Bad weather can’t stop CNBLUE

LED SCREENS that show vocalist Jung Yong-hwa pushed young girls to break into hysterics. Photos by Arnold Almacen

“Kumusta? Salamat sa pagpunta niyo dito kahit na may bagyo!”

While obviously rehearsed, those precious few words—stammeringly uttered by Kang Min-hyuk, charismatic drummer of the Korean pop-rock band CNBLUE—surely made the fans forget that they had to brave the rains, and possibly flooded roads, caused by Tropical Storm “Mario” just to make it to the group’s concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Sept. 19.

With many people opting to stay home, the venue, understandably so, was not filled to capacity. But it sure did not sound or feel that way. The audience shook the Big Dome with cheers and shrieks as earsplitting as what one would expect from an SRO crowd.

And CNBLUE soldiered on and delivered a set of more than 20 songs.

“Can’t Stop” was the title of the group’s concert tour, and it could not have been more fitting that night.

The group—that also included Jung Yong-hwa (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Lee Jung-shin (bass) and Lee Jong-hyun (lead guitar, vocals)—probably did not fit the casual listeners’ idea of what a K-Pop boy band was or how it should look.

No matching outfits

Unlike other groups that visited the Philippines recently, CNBLUE wielded instruments and played them with adequate skill. The members did not dance in unison or shuffle in and out of various formations to upbeat tunes that married elements of dance, pop, electronic and hip-hop music. Nor were they perfectly coiffed and dressed in matching outfits.

The boys opened the show—their second in Manila—in a no-nonsense fashion, briskly tackling one song after another, as the stage sprang to life with relentless bursts of crisscrossing prismatic beams. The crowd, meanwhile, turned into a sea of blue lights, with screaming girl fans hoisting glow sticks aloft and vigorously waving them to the beat.

K-POP fans brave the storm and shake the Big Dome with cheers and shrieks.

Driving force

Jung, the band’s front man, was the group’s indefatigable driving force. A guitar slung over his shoulder, he was all over the stage, running, dancing and urging the crowd to stand up

and sing along. And, unexpectedly, Jung intermittently unleashed high-pitched rock screams. “Are you ready to be crazy?” he shouted.

The two Lees, Jong-hyun and Jung-shin, were cool and laid-back, while Kang was not afraid to play it cute while banging on the skins.

Without fail, young girls broke into hysterics whenever he was shown on the three LED screens mounted around the stage.

The sound, while mostly pop-sounding, had occasional dashes of alternative rock, hip-hop and punk: “Intuition” was fun and zippy, “Love” had a bit of a retro vibe and “I’m a Loner,” one of CNBLUE’s earlier hit songs, coasted on its semi-rapped verses and repeated hooks in English that had everyone singing along, “Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad tonight… / Oh, no, no, no, no, nobody knows.”

Tagalog spiels

Between songs, a band member would pause to check on the crowd and express their love for them. “Masaya na ba kayo?” asked Jung, who, together with his band mates, actually took the time to learn full sentences in Tagalog. “Na-miss ko kayong lahat!”

The repertoire, which took the band over two hours to perform, also included such subdued piano-driven rock ballads as the sultry “These Days” and the weepy “My Miracle.”

Toward the end of the concert, which was mounted by All Access Productions, the group, which was formed back in 2009, dropped some heavier-sounding material like “Coffee Shop” and “I’m Sorry.”

After celebrating Jung-shin’s birthday with a cake and dishing out a 20-minute encore that included “Wake Up,” “Love Girl” and “Love Light,” the band took selfies onstage and took their final bows.

Jung then promised that they would be back in the future. “This was a good show with all of you, even if the weather is bad; I pray for you,” he said. “I’m very, very mahal kita and very, very salamat po!”

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