Monday 28 July 2014

Lunafly Concert Review


This review contains personal opinions!
Concert rating: 10!/10

An introduction of the group: Lunafly is a South Korean trio consisting of Sam (leader, vocalist), Teo (vocalist) and Yun (main vocalist, maknae). The boys are signed under Nega Network, the same company as Brown Eyed Girls and the rookie group, LC9, but compared to their seniors and hoobaes, Lunafly is not your ordinary k-pop group, as the trio sings and plays instruments like a real band (Sam - guitar, Yun - guitar, Teo - keyboard, drum, guitar). 
The trio debuted almost 2 years ago and its popularity is still raising, mostly outside of Korea through its numerous covers released through an youtube channel, but also through its original songs, which they usually release in both Korean and English, making its music more accessible to international fans.
The summer of 2014 marked the beginning of their first world tour that began in Latin America and continued with European countries. During their concert in Bucharest, Romania, Sam announced the release of their next song "Can I Kiss You?" which will apparently be an English track.

The impression: Lunafly is not the first k-group that marks Romania on its concert map. LedApple was the first to heat up the stage back in February, concert which gathered fans from different European countries in a number of almost 2,000. Lunafly's concert sold out with both VIP and Fan Sign tickets and when the fans finally stopped pouring through the open doors, there were more than 500 fans anxiously waiting for the boys to go up the stage. Yes, we were few in numbers, but the atmosphere was that of a rock concert, of that I assure you!
The whole event debuted through a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) presentation, continuing with a dance number performed by a Romanian girl group (sincerely, those girls failed to impress me; seriously girls, get your moves in sync first!), the boys stepping on the stage at 8:20 PM (they were scheduled to enter at 8:30).
But leaving aside the actual concert for now, I'll talk about the fans and the atmosphere. Some (please note that I deliberately said SOME!) of the fans left me speechless in the most negative way. I did not expect certain things to be seen/said/heard at/during such an event! I hope/wish that the next concert will reunite more suitable fans or at least the fans will understand where they did wrong and make sure they do not repeat the same mistakes. Seriously, some of the fans made me wonder if that's how the whole k-pop fandom is (no wonder we're called the worse fans)! And not to mention that when I first began listening to k-pop everything was so civilized... back then, k-pop wasn't just a "phase". But right now, I don't know. One thing is for sure: it makes me wish I could hide k-pop from everyone and keep it just to me and those from my generation... I sound old and cranky now, ain't I?^^' Still 19, peeps, still 19!
But the atmosphere... WOW! just WOW! Now, have you ever been to a rock concert? Like, Bon Jovi for example? Have you ever heard the whole crowd singing along with the performing artist? So loud that the artist himself had to scream to cover the crowd? Well, that's how it was here! We all sang along Lunafly, be the songs in English or Korean. We sang with them, chanted their names, the group name, screamed "I love you!" in both languages, laughed with them and when Sam announced their break, we reluctantly let them go change their outfits, kind of afraid they might leave just like that. Crazy, huh? They took a break of 20 minutes and then the show went on, with them wearing casual clothes and prepared for what was going to be the most impressing part of the concert: a Romanian song sang by all of them from the beginning to the very end. Sincerely, if I weren't already their fans, they would have won me then and there! The way they sung "Immortals (ro: Nemuritori)" in Romanian, their pronunciation and the way they jumped off the stage, jumping and cheering, making me feel that they were one of us - man, there's no way of explaining that in words! But it was the highlight of the concert for sure!

Otherwise, they sang all of my favourite songs: "I'm Yours" (Jason Mraz cover), "As Long As You Love Me" (JB cover), California King Bed (Rihanna cover), "Wake Me Up" (Avicii cover), "Fly to Love" (original song), "Special Guy" (original song) and by the end of the concert, I was crying (on the inside, too damn proud to manifest my fangirl feels in public) of happiness while heading to the fan sign event.
The autograph session was another thing I expected ever since I got my ticket! To see one of your biases face to face and tell him a word or two, to have him look at you and make you feel he's seeing only you, even if it's for 5 seconds - that's something only fans can understand! The boys were clearly tired ('cause by the end of the concert, poor Yun had to bend to make the right sound come out and Sam's voice had gone all hoarse), but they still smiled and waved while passing through the crowd of fans, heading for the room where the autographs were going to be given. One more point for them! And then the fans began going in and coming out all smiles, hugging each other and all! Gosh! And then I went in and got to look into Sam's eyes and stutter in front of him when he asked me if I had fun (ok, I didn't stutter and I assured him that I had the time of my life, to which he said, "Good! 'Cause I had the time of my life as well!", cheesy, right?!), smile at Teo's silliness when he clearly signaled who's autograph was that by making two dots above his head on the picture and lose all my words in front of Yun's perfect smile (ok, I didn't lose my words, 'cause I told him "Yun, you've got a wonderful voice!", to which he replied with a shy smile "Really?! Thank you!" - I wish I had the guts to use my Korean though...booo!) and before I knew it, I was out and gone... *sigh* I know that these kind of things don't last long because there are a lot of fans and all, but this time their staff was cool and smiling, while the Romanian staff was the worse. They didn't let Sam receive my letter directly and made me leave it on the table only to throw it later in a box. The disappointment was probably clear in my eyes, 'cause Sam assured me he's read it later (really, thank you Sam! It's ok even if you don't read it, 'cause you probably receive a lot of them and I... heck, I didn't even know what to write in there >///<). But yeah, the Romanian staff was really bad and disrespectful. Hope that next time they'll at least be politer!

The boys:

Sam - He is the sweetest and the most sarcastic, cynic member of the trio! But I still like him! He was my bias even before they debuted (I kind of know him before Lunafly's debut :P) and still is... sort of, kind of... you'll see why later^^' But this man, I love his English! I love his accent and the way he pushes the other members to speak English more and more. He spoke little Korean and talked to the fans the most, responding to the crowd screams and keeping the fire burning. I swear that he loves teasing his fans the most and he himself is teased the most by no other than the evil maknae, Yun darling (he was called old like the songs they cover, old like a grandpa). He even tried his hand on Romanian and it made my heart tingle when he said "You're beautiful" in Romanian or "I love you. or when he sang "Immortals". I really appreciate his effort and thank you for being such an awesome leader of Lunafly and a wonderful person nonetheless!
The part which I loved the most was when he pretended not to understand Korean when the fans asked him to do "귀요미 (Gwiyomi Song)"... silly leader, refusing to act cute!^^

Teo - Officially, he's the craziest of them all! And he's the one that kept us all on track when the cheering would go too loud! This man is incapable of staying serious for too long and got to say that his easy-going attitude could succeed in making you laugh even if you're the most serious person on Earth's surface! Where to put that he sings, plays the keyboards, the drums AND the guitar! He's really nice and special, fitting perfectly in Lunafly! 
What I like about Teo is not the fact that he's handsome or that he looks super with short hair, or his voice, or the fact that he knows how to make the crowd scream at the top of the lungs, but the fact that despite his English not being the best, he tried his best to reach out to us and kept talking, not minding his mistakes (he's truly a language genius, really! should have heard him talking in 7 or so impossible to pronounce languages!). So, for doing your best, thank you, Teo!



Yun - He is special, I swear he is! He's kind of, sort of my bias over Sam (but shhhhh! his crazy fans scared me off, so this is off the record, ok? don't tell them, 'cause I don't want anyone chasing me with an ax^^') and he deserves that place. Why? Well, one - I love his shy personality (it makes me wish I'd be able to meet him while he'd be a normal person and not who he is today; trust me, there's just one other celebrity that gives me the same feeling), two - I love his smile (it's boyish and shy at the same time and it suits him so damn well!), three - I love his voice (he has this special, husky tonality that gives me shivers no matter in hat language he sings!), four - I like the fact that he's so perfectly matching his bandmates and the fact that his skin is coloured, not looking like all the other idols - sorry for this - that seem to have shoved their face in white paint, five - he looks and is humanly approachable. And he really, really is a nice person. I don't know about other k-idols, but Yun is really sweet and nice!
My favourite moment with him was when the crowd was chanting "사랑해 (kr. I love you.)" and he started chanting "Te iubesc (I love you)" in Romanian, signaling his bandmates to copy him. 

Overall: Lunafly really put on a great show! They're incredibly talented and if you ever have the chance to go see them live, don't hesitate 'cause I guarantee you won't regret one bit!^^ What really impressed me (and I was really skeptic and really kept an eye for this aspect) was the fact that they sang 100% live. They didn't even use those headsets you see idols use during live stages back in Korea. And this impressed me! Then, they're really in sync once with another, vocally and instrumentally speaking.
Another thing which I was really curious about was if Yun really can sing that high pitched part from their song "Special Guy" and WOW! the man sounded perfect! It really amazed me, because I know that tonality is not easy to reach and maintain. Good job! Or if Sam's rap is really that fast live - and man, Sam can really rap fast! This is what I call being multi-talented!
Sincerely, I was not disappointed and I do not regret one bit not going to their concert! They deserve 10/10! :)

I wish Lunafly a safe flight back to Korean and that they get more recognition for their talent, 'cause they deserve it to the very bit! 
Let's meet again someday, ok?

P.S. If you want to hear the boys live, head here. The live stages are from their concert in Paris and I'm linking them here because the videos are Hd compared to the ones made during their concert in Romania. Enjoy!

Credits: the photos are not mine and belong to the person mentioned on the photos. Take out with full credits, please!

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