Beast of a K-pop bash

Despite the heat, South Korean music fans were astounded as they were entertained by rookies and senior K-pop artists through a five-hour performance at the recent MBC Korean Music Wave in Bangkok 2013 at the Rajamangala Stadium.

The young fans went crazy with various artists’ entertaining and unique upbeat style of music. The artists were 2NE1, 2AM, SHINee, KARA, BEAST, 4Minute, Sistar, Secret, TeenTop, BAP, EXO-K, T-ARA, MBLAQ, INFINITE, Miss A, BTOB, A Pink, NU’EAST, FT Island, Airplane, B1A4 and A-JAX.

Dubbed the biggest K-pop concert to date, it was indeed, perhaps, considering the crowd and the loud cheering. In particular, the girl group 2NE1 received tremendous cheers thanks to their absence from Thailand for two years. Their fans had waited a long time. 

Yet the highlight of the show was the final act, Beast Island, who wrapped things up with a bang.

The fans braved the traffic and fought the heat from 3pm while the sun was still strong. I was one of them who, hanging around impatiently the area with a parasol in hand. Luckily the concert started only about 10 minutes late – quite “punctual” for the fans. 

Each act performed about three songs, and the sound system was acceptable except for one microphone problem during FT Island’s segment. Regardless, to my thinking, they absolutely gave their best and gently greeted Thai fans with a wai. 

I was especially impressed by 2NE1, BAP and Beast’s performances, and 2NE1 came out dressed sensationally as usual. The fan chants were extremely loud when they sang their hit song “I Am the Best”. BAP fan chants, which included whistling during their latest release “One Shot” and debut song “No Mercy”, were more impressive than the others, and the best I have ever heard from a year-old rookie boy band. 

The concert ended with Beast, who were able to capture the fans’ attention. They led everyone in clapping hands and dancing along with them in an enthusiastic song called “Beautiful Night”.

The excitement and joy during the concert also kept Twitter on fire. A lot of people were tweeting live, using hash tags like “#KMWBKK2013” and “#KMW2013”. They must have made many K-pop fans on the social network around the world jealous, especially those in Thailand who were unable to attend. 

On the other hand, those K-pop fans “listening in” must have appreciated the reports from the stadium, with every exceptional moment shared.