Super night out with Super Junior

THE CRAZE for everything South Korean is still strong in Thailand, as evidenced by the fantastic turn-out for the first Hallyu concert of the year last weekend at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani featuring perennial favourites Super Junior.

A force to be reckoned with despite being down two members for last week’s show – Yesung is doing his military service and Shindong is suffering from a herniated disc – Super Junior performed to a sell-out 10,000-strong house on both Saturday and Sunday nights and once again showed why they are stills the kings of K-pop with a tight, beautifully choreographed show.

 Shindong might have been missing in the flesh but he was present in the virtual world singing “Don’t Forget Me” on the screen and dissolving the hearts of the Thai Elfs – as SuJu’s fans here are known.

Shrill screams echoed round the auditorium throughout the concert as Super Junior stuck to tradition and again blended their musical renditions with a story plot. This time, the lads were hot on the tracks of ancient artefact called SS6 when they are attacked by the enemy. The setting on the giant-size screens was recreated on the stage, making fans feel that they were in the same time frame as Super Junior.

The decibel level rose as boys came out on stage dressed as soldiers and quickly rocked the crowd with “Twins” and “Bonamana” before splitting up for their solo shows. Sungmin performed a solo with “Buk” as a traditional Korean drum and Heechul took to his drum kit for “Sorry, Sorry”, the most successful single in the music charts and a pleasing blend of heavy electronic and American funk.

All nine members reappeared on stage as the screen showed them stepping out of an elevator on screen in “U” then exited as a fancy car threatened to known them down. Eunhyuk rapped as he was lifted to the stage then the band returned en masse to wrap the first segment with the slow songs “Midnight Blues” and “She Wants It”.

The second part kicked off with the boys talking to the audience and Kyunhyun delighted fans by singing a few lines from Scrubb’s “Thuk Yang”. That was followed by a high-voltage performance of new songs from their seventh studio album, “Mamacita” including “Islands”, “This Is Love” and “Evanesce” before they handed over to Kyunhyun for a solo set that featured “My Thoughts, Your Memories” and “At Gwanghwamun”. Kangin went acoustic for “Heartbreak” and Ryeowook surprised fans by singing a cover of Stamp’s hit “Man Khong Pen Kwam Rak”.

Super Junior-M (Mandarin)’s Chinese members Henry Lau and Zhoumi then performed “Swing” and “A-Oh”. Henry followed up with a violin solo on “Fantastic”, Zhoumi sang “Rewind”, Donghae performed “Love Talk”, Leeteuk “Lost Stars” and Siwon donned an extraordinary half-horse, half-human costume for “Wild Horse.”

 The concert closed out with the nine members donning Queen Elsa of Arendelle costumes from Disney’s animated feature film “Frozen” and holding a “Queen Elsa” contest before performing the eponymous soundtrack “Let It Go”.

After a brief hiatus from the stage – a pause during which the screams became even louder – Super Junior returned with “Mamacita” as the mainly female audience brandished multi-coloured light sticks then switched to placards reading “Thank you for always staying by our side” as the lads swung into “Walkin’”, “From U” and “Haru”.