One more time
K-pop group Wanna One held a successful concert here last weekend after a chaotic experience earlier this year. Wannable Bibi Nurshuhada Ramli was at both events
PEOPLE keep telling me that some K-pop fans can be rabid when expressing love for their favourite stars. As a K-pop fan myself, I was defensive at first but after witnessing the chaos at Wanna One’s fan meeting at Stadium Merdeka in January, I couldn’t help but concur.
Seated a safe distance away from the rock zone where the ruckus occurred, I could only watch in horror as fans started pushing one another so forcefully that they created a wave of movement each time.
Perhaps the group’s immense popularity was the cause for them to want to get as close to the stage as possible, but the rock zone seemed unusually packed to the brim too.
There were screams of frustration (and maybe of pain) reverberating across the stadium from those in the rock zone, and chatters of disapproval and annoyance from those seated.
The situation was so bad that it left some people injured while some fainted! As the authorities grappled to handle matters, there was a 110-minute delay.
Although the event went on smoothly after, it left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
Perhaps that’s why fans were determined to not let January’s turn-of-events repeat itself during the Wanna One World Tour — One: The World Kuala Lumpur concert.
Thankfully, the concert last Saturday was held at Axiata Arena, which featured a bigger space to accommodate the large turnout. From where I sat in the indoor stadium, I noticed that there were still some pushing and shoving in the three rock zones especially whenever the boys — Daniel, Jihoon, Daehwi, Jaehwan, Seongwu, Woojin, Guanlin, Jisung, Minhyun, Jinyoung and Sungwoon — walked by. Fortunately, there were enough security personnel and Rela volunteers to keep things in check.
Even the Wanna One members themselves kept reminding the crowd throughout that everyone’s safety was a priority. It pains me to imagine that perhaps whenever Wanna One thinks of Malaysia, they will think of January’s fan meeting.
Nevertheless, they did not seem to let the past haunt them too much, as they brought high energy and cheerful spirit to their performance that evening.
WHOLESOME SHOW
I am a huge fan of Wanna One’s catchy upbeat tracks like Burn It Up, Energetic and Nayana. The members are still mostly young, so they seemed to have put in much effort into perfecting their sleek and sexy choreography.
Other songs performed include Never, Boomerang, Day By Day, Wanna Be, Twilight, Gold and Light.
Ear-splitting screams were heard whenever the boys showed off their cute and charming side.
That evening, each member had solo moment where they danced to instrumental music. They also performed as sub-units.
My favourite was the ballad performance of Lean On Me by Sungwoon, Jisung and Minhyun. With a soft spotlight shining on them, each stood still on stage as they belted out the sad tunes.
Complementing the ethereal atmosphere was the confetti which looked like cherry blossoms’ petals as they softly fell from above. Breathtaking!
The group’s lead singer Jaehwan performed an emotional solo, singing I’ll Remember, albeit short, was also memorable thanks to his extensive range of smooth vocals.
Other ballad performances like Always and I Want To Have You blew me away as well, especially when the fans sang along to the Korean lyrics.
One of the boys commented on how he had goosebumps from hearing it, but I think I heard the Korean translator said he “got chicken pox”. Haha!
There was also a talk segment where the boys each took turns to wish fans good luck in Malay, in their own creative ways.
The Koreans’ version of “You can do it!” is “Fighting!”. When that was translated into Bahasa Malaysia, it became “Awak boleh bertahan!” Before closing the show with
I Promise You, the boys each gave some parting words on what a wonderful time they had with their Malaysian fans, in particular the support given to them. They also promised to return with new material.
Seongwu and Sungwoon in particular had visited Sabah several months ago to film the South Korean reality show Laws Of The
Jungle. “I have good memories of this country. I’ll make sure we all come back and see you Wannables here.”
I think there is little chance for Wanna One to perform here again since it will disband at the end of the year when the members’ contract expires.
Wanna One is only a project group formed by the 11 finalists of the South Korean reality show Produce 101 Season 2, and they will be returning to their respective agencies after that.
Malaysian Wannables probably expect that the concert would be the last they would see of them in person and as a group.
But who knows? Despite debuting only 11 months ago, Wanna One is extremely popular worldwide.
Thus there are talks of a contract extension. Perhaps there will be another exciting tour in the works.