. I mentioned earlier, but Taemin was also dancing like this was his last dance nearly every dance. I would love to know what was going on in his head, because I've seen Taemin perform a lot over the years and I can't recall ever seeing him perform this desperately or passionately. He was fascinating to watch but there was something a little heart-breaking among the beauty of his performance. Maybe it's as I said before: I feel like Onew and Taemin might have become victims of the audiences desires and gave too much in a desperate effort to please. Maybe that's too dramatic, but Taemin's incredible energy and performance also left me feeling a little sorry. I hope you're resting well Taemin and having fun with your friends wherever you are. He did an amazing, amazing job and I'm so so proud of what an incredible talent he is.
Last but not least, Key. Key was just on his A game this concert. Despite being extremely busy he was still so impressive and incredible. If Key had been doing nothing but prepare for the concert and design the clothing all these months I would have been so impressed, but he was also preparing for and filming his drama and doing the slew of connecting and meeting and planning and designing he always seems to be working on quietly in the background. First of all, the costuming for this concert was beautiful. The first outfits were a quirky blend of different jackets and colors and designs and even though they were all so different and each outfit catered to an individual members style, they all somehow managed to tie in together. I also had to laugh because I think there were a couple of $1000~$2000 Chanel jackets on stage at that point and Key had been complaining that submitting receipts and things to the finance department at SM is a pain in the butt, so I really hope those jackets were gifts from Chanel hehehe. The grey checkered outfits from the second part were designed by a Korean indie label called Charms. You might recognize the name because Key attended their anniversary event a few weeks back and looked gorgeous and sleeveless and godly and because the Charms instagram has started posting random pics of SHINee wearing their gear. There were some outfits in silk and red that Key talked about how SHINee all specified what they wanted for their individual designs to an illustrator and the illustrator basically drew SHINee as zombies. They all had an English phrase written on their clothing as well. Key's was: go get some little freaks and had a pic of him setting zombie Comme des and Garcon on us I suppose. Either way it was a lot of fun and their ballad outfits were simply gorgeous, especially Minho and Key in high wasted pants and silk shirts. I was very impressed by what he put together and also extremely pleased that the rest of SHINee kept praising him and seemed very proud of their Key.
Key also blew us out of the water with his rapping. He's always been a very stable vocal; reliably he sounds amazing and hits all his notes perfectly, but his rap seems to have transformed to another level this time around. They did a lot of songs, both new and old, that involved Key rapping and since he completed In the Heights between this concert and the last it suddenly became very obvious that performing a musical consisting entirely of rap taught Key a lot and took his ability to a new level. It was smooth and very, very attractive. Particularly since he just seemed so effortless and cool about what he was doing this time. I love Key's attitude and his stage presence. He's really good at doing characters when he's performing. During Punch Drunk Love he was pretending to be a boxer that wasn't that into fighting anyway and it was really cute watching the back up dancers trying to hype him up and he was just like: nah bro, nah cant do it nope. It also meant that during Trigger, where SHINee were bad boys being rounded up by the cops or something, Key was phenomenal. Honestly they all were. Trigger was probably one of my favorite tracks of the night, it was so interesting and thrilling and attractive. The dance was really strong and all the light shows and laser guns were a thrilling touch. Odd eye was also a strong track for the night. SHINee are really good at performing songs with a lot of attitude. Who am I kidding though, they're good at performing everything they put on the stage.
I don't really think I can say much more, other than I'm so proud of SHINee. The concert was a phenomenal showcase of everything they've achieved over the years. I didn't really write any fan accounts from the concert and I'm not sure if I regret it yet. Lately I've been just languishing in my own feelings and trying to ensure that my experience as a fan is first and foremost about my happiness and enjoyment in the moment. Rushing to twitter to fan account everything SHINee said and did is exhausting and I have a never-ending fear of miss translating SHINee. I say this a lot, but SHINee's words are so precious to me. It terrifies me that they're translated so often and by so many people. You can see the same phrase from Jonghyun's Blue Night radio translated about 3 different ways with different nuances. I think fan accounting and translating is an essential part of fandom, but it also scares me how thoroughly I could fuck up if I'm not careful.
SHINee World Concert V...had the feeling of an older, more sophisticated performance. The fans are older, SHINee are older, more practiced, more polished, more confident and smooth, more comfortable. SHINee spend the months and years between concerts gaining experience and leveling up and whenever they come back it feels like they managed to level up 10 times over and they're more powerful and capable at every turn. All my love and respect to you SHINee, you completely blew the roof off. All my respect and love to you and to all the fans who made the concert atmosphere such an otherworldly experience.
As Minho always likes to say: 샤이니짱~bbb
After SHINee left we were supposed to start chanting SHINee's Back because on the last night of the concert it's normal for SHINee to come back out for a second encore and spoil all the fans. In this case I knew it was impossible. Onew needed to get treatment and it had been too much for him to come out and finish the concert already. He'd already given too much I think. So fans started chanting SHINee's back and I felt myself mumble it a few times and then I was shaking my head and wishing the girls would change the chant to just SHINee or we love you or it's ok or anything that wasn't demanding them to come back out on stage. I felt like they were already burdened and feeling awful that they couldn't finish the concert perfectly even though it wasn't their fault. I wish we could have changed the chant to something more supportive and filled with love, but everyone was following instructions. Eventually everyone left and I couldn't help but feel happy to escape those awful chants for SHINee to come back on stage.
Overall I left the concert feeling sad and worried. We didn't know if Onew had done something serious to his ankle and frankly I didn't give a shit about the concert or SHINee's upcoming comeback or anything. I could hear people muttering about the comeback and glancing at twitter there were a few tweets already about it possibly being delayed and it just made me feel sick and upset. None of that mattered. I went back to my hotel and met my shawol friends and we all huddled together and cried as ridiculous as that may sound to outsiders. Being so close and seeing all of SHINee's faces like that...I was sitting a little further away on Friday and Saturday night and both those nights I couldn't make out their facial expressions all that clearly. Sunday night I was right on the stage. There was nobody between where I stood and Onew as they were carrying him off stage after Everybody, SHINee crowding around him looking sick with worry.
Monday morning I left my hotel room very very early to make it home and drop off my piles and piles of merch and clothes and make it to work on time. I started re-organizing the concert in my head and as the day went on and more and more reports kept coming out that Onew was ok and there wasn't anything serious wrong and his ankle would heal with a little rest I felt like a weight lifted and I could start remembering all the beautiful moments instead. The 3 concert nights really were like a dream from beginning to end. I feel like I want to live more like Jonghyun and when I feel emotional and teary I want to just embrace it and let it go. I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of. I cried during Prism and Feel Good, SHINee's new songs. I know that sounds crazy cause they're pretty fun, sexy, upbeat songs but all I could think was: It's been more than 8 years and hearing a new song from them still makes me feel so alive and happy. My pulse still races and I'm still full of wonder and excitement and joy. I've been going to recordings and concerts for a long time now and it used to be that seeing SHINee I always felt panicked and full of adrenaline and my heart would be pounding and my palms were sweaty, knees weak, eyes wide. Now a days I don't get that feeling very often anymore; usually only at fansigns or if I'm in the front row and too close to them. It's like I settled into a comfortable relationship and I feel warm and safe and content and my face splits cause I'm usually smiling so much. But I do miss that feeling of panicked, frenzied adrenaline-pumping joy from my early shawol days. Seeing new songs and going to concerts I get that pumping of crazy over the top panicked joy again.
Sunday night Minho was standing in front of us and he's such a terror. Minho is so lovely and kind but he's also an absolute demon because he's wonderfully attractive and pretty aware how much we adore him because he's all about looking into your eyes and winking and beckoning you to him with his finger and smiling this beautiful wide smile. My heart pounded. Oh how it pounded, I felt like I couldn't look straight at him because he was like the sun and he noticed and smirked some more. Minho likes making eye contact with people and making people feel happy and acknowledging people. I strongly believe we have no way of truly knowing who SHINee are as individual human beings behind the idol mask, but there are a few things you will never convince me otherwise about. Minho radiates kindness and that rare, warm light of someone who's just inherently good. Even if he plays jokes and teases the other members, he seems to do it with all the kindest of intentions. The way he runs full speed around the concert stage, arms open and waving and smiling. He jumps and playfully calls people out if they're no jumping, pointing and encouraging them to join in. During the ments he was always telling us very sincere, kind things like: you're my hope, I missed you, I love you guys. This sounds like the kind of crap idols might say to fans as fan service but I dare you to sit in on this concert and doubt Minho's sincerity. I had a re-awakening of Minho feelings at this concert. I adore Key with every fibre of my being but first and foremost I consider myself an OT5 fan. Concerts always remind me of this and I feel like it's been so long since I've been around Minho that I was just being sucked into him like a bug attracted to light. Everyone I spoke to agreed that Minho was captivating and all of our little hearts pounded for him all weekend long.
Jonghyun was as always this amazing little walking ball of contradictions and talent. He's extremely unflappable. Minho would try and embarrass him by pointing out he started singing too early during Ring Ding Dong on Friday and Jonghyun would nonchalantly reply it was the charm of a live performance. He does an amazing job of keeping the others on track and his years of radio dj experience really shows when he's kind of directing and leading the talking sections of the concert. But for such a composed, unflappable little mister, he still sobbed during the ballad section on Friday night and during the duet with Onew had trouble singing through tears. He later said he was just overwhelmed by the fans and the sea of SHINee lights and all the emotions from practicing and preparing just exploded out of him, but for me seeing Please, Don't Go for the first time live and Jonghyun singing it with tears running down his face was a completely incredible experience. I wasn't at the AGIT concert that Onew and Jonghyun first performed this song at so I was so excited to hear them do a song that I've loved for many years. I have no words for Jonghyun most of the time. I respect him so so much and watching him belt out these incredible notes while dancing complicated routines just blows my mind to this day. Jonghyun has a different method of destroying fans to Minho. He doesn't make eye contact and smile, he stands and claps and smirks into the crowd and has this incredible body language. I don't think we talk about how charismatic Jonghyun's body language is enough. He can play a crowd without even having to sing just by the way he stands there and exudes energy and charisma. Incredible, incredible live performer. Absolutely born to be on stage without question.
I attending Key's The Moment lecture where he interviewed Bridgehouse which is the name of the designer who drew the SHINee cartoons and concert posters where they have 3 eyes. She had a lot to say about Onew and how she had a hard time figuring him out and puzzling out who he was as a person. I think any SHINee fan will tell you the same thing about Onew. You might have a good idea who he is, but there's something extremely private about him that he keeps to himself. I 100% respect that, but I also adore seeing Onew in concerts. It goes without saying he has an incredible singing voice. I love how joyous Onew looks though. More than anyone, when Onew smiles, really smiles properly, he has this glitter in his eyes and you can't help but smile and feel joyous in return. He does slow sad songs and ballads extremely well, but for me his charm really shines through during songs like Colorful where he's waving his arms around like a maniac and dancing and smiling. His energy is the kind that sucks you in and he exudes the correct emotions to match a song which is just another reason he's an amazing live performer. I don't really have words to describe how much I respect Onew for how he dealt with his injury on Sunday. He was just exuding sorrow and frustration and more than anything I could feel how much he cared about SHINee and the concert and all the hard work they'd put into everything. Onew doesn't say big speeches or pretty words very often, but I still feel like he very sincerely cares about fans and the members of SHINee deeply.
We can't talk about Taemin without mentioning his Goodbye solo performance. I was lucky enough to attend his recordings in Korea of Goodbye so I've seen it a few times and every time is as breathe-taking as the last. Seeing it at this concert though was something new. Taemin has this spark as a dancer and performer which I think exists in 0.01% of talented performers and singers. There are many incredibly talented people on this planet and, in my opinion, SHINee rank within those people and Taemin has that spark of IT whatever that may be. I mentioned earlier, but Taemin was also dancing like this was his last dance nearly every dance. I would love to know what was going on in his head, because I've seen Taemin perform a lot over the years and I can't recall ever seeing him perform this desperately or passionately. He was fascinating to watch but there was something a little heart-breaking among the beauty of his performance. Maybe it's as I said before: I feel like Onew and Taemin might have become victims of the audiences desires and gave too much in a desperate effort to please. Maybe that's too dramatic, but Taemin's incredible energy and performance also left me feeling a little sorry. I hope you're resting well Taemin and having fun with your friends wherever you are. He did an amazing, amazing job and I'm so so proud of what an incredible talent he is.
Last but not least, Key. Key was just on his A game this concert. Despite being extremely busy he was still so impressive and incredible. If Key had been doing nothing but prepare for the concert and design the clothing all these months I would have been so impressed, but he was also preparing for and filming his drama and doing the slew of connecting and meeting and planning and designing he always seems to be working on quietly in the background. First of all, the costuming for this concert was beautiful. The first outfits were a quirky blend of different jackets and colors and designs and even though they were all so different and each outfit catered to an individual members style, they all somehow managed to tie in together. I also had to laugh because I think there were a couple of $1000~$2000 Chanel jackets on stage at that point and Key had been complaining that submitting receipts and things to the finance department at SM is a pain in the butt, so I really hope those jackets were gifts from Chanel hehehe. The grey checkered outfits from the second part were designed by a Korean indie label called Charms. You might recognize the name because Key attended their anniversary event a few weeks back and looked gorgeous and sleeveless and godly and because the Charms instagram has started posting random pics of SHINee wearing their gear. There were some outfits in silk and red that Key talked about how SHINee all specified what they wanted for their individual designs to an illustrator and the illustrator basically drew SHINee as zombies. They all had an English phrase written on their clothing as well. Key's was: go get some little freaks and had a pic of him setting zombie Comme des and Garcon on us I suppose. Either way it was a lot of fun and their ballad outfits were simply gorgeous, especially Minho and Key in high wasted pants and silk shirts. I was very impressed by what he put together and also extremely pleased that the rest of SHINee kept praising him and seemed very proud of their Key.
Key also blew us out of the water with his rapping. He's always been a very stable vocal; reliably he sounds amazing and hits all his notes perfectly, but his rap seems to have transformed to another level this time around. They did a lot of songs, both new and old, that involved Key rapping and since he completed In the Heights between this concert and the last it suddenly became very obvious that performing a musical consisting entirely of rap taught Key a lot and took his ability to a new level. It was smooth and very, very attractive. Particularly since he just seemed so effortless and cool about what he was doing this time. I love Key's attitude and his stage presence. He's really good at doing characters when he's performing. During Punch Drunk Love he was pretending to be a boxer that wasn't that into fighting anyway and it was really cute watching the back up dancers trying to hype him up and he was just like: nah bro, nah cant do it nope. It also meant that during Trigger, where SHINee were bad boys being rounded up by the cops or something, Key was phenomenal. Honestly they all were. Trigger was probably one of my favorite tracks of the night, it was so interesting and thrilling and attractive. The dance was really strong and all the light shows and laser guns were a thrilling touch. Odd eye was also a strong track for the night. SHINee are really good at performing songs with a lot of attitude. Who am I kidding though, they're good at performing everything they put on the stage.
I don't really think I can say much more, other than I'm so proud of SHINee. The concert was a phenomenal showcase of everything they've achieved over the years. I didn't really write any fan accounts from the concert and I'm not sure if I regret it yet. Lately I've been just languishing in my own feelings and trying to ensure that my experience as a fan is first and foremost about my happiness and enjoyment in the moment. Rushing to twitter to fan account everything SHINee said and did is exhausting and I have a never-ending fear of miss translating SHINee. I say this a lot, but SHINee's words are so precious to me. It terrifies me that they're translated so often and by so many people. You can see the same phrase from Jonghyun's Blue Night radio translated about 3 different ways with different nuances. I think fan accounting and translating is an essential part of fandom, but it also scares me how thoroughly I could fuck up if I'm not careful.
SHINee World Concert V...had the feeling of an older, more sophisticated performance. The fans are older, SHINee are older, more practiced, more polished, more confident and smooth, more comfortable. SHINee spend the months and years between concerts gaining experience and leveling up and whenever they come back it feels like they managed to level up 10 times over and they're more powerful and capable at every turn. All my love and respect to you SHINee, you completely blew the roof off. All my respect and love to you and to all the fans who made the concert atmosphere such an otherworldly experience.
As Minho always likes to say: 샤이니짱~bbb
Thank you for this! It's truly a warm and heartbreaking article at the same time... Unfortunately i haven't got the chance yet to attend a SHINee concert since i'm from Europe and it's really nice for me to read how it goes. OT5 have a special place in my heart and i'm glad that you wrote something for each member... Hope to hear more from you!
ReplyDeleteThank u for sharing ur experiences with SHINee...actually, before reached ur blog, I've been reading articles about SHINee losing their popularity and I'm very sad but ur writing here cheer me up...thank u again...
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