It all started with “La La La”, one of the hit singles from BIGBANG‘s debut album titled “BigBang Vol. 1 – Since 2007”.
When I first started listening to that song, I had just started my life in high school. Though most of the songs in their debut album lean towards the old school hip-hop and R&B genres, I was instantly hooked, despite not knowing the language in the first place. Having watched the way they trained in their documentary, I realised that each member has a different goal and that they are special in their own way. Needless to say, I became obsessed with them and started calling myself a “VIP”. It wasn’t because I was a “Very Important Person”, but because that’s what fans of BIGBANG are known as.
Fast forward to 2015, though I am not as obsessed as I used to be (you can say I’ve sort of turned over a new life), I always get hit with nostalgia whenever I listen to their old songs.
Over the weekend, nostalgia hit me once again when the whole group was here for their “BIGBANG 2015 WORLD TOUR [MADE] IN MALAYSIA“.
The last time the whole group was here for a full-fledged concert, it was 3 years ago. You could imagine my excitement when I first heard that they were coming to Malaysia for a concert! Most fans like myself waited almost 6 years for them to come here and I knew I had to go because I wouldn’t know when they will come back for another concert again. It was a memorable concert for many reasons and one of them was because I finally got to witness them performing live in front of my eyes.
This time around, I wouldn’t say that I went all crazy again, but the excitement was still there. I could feel it even a week before they arrived in KL for the concert. As the first day of their 2-day concert was held on a Friday (24th July) evening, I kept thinking about what I can expect from BIGBANG throughout the entire time that I was at work.
Once I’ve arrived at the Putra Indoor Stadium, I knew exactly what fans were going to get from the top South Korean group: A party that they will never forget.
The group didn’t start the show right on time, but they opened “BIGBANG 2015 WORLD TOUR [MADE] IN MALAYSIA” with a bang (pun totally intended) as they emerged singing “Bang Bang Bang“. VIPs instantly formed the iconic beautiful yellow ocean in the stadium as they switched on their yellow crown light sticks. “Bang Bang Bang” proved to be a perfect dance track as fans can be seen dancing and headbanging along to the song that night.
The song was followed by “Tonight”, a song that always send chills down my spine as it opens with:
Tonight, such a beautiful night. Sing it with me now. (2016). Follow me. BIGBANG, BIGBANG. We’re back again one more time. Say no way, no way. 너무 쉽게 또 남이 돼 BIGBANG, BIGBANG. Don’t stop. Let’s play. Okay, okay. Go go go.
The boys seemed to have fun onstage as they walked around to greet and interact with screaming fans. At one point, fans went into a frenzy as the boys walked towards the fans in the rock zone area before stepping onto a floating platform to continue performing “Stupid Liar”, one of their hit singles in the past.
Watch:
The boys are getting closer to the fans in the rock zone area now omg #BIGBANG #MADEInMY #BIGBANGMADEINMALAYSIA pic.twitter.com/uiqyAY3KRz
— Hype Malaysia (@HypeMY) July 24, 2015
The boys then took us further down the memory lane by belting out the iconic “하루하루” aka “Haru Haru” (translation: “Day by Day”). The song was essentially the one that got fans a little emotional because the lyrics (written by G-Dragon himself) melted fans’ hearts. As if that wasn’t enough to give us the feels, the boys further mesmerised us with the likes of “Loser“, “Blues”, “Bad Boy”, “If You“, and “Lies”.
The boys were incredibly friendly and playful as they left fans laughing and blushing during their “talks”. Taeyang complimented fans when he said, “Malaysia is one of my favorite cities (though he meant “countries”)”, while maknae Seungri asked fans to show them their energy. Seungri also had us laughing when he teased, “I love Malaysian food, Malaysian weather, and Malaysian ladies!”
Rapper T.O.P and vocalist Daesung were being their usual silly selves and said a few Malay words. Daesung asked, “Malaysia, how y’all feeling tonight!” but as he was sporting a bowl-cut hair with long bangs, he jokingly responded by saying, “Saya tak boleh nampak!” (translation: “I cannot see!”). T.O.P also flirtatiously said, “We have many new songs tonight. You like? You like? Kamu bagus?” (translation: “You good?”)”.
Leader G-Dragon kept his cool and had a short but heartfelt chat with fans before asking fans to sing along to “Bad Boy”. We were left breathless as the stage was backed by the most stunning lighting system and stage effects we’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder that the concert is considered one of the costliest shows in Malaysia as the tour hired a team of globally renowned production members such as Dkeil Lemash, Jonathan Lea, Roy Bennet, and Ed Burke.
Take a look at the amazing stage set-up below:
The boys dominated the 2nd half of the concert with their own solo performances and Seungri got to kick it off with his strongest solo number, “Strong Baby”. Seungri may be the youngest member of the group, but he serenaded fans with his sexy charm. He was later joined onstage by Taeyang and G-Dragon to perform “Let’s Talk About Love”.
Daesung was the next member to come up onstage for his solo as it was obviously his time to shine as his powerful rendition of “Wings” gave us goosebumps. Speaking of goosebumps, fans went “gaga” over T.O.P when he handsomely emerged onstage to perform “Doom Dada” after Daesung’s solo. His incredibly skillful rapping and his good looks almost had us fainting. This was followed by a touching rendition of “Eyes, Nose, Lips” by Taeyang, who later collaborated with his best friend G-Dragon for their unit track, “Good Boy”. G-Dragon had his rocker moment later on when he was performing “Crooked”.
Daesung’s fans were in luck that night as they got to witness him performing a drum solo before the rest of the members emerged onstage to perform “Sober” with him. The boys further hyped up the crowd by performing “Bae Bae” and everyone was obviously having a good time as they sang and danced along to the song.
During the performance, Taeyang said that the phrase “chap ssal ddeok” in the song means “sticky rice cakes”, but it also means that “BIGBANG and VIPs are perfect for each other” as they stick around for each other. The rest of the members also thanked fans for coming to the concert, with G-Dragon revealing that both T.O.P and himself had recently finished filming the music video for their upcoming unit track:
T.O.P.: "Malaysia, we really really love you guys." He then showed a heart sign. #BIGBANG #MADEInMY #BIGBANGMADEINMALAYSIA
— Hype Malaysia (@HypeMY) July 24, 2015
Daesung: "M'sia, I love you guys. My mom loves you guys. My family love you guys." #MADEInMY #BIGBANGMADEINMALAYSIA
— Hype Malaysia (@HypeMY) July 24, 2015
HAHAHA. Seungri just sang: "Oh Malaysia. I wanna kiss you guys and hug you guys." <3 #BIGBANGMADEINMALAYSIA #MADEInMY
— Hype Malaysia (@HypeMY) July 24, 2015
G-Dragon: "It's time to say goodbye." Seungri: "No please! It's time to get yo crayon!" #BIGBANG #BIGBANGMADEINMALAYSIA #MADEInMY
— Hype Malaysia (@HypeMY) July 24, 2015
G-Dragon: "Actually, this morning TOP & I were shooting the video for our new song. Are you guys excited?" #BIGBANGMADEINMALAYSIA #MADEInMY
— Hype Malaysia (@HypeMY) July 24, 2015
They ended the concert with a bang once again by performing their worldwide hit single, “Fantastic Baby”.
Of course, the boys didn’t leave the stage without letting us party with them one last time. They showed us their silly antics once again with “We Like 2 Party” and later had the crowd sing along to it – word for word – countless times.
“BIGBANG 2015 WORLD TOUR [MADE] IN MALAYSIA” Set List:
- Bang Bang Bang
- Tonight
- Stupid Liar
- Haru Haru
- Loser
- Blue
- Bad Boy
- If You
- Lies
- Strong Baby (Seungri)
- Let’s Talk About Love (Seungri, GD, Taeyang)
- Wings (Daesung)
- Doom Dada (T.O.P)
- Eyes, Nose, Lips (Taeyang)
- Good Boy (GD, Taeyang)
- Crooked (GD)
- Daesung’s Drum Solo
- Sober
- Bae Bae
- Fantastic Baby
Encore
- We Like 2 Party
“BIGBANG 2015 WORLD TOUR [MADE] IN MALAYSIA” was organised by IME Productions and supported by Malaysia Major Events, a division of Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), an agency of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture together with Official Telco Hotlink.
For more concert updates, visit IME Production’s official Twitter and Facebook. Of course, don’t forget to follow BIGBANG’s Facebook page for their tour reports 😉
