Two sides of Rain

By MICHAEL CHEANG

Rain at the press conference hours before the concert.

By day, he is a mild-mannered, baby-faced 24-year-old with an angelic smile and shy demeanour. By night, he becomes a dancing demon.

Day persona

Rain may be his name, but when he is not performing on stage, the South Korean star is more like the eye of a hurricane the quiet and peaceful centre of the media circus that constantly revolves around him.

Dressed in a dapper white suit and dark tie, the baby-faced 24-year-old with an angelic smile seemed almost embarrassed by all the hype and attention heaped upon him during the press conference at a hotel just hours before the Rain's Coming World Tour concert at Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday.

Not that he had any reason to be embarrassed, mind you. After all, he is one of South Korea's biggest exports in recent years (yes, he is possibly even more popular than kimchi), with hoards of screaming fans mobbing him wherever he goes. He was even named one of the most influential people in Asia by Time magazine recently.

However, in person, the international superstar seems more like a shy schoolboy, with his quiet and humble demeanour, and the polite way he fielded questions by the press.

At the same time, the way he talked about “trying his best” all the time, during our 10- minute face-to-face interview, one would think that he was still an unknown artiste trying to make it big.

For instance, when asked how he handles the pressure of being an international superstar, he answered (in Korean, via an interpreter): “As long as I try my best all the time, there won’t be any pressure.

When asked how far he thinks he can go, he answered: "I am also curious about what I will become after 10 years, but (right now) trying my best is my main goal."

Rain has worked very hard to get where he is, and he continues to do so because of all the love his fans have shown him. "The reason I work so hard is my fans. I feel honoured to be loved by people around the world, and I'd like to put up better performances in return," he said.

Before coming to KL, his world tour had already visited Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States as well as his homeland.

Night persona

By night, it was a completely different Rain that we saw at Stadium Putra.

Gone was the quiet, shy schoolboy whom I had spoken to in the afternoon. In his place was a lean, mean entertaining machine with only one goal in mind – to give his hoard of screaming fans a show to remember.

Wild and mild: South Korean singer and actor Rain, flanked by dancers, performing during his concert which was a visual feast. Below: Rain at the press conference hours before the concert.

On stage, Rain is a joy to watch. Where offstage he is shy and humble, on-stage he prances, struts, sneers and practically hypnotises the audience with his energy, charm and charisma. Never mind that he sang almost exclusively in Korean, and limited his banter to less than 15 lines of halting English.

Rain's concert on Saturday night was proof that great entertainment transcends borders, cultures and languages.

From the moment Rain burst on stage with a perfectly executed routine involving a giant inflatable submarine, it was obvious that the concert was going to be a spectacular visual feast. The quality of the production was definitely world-class: brilliant lighting effects, classy pyrotechnics and splendid video visuals projected on the numerous giant screens on the stage. From giant raindrops to angel's wings unfurling from the singer's back in the end, the videos were stunning and thoroughly entertaining.

There was a segment in which Rain danced solo and in almost perfect unison with a score of projected silhouettes of him an awesome display of a perfectly timed and choreographed routine.

Rain more than lived up to his reputation as the master of dance. His slick moves were reminiscent of Michael Jackson's at his best; some of the routines even outshone Jackson’s, in terms of energy and creativity.

The frenzy reached fever pitch during the song I when he was drenched with artificial rain, resulting in his white shirt clinging onto his body. At the time, one could sense that the audience was wishing he would just take his shirt off.

If there is one gripe I have about the concert, it's that the songs seemed almost secondary to the spectacular visual feast that was served up merely providing an excuse for the singer to show off his superb dance moves and the world-class production.

Rain's singing ability was never in doubt.

However, it was hard to pinpoint a single song in the concert that was memorable on its own, without having to associate it with a particular visual effect or dance routine.

In the end, though, it didn’t matter whether one understood the titles or lyrics of the songs.

All that mattered was that Rain had come to KL, and one was there to watch him and then brag about it.

Rain's Coming World tour 2007 concert was presented by Hotlink, sponsored by Korean Air, and organised by CMG Absolute Entertainment.

sitelink: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/1/29/lifeliving/20070128183623&sec=lifeliving