[Recap] SNSD 2011 Girls' Generation Tour in Singapore

Last week, I was invited to the second night of SNSD‘s sold-out concert tour here. This is the second time that I have been to an S.M. Entertainment artiste concert in Singapore this year. Again, it didn’t fail to amaze me at the amount of hard work put in! Having met the nine ladies earlier in the day at the press conference, I found myself being captivated by their girly charms even though I am not a Sone.

While waiting for my friend to arrive, I sat outside the box office just watching the excited faces of the fans. Many came and met new-found friends through online forums and websites, while some young Sones turned up with parents in tow. Several staff members came around to gather mosh-pit ticket holders to go into the venue. You probably know that K-Pop concerts start pretty much on time, unlike Chinese and English concerts, which are always delayed by at least half an hour – otherwise, they would find themselves playing to a half-full stadium because of latecomers. I am very proud of K-Pop fans — everyone was seated or in their standing zones by 6:00PM! When the extended stage doors were let down to close up the mosh pits, Sones cheered and were about to scream their hearts out. At 6:10PM the lights were dimmed, the introductory video was played and the girls were ready to bring the house down.

The girls made their special entrance from a lamp right in the middle of the stadium, opening the night with their first song “Genie.” They went on to perform “You-aholic,” “Mr Taxi,” “I’m In Love With The Hero,” “Let It Rain,” “Snowy Wish,” “Sweet Talking Baby,” “Kissing You” and “Oh!” with Sones ecstatically waving their pink lightsticks in the air.

Hyoyeon kickstarted the solo stage with “Don’t Stop The Music,” followed by Jessica‘s “Almost” on piano, Sunny‘s “Three” and Taeyeon‘s combined stage with Tiffany performing “Lady Marmalade” in cabaret outfits. The girls were soon back on stage as nine in a new metalic blue outfit and performed “The Great Escape” and “Bad Girl.” Videos were shown in-between sets of songs while the girls went backstage for costume changes. What I really liked about the concert was that the waiting time (or video time) was kept to a minimum and the girls’ ability to make costume changes in the speed of light.

Next, it was Taeyeon decked out in rocker fashion complete with a black furry cape doing a mindblowing “Devil’s Cry,” leading into “Run Devil Run” as the other members returned to the stage. I find it amusing that the stage crew was holding onto the glass panel stage props during “Beautiful Stranger.”

I have heard fangirls screaming their heads off so often but it’s certainly a first for me to witness fanboys shouting! The whole stadium was filled with fan chants when “The Boys” was being performed. Just imagine yourself at a football game with the fans cheering the players on – that was exactly my feeling 🙂 The song “Hoot” got me singing along as I recognized that it was the song that Kim Tae Hee sang and danced to in front of Song Seung Heon in the drama “My Princess.”

Yuri was next to own the stage with “If,” followed by Sooyoung‘s “Sway,” and I found her Tango dance really impressive! Seohyun was transformed into Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” looking so dainty and cutesy while doing a tap dance for her solo stage which I really liked as well. She was also noteably the only one who made a curtsy bow and said “thank you” before exiting the stage. Yoona came out all wrapped up to perform “4 Minutes.” Yes… she was all covered up! And… erhh…. with balancing poles? I bet Sones must have been disappointed until Yoona’s long pants were ripped off to reveal the hot pants underneath, and of course, her nice, long, slender legs!

The music video showing babies and toddlers playing before “Danny Boy” was very touching, but it can’t beat the fan event initiated by Soshified for “Complete.” Every fan held up a slip of paper that says “소녀시대 make our lives Complete,” moving the girls to tears. It was so heartwarming it actually gave me goosebumps!

Very quickly, a 2-part wooden ship emerged from backstage ferrying SNSD for the song “My Child.” I was so close to calling it a “broken ship”… why? It was controlled by several stage crew who were tailing behind the two halves, instead of remotely controlling them. Having stage crew sharing the stage during a performance simply makes the stage look crowded. 

SNSD was all over the stadium interacting with fans during “Nen Myung,” “HaHaHa Song,” and “Gee,” after which they requested Sones to show them the white slips of paper that said “소녀시대 make our lives Complete” again. Tiffany went on to say it’s their last song for the night, but questioned fans why don’t they look sad that the concert is ending soon. Well, because they know it’s not the real ending yet! So Tiffany asked fans to pretend it is the last song as they bid goodbye with “Forever.”

Even though it’s not the real ending, I guess the fans could have put in more effort for the encore chant, which died down after just a few shouts. At last, “Into The New World,” “Way To Go” and “Fantastic” completed the encore stage and it was really time to say goodbye. The girls took turns giving shoutouts to Sones, thanking them for being so passionate and giving the girls themselves the time of their lives. Tiffany didn’t forget to assure fans that SNSD loves Sones more than chilli crab (a famous dish in Singapore) as they playfully put their mics around Tiffany, ending the concert on a high note.

SNSD will be continuing their tour in Hong Kong on January 15 next year.

Special thanks to Running Into The Sun for inviting Soompi to cover the concert.