beyondasiaphilia

You Only Live Twice: CNBLUE in Tokyo and Yonghwa in Hong Kong concert reviews, part 2

September 29, 2023 at 6:18 am Leave a comment

The second half of my CNBLUE/Yonghwa doubleheader took place the first week of July in Hong Kong. I hadn’t been to the former crown colony since 2019 so it was nice to visit again and see how things are faring there after the tumultuous pro-democracy protests of that year, followed by the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing brutal human rights violations of the CCP. That’s a whole nother post, but needless to say the people of Hong Kong are very resilient despite all of the upheavals of the past few years.

But as far as the concert went, it exceeded expectations, as Yonghwa was in fine spirits, happy and energetic. After the many angsty performances of the past few years it was great to see him enjoying himself, both solo in Hong Kong and with CNBLUE in Tokyo. He’s most definitely got his swag back after several years of strife and uncertainty.

After a few months of touring Yonghwa’s voice at the Hong Kong concert was sure and strong and he was clearly having a blast He wore his peacockiest outfits, including sparkly silver shoes, a striped pink satin shirt, and shimmery white trousers, as well as gorgeous suit jackets festooned with sparkling brooches and a fabulously blingy jeweled vest from the Alexander McQueen menswear collection. He also had a very faint pink wash over his bleached blond hair, which only accentuated his dandy-ness. He clearly came for the fun and wasn’t leaving until he got it.

This tour’s theme was All-Rounder and Yonghwa was determined to live up to the moniker. He played the guitar and keyboards, rapped, danced, hit some insane high notes, sang in Korean, English, and Mandarin, and showed off his many compositions that were variously deep house, trot, rock, pop, ballads, EDM, city pop, Latin, and jazz. He also made reference to his actor-dol status, performing songs from two of his k-dramas, SELL YOUR HAUNTED HOUSE and HEARTSTRINGS, as well as the marriage reality show WE GOT MARRIED. 

Yonghwa’s also gotten much better at dancing since he first tried his hand at it some years ago. His footwork is much lighter, possibly as a result of his new boxing habit, and his time in the ring has loosened up his movements. Unlike he was with his earlier dancing efforts, he’s now loose and limber, with a bigger vocabulary of movement including head twitches, hip rolls, and shoulder dips. He’s feeling the music through his body, not just mechanically doing the moves.

The crowd in Hong Kong skewed much younger than in Tokyo, with many fans in their twenties as opposed to the older ladies that comprised much of the audience in Japan. There was also a whole lotta Mandarin being spoken in the audience even though the show was in Hong Kong, which meant either that a lot of fans from China had made the short trek to the former Crown Colony or that Mandarin is just more common in Hong Kong these days. In a nod to his sinophone fans Yonghwa covered JJ Lin’s sweet pop tune Little Dimples twice, once in the main body of the show and once as part of his marathon encore session. But this meant that the set was missing his glorious cover of the iconic trot song Million Roses (백만송의 장미), which he had previously re-arranged during his stint on K-Trot In Town, the popular variety show he was a main cast member for during the pandemic lockdown.

Notably, compared to shows in Japan, security at the Hong Kong concert was pretty laissez faire. There were security people posted at the end of the rows but none of them made much effort to keep fans from opening up the barriers and running closer to the stage. Security also ignored the many fans taking videos and photos during the show, unlike in Japan where recordings of any sort are punishable by expulsion from the venue. So when Yonghwa decided to come off the stage during Fireworks and subsequently got very close to the crowd, the rush of fans to the front of the hall got a bit dicey. Yonghwa quickly retreated back on stage well out of range. I think he was actually practicing crowd control, trying to calm down a potentially dangerous crowd crush situation.

Just like he and CNBLUE did in Tokyo, after twenty or so songs in his regular set Yonghwa sang several songs during a triple encore, and he was clearly having the time of his life interacting with his fans. He was beaming during all of the encore songs, including the usually very somber ballad One Fine Day. Whereas OFD used to be the final song in the setlist, on this tour he performed it about halfway through the show. It used to be all about Yonghwa preparing to leave, mostly for the military, but now that life is happier and less full of dread he seems content to perform it not as the mood-setter but as just another one of his great compositions. It’s not the theme for his life any more, I don’t think. 

He used the second go-round of OFD to show off his pipes and it became a crazy singalong with the crowd swapping lines with him throughout the song. It was almost like he was treating the audience to the song’s high notes just because they loved them so much. He’d already sung the song once earlier in the show with the full theatrical angst that it deserved but I think the second version was actually better, in part because he was so relaxed and in part because the song somehow became happy and redemptive. He may also have been belting it out because it was the last song of the show and he didn’t have to save his voice. 

It feels like Yonghwa is finally allowing himself to savor his life and appreciate his happy place, which is onstage performing in front of a huge crowd. Yonghwa is also one of the most relentless people I’ve ever come across and every concert is a step toward his life goals, whatever they may be at the moment. But he also seems to genuinely love being on stage and interacting with audiences as well, and he is a very generous performer, as evidenced by his extended encores in Hong Kong as well as with CNBLUE in Tokyo. 

So Yonghwa’s main paradox remains: how can someone so good-looking be so multitalented as well? The casual observer might discount his musical aptitude but closer inspection reveals his prodigious abilities. When he was younger his looks may have unlocked the door, but his talent, perseverance, and hard work have kept it wide open.

Entry filed under: CNBLUE, Jung Yonghwa, Kpop, yonghwa. Tags: CNBLUE, Jung Yonghwa, jung yongwha.