Back by
popular demand (by which I mean one person in my ask.fm) My blog is revived and
I give you a concert review of BTS in Sydney.
In 2015 I
lucked out to score a media pass and was able to review The Red Bullet concert
for free, with a knowledge of like 5 of their songs at the time. Fast forward 2
years and I’m now irrelevant and had to buy my own ticket like everyone else [“One
of us! One of us!”].
The
difference between BTS in 2 years is quite astounding. From a 2000 capacity show
in a university theatre with a high touch to sell tickets with a school bad boy
concept, to a sold out 11000 capacity stadium with individual solo stages,
costume changes, and a much more mature set list. 2 years ago half the members
were teenagers and Jungkook was still in high school. Last Friday the only kids
were in the audience and BTS put on a full scale show truly representative of
their growth, physically and musically.
For the
record I do actually enjoy some of their older material and my poor heart aches
for Attack on Bangtan, Jump, War of Hormone, the full version of their old
titles, and Boyz With Fun that were performed during but TRB but did not make
the Wings set list. However, their sacrifice was not in vain.
Before the show actually started they played a run through of BTS’s music videos (THE ONLY WAY I GOT TO SEE WAR
OF HORMONE. A BITCH IS CUT.) Soon the lights dimmed, a VCR began playing, the
curtain dropped and the show started right on time with Not Today.
The opening
performances consisted of their ‘hype’ songs. Not Today went into Am I Wrong a
b side from their Wings album that was performed on music shows last year.
Bapsae was the shit (JUNG HOSEOK FUCKING HIP THRUST IN MY FACE THANK YOU VERY
MUCH) and then Dope.
Things chilled
down a bit with Jungkook, Jimin and Suga’s solos which are for the most part either
mid-tempo or slow pace. There was a short gap with Save Me(sus) and I Need U in
the middle before returning to solos. Namjoon’s Reflection transitioned nicely
into Taehyung’s Stigma with the stage set up, before Hoseok showed up at the front
of the stage and gave the performance of life with MAMA. And of
course, because he is my man, whilst I skim over the other members solos (they
were still good, don’t fight me) we’re getting a full Hobi play by play here.
So Hoseok
aka J-Hope aka Hobi aka GOD appears on the front stage with his 12 disciples
(by which I mean back up dancers) to start the song. Meanwhile on the screen on
stage baby photos appear to match the theme of the song, a tribute to his
mother and how she raised him.
Side note:
is it inappropriate to want to s*** a man’s d*** as he raps about his mother?
Probably. Will that stop me? No.
Like the
king he is J-Hope sings, dances, raps and looks like the second coming of Christ
before making his way back to the main stage around the middle of the song. He stops
along the run way to twirl and bask in the admiration of fans, before setting up
his mic into a stand and continuing the performance. At the end, the best 5
minutes of my life have passed and I consider myself blessed. I love him.
JIN has the
hard task of following my lord and saviour. His vocal performance in the ballad
Awake is a standout and makes me question why the guy only gets like 1 line
every song. He can sing. Wake up people.
Another VCR
plays and (as if I haven’t had enough a religious experience from MAMA) the rap
line returns for Cypher 4. Hoseok is in a god damn purple pimp outfit with
sunglasses running around the stage like a hyped up 5-year-old after chugging a
bottle of red cordial. Unfortunately, I was too far from the front stage to be
baptised (the rap-line are known to borderline drown the audience with bottles
of water during this song). From there the 7 members return to being on stage
together and go into Fire.
This is Manny's (aka @btscyphrs) photo cause I was suffering at the other end of the stage
Due to BTS’s
change in style and maturity of recent years their older more “sweg” guilty
pleasure title songs are reduced to a medley. War of Hormone has been
completely removed at this point but at least J-Hope’s rap in Danger was still
included.
During Run
the members made their way from the front stage back to the main stage before
performing everyone’s favourite butt slapping conga line anthem 21st
Century Girl.
The B in
BTS stands for Booty.
There were
a series of speeches throughout the night and seeing I can’t remember who said
what/when exactly I’ll just put the important parts here in one place:
- Hoseok has changed up his revolutionary game changing “I’m your hope, I’m your angel” to “I’m your hope, you’re my hope”. Either way. KING.
- Namjoon spoke in an attempted Australian accent that came out sounding more like British but A for effort mate
- Namjoon wants to live in Australia the same way he wants to live in every other country BTS have gone to on their tour (cheating bastard)
- Jin introduced himself as “Worldwide handsome”. I love facts
- All the members spoke in English their entire segments. Whomstdve said they can’t speak English dead in a ditch.
- Namjoon mentioned Australia is the first place they’ve performed in since winning their Billboard Music Award and the stadium erupted into thunderous screams.
Worldwide...
Handsome!
Namjoon
announced the final official song of the night before Hoseok rose of up from
the middle of the stage like Jesus rising from the dead after the 3rd
day to perform his Boy Meets Evil dance solo.
Finally the song that had the
loudest reaction of the night (FOR GOOD REASON) Blood, Sweat and Tears… a
daesang winning chart topping bop.
Then comes
the part where they leave the stage, we all cheer and yell in the audience for
5 minutes before the totally surprise encore.
The Wings
encore consists of Wings, an ending Ment where the members give their last
speeches, before their real final 2 songs.
2! 3!
(Still there will be better days) is a really nice slower song that is
reminiscent of 2016’s Young Forever. The lyrical content deals with the BTS
members wishing to show gratitude to fans for their careers, expressing concern
at the future problems ahead, but believing that no matter what the problems
are they will always have the memories they’ve built so far and that they are
capable of overcoming anything.
The end
song is Spring Day, their last released song to date, a mid tempo track with
lyrics about time, memories and a wish to meet again with a theme of winter
into spring.
The ending
of Wings is a polar opposite to TRB which went out with a bang on Attack of Bangtan.
Both were honestly great but I can’t help but feel the symbolism of their
maturity in their endings. 2 years ago BTS were a group of kids barely out of
school writing songs about wanting to be your oppa mixed in with socially conscious
songs about Korea’s education system and their perspective on life as teenagers
(or barely older than).
Within the
short time span since the lyrical depth has grown exponentially. Namjoon and
Yoongi particularly have a gift of being able to take surface level lyrics such
as growing up or love and delve into the deeper issues within those topics. Songs
such as 2! 3!, and my personal favourite ‘Young Forever’ (not performed, fight
me whoever made the set list) on the surface address the boy’s careers, but on
second or third listen you can discover more of an existential quarter life
crisis about the fleetingness of youth.
It’s a topic
worthier of it’s own blog but the TLDR is that ever since the beginning
of the HYYH series (starting with I Need U in 2015) BTS have gone from kids with potential
and truly come into their own as performers, artists and adults.
When TRB
came to Sydney in 2015 we experienced a fun and energetic show put on by a
group of promising performers.
With Wings we
were gifted with one of the most beautiful moments in life.
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