I was at SW5 last night in Hong Kong and I can confirm OT5 was looking mighty fine!!! The concert was about 2.5 hours in total - definitely shorter than SW5 in Seoul. There were a few songs I definitely missed such as Chocolate (I missed the hip rolls in the choreography ), Lucky Star and Picasso. The venue capacity was less than Seoul - I would guess maybe 10,000 compared to Seoul's 30,000 at Olympic Gymnastics arena.
The great thing about the Hong Kong concert though was that they had these standing areas along the stage - Block A and Block B. The seats were further away from the stage so I had taken the plunge and selected a Block B standing area ticket. These standing areas gave you the ability to see everything on the main stage, albeit at a slight angle. You also get to see a close side view profile when Shinee walked down the "runway" or performed some of their songs in the smaller stage at the front. When that happens, you don't get the front view of the choreography but can appreciate the choreography from another angle. For example, during "Feel Good", I never appreciated how sensual the choreo was, all butts and legs in tight trousers....or maybe that was just where my eyes were!
There were only 200 tickets for Block B but it was actually a sizable area. So unless you wanted to be smushed right up at the front of the railing, you can hang around in the middle of the block; see perfectly well everything that was going on but dance and jump to your heart's content!! You can move around the block depending on where Shinee was - so of course, during the moving cart/ball toss segment during "So Amazing", you move away from the stage and to the corridor - hoping to get as close to Shinee as possible...
The other thing is that the standing areas are great places to meet new Shawol friends and although I went by myself, I met, danced and screamed with Shawols from Australia, Japan and China last night! I'm so thankful that I could meet others that stan Shinee HARD and their level of commitment put me to shame. They fly around Asia attending ALL the concerts. What surprised me too was that some of these fans have only recently got into Shinee - maybe in the last 2 years. It's so encouraging to see Shinee are still winning new fans!
As this is my second time watching SW5, I was able to stay calmer and really absorb the fineness that was Shinee live on stage. It was the closest I have ever viewed Shinee - so I had to drink in all the visual beauty and capture the moments in my memory!
Some observations to share:
- 1 of 1 had not been released when SW5 launched in Seoul and they just played a little music spoiler and bopped around. This time, they came out in the 1 of 1 suits and did the full song and choreo
- Key had some problems with his mic pack and he kept adjusting it in the opening segment so unfortunately, he couldn't dance too well to Hitchhiking, Married to the Music, Why So Serious etc. Luckily, they sorted this out before Juliette so he was able to do his dance solo to full effect. I noticed that Key conserves his energy and doesn't dance "full-on" at times so when he does give it his all, the contrast is more surprising and exciting!
- Key also took off his "hard" white/black jacket last night and danced to Lucifer in just a sleeveless t-shirt and his gold trousers. Later during a talk segment, Jonghyun brought this up and said "Why did you do that?" Key said he was a bit uncomfortable and he would look cooler dancing without it! When you look at Key's arms, they were glistening with sweat so I can imagine it must have been so sticky with a leather jacket on..
- I loved Key's Gucci gingham suit which got burned by a lamp back-stage in LA! Although it was replaced by another Gucci suit, it wasn't quite as pretty.
- Key also took off his "hard" white/black jacket last night and danced to Lucifer in just a sleeveless t-shirt and his gold trousers. Later during a talk segment, Jonghyun brought this up and said "Why did you do that?" Key said he was a bit uncomfortable and he would look cooler dancing without it! When you look at Key's arms, they were glistening with sweat so I can imagine it must have been so sticky with a leather jacket on..
- I loved Key's Gucci gingham suit which got burned by a lamp back-stage in LA! Although it was replaced by another Gucci suit, it wasn't quite as pretty.
- Onew had great energy last night and danced HARD to everything! Luckily this time, he wasn't so modest and did not zip up the jacket during Trigger all the way to the top. We could see some bare collarbone! I was probably only about a meter away from him during the ball toss which is the closest I have ever been to a Shinee member. I could see the white tips of his nails, his black shoes were a bit scuffed and his make-up was pretty thick! No wonder their faces look so flawless on stage!
- During the talk segments, they mostly spoke in Korean with a little Mandarin. It was all translated into Cantonese. They talked about the individual projects they were working on i.e. Key's new drama Lookout which Minho recommended we watch, Hwarang for Minho, solo concert for Jonghyun, solo work for Taemin and the new drama for Onew. When Key and Minho were changing, the talk segment was just Onew, Taemin and Jonghyun and I guess Minho & Key took longer than usual, so they were running out of things to say. Jonghyun actually said "I wonder why Minho & Key are taking so long...maybe they are eating something. Yes, they sometimes do that..."
In summary, I have to say that once again, I was floored by Shinee and the concert was AH-MAZING. The work ethic, their easy camaraderie, effortless vocals and super-slick dance ability was in full display and I enjoyed every moment of it.
