Let it Rain!
¡®Rainy Day¡¯ concert draws throngs of starry-eyed fans
It was pouring Rain last Saturday at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani. It was no surprise that Rain (Jung Ji Hoon), one of the biggest Korean pop stars at the moment, attracted throngs of starry-eyed, devoted fans for his ¡°Rainy Day¡± concert.
Some fans seemed to have flown in directly from Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Many carried bags full of equipment – signs made of light bulbs, as it were – to root of their beloved star.
Possibly due to the high ticket prices (peaking at 6,000 baht) there were some empty seats, but that didn¡¯t really matter. Rain provided pure entertainment and fun, hard to come by with today¡¯s pop stars.
Kim Go Eum (¡°Star¡±) kicked off the night with her hit song I Think I. The lovely singer ended her short performance by impressively trying to have a lengthy conversation in Thai.
Then the real show began. Familiar beats brought Rain onto the stage and the first song was none other than It¡¯s Raining one of his most famous Rain or ¡°Bi¡± in Korean, moved his fans with songs from older albums such as Bad Guy and How to Avoid the Sun as well as more recent ones.
The most impressive thing about the concert must have been Rain¡¯s unique, outstanding choreography. Smooth yet powerful, sexy yet playful, Rain sprinkled his footsteps with a combination of martial arts and fluid dance moves. With every movement, the six-packed singer exuded sex appeal, stripping off his already tattered T-shirt little by little. To top it off, his boyish smiles kept fans of all ages spellbound. It was no wonder that the area next to the stage – the 6,000-baht, standing room only area – was occupied by pre-teens up to thirty something ladies.
It was a memorable performance overall, though his impeccable dancing sometimes overshadowed his singing skills. Unfortunately Rain¡¯s voice was, from time to time, drowned out by his backing band.
The visuals, full of cutesy images, added to the ever present excitement. The mini buildings that bounced every time Rain and the dancers jumped were adorable.
Although Rain¡¯s songs were written in Korean with some English lines, Thai fans, who might primarily fall for his down-to-earth and likeable personality as well as his sexy body, could understand the lyrics by reading Thai subtitles on the two screens.
One of Rain¡¯s other attempts to win the hearts of the audience was his speaking Thai, and he actually did quite well. As scripted, Rain went in search of the ¡°right one¡± during Quiz; the heart-throb flirted, held hands and hugged the chosen (planted) girl. As expected, young and not-so-young female fans screamed crazily, whishing they had been chosen.
There was a touching moment when Rain dedicated It¡¯s Not Familiar (Not Used to) to his late mother, who died just before he released his first album. He sang the song with tears welling up in his eyes.
The 90-minute concert ended abruptly with I Do, leaving the audience to wonder whether the show was really over.
As the audience began to leave the hall, Rain returned to perform one last gimmick: Standing in the middle of the stage, just as he did in the video for Love Actually, the singer held up placards that said how glad he was to be there and, of course, how much he loved his fans.
With such charm and effort, how could not love him back?
======================================================
Source: Bangkok Post; OUTLOOK; Thursday 2 March, 2006
Credit: janejz@JJHTH/Bi's kingdom
It was pouring Rain last Saturday at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani. It was no surprise that Rain (Jung Ji Hoon), one of the biggest Korean pop stars at the moment, attracted throngs of starry-eyed, devoted fans for his ¡°Rainy Day¡± concert.
Some fans seemed to have flown in directly from Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Many carried bags full of equipment – signs made of light bulbs, as it were – to root of their beloved star.
Possibly due to the high ticket prices (peaking at 6,000 baht) there were some empty seats, but that didn¡¯t really matter. Rain provided pure entertainment and fun, hard to come by with today¡¯s pop stars.
Kim Go Eum (¡°Star¡±) kicked off the night with her hit song I Think I. The lovely singer ended her short performance by impressively trying to have a lengthy conversation in Thai.
Then the real show began. Familiar beats brought Rain onto the stage and the first song was none other than It¡¯s Raining one of his most famous Rain or ¡°Bi¡± in Korean, moved his fans with songs from older albums such as Bad Guy and How to Avoid the Sun as well as more recent ones.
The most impressive thing about the concert must have been Rain¡¯s unique, outstanding choreography. Smooth yet powerful, sexy yet playful, Rain sprinkled his footsteps with a combination of martial arts and fluid dance moves. With every movement, the six-packed singer exuded sex appeal, stripping off his already tattered T-shirt little by little. To top it off, his boyish smiles kept fans of all ages spellbound. It was no wonder that the area next to the stage – the 6,000-baht, standing room only area – was occupied by pre-teens up to thirty something ladies.
It was a memorable performance overall, though his impeccable dancing sometimes overshadowed his singing skills. Unfortunately Rain¡¯s voice was, from time to time, drowned out by his backing band.
The visuals, full of cutesy images, added to the ever present excitement. The mini buildings that bounced every time Rain and the dancers jumped were adorable.
Although Rain¡¯s songs were written in Korean with some English lines, Thai fans, who might primarily fall for his down-to-earth and likeable personality as well as his sexy body, could understand the lyrics by reading Thai subtitles on the two screens.
One of Rain¡¯s other attempts to win the hearts of the audience was his speaking Thai, and he actually did quite well. As scripted, Rain went in search of the ¡°right one¡± during Quiz; the heart-throb flirted, held hands and hugged the chosen (planted) girl. As expected, young and not-so-young female fans screamed crazily, whishing they had been chosen.
There was a touching moment when Rain dedicated It¡¯s Not Familiar (Not Used to) to his late mother, who died just before he released his first album. He sang the song with tears welling up in his eyes.
The 90-minute concert ended abruptly with I Do, leaving the audience to wonder whether the show was really over.
As the audience began to leave the hall, Rain returned to perform one last gimmick: Standing in the middle of the stage, just as he did in the video for Love Actually, the singer held up placards that said how glad he was to be there and, of course, how much he loved his fans.
With such charm and effort, how could not love him back?
======================================================
Source: Bangkok Post; OUTLOOK; Thursday 2 March, 2006
Credit: janejz@JJHTH/Bi's kingdom
posted by Flor at 8:27 PM
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