Archive for August, 2023
You Only Live Twice: CNBLUE in Tokyo and Yonghwa in Hong Kong concert reviews, part 1
Part One: CNBLUE in Tokyo
This summer I had the privilege of replicating the 2017 CNBLUE/Jung Yonghwa concert double bill I’d experienced in 2017. I’d already planned to be in Taipei in late June, so when CNBLUE announced that the last concert of their Calling Zepp Tour would be in Tokyo right around then I made a quick decision to extend my itinerary. The recent years of military hiatus and COVID-19 CNBLUE concert-deprivation have made me jump at any chance to see them live. And then Yonghwa announced his All-Rounder tour would have a stop in Hong Kong at the beginning of July and I thought, what the heck, I’ll be in Asia anyway, so after calculating costs and counting my pennies I added a stopover in the former Crown Colony. After all the strife of the past four years I wasn’t about to miss a chance to see my favorite performers in concert-–you only live once, after all.
CNBLUE’s latest Japan tour took place on the Zepp circuit, a chain of small concert halls around the country that hold anywhere from 1,000-2,000 people with general seating tickets. As my friend Glenn recounted in his recap of two CNBLUE Zepp concerts from the tour, the smaller halls create a much more intimate environment than the 8,000-17,000 seat arenas that CNBLUE usually plays in Japan. The tour was a novel experience for fans as well as a way continue to rebuild the CNBLUE brand in Japan after their long hiatus during their military enlistments and during the COVID-19 shutdowns of the past few years. The show I attended at Tokyo Garden was in the largest venue of the tour with about 8,000 seats so it wasn’t quite as cozy as many of the previous stops. But as it was the last stop on the tour, by then CNBLUE was all limbered up and ready to rumble.
The band was definitely more confident and comfortable onstage than when I saw them back in November at Budokan, which were their first live shows after the military/COVID hiatus. By the time I saw them at Tokyo Garden they had a good ten shows under their belt and they had completely regained their swag.
The setlist for this tour was designed for maximum impact in the small Zepp venues, so the band came out swinging, opening with IN MY HEAD and then blazing through three more of their rockiest rock songs. The message was clear that they came for the high energy. Leader Jung Yonghwa busted out the hot pink Jackson guitar he’d debuted at Budokan, taking a few guitar solos to show he knows how. He had his game face on at the start as well, scowling and grimacing rock-star style. The sound in the hall quickly reached that satisfyingly massive roar that CNBLUE achieves when they’re playing their loudest, most rock songs.
Flexing their versatility, in the second set the band completely switched it up, playing three pop tunes that let Yonghwa practice his kawaii. On THIS IS Yonghwa demonstrated another aspect of his impeccable vocal skills as he flawlessly spit the song’s staccato lyrics. CNBLUE even showed off some of their dubious dancing skills during SHAKE, with much joking and smiling amongst the band members as well. They effectively worked the crowd, reflecting the years they’ve spent honing their entertainment chops on countless South Korean variety shows.
After another lengthy comment section they followed with yet another mood change, with a set of three more introspective songs including one of my favorites, the gorgeous trip-hop song SUPERNOVA. I’m happy to see this one added back into the setlist–-I’m wondering if it’s been absent due to the song’s tricky high notes, but recently converted second lead vocalist Jungshin was able to pull it off pretty well. The set concluded with ROYAL RUMBLE, one of their best songs and quite possibly their masterpiece. I’ve heard the song performed in Korean at a previous concert in Taipei but ROYAL RUMBLE in Japanese somehow hits different. The two sidemen guitarists played the intricate counterpoint that had been missing in previous live versions and the spare, repeating motif was mesmerizing, creating a hypnotic, somewhat claustrophobic mood that underscored the song’s bleak lyrics. Yonghwa as usual gave 1000% on the singing of the song, effortlessly moving between crooning, whispering, growling and belting. He puts his entire being into projecting the song’s emotion while maintaining absolute control over his vocals.
Bassist Jungshin’s performance contrasted most strongly of the three from the November Budokan shows. Back then it was his first couple live shows singing second lead and he was nervous as a cat, barely moving from his mic the entire concert, and his somewhat tentative vocals reflected his nervousness. At Tokyo Garden he sounded great and was relaxed and happy, roaming the stage freely and clowning with his bandmates. His basslines also were fire as he switched effortlessly between plucking and thumb-popping, demonstrating that his bass work is the spine of CNBLUE’s sound. Kang Minhyuk’s drumming was also on point, strong, precise, and full of imagination.
I had no idea what they were saying during the long comments between sets but the three were loose and funny the whole night. Jungshin in particular made everything hilarious. Though I don’t understand more than a handful of words in Japanese it seemed to me that Yonghwa has upped his nihongo game, speaking rapid-fire Japanese to the appreciative audience.
They were clearly at ease during this show, unlike the intense nervousness of their Budokan concerts back in November. The interplay between the three of them is one of very old friends who have literally gone through a war together and survived to emerge on the other side.
The band wrapped up the main part of the show with six of their most high-energy tunes, starting with a blistering version of their latest Japan single LET IT SHINE. The crackling guitar riff that opens the song gave an immediate jolt of energy, supplemented by a soulful Hammond organ sound by the backing keyboardist. It’s a testament to the continued quality of CNBLUE’s work that their most recent songs, LET IT SHINE, TRIGGER and MOON, are as strong and catchy as their longstanding classics like COFFEE SHOP and BETWEEN US.
The set also included their interactive jam song WAKE UP. At Budokan in November the no-cheering rules were still in effect at concerts in Japan but those have since been lifted, so Yonghwa was able to practice all of his favorite call-and-response games with the audience. The song, which in its original studio incarnation is only about three minutes long, went on for a good twelve minutes or so and included both Jungshin and Minhyuk stepping up to the mic to join Yonghwa on singing out phrases for the audience to mimic.
The staging at Tokyo Garden added a nice laser light element that reached out over the packed audience. However, the videos on the background screens looked a bit underwhelming and cheesy. There were no background videos for the prior ZEPP Tour shows so maybe an intern was tasked at putting these together at the last minute because they were very minimal and fairly bad and generic.
After concluding the last set the band came back onstage and proceeded to perform five songs during two lengthy encore sessions, encouraged by a very loud and raucous audience. The first encore included their traditional winding-down songs TRY AGAIN SMILE AGAIN and GLORY DAYS, but the enthusiastic crowd drew them back on stage for rounds of Happy Birthday in both English and Korean and presentations of cake and flowers to Yonghwa and Minhyuk, the birthday boys.
Yonghwa seemed to be so happy that he didn’t want to leave the stage, insisting on playing two more songs after that. His ear-to-ear smiles during the final encores were infectious and the whole venue was abuzz with good vibes and adoration. He seemed elated to have successfully concluded the tour and to have performed a complicated show to a very full house.
He and his bandmates also seemed happy and relieved to have completed a popular comeback tour in Japan, where their fanbase is the strongest. But even in their stronghold things have been in turmoil in the past few years, since the withdrawal of their former guitarist, Lee Jonghyun, who had been very popular in Japan and with some fans not supporting his departure. By playing in much smaller venues than they’re accustomed to, this tour was a way of regaining some of those fans and giving them the treat of seeing CNBLUE in close quarters. For the most part they were greeted with full houses and satiated audiences, so their strategy worked. In addition, I think I saw more male fans this time around (which is not to say that there were many of them). One sat next to me and seemed to enjoy the show, though he was less interested in the between-set clowning around. But maybe the band is starting to expand beyond its mostly-female fanbase and will be able to further grow its audience beyond its Kpop roots.
Hopefully CNBLUE will have continued success as they rebuild the brand after a few years of setbacks. It was touch and go for a while after Jonghyun departed the band in 2019 so it’s great that they’re still alive and kicking. The average lifespan of a kpop group is seven years or less so after more than thirteen years on the circuit CNBLUE continues to defy the odds.
Although they could probably have individual careers as actors and entertainers, such as Minhyuk most recently creating a buzz as the male lead in the hit Netflix drama CELEBRITY, it’s nice to see them focus on making music together again. While they’re entirely fine and skilled as actors, they are geniuses at music and live shows. And I’m definitely here for the music myself.
Next up: Part 2: Yonghwa in Hong Kong
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