A sea of blue filled Mega Star Arena KL at Sungei Wang Plaza on the evening of 20th April, the 5,000-strong crowd ready to welcome South Korean pop-rock band CNBLUE who was returning to Malaysia after almost a decade – this time for their 2024 ‘CNBLUENTITY’ Asia tour.
Whether donning blue attires or accessories (including little blue lights worn as rings that were provided by fanclub personnel upon entry to the hall), the band’s loyal fans Boice adhered to the event’s dress code to show their support for the talented trio.
The crowd’s low buzz of conversation while waiting for the concert to begin immediately turned into excited screams when the stage lights lit up, signalling it was almost showtime. Hands instinctively raised higher, gripping smartphones aimed at the stage, ready to capture the exact moment the band made their appearance. The wait was not long, as the show started punctually at 8pm.
Thrilled screams greeted Jung Yonghwa, Lee Jungshin and Kang Minhyuk as they took their positions onstage. Lead singer Yonghwa in the centre, flanked by bassist Jungshin on his right and drummer Minhyuk on his left.
Screams soon made way to sing-alongs, as the band kicked off the concert with their debut song “I’m A Loner” and fans enthusiastically belted their hearts out to it. The lyrics being largely in Korean was no hindrance, par for the course for K-pop fans who have “stanned” a Korean group long enough.
“Love”, “Intuition” and “Hey You” followed the opening song, before the trio momentarily rested during the first intermission and took the chance to greet their excited Boice.
They expressed their happiness of finally being able to perform in Malaysia again, since their last full show in the country was during the 2014 ‘Can’t Stop’ tour. The band’s inaugural concert here was in 2013 during their ‘Blue Moon’ World Tour, while their final visit was not for a concert but for a fansign event in 2015.
“Mantap (great)!” They grinned proudly, praising their fans while simultaneously showing off their effort of learning the local tongue just so they could interact better with their beloved Boice.
Shouts were heard from the crowd; the band leaned forward to listen closely to something new that the fans were suddenly teaching them. Heeding the impromptu lesson, the single word evolved into a stronger phrase: “Mantap gila!” The trio repeated the phrase with delight throughout the concert, happy to have learned a new way of praising their Malaysian Boice.
During each intermission, the trio would put their Malay language skills to good use. “Bagus (good),” they also said, thumbs up accompanying the praise. Another hand gesture emerged, the pinky finger – held up to signify a promise. They were making a promise to their Malaysian Boice, that they would return to Malaysia soon and not wait another decade before doing so.
“Janji (promise)!” The crowd shouted, much to the band’s bewilderment. Another impromptu lesson; another new word unlocked. “Okay, we ‘janji’!” The trio held up their pinky fingers. “We ‘janji’ to come back soon!”
Noticing the hard-to-miss hue emanating from the crowd, the band was happy that their fans showed up in blue. This turned to them examining their own “dress code” since none of them donned their representative colour.
“Well, we have blue jeans on, and I have blue socks,” Jungshin, in his colourful shirt, defended their fashion choices. Minhyuk grinned, the only other blue on him was his armband. Yonghwa helpfully pointed out they also have blue rings.
Being “veteran” performers, having debuted in the music industry in 2009, the band knew how to work a crowd. Aside from speaking in Malay, they (especially the ever-talkative Yonghwa) loved teasing their fans.
While singing “Love Light”, which came after “Imagine” and before “You’re So Fine” during the second set, he playfully refused to sing the final word “bit/bich” (the romanization of the Korean word for “light”) as fans kept singing it out loud for him instead. Though it was apparent that he was flattered when the crowd sang along to every song they played that evening, if his proud smiles were anything to go by.
Meanwhile, Jungshin half-jokingly expressed his dislike of smartphones, supporting Yonghwa when the latter lamented the fact that the crowd sometimes would get so engrossed in filming them that they forgot to sing along. “But we understand,” they gave in. “It’s for the memories.” “You better make sure they’re filmed steadily! I’ll check your videos after the show,” Yonghwa cheekily added, drawing more laughter from the crowd.
Not much chatter was heard from Minhyuk, who preferred blessing the crowd with his heart-melting eye smile instead while his bandmates bantered with everyone. Occasionally, he would pipe up with his “mantap!” and “bagus!”, melting fans’ hearts further.
After hilariously losing in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (or “one, two, jus” as the band learned from the crowd), Minhyuk and Jungshin had to wear fake moustaches while performing “Love Cut”. But they were not alone in this act, as fans also pasted fake moustaches (also provided at the entrance earlier, along with the aforementioned blue ring and a hand-banner) on their faces during the performance.
The third set also included “99%”, “Lady” and “Coffee Shop”, while the fourth set took a mellower tone as the band performed “Time Capsule”, “Winter Again”, “Till Then”, “Hide and Seek” and “Cinderella”. “I’m glad we got to perform ‘Cinderella’,” Minhyuk said of the song. “I’ve always wanted to perform it for you. Because you are my Cinderella!” (Cue more ecstatic screams from fans.)
The fifth set truly rocked the crowd, as the band played “In My Head”, “I’m Sorry”, “Radio” and “Between Us”. Afterwards, a momentary hush blanketed the crowd. The band had left the stage. The show was over. Or…was it?
Soon, chants for encore began to thunder through the hall. There was a 10 to 15 minutes of chanting before the encore was granted, giving the trio enough time to recuperate and change into black outfits before taking the stage again.
Yonghwa is all of us in our 30s onwards 🤣🤣🤣 I feel u!!! #CNBLUEinKL pic.twitter.com/o0y4XN0m13
— 🇫🇮🇷🇸🇹🇱🇮🇬🇭🇹 (@sunnylovelife) April 21, 2024
It was past 10pm, but fans were still roaring for more – and the band happily complied. “We’re old now,” said Yonghwa, who will be turning 35 this June, while both Minhyuk and Jungshin will be turning 33 come June and September, respectively. They have come a long way since debuting in their late teens and early twenties 15 years ago.
“But we’re young forever,” he continued, segueing into their first song for the encore: “Young Forever”. This was followed by more talking, of course, and the songs “Can’t Stop” and “Then, Now and Forever”. There were mandatory photo sessions with the crowd, during which they were surprised with a special video from Malaysian Boice.
240420 “CNBLUENTITY IN KUALA LUMPUR”
Young Forever💙~ #BoiceINAinKL #CNBLUE #씨엔블루 #CNBLUENTITY #CNBLUENTITYinKL #CNBLUEinKL #CNBLUEBalikRaya pic.twitter.com/OcD5bOfSZQ
— Boice Indonesia (@BoiceINA) April 22, 2024
Once again, the trio left the stage, waving goodbye. Some of the crowd began to trickle out, but fans who were familiar with the tour’s setlist remained steadfast in their belief that the encore was not over yet – there was one final stage before the curtains fall, so to speak.
Suddenly, the stage lights flared again. The ones who’d stood up rushed back to their seats. The ones in the rock zone were alert again. Once again, the trio entered the stage, ready to perform their final song for the night. Having opened the show earlier with a song off their debut album, it was only fitting that the band came full circle and closed the show with a popular song off their first EP, “First Step”. The song, “Love Girl”, had fans singing out loud again.
After about 3 hours, the concert finally concluded on a high note. It was understandable that neither band nor fans wanted it to end any sooner, as a decade was a long time to have waited to meet each other in person again.
Hopefully CNBLUE will keep their “janji” and will not take another 10 years to return to Malaysia for another rocking concert!
Florey contributed to this article.
