living in the SMTOWN
if there is one thing SME knows how to do, it is how to put on a concert. even despite technical glitches, equipment malfunctions, and delays, it was damn near seamless. I really like how they balance out the different artists and keep things moving, instead of having blocks of time where only one artist is performing.
anyway, I took notes last night, so here's a full fan report/setlist!
the venue was huge. the stage was wide to begin with, but then the central tongue came out and crossed itself TWICE, across the floor seating. the floor seating would have sucked to be in--because it wasn't standing, people couldn't move around, and they were sitting in full sun for the beginning of the show, and there was no rise so people sitting behind anyone else or too near the stages wouldn't have been able to see a thing that wasn't right in front of them. hyperballad and I had great seats, despite the distance--right in front of the rail that separated 1st row 2nd tier from 1st tier, so no one was in front of us and I had plenty of leg room to stretch (and god, 6 hours in, I needed it).
the show kicked off around... 4? with an artist called J Min, a woman who sang and played the guitar for a couple of songs. her first song reminded me a bit of Jaurim, if Jaurim were to cover Bjork, or something. she wasn't bad, but the screens were really hard to see because of the sun shining on them, so it was pretty hard to see much of her. nice sound, though!
then CSJH came out, and I figured hoyah was going to expire from glee before we even got to the main show. Stephanie (?) wasn't there, but the other 3 started off with a ballad I didn't know, which Mai's notes say was 'My Everything', so I'mma go with that. after that, they performed '한번 더, OK?' and danced, which was pretty cool. they're definitely some of the strongest female singers in SM, as far as harmonization and overall skill goes.
next was Chu Gayeol (yeah, that guy who does stuff now and then on SMTOWN albums and nowhere else). he did one song ('정말 행복해요', I'm just going to check hoyah's stuff for obscure song titles lol) by himself, then covered 'Just When I Needed You Most'... with Sungmin accompanying him on guitar and singing along. it was actually quite nice.
then the screens played the sad fish girl MV from SS3, where a little girl in the hospital gets her own magical brand of suju fun and Siwon 'swims' her around in her transformed room, etc etc.
next up, inexplicably, was Lee Dongwoo, who sang a ballad or most of a song by himself, then had the other members of TinTinFive (including Hong Rokki, who was in Brothers Were Brave with Jay/Onew) join him on stage to sing another. at this point, the screens behind the stage died. TT5 finished out their set, though.
f(x) came up next, but with no screens, they were just four teeny tiny girls at a distance. they started off with 'Lachata', and Amber's part was just a backing track, no sign of her tonight.
then the girls except Krystal ran off, Jessica came out, and S♡NE just roared. (it was actually terrifying and hilarious when the little ads played before the show and during intermission, because SPAO ad would come up starting with one of the soshi girls and there was just this deep-throated bellow, then Siwon flashed on screen and there was a stadium-wide shriek, then another soshi girl--bellow!-and finally Eeteuk--shriek, etc.) anyway, the screens STILL weren't working, but the Jung sisters proceeded to start 'TikTok' which seems like a terribly inappropriate song for anyone as young as Krystal to be performing to. but then! the backing track just died, mid-song, and they sort of stood there for a sec, then Jessica was like "just a minute!" and they ran offstage.
we had a fun little technical intermission here, while tech staff tried to sort out whatever had exploded, melted, or been tripped over and unplugged backstage. during this time, someone apparently had a CSJH cd on hand and just slapped that in to pipe over the speakers. fiiinally they got the screens up and running again, after several false starts, and--
f(x) came out again, to do 'Lachata', this time so everyone could actually see them on screen. they're awfully cute, Luna is tiny and smiley and blonde and has thighs like a real girl and not an anorexic mannequin. I am pretty sure Krystal is dead inside.
then the Jung duet came out again, to do 'TikTok' with screens and proper sound. again, it's fairly dirty and ended with Jessica on her knees "begging" Krystal about something.
f(x) hopped back out for 'Chu~', Jessica ran away, and they were real cute again. when it got to Amber's rap, though, Minho walked out (good to see his leg is in working order again!) and rapped that part. fangirls went crazy. he left again, they finished the song, and f(x) went on to perform 'Surprise Party'. unfortunately the screens died again.
we had another intermission, with more piped-in CSJH and restlessness. it was about ten to six by the time they got that sorted, again.
Zhang Liyin came out next, with a ballad (Mai says 'Beijing opera house song', is that a title?). she's a good singer, I guess, but she just doesn't do anything for me and her face always looks mismatched to her body... she was having some mic trouble, which turned out to be one of the night's themes. then she sang a song in Chinese, someone dropped a mic backstage or something and it sounded like a gunshot, and I was fairly apathetic.
Kangta came out next (poor guy, he's now reduced to pre-sundown opening performances...) and sang 'Polaris'. then Go Ara and some guy on piano joined him, while stage hands set up a mailbox and a couple of benches and a coatrack with a jacket on it, and he did this silly little song/act for '7989'. apparently Go Ara can sing? Kangta proceeded to find a mic in the mailbox, sing for awhile, then find another in his jacket, always with this perfect expression of surprise and dismay. then Onew ran across the stage playing the part of the ubiquitous delivery boy with his metal box, and fangirls pooped.
Kim Min Jong was next. I don't know who he is or what he performed, but his backup dancers hated their lives. not only was their dance stupid, but nobody in the world knows who the hell he is, let alone who they are. his sole identifying characteristic was that he looks sort of like Kyuhyun, but with facial hair.
another technical intermission came, then. I was getting kind of sick of CSJH album songs by this point.
SHINee started the main part of the concert, then, by popping up from the ends of the stage for 'Stand By Me', then meeting in the center. they danced 'Replay' in the middle, then 'Get Down!', where they ran around the stage. Key's jacket was actually offensively neon. I don't think I've seen that many neon colors on a piece of clothing since 1987. Jonghyun apparently wore the matching pants, they were also offensively neon, but his crotch was inexplicably black. I guess he wanted his penis to have special attention? 'Juliette' was the next song, gathered in the center again. Onew's hair was a wreck, just sticking up everywhere. he was real greasy all night, winking at cameras and stuff... Key's mic was being stupid for most of the night, Jonghyun's and Onew's mics worked better than everyone else's, so of course those two were blowing everyone's ears out every time they belted something out. Taemin's hair was kind of shaggy and long... Minho is more attractive in person than he is in photos/on TV, but I still don't really like the super short hair on him.
TRAX popped up next in the middle of the cross-stages, with 'Cold-Hearted Man'. they were lovely, Jungmo is still blonde, and Jay is working it. they also covered (or introduced?) a song I don't recognize, but really liked, with a lot of English in it.
A piano appeared on the main stage, and Taemin came out to play, while Lee Yeonhee sang. hoyah's notes say 'Slow Motion', idek.
then, Tiffany, Jessica, and Sunny came out in these little frilly dresses, S♡NE bellowed their approval, and some back up girls performed something with them. Sunny and Tiffany actually looked completely stone-faced and angry/upset about something, through this whole song, while Jessica was smiling and perky. it was kind of creepy. Sunny was not even trying.
next (!!!!!) a man started singing, but Luna popped up from one of the under-stage platforms (I think they miscued which platform to raise first, or something), followed by Zhou Mi. hyperballad and I flipped our shit screaming for him every time he sang. the song was in Chinese and really pretty, and I was just so happy to see him on stage again~ Luna looks so pint-sized next to him, lol.
then Jungmo popped up for the intro guitar solo to 'Sonata of Temptation', we flipped our shit again along with every other suju fan, and Heechul came out to rock it. he started out wandering past Jungmo like he was thinking of raping his face again, but didn't... then fucking JAY came out to rap a part of the song, and Heechul went up to him and like... ran his hand down his shoulder/body, got up all close in his face, and leaned around so the cameras couldn't see Jay's face, just the back of his own head. it was dirty and wonderful. Heechul strutted out to the center stage to drop to his knees for part of it, too... he seems to really love hitting the high notes and doing that witch-cackle, then spinning wildly.
Seohyun and Kyuhyun came up next, on opposite ends of the first central cross-bar to the stage. they sang a ballad I don't know, I'm indifferent to Seohyun but Kyuhyun's voice is always gorgeous. can't say there was much chemistry there, they barely looked at each other, just awkwardly held hands at the very end after walking to the center. holding out for a Qmi duet, guys, come on!
Jonghyun and some other guys popped up out on the furthest cross-stage, next--at first I thought it was SHINee singing ANOTHER song, but then I realized one of the guys was Yesung and the rest were just back-up dancers. it was hot, two powerful voices and Yeh was having loads of fun. they're like the same height, lol. Mai says it was something by Fly to the Sky, idek.
Shindong, Eunhyuk, Minho, and Key came out next, to do this fun rap number that they might have composed themselves? it was catchy, I'd like to hear it on an album! they were obviously having super fun.
SNSD came out on the main stage next with 'Run Devil Run' in short, sparkly black dresses. did Sooyoung get a face job? hyperballad thinks so. Sunny was still Not Having It but improved slowly over the course of their set. they did a ment in a line, stripped off the sparkly black skirt bits to reveal red plaid skirts, next, and performed some song that sounded vaguely march-ish. after that came 'Etude', then 'Kissing You'.
Super Junior appeared next, as the opening to 'Super Girl' started up. then, we spotted Zhou Mi dancing with them! omg so happy, this was the biggest thing that kind of made me go D:?? at SS3, when he wasn't there, so seeing him at least get to dance his own song with them thrilled me. I think he's still not supposed to be singing, lol, and he pushed it just to do the duet with Luna, so he didn't sing... but he was definitely there with them! then SJ ran out to the center to line up and introduce themselves... Zhou Mi slipped off backstage at this time, and Heechul came out to join them in the middle. for their introductions, Eeteuk did the little 'three hops to the side' for Kangin, Kibum, Hangeng, but it was a little awkward and I feel like it's kind of lost the feeling behind it... or at least that they're probably not supposed to talk about Geng.
around this time, I glanced up behind and happened to notice that Cassiopeia's section was black (!!), almost all their red lightsticks had been turned off, and I couldn't figure out wtf was going on. we tried to figure out if SJ had said anything recently that might be taken as an insult by hormonal preteen girls, but couldn't come up with anything (it turned out that Cass just didn't turn on their lightsticks until HoMin came out, which I think was in poor taste on their part).
SJ did 'No Other' next, it was cute, and for the HeeTeuk moment in the middle, Teuk had his shoulder exposed and Heechul was all over that, lol.
next up came SNSD again, to perform '냉면', followed by 'Ha Ha Ha'.
SJ came back out for a remixed 'Miracle', which was really cute, as they ran all over the stage, followed by another song from the first album which I really should know (maybe it was 'Way of Love'? I can't remember now...), and finally 'Dancing Out', which remains one of their best performance songs yet.
BoA appeared next! she's very fierce and tiny and owns the stage. she started with 'My Name' (what would I do without Mai who knows this stuff, idek), followed by 'Energetic' which I love because I adored her whole American album like crazy. then, Key joined her for 'Did It For Love', covering the male parts. it was hot, but Key was outclassed, sry bb.
a series of vid clips went up next, covering BoA's 10th year anniversary and marking a bunch of her important musical events, then a bunch of SNSD, SHINee, and SJ members came out with BoA to play around and sing 'Happy 10th Anniversary to You', haha. this involved large quantities of spray foam/'snow' and a cake, which was promptly covered in the stuff. BoA, also, was covered in the stuff. I feel that SMTOWN, like anyone who's watched them on twitter, jokingly ships BoA/Hyuk, and they ragged him into coming forward all bashfully and making a weak attempt to wipe some frosting on her cheek. he got a little bit on her, but I think he was afraid she'd beat him up if he did any more. THEN, Minho made a threatening move with the cake, BoA ducked and shied away like 'you are NOT caking me', so he stood behind her while she did a bit of talking and bided his time. finally, she stopped talking, and he reached around and just mushed it into the side of her head/face. BoA was actually covered in cake, and Minho was so proud of himself. I saw another fanreport on twitter that said Siwon did this, but I'm about 95% sure it was Minho, unless they look a lot more alike than I think they do. anyway, the boys all rofl'd at her while the girls fled in search of tissues and towels to make an attempt at cleaning her up, and then a song played and all the artists played around on the cross stages and sang. BoA went after Minho and kicked him in the butt, lol, and he picked her up and spun her around, which was actually adorable. Luna and Ryeowook had a little water bottle fight, too. then the song finished and someone gave Eeteuk a mic and he just blathered on for awhile. even after the lights went down and it was intermission time for 10 minutes, lol.
the concert restarted at 8:40, with SJ popping up all over the floor stage for the remix version of 'Sorry Sorry'. I love that version, it's very intense.
there was evidently still cake on the stage, because when SNSD came up next, someone slipped in it and there was kind of a massive pile of scantily dressed girls for a moment before they all scrambled back up and got in position. they performed 'Genie' with an awkward hard-rock dance break. I feel that they should have just told the others to step back and let Hyoyeon loose on that one.
SHINee came out next with 'Ring Ding Dong', it was hot, and hopefully they burned the atrocious neons Jongkey were wearing earlier.
f(x) showed back up for 'NU ABO', still no Amber, just voiceovers for her parts :(
SJ did 'Man in Love' next, another performance favorite.
Krystal and Luna sang 'You are My Destiny'. Krystal is still dead inside, there's just nothing going on behind her face. Luna is probably the funnest person.
the rest of f(x) came out to sing some cutesy song wearing little shoulder-capes, and rode around on the rolling platforms that cut through the floor seating, a bit.
SJ did 'Good Person' next. the highlight of this was when Sungmin picked up Heechul, bridal style, and carried him all the way to the furthest cross-stage before putting him down. naturally, all the other SJ boys had to ride somebody, then, but there was a lot of milling around at distances I couldn't tell who was doing what.
SJT (with Donghae) did 'Rokkugeo', loves it, Heechul forgot his lines at the beginning and sort of rushed through them after a couple of missed cues, but the whole audience seemed to know it so lol, whatever. Shindong adlibbed somethng for one of Kangin's lines, I didn't catch how he changed it but it wasn't 'subaki baksu'. Hyuk made like he was going to kiss Heechul, but chickened out.
SJ came back for 'Wonder Boy', during which Sungmin dropped to his knees and either air-guitared the fuck out or had an orgasm. possibly both! Yesung held a note forever, and there was much milling.
TRAX came up next! with 'One Night', god Jungmo looked amazing with his hair, and Jay was just in fine form everywhere. this is probably the biggest crowd they've ever played to, actually. it was awesome. then. THEN. oh my god. 'Paradox' came on. Heechul did Rose's old rap, even. I feel like this night was essentially Heechul's birthday. oh my god, it was intense, and he was so happy, and I've never heard Paradox live before, so we were going nuts. I was losing my voice by this point, for sure.
f(x) came back out on the main stage for 'Mr Boogie'.
SHINee followed them with 'Up and Down', running out to the cross stages again. SHINee really likes working the floor seating up and playing on those stages.
SNSD came out with '힘내', says Mai, followed by 'Oh!'. they were still having major mic trouble, and at one point someone's mic wasn't working, so Hyoyeon just sang the whole verse herself. by the end of the song, it's possible that none of their mics were working at all and all we could hear was the backing track.
SHINee did 'Quasimodo' next, and it was real pretty.
Ryeowook popped up next, to do a duet with Onew--one of my favorite SHINee ballads, 'The Name I Loved'. to give you an idea of how much mic trouble they were having, this is the only time I have ever heard Ryeowook NOT sound like he was just soaring effortlessly over everyone else's voices. part of that was because Onew has a set of lungs on him, and part of it was because Onew's mic was cranked up way too high, and Ryeowook's was a little faint. nonetheless, it was a beautiful duet.
the dance battle came next--it was awesome. it started with Taemin dancing by himself, then Hyuk joined him, then Hyuk got a short solo to himself... then Luna and Hyoyeon came out together... then some of the other soshi girls (Sooyoung, Yuri?, someone else, plus Hyoyeon and Luna) did a dance together, followed by the whole group dancing, both guys and girls. Minho joined them for that part.
BoA finally came back out, de-caked and ready to go with 'GAME', followed by a ballad while sitting on a chair, and finally 'DANGEROUS', on her feet and dancing again. I'd like to see her join in the dance battle, but maybe they're afraid she'd just outclass the shit out of the hoobaes.
the stage went dark again, and they were having some problems with one screen which had a strip down the middle where the image had frozen in the middle of BoA's ballad. they kept fooling with it and either kept trying to reboot it or were playing Pong on it, but it just wasn't working.
Cass was getting really antsy by this point, and they'd been chanting every time there was any dead air, and finally the whole stadium kind of picked it up, because honestly, who DOESN'T want to see HoMin again, by now? then the screens come up and you see someone dangling in one of them, first. I look over, and Yunho is SUSPENDED from a wire above the other side of the stadium. then I look up higher, and Changmin is DANGLING OVER OUR HEADS. oh my god, at this point, my notes just degenerate into all caps and scribbles.
the wires they were riding were strung from the roof above the 2nd floor seating (I think HoMin may have even been loaded onto the wires right there in front of all of Cass, in which case I want to know how they survived without getting mobbed) and angled down to the roof above the main stage. Yunho and Changmin just held onto their dangling holds as they rode slowly, slowly across the entire stadium to get to the stage, and it was one of the hottest things I've ever seen in a concert. Yunho was definitely wrapped around his hold (he was wearing a pimp suit with a black and white pattern to it), but Changmin (all in white) had his foot in the loop and one hand on the wire, while the other just swung free. it was just... stunning, the way he hung there, so carelessly and effortlessly. baby's done grown up. ;_;
they finally reach the stage (or are suspended over it), and stage hands in black come running out to help them down as they're lowered to where they can actually get off their slings, then they went straight into a bit of 'The Way U Are', but the sound was fucked up to the point it was really hard to recognize and something was definitely wrong, and Yunho was just like 'no, start over', so they cut it off, everyone was confused, and we sat there for a few moments while they sorted themselves out. one of the screens was just a lost cause, so I think there was just the center and right-hand screens for the rest of the concert.
the lights came back up, and TWUA started a second time (this time, I could recognize it), with Changmin and Yunho dancing in white, and 3 back up guys in all black. it was actually kind of heartbreaking at the same time it was beautiful and hot. they didn't do the full song, just a brief clip of it, followed by lines from Rising Sun, Mirotic, and Purple Line (like, showcasing Yunho or Changmin with raps or singing lines that were just lovely) in a big DBSK medley.
then Changmin danced (and sang??) a solo, followed by Yunho as the lights went red and sirens came on, before he danced his solo. they're both fucking gorgeous, right now. then, their segment was over (for the time being), hoyah was frantically texting from the other side of the arena like 'THAT BETTER NOT BE IT SLDFJSDF', and theeeen...
SJ came back out for Don't Don! we flipped our shit, round #348, knowing TRAX was bound to perform with them for the break in the middle, after SS3. little did we know, it could actually get better! the interlude in the middle came up, TRAX + Heechul on drums popped up in the center cross-stage, and fucking Changmin was there with them in a ripped-to-shreds black shirt, doing vocals with Jay and just SCREAMING, with his voice soaring over the whole song. IT WAS THE BEST DON'T DON EVER, AND SO FULL OF RAGE AND AGGRESSION AND TESTOSTERONE GUH.
Yunho and Changmin came back out after that with another set, first Yunho singing and dancing with masked backup dancers, then Changmin singing and dancing (he was damn near matching Yunho, dance-wise, too! fucking hot), then both of them together, aslfjsdfj guhhh. ironically, I really think SM has taken some cues from Geng's solo work--the HoMin stuff reminded me a lot of it, stylistically.
SHINee returned with 'Lucifer', finally with Minho included.
SNSD did 'Gee', of course.
SJ wrapped up their perfs with a remixed version of U (I didn't even recognize it to start with).
then BoA was the last artist to perform alone, with 'Hurricane Venus'.
finally, all of SMTOWN came out on the stages and just milled around and sang 'Hotmail', then something else, neither of which I really knew because they were before I started paying attention to SMTOWN. there was tons of interaction, of course, it was just difficult to see anything unless it was on the big screens, for me. my eyes were real pissed about the contacts I'd been wearing all day. Minho was all over HoMin, though, and that was cute. I think there were about three giant Minho/Changmin hugs. Shindong and Hyuk picked up the electric guitars that were on the stands on the main stage and proceeded to carry them around and dick around with them. Heechul was all over everyone, Mai says there was QMi (I wish I'd spotted it ;_;), Minho and BoA crack me up... idek. Yunho was thrilled to be chilling with everyone again. Kangta ended by herding his ducklings into a big line (which took ages just because there's so many of them and some of those boys are not known for their attention spans) for the final goodbye.
anyway, super glad I went, it was nice not having to stand out all day this time, and 6 hours is a LOOOOONG time to sit for a concert. seeing Yunho and Changmin again was amazing... really the first time I've ever been able to see both of them on a real stage, discounting the 4th album showcase in the park by City Hall, which was at a weird angle and hard to see. Changmin looks so good these days, he's really buffed up and become a man, chest and abs everywhere, oh my. Yunho I just want to cuddle, omg. it was actually really sad when Yunho introduced them as DBSK, though... with just the two of them alone on a stage, and the bright lights shining behind them. I literally don't give a shit about Yoochun or Jaejoong, and I think Junsu's an idiot for going along with their plan, but Changmin and Yunho just... I want them to be successful and happy, doing what they feel is the right thing to do. I can't wait to hear the new songs they performed, on an album, and I hope they can continue to perform together in some way, despite DBSK being defunct as a group. I kind of wish they'd pick a new name for the two of them, though...
anyway, I took notes last night, so here's a full fan report/setlist!
the venue was huge. the stage was wide to begin with, but then the central tongue came out and crossed itself TWICE, across the floor seating. the floor seating would have sucked to be in--because it wasn't standing, people couldn't move around, and they were sitting in full sun for the beginning of the show, and there was no rise so people sitting behind anyone else or too near the stages wouldn't have been able to see a thing that wasn't right in front of them. hyperballad and I had great seats, despite the distance--right in front of the rail that separated 1st row 2nd tier from 1st tier, so no one was in front of us and I had plenty of leg room to stretch (and god, 6 hours in, I needed it).
the show kicked off around... 4? with an artist called J Min, a woman who sang and played the guitar for a couple of songs. her first song reminded me a bit of Jaurim, if Jaurim were to cover Bjork, or something. she wasn't bad, but the screens were really hard to see because of the sun shining on them, so it was pretty hard to see much of her. nice sound, though!
then CSJH came out, and I figured hoyah was going to expire from glee before we even got to the main show. Stephanie (?) wasn't there, but the other 3 started off with a ballad I didn't know, which Mai's notes say was 'My Everything', so I'mma go with that. after that, they performed '한번 더, OK?' and danced, which was pretty cool. they're definitely some of the strongest female singers in SM, as far as harmonization and overall skill goes.
next was Chu Gayeol (yeah, that guy who does stuff now and then on SMTOWN albums and nowhere else). he did one song ('정말 행복해요', I'm just going to check hoyah's stuff for obscure song titles lol) by himself, then covered 'Just When I Needed You Most'... with Sungmin accompanying him on guitar and singing along. it was actually quite nice.
then the screens played the sad fish girl MV from SS3, where a little girl in the hospital gets her own magical brand of suju fun and Siwon 'swims' her around in her transformed room, etc etc.
next up, inexplicably, was Lee Dongwoo, who sang a ballad or most of a song by himself, then had the other members of TinTinFive (including Hong Rokki, who was in Brothers Were Brave with Jay/Onew) join him on stage to sing another. at this point, the screens behind the stage died. TT5 finished out their set, though.
f(x) came up next, but with no screens, they were just four teeny tiny girls at a distance. they started off with 'Lachata', and Amber's part was just a backing track, no sign of her tonight.
then the girls except Krystal ran off, Jessica came out, and S♡NE just roared. (it was actually terrifying and hilarious when the little ads played before the show and during intermission, because SPAO ad would come up starting with one of the soshi girls and there was just this deep-throated bellow, then Siwon flashed on screen and there was a stadium-wide shriek, then another soshi girl--bellow!-and finally Eeteuk--shriek, etc.) anyway, the screens STILL weren't working, but the Jung sisters proceeded to start 'TikTok' which seems like a terribly inappropriate song for anyone as young as Krystal to be performing to. but then! the backing track just died, mid-song, and they sort of stood there for a sec, then Jessica was like "just a minute!" and they ran offstage.
we had a fun little technical intermission here, while tech staff tried to sort out whatever had exploded, melted, or been tripped over and unplugged backstage. during this time, someone apparently had a CSJH cd on hand and just slapped that in to pipe over the speakers. fiiinally they got the screens up and running again, after several false starts, and--
f(x) came out again, to do 'Lachata', this time so everyone could actually see them on screen. they're awfully cute, Luna is tiny and smiley and blonde and has thighs like a real girl and not an anorexic mannequin. I am pretty sure Krystal is dead inside.
then the Jung duet came out again, to do 'TikTok' with screens and proper sound. again, it's fairly dirty and ended with Jessica on her knees "begging" Krystal about something.
f(x) hopped back out for 'Chu~', Jessica ran away, and they were real cute again. when it got to Amber's rap, though, Minho walked out (good to see his leg is in working order again!) and rapped that part. fangirls went crazy. he left again, they finished the song, and f(x) went on to perform 'Surprise Party'. unfortunately the screens died again.
we had another intermission, with more piped-in CSJH and restlessness. it was about ten to six by the time they got that sorted, again.
Zhang Liyin came out next, with a ballad (Mai says 'Beijing opera house song', is that a title?). she's a good singer, I guess, but she just doesn't do anything for me and her face always looks mismatched to her body... she was having some mic trouble, which turned out to be one of the night's themes. then she sang a song in Chinese, someone dropped a mic backstage or something and it sounded like a gunshot, and I was fairly apathetic.
Kangta came out next (poor guy, he's now reduced to pre-sundown opening performances...) and sang 'Polaris'. then Go Ara and some guy on piano joined him, while stage hands set up a mailbox and a couple of benches and a coatrack with a jacket on it, and he did this silly little song/act for '7989'. apparently Go Ara can sing? Kangta proceeded to find a mic in the mailbox, sing for awhile, then find another in his jacket, always with this perfect expression of surprise and dismay. then Onew ran across the stage playing the part of the ubiquitous delivery boy with his metal box, and fangirls pooped.
Kim Min Jong was next. I don't know who he is or what he performed, but his backup dancers hated their lives. not only was their dance stupid, but nobody in the world knows who the hell he is, let alone who they are. his sole identifying characteristic was that he looks sort of like Kyuhyun, but with facial hair.
another technical intermission came, then. I was getting kind of sick of CSJH album songs by this point.
SHINee started the main part of the concert, then, by popping up from the ends of the stage for 'Stand By Me', then meeting in the center. they danced 'Replay' in the middle, then 'Get Down!', where they ran around the stage. Key's jacket was actually offensively neon. I don't think I've seen that many neon colors on a piece of clothing since 1987. Jonghyun apparently wore the matching pants, they were also offensively neon, but his crotch was inexplicably black. I guess he wanted his penis to have special attention? 'Juliette' was the next song, gathered in the center again. Onew's hair was a wreck, just sticking up everywhere. he was real greasy all night, winking at cameras and stuff... Key's mic was being stupid for most of the night, Jonghyun's and Onew's mics worked better than everyone else's, so of course those two were blowing everyone's ears out every time they belted something out. Taemin's hair was kind of shaggy and long... Minho is more attractive in person than he is in photos/on TV, but I still don't really like the super short hair on him.
TRAX popped up next in the middle of the cross-stages, with 'Cold-Hearted Man'. they were lovely, Jungmo is still blonde, and Jay is working it. they also covered (or introduced?) a song I don't recognize, but really liked, with a lot of English in it.
A piano appeared on the main stage, and Taemin came out to play, while Lee Yeonhee sang. hoyah's notes say 'Slow Motion', idek.
then, Tiffany, Jessica, and Sunny came out in these little frilly dresses, S♡NE bellowed their approval, and some back up girls performed something with them. Sunny and Tiffany actually looked completely stone-faced and angry/upset about something, through this whole song, while Jessica was smiling and perky. it was kind of creepy. Sunny was not even trying.
next (!!!!!) a man started singing, but Luna popped up from one of the under-stage platforms (I think they miscued which platform to raise first, or something), followed by Zhou Mi. hyperballad and I flipped our shit screaming for him every time he sang. the song was in Chinese and really pretty, and I was just so happy to see him on stage again~ Luna looks so pint-sized next to him, lol.
then Jungmo popped up for the intro guitar solo to 'Sonata of Temptation', we flipped our shit again along with every other suju fan, and Heechul came out to rock it. he started out wandering past Jungmo like he was thinking of raping his face again, but didn't... then fucking JAY came out to rap a part of the song, and Heechul went up to him and like... ran his hand down his shoulder/body, got up all close in his face, and leaned around so the cameras couldn't see Jay's face, just the back of his own head. it was dirty and wonderful. Heechul strutted out to the center stage to drop to his knees for part of it, too... he seems to really love hitting the high notes and doing that witch-cackle, then spinning wildly.
Seohyun and Kyuhyun came up next, on opposite ends of the first central cross-bar to the stage. they sang a ballad I don't know, I'm indifferent to Seohyun but Kyuhyun's voice is always gorgeous. can't say there was much chemistry there, they barely looked at each other, just awkwardly held hands at the very end after walking to the center. holding out for a Qmi duet, guys, come on!
Jonghyun and some other guys popped up out on the furthest cross-stage, next--at first I thought it was SHINee singing ANOTHER song, but then I realized one of the guys was Yesung and the rest were just back-up dancers. it was hot, two powerful voices and Yeh was having loads of fun. they're like the same height, lol. Mai says it was something by Fly to the Sky, idek.
Shindong, Eunhyuk, Minho, and Key came out next, to do this fun rap number that they might have composed themselves? it was catchy, I'd like to hear it on an album! they were obviously having super fun.
SNSD came out on the main stage next with 'Run Devil Run' in short, sparkly black dresses. did Sooyoung get a face job? hyperballad thinks so. Sunny was still Not Having It but improved slowly over the course of their set. they did a ment in a line, stripped off the sparkly black skirt bits to reveal red plaid skirts, next, and performed some song that sounded vaguely march-ish. after that came 'Etude', then 'Kissing You'.
Super Junior appeared next, as the opening to 'Super Girl' started up. then, we spotted Zhou Mi dancing with them! omg so happy, this was the biggest thing that kind of made me go D:?? at SS3, when he wasn't there, so seeing him at least get to dance his own song with them thrilled me. I think he's still not supposed to be singing, lol, and he pushed it just to do the duet with Luna, so he didn't sing... but he was definitely there with them! then SJ ran out to the center to line up and introduce themselves... Zhou Mi slipped off backstage at this time, and Heechul came out to join them in the middle. for their introductions, Eeteuk did the little 'three hops to the side' for Kangin, Kibum, Hangeng, but it was a little awkward and I feel like it's kind of lost the feeling behind it... or at least that they're probably not supposed to talk about Geng.
around this time, I glanced up behind and happened to notice that Cassiopeia's section was black (!!), almost all their red lightsticks had been turned off, and I couldn't figure out wtf was going on. we tried to figure out if SJ had said anything recently that might be taken as an insult by hormonal preteen girls, but couldn't come up with anything (it turned out that Cass just didn't turn on their lightsticks until HoMin came out, which I think was in poor taste on their part).
SJ did 'No Other' next, it was cute, and for the HeeTeuk moment in the middle, Teuk had his shoulder exposed and Heechul was all over that, lol.
next up came SNSD again, to perform '냉면', followed by 'Ha Ha Ha'.
SJ came back out for a remixed 'Miracle', which was really cute, as they ran all over the stage, followed by another song from the first album which I really should know (maybe it was 'Way of Love'? I can't remember now...), and finally 'Dancing Out', which remains one of their best performance songs yet.
BoA appeared next! she's very fierce and tiny and owns the stage. she started with 'My Name' (what would I do without Mai who knows this stuff, idek), followed by 'Energetic' which I love because I adored her whole American album like crazy. then, Key joined her for 'Did It For Love', covering the male parts. it was hot, but Key was outclassed, sry bb.
a series of vid clips went up next, covering BoA's 10th year anniversary and marking a bunch of her important musical events, then a bunch of SNSD, SHINee, and SJ members came out with BoA to play around and sing 'Happy 10th Anniversary to You', haha. this involved large quantities of spray foam/'snow' and a cake, which was promptly covered in the stuff. BoA, also, was covered in the stuff. I feel that SMTOWN, like anyone who's watched them on twitter, jokingly ships BoA/Hyuk, and they ragged him into coming forward all bashfully and making a weak attempt to wipe some frosting on her cheek. he got a little bit on her, but I think he was afraid she'd beat him up if he did any more. THEN, Minho made a threatening move with the cake, BoA ducked and shied away like 'you are NOT caking me', so he stood behind her while she did a bit of talking and bided his time. finally, she stopped talking, and he reached around and just mushed it into the side of her head/face. BoA was actually covered in cake, and Minho was so proud of himself. I saw another fanreport on twitter that said Siwon did this, but I'm about 95% sure it was Minho, unless they look a lot more alike than I think they do. anyway, the boys all rofl'd at her while the girls fled in search of tissues and towels to make an attempt at cleaning her up, and then a song played and all the artists played around on the cross stages and sang. BoA went after Minho and kicked him in the butt, lol, and he picked her up and spun her around, which was actually adorable. Luna and Ryeowook had a little water bottle fight, too. then the song finished and someone gave Eeteuk a mic and he just blathered on for awhile. even after the lights went down and it was intermission time for 10 minutes, lol.
the concert restarted at 8:40, with SJ popping up all over the floor stage for the remix version of 'Sorry Sorry'. I love that version, it's very intense.
there was evidently still cake on the stage, because when SNSD came up next, someone slipped in it and there was kind of a massive pile of scantily dressed girls for a moment before they all scrambled back up and got in position. they performed 'Genie' with an awkward hard-rock dance break. I feel that they should have just told the others to step back and let Hyoyeon loose on that one.
SHINee came out next with 'Ring Ding Dong', it was hot, and hopefully they burned the atrocious neons Jongkey were wearing earlier.
f(x) showed back up for 'NU ABO', still no Amber, just voiceovers for her parts :(
SJ did 'Man in Love' next, another performance favorite.
Krystal and Luna sang 'You are My Destiny'. Krystal is still dead inside, there's just nothing going on behind her face. Luna is probably the funnest person.
the rest of f(x) came out to sing some cutesy song wearing little shoulder-capes, and rode around on the rolling platforms that cut through the floor seating, a bit.
SJ did 'Good Person' next. the highlight of this was when Sungmin picked up Heechul, bridal style, and carried him all the way to the furthest cross-stage before putting him down. naturally, all the other SJ boys had to ride somebody, then, but there was a lot of milling around at distances I couldn't tell who was doing what.
SJT (with Donghae) did 'Rokkugeo', loves it, Heechul forgot his lines at the beginning and sort of rushed through them after a couple of missed cues, but the whole audience seemed to know it so lol, whatever. Shindong adlibbed somethng for one of Kangin's lines, I didn't catch how he changed it but it wasn't 'subaki baksu'. Hyuk made like he was going to kiss Heechul, but chickened out.
SJ came back for 'Wonder Boy', during which Sungmin dropped to his knees and either air-guitared the fuck out or had an orgasm. possibly both! Yesung held a note forever, and there was much milling.
TRAX came up next! with 'One Night', god Jungmo looked amazing with his hair, and Jay was just in fine form everywhere. this is probably the biggest crowd they've ever played to, actually. it was awesome. then. THEN. oh my god. 'Paradox' came on. Heechul did Rose's old rap, even. I feel like this night was essentially Heechul's birthday. oh my god, it was intense, and he was so happy, and I've never heard Paradox live before, so we were going nuts. I was losing my voice by this point, for sure.
f(x) came back out on the main stage for 'Mr Boogie'.
SHINee followed them with 'Up and Down', running out to the cross stages again. SHINee really likes working the floor seating up and playing on those stages.
SNSD came out with '힘내', says Mai, followed by 'Oh!'. they were still having major mic trouble, and at one point someone's mic wasn't working, so Hyoyeon just sang the whole verse herself. by the end of the song, it's possible that none of their mics were working at all and all we could hear was the backing track.
SHINee did 'Quasimodo' next, and it was real pretty.
Ryeowook popped up next, to do a duet with Onew--one of my favorite SHINee ballads, 'The Name I Loved'. to give you an idea of how much mic trouble they were having, this is the only time I have ever heard Ryeowook NOT sound like he was just soaring effortlessly over everyone else's voices. part of that was because Onew has a set of lungs on him, and part of it was because Onew's mic was cranked up way too high, and Ryeowook's was a little faint. nonetheless, it was a beautiful duet.
the dance battle came next--it was awesome. it started with Taemin dancing by himself, then Hyuk joined him, then Hyuk got a short solo to himself... then Luna and Hyoyeon came out together... then some of the other soshi girls (Sooyoung, Yuri?, someone else, plus Hyoyeon and Luna) did a dance together, followed by the whole group dancing, both guys and girls. Minho joined them for that part.
BoA finally came back out, de-caked and ready to go with 'GAME', followed by a ballad while sitting on a chair, and finally 'DANGEROUS', on her feet and dancing again. I'd like to see her join in the dance battle, but maybe they're afraid she'd just outclass the shit out of the hoobaes.
the stage went dark again, and they were having some problems with one screen which had a strip down the middle where the image had frozen in the middle of BoA's ballad. they kept fooling with it and either kept trying to reboot it or were playing Pong on it, but it just wasn't working.
Cass was getting really antsy by this point, and they'd been chanting every time there was any dead air, and finally the whole stadium kind of picked it up, because honestly, who DOESN'T want to see HoMin again, by now? then the screens come up and you see someone dangling in one of them, first. I look over, and Yunho is SUSPENDED from a wire above the other side of the stadium. then I look up higher, and Changmin is DANGLING OVER OUR HEADS. oh my god, at this point, my notes just degenerate into all caps and scribbles.
the wires they were riding were strung from the roof above the 2nd floor seating (I think HoMin may have even been loaded onto the wires right there in front of all of Cass, in which case I want to know how they survived without getting mobbed) and angled down to the roof above the main stage. Yunho and Changmin just held onto their dangling holds as they rode slowly, slowly across the entire stadium to get to the stage, and it was one of the hottest things I've ever seen in a concert. Yunho was definitely wrapped around his hold (he was wearing a pimp suit with a black and white pattern to it), but Changmin (all in white) had his foot in the loop and one hand on the wire, while the other just swung free. it was just... stunning, the way he hung there, so carelessly and effortlessly. baby's done grown up. ;_;
they finally reach the stage (or are suspended over it), and stage hands in black come running out to help them down as they're lowered to where they can actually get off their slings, then they went straight into a bit of 'The Way U Are', but the sound was fucked up to the point it was really hard to recognize and something was definitely wrong, and Yunho was just like 'no, start over', so they cut it off, everyone was confused, and we sat there for a few moments while they sorted themselves out. one of the screens was just a lost cause, so I think there was just the center and right-hand screens for the rest of the concert.
the lights came back up, and TWUA started a second time (this time, I could recognize it), with Changmin and Yunho dancing in white, and 3 back up guys in all black. it was actually kind of heartbreaking at the same time it was beautiful and hot. they didn't do the full song, just a brief clip of it, followed by lines from Rising Sun, Mirotic, and Purple Line (like, showcasing Yunho or Changmin with raps or singing lines that were just lovely) in a big DBSK medley.
then Changmin danced (and sang??) a solo, followed by Yunho as the lights went red and sirens came on, before he danced his solo. they're both fucking gorgeous, right now. then, their segment was over (for the time being), hoyah was frantically texting from the other side of the arena like 'THAT BETTER NOT BE IT SLDFJSDF', and theeeen...
SJ came back out for Don't Don! we flipped our shit, round #348, knowing TRAX was bound to perform with them for the break in the middle, after SS3. little did we know, it could actually get better! the interlude in the middle came up, TRAX + Heechul on drums popped up in the center cross-stage, and fucking Changmin was there with them in a ripped-to-shreds black shirt, doing vocals with Jay and just SCREAMING, with his voice soaring over the whole song. IT WAS THE BEST DON'T DON EVER, AND SO FULL OF RAGE AND AGGRESSION AND TESTOSTERONE GUH.
Yunho and Changmin came back out after that with another set, first Yunho singing and dancing with masked backup dancers, then Changmin singing and dancing (he was damn near matching Yunho, dance-wise, too! fucking hot), then both of them together, aslfjsdfj guhhh. ironically, I really think SM has taken some cues from Geng's solo work--the HoMin stuff reminded me a lot of it, stylistically.
SHINee returned with 'Lucifer', finally with Minho included.
SNSD did 'Gee', of course.
SJ wrapped up their perfs with a remixed version of U (I didn't even recognize it to start with).
then BoA was the last artist to perform alone, with 'Hurricane Venus'.
finally, all of SMTOWN came out on the stages and just milled around and sang 'Hotmail', then something else, neither of which I really knew because they were before I started paying attention to SMTOWN. there was tons of interaction, of course, it was just difficult to see anything unless it was on the big screens, for me. my eyes were real pissed about the contacts I'd been wearing all day. Minho was all over HoMin, though, and that was cute. I think there were about three giant Minho/Changmin hugs. Shindong and Hyuk picked up the electric guitars that were on the stands on the main stage and proceeded to carry them around and dick around with them. Heechul was all over everyone, Mai says there was QMi (I wish I'd spotted it ;_;), Minho and BoA crack me up... idek. Yunho was thrilled to be chilling with everyone again. Kangta ended by herding his ducklings into a big line (which took ages just because there's so many of them and some of those boys are not known for their attention spans) for the final goodbye.
anyway, super glad I went, it was nice not having to stand out all day this time, and 6 hours is a LOOOOONG time to sit for a concert. seeing Yunho and Changmin again was amazing... really the first time I've ever been able to see both of them on a real stage, discounting the 4th album showcase in the park by City Hall, which was at a weird angle and hard to see. Changmin looks so good these days, he's really buffed up and become a man, chest and abs everywhere, oh my. Yunho I just want to cuddle, omg. it was actually really sad when Yunho introduced them as DBSK, though... with just the two of them alone on a stage, and the bright lights shining behind them. I literally don't give a shit about Yoochun or Jaejoong, and I think Junsu's an idiot for going along with their plan, but Changmin and Yunho just... I want them to be successful and happy, doing what they feel is the right thing to do. I can't wait to hear the new songs they performed, on an album, and I hope they can continue to perform together in some way, despite DBSK being defunct as a group. I kind of wish they'd pick a new name for the two of them, though...