![G-DRAGON's 'Shine A Light' Concert - 12/06 [VIDEOS INSIDE!]](http://aa-chan.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/gdcon1206.JPG)
Yesterday was the first of G-Dragon’s two ‘Shine A Light‘ concerts, and you can see the post here. It wasn’t easy to get the videos today, but I did my best and enjoyed the concert. Videos and concert report under the cut!
Set List
01 Heartbreaker [Remix Ver.]
02 This Love
03 Hello [feat. Dara]
04 Gossip Man
05 G-Pod [He flicked through a massive iPod and played songs from his past]
06 A Boy
07 꼬마룰라
08 The Leaders
09 Breathe [Remix Ver.]
10 Parody Clip [feat. Seungri & Daesung]
11 Butterfly
12 But I Love You
13 She’s Gone [Remix Ver.]
14 SE7EN – ?, ?, LaLaLa, LaLaLa [Remix Ver.]
15 Only Look At Me [feat. Taeyang]
16 Korean Dream [feat. Taeyang]
17 1 Year Station
18 Lies [BIG BANG Ver.]
19 Last Farewell [BIG BANG Ver.]
20 Heartbreaker [Encore Ver.]
Concert Highlights
Most were the same as yesterday, but these were extras:
- SE7EN looked good. I mean, damn good.
- BIG BANG performing together for Lies and Last Farewell.
- Seeing Gaho appear on stage at the end in a little red scarf.
Outside Pictures
A wall of messages from when people bought the tickets.
One of a few cut-outs that LadyC made me take pictures of.
People wanted to steal this for obvious reasons.
My favorite one.
Should have taken a picture of the banner before it got dark.
Videos
First, let me tell you the lengths I went through to get the camera into the stadium. This concert is unlike any other I’ve attended in that they’re executing bag checks on everyone who enters and just not letting people with standing tickets in with any luggage at all. I had to sling my camera under my arm and put on my long jacket, then tell a bare-faced lie to the girl when she asked me if I had a camera on me.
Then, when we get in there, our seats are fine and we actually ended up sitting in seats that weren’t our own. Unfortunately, we’re sitting up near the back so the staff are right there and can see pretty much everything that goes on. They’re also pacing around checking for any light that isn’t coming from a glowstick. They told me off because I was texting, thirty minutes before the concert began. Sufficed to say, I couldn’t get much in the way of video and because of the girls in front sitting at such an angle and me not wanting to completely block the view of the girl behind me, I was very limited and I hope you’ll excuse me and just remember the awesome that I gave you yesterday.
Hello feat. DARA
The Leaders
Breathe [Remix Ver.]
Parody Video
It starts with Seungri and GD in a shoe store and Seungri is given a discount of 30% by Minji because he’s handsome. He tells GD and he goes over and gets a 50% discount. It cuts to GD’s apartment and he comes in in his boxers and a t-shirt to check the Internet. Gaho is on the bed and assures him that he looks good. He sees some bad messages online about him and then notices he’s not number one in the Naver search listings, so after rolling around on the bed, he decides to remedy this by boosting his rating on his own. Seungri comes in and consoles him.
Next, Seungri is out in the parking looking for his name in graffiti on the wall. He can’t find much, but he notices there’s so much love for GD. GD calls him over and hands him Gaho to look after while he heads out. Seungri starts poking at Gaho, play fights and then farts in his face. Gaho is not amused, while Seungri imagines that it’s not Gaho at all, but GD. Seungri soon gets bored and entes GD’s wardrobe, only to start trying on clothes. He settles on a Heartbreaker outfit and starts performing in front of the mirror, before ripping GD’s pants. GD comes back and starts berating him. Seungri tries to make it up to him by offering to set him up with a hot girl.
GD goes for it eventually and heads to the cafe where they’re scheduled to meet. CL works at the cafe and is cleaning a board outside. GD does some double takes and finally heads in to sit with Seungri. Dara and Daesung are arguing at another table and Daesung takes offense at GD staring at his girl. Finally, the girl arrives and she’s not hot at all, but GD goes for her. Phew.
She’s Gone [Remix Ver.]
SE7EN Talking
Korean Dream
1 Year Station
GD ‘Brand’
BIG BANG – Lies & Last Farewell
GD was performing Lies as he had the previous night and then he said he wanted to do a solo version. Just then, the rest of the guys came out and they performed both songs together.
Concert Report
G-Dragon’s ‘Shine A Light’ concerts took place on the 5th and 6th of December. I was lucky enough to be able to attend both, but unlucky in the sense that both days were incredibly cold and there was a lot of waiting around outside. The venue was the Olympic Park Stadium on the East side of Seoul, and as expected, the surrounding grounds were filled with VIPs. As is common at concerts these days, there were a large number of foreigners present.
After finding my way to the correct entrance for my standing section, I stood in line for thirty minutes before being ushered into the stadium. The fans closest to the stage get ’seated’ first, followed by the people ’seated’ behind. Due to the heightened security these days, getting the fans in takes longer than at previous concerts. While waiting for the concur to begin, we were treated to old music videos from music videos from G-Dragon’s solo album, as well as some from fellow YG artists, 2NE1. These videos were set to loop continuously with small interruptions from the 11st Shopping Mall commercials featuring 2NE1. By the third or fourth time round, the fans were getting restless, but thankfully the concert started before too long.
I was pleased to see that he opened the concert with Heartbreaker, albeit a remix version. As a matter of fact, the heavy rock beat of the remix version is actually better than the original when performed live. It feels far more powerful on a big stage with the dancers and the live band. Following on straight after was a performance of his previous solo song, This Love and it is still a firm crowd favorite. As soon as the music started up, the crowd reaction was strong and the fans started jumping in time to the music. The song was performed as a slightly shorter version than normal and it led very smoothly into Hello, featuring Dara of 2NE1. At this point, the crowd was live as it had been and positively screamed the house down when Dara appeared on stage to join the performance. It was actually this performance that changed my perception of the song and it’s now one of my favorites to see live. Dara looked fresh faced and beautiful as is so often the case and the chemistry between the two of them is very apparent. The entire performance had a very ‘fun’ feeling to it and this was probably added to by the yellow jacket on show.
Gossip Man was the next song to be performed after a short interval and when G-Dragon returned to the stage, he was wearing a change of clothes and started almost immediately. Midway through the performance, he took a ride on a bathtub to the center part of the floor stage and continued the performance from there before returning via the same route. It wasn’t immediately obvious as to what he was traveling on, but after sitting down in it, the fans further away could see it up on the main screen.
One of the most interesting ‘performances’ was the G-Pod performance in which a giant iPod was projected onto the main screen and G-Dragon appeared to control it by moving his arms. Whether or not this was prerecorded or he had some sort of movement sensor on his person, I’m not entirely sure, but the effect was very impressive and it gave him the opportunity to perform some songs from his past before finally settling on a full performance of A Boy. This song is one of my favorites and when the music started, I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of choreography and movement around the stage. I was not disappointed. G-Dragon and his backing dancers kept the movement around the stage to a minimum but the fans were treated to G-Dragon’s short ‘Michael Jackson Tribute’ – something that has become a trend this year among Korean singers.
Next to perform was Child, which I understand to be a song from his past, but not one that I was familiar with. The performance was quite standard and despite the fan’s reactions, they seemed to be anticipating a return to his new songs. They didn’t have to wait long because one of the most anticipated songs of the night – The Leaders was next and both CL and Teddy joined G-Dragon on the stage to perform what was arguably the most energetic showing of the night. CL was sporting the black leotard, boots and leather jacket that had been shown on her me2DAY and Teddy was dressed entirely in white to contrast.
The concert continued with a remix version of Breathe. The song didn’t seem to get as warm a crowd response from fans during his appearance on TV shows, but the fans made some noise when the music started and G-Dragon started singing. The remix version had a slightly different arrangement and tempo, but was quite similar to the original. I was expecting a little more movement considering the choreography for his TV appearances, but he was quite tame and only had some simple interactions with the backing dancers. That was until Aimee Lee Lucas entered and was tied to the bed that had been placed in the center of the stage. The future controversy surrounding this event wasn’t evident at the time and the fans were screaming in delight with the two figures on stage writhing around with each other.
The end of this song marked the half way point of the concert and gave G-Dragon a chance to change and get a rest. The fans were treated to a parody video featuring fellow BIG BANG members, Seungri and Daesung, among others. The video focuses mainly on G-Dragon and Seungri interacting in a variety of different situations and starts with the two of them shoe shopping in a typical store. Seungri decides to use his charm to gain a discount and approaches Minji, the store clerk. A flash of his smile and a wink later, he comes away with a discount on his shoes. He looks back at G-Dragon and smirks, only to see G-Dragon get an even bigger discount from her. This playful style continues in the next scene where they’re both waiting outside and Seungri looks around at the graffiti on the wall, trying to find a mention of his name. After finding one, he notices that there are far more for the leader and decides that he’s going to try his hand at leaving his own message. G-Dragon calls him on this and tells him to look after Gaho while he goes to work on the concert. Seungri and Gaho are upstairs in the apartment when Seungri decides that he’s going to venture into the closet to try on some clothes and pretend to be G-Dragon. While trying on the clothes, he dances in front of the mirror and rips a pair of the pants. Obviously worried, he quickly puts them back and runs out of the closet to be met by the returning G-Dragon. There is no lying to him and it is eventually found out that the pants have been ripped. This leads G-Dragon into a rage and he attempts to get his revenge on Seungri, but is halted by the promise of a date with a beautiful woman. After a second’s thought, G-Dragon decides that he’ll go on the date and he goes to get ready. The video cuts to G-Dragon arriving at a cafe with CL cleaning the menu board at the front. They look at each other and flirt for a second before he enters, only to return to take another look before sitting down. Dara and Daesung are sitting inside at a table by the window, while Seungri is sitting at a table in the middle waiting for G-Dragon to arrive. Upon arriving, G-Dragon has a look over his shoulder at the arguing couple by the window and Daesung takes offense to this and calls him out on it. G-Dragon apologizes and Seungri introduces his blind date – one comedian, Shin Bong Sun. Sufficed to say, G-Dragon is not happy with what he sees and while gagging, he finds himself becoming more and more attracted to her. They leave together and the video ends.
After the lengthy video, the fans were starting to become restless and despite the chatter and laughter from the video, we were all ready for the concert to continue. G-Dragon returned to the stage, all in black with a large black bunch of material pinned to the front of his jacket. It was a very dramatic look and he sat down with a live band to perform Butterfly. I don’t particularly care for this song, but it was a worthwhile performance of the song and a nice change of pace from his previous performances.
Switching things up again, G-Dragon continued with his own version of But I Love You and then into a remix version of She’s Gone – another performance that caused controversy among Netizens. She performance of She’s Gone was strong and dramatic on it’s own, but was bolstered by the video playing on the big screen. While running around after Aimee Lee Lucas, the video showed him stalking a girl around a garden maze and finally meeting her in the middle before stabbing and killing her in a psychotic rage. The music came back after the climax of the video and it was an incredible ending to one of the best performances of the night.
I attended both dates for the concert, and the guest appearances were slightly different on both nights. For the first night, Taeyang was the guest singer and performed some of his solo songs and also teamed with G-Dragon for Only Look At Me and Korean Dream. Both performances were incredibly tight and showed a very strong bond between them both as they interacted and pulled energy from each other.
On the second night however, SE7EN was present alongside Taeyang and he performed four songs, including La La La and a remix version. The noise was deafening due to SE7EN’s long absence since attempting to break into the US market and his strong following among the YG Entertainment fans. It was a shame that SE7EN and G-Dragon didn’t perform together at any point because that would have been an even greater spectacle for the fans.
The concert was winding down by this point and the final song for G-Dragon to perform was 1 Year 1 Station. I was expecting a remix of this song in particular, given the beat it has, but he sang the original track and while dressed in his strangely styled suit, he really showed that his vocal style works for his music. The performance was crisp and it seemed like a fitting end to the concert. However, after the song finished, the fans were treated to an appearance by the rest of BIG BANG who proceeded to join G-Dragon in singing Lies and Last Farewell. This was the noisiest performance of the night and made sure that the fans started to get excited about the upcoming ‘BIG SHOW 2010′ concert.
After the performances and a short talk with each the members, G-Dragon was alone on the stage again and finished the concert as he had started it a few hours earlier – with a remix version of Heartbreaker. This was the first solo concert I had attended and it really was an incredible experience. The fans and staff were very helpful and added to the atmosphere of the evening.
