KPOP Republic 2013 last night, September 7, 7:30 sharp at the new Smart Araneta Coliseum. Raves and rants in pictures.
Arrived with a slim margin of time to spare. Just enough to get pizza and water and get as close to SHINee as humanly possible. This would be it.
Show started at promptly 7:30 with Christian Bautista and a Korean girl in a flimsy bondage dress we did not know as hosts. They brought up 6 girls who were apparently pre-picked from the audience for a mini dance showdown to the tune of Gangnam Style. 3 out of 6 were chosen based on applause, for the prize of getting to dance with the idols. This did not happen, or at least we did not see it happen.
The girls of Upper A, Door 12. Officially bored now. Happy side note: Smart Araneta looks good. Clean, white and blue and shiny and new. Thumbs up.
“Electronic” duo Crispi Crunch featuring Soonmi of April Kiss starts the show with more songs than the artists we actually paid for. Crispi Crunch sounded more rap than electronic to me. And Soonmi can’t seem to dance for her life. Nor did she look very happy to be there. Psh.
Dalshabet took the stage in revolutionary cobalt blue polka dot mini dresses with skirts that open to white hot pants. The magic of velcro. They performed a total of 5 songs, threw a bagful of stuffed animals to the waiting mosh pit, smiled and fan-serviced unlike sulky Soonmi, then off they trotted to the deafening explosion of applause and cheers. You were cute, girls. But the sight of your backs mean only one thing: EXO-K is landing.
The boys blurted out all the English words that they could to massive cheers and heart failures. Baekhyun, Suho and Chanyeol were especially adorable. Kai looked bored but was noona jail bait nonetheless.
The boys had dance skills and stage presence like only SM Entertainment can churn out. Set list: Wolf, History, XOXO, a fan-service, nearly impeccable, short acapella of Hawak Kamay, 365, and finally (sad face but heart jumping for SHINee) Growl.
SHINee’s BACK!! Still an incomplete set though. After a short moment of panic and a quick head count, our hearts slowed to realize the missing member was only Minho. Phew. Key took the English-speaking responsibilities, jokingly passing the floor to Onew for a moment for the crowd to see him stutter adorably. Then he went on to explain Minho’s whereabouts. He was shooting some drama, was so busy. It’s all good.
SHINee’s picture care of KPR Facebook page. The boys opened to Dream Girl, introduced themselves and left the floor to Key, then proceeded to explode more lungs with Lucifer. They followed with Stranger, doled out the stuffed toys in the middle of Beautiful (by which point the lovely Taemin and JongKey all decided to lose their jackets) with fans sadly recognizing that the next song would be the last. Key affirmed this when he introduced Why So Serious, and then it was over and they were gone. No Replay, no Ring Ding Dong, no Sherlock (blames Minho). The pleas of “we want more” were ignored.
The stage was empty by 9:30. Full heart. Slimmer pocket. Sad face.
The end.
