Korea's little treasures
Popular boy band FT Island return to Bangkok for a sell out show
Now all grown up and ready to rock, South Korean boy band FT Island – the FT stands for Five Treasure – packed in well over 3,500 screaming fans to Bitec Bang Na last Saturday night with a polished show that wrapped their sixth anniversary celebration tour.
Guitarists Choi Jong Hoon and Song Seung Hyun, vocalist Lee Hong Gi, bassist Lee Jae Jin, and drummer Choi Min Hwan impressed the mainly female audience, who screamed so loudly that they could be heard over the blaring music.
With a backdrop that showed them opening a bottle of bubbly in celebration of their sixth anniversary, the boys came out on stage and leader Choi Jong Hoon immediately demonstrated his guitar prowess with “Flower Rock”. Vocalist Lee Hong Gi waved a small towel before rocking the audience with “Let It Go!” and “Wanna Go”. The decibel level shot up and the ground vibrated as fans jumped up and down
Hong Gi greeted the crowd, thanking the youngsters for their demonstrations of love and taking a photo as his fellow band members shouted in unison: “Fight!”
Min Hwan performed a drum roll to introduce “Hello Hello”, and once again the audience went wild, yelling out the lyrics and continuing their incessant bouncing. Hong Gi segued into “Memory” then blasted the auditorium with “Paper Plane”, written by bassist Jae Jin, and “Falling Star”.
After a short break, FT Island went acoustic with Seung Hyun and Jong Hoon dedicating “Always with You” to Thai fans to thank them for their constant support, then following up with “I Confess”.
Taking up their instruments, they then played their latest single, “Madly”, as well as “Severely” before rocking the crowd with a set that included the Japanese versions of “Theory of Happiness”, “Time To”, “Top Secret” and “Freedom”.
“I’ll make you fall in love with me,” said Hong Gi, who introduced “Beloved”, a sorrowful single on B Side of the rock band’s Japanese-language album, and was rewarded with even louder screams.
The band closed out their set with rock numbers “Black Chocolate” and “Revolution” plus the ballad “Love Sick”.
On their return to stage, the lads were presented with a cake to mark their sixth anniversary as well as the birthdays of Hong Gi and Jong Hoon in March and thanked the fans with an encore of “I Wish” and “I Hope”.
