SMTOWN Live World Tour in Singapore electrifies fans

SINGAPORE: It was a sell—out concert for the SMTown Live World Tour III last Friday.

About 25,000 tickets were sold with prices ranging from S$168 to S$268.

The star—studded show, which cost some S$5 million to put together, featured eight iconic Korean pop acts: Kangta, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, f(x) and EXO.

Organised by Korean record label SM Entertainment, the concert was held at the Float@Marina Bay for the first time in Singapore.

The stage took more than 200 people and 96 hours to set up.

For local K—pop fans, SMTOWN might have well been the concert of the year.

There were earlier reports of fans who queued for days to get a good vantage point of the stars at the mosh pits.

"Even though you don’t understand the language, you can actually follow the music," said a fan.

"I also love their songs, because it’s catchy and fun to listen to and I never get bored listening to them," said 11—year—old Jannah, a fan of the artistes.

Some international fans had also travelled to Singapore to see their idols.

The stars themselves were thrilled to be in Singapore although they were one—and—a—half hours late for their press conference.

"It’s been almost 10 years since I was in Singapore in 2003 for MTV Music Awards in Asia," said BoA. "So I’m very happy to be back in Singapore and I can’t wait to see all of my fans, of course."

"I think Singapore is such a beautiful place and this is the first time for us here. We want to thank all the fans that came to the airport," said Kris from the boy band EXO.

Stars also shared their memorable experiences backstage, showing that preparations are not always all work and no play.

"Backstage, be it seniors or juniors, we’ll always chat, and encourage each other in their performances," said Victoria, the leader of girl group f(x).

"There was once we had a chance to have a drink with our senior, Yunho (from TVXQ), and he got a little bit tipsy after a few drinks," revealed Super Junior member Donghae.

"After that, he did this dance move which was really fantastic, which we’ll like to show you one day. It is not a charismatic sort of dance move, it is something you can’t imagine him doing."

The mood was electrifying as fans screamed and cheered throughout the four—hour long concert.

The heavy rain towards the end of the concert did little to dampen fans’ spirits.

The artistes performed a whopping 50 songs with slick dance moves and ended the concert by performing together and mingling with the fans.

— CNA/xq