This concert will be the one most difficult for me to rank, I feel I’m obliged to say that were it not for my girlfriends obsession with K-Pop there would be an approximately 0% chance I would ever attend this concert of my own volition, but alas, I would do anything for love, and I would do that (checkmate Meat Loaf). That being said I was about as aware of everything as a shark would be at a scrabble competition.
To start with, I do not find their music much appealing, I am generally a fan of rock or metal music, but I am partial to pop sometimes, but not this particular brand. I will try to review this from an objective view and from the perspective of someone who would enjoy this concert.
I must start with the fact they did put on an amazing show, maybe not a necessarily talented musical performance, but the show aspects of it were incredible. Interspersed throughout the songs were small sections of concept acting including a giant tentacle monster taking over a portion of the stage. The choreography was probably the highlight of the show, the immense length of the choreography is genuinely baffling to me, a full 2 and half hour show with all 8 band members having unique choreography sets throughout the show is no easy task, and a very impressive one at that.
Stage Setup: 9/10, a wonderfully set up stage with multiple inflatable props rising and falling throughout the show, the centrepiece of the A stage was a metal tower through which the band entered, along with a rising and falling floor on the B stage which they came out from also.
Support: N/A, there was no support at this show.
Merchandise: 6.5/10, I have to say the merch range was extensive and surprisingly high quality, everything from bags to jumpers to full tracksuit sets to key rings to photo cards and all manner in between, which may make you wonder why the rating isn’t higher. The price, my god the price, it is by far the most expensive merch I have seen yet, my girlfriend purchased one tour jumper and one high quality drawstring bag, for 145 euro, and that was the discounted price from buying them together. Another issue was that they sold some of the merch via a pop up shop available in the city before the show, but you had to use the app, and hundreds of people showed up and predictably the app crashed, and it took about twenty minutes of crashing and almost buying to finally purchase something.
Crowd: 6/10, the crowd around us in the seating was very half and half, but the half that were into it were extremely into it, the standing section on the other hand, for fear of sounding like a man four times my age, they all just stood there with their phones out, no swaying, no dancing, just still with phones out.
Artist Performance: 9/10, to be fair to the lads, they did well, from what I can gather they were singing live, without any major vocal correcting effects, and their choreography as previously stated was next to none.
Overall: 8/10, for a fan of the genre and of the music this concert would have been an amazing experience and even I, a rock elitist, can acknowledge the talent and logistics that go into such an amazing show.
Up Next: The Rifles, Gorilla, 31/1/25
Jays Concert Blog 