Shinee back in Hong Kong after 3 months! The HK tourism board had partnered with SM Entertainment for a special concert to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1997 handover. Tickets were expensive - HK$1580 for the best spots and HK$1380 for second-best. Original venue was an outdoor park but due to weather concerns (summer is notorious for torrential downpours, cyclones, 100% humidity), it was moved to the indoor Coliseum.
I dithered a bit about whether to attend - that is, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money to see Shinee perform only 5 songs. A lot of other acts were also due to appear - NCT, Luna, Exo, Red Velvet, D&E and that meant less Shinee-time. In the end, I decided I had no excuse not to go since it was in Hong Kong. I also had very fond memories of SMTown New York in 2011 which was my very first K-pop concert. SMTown in NYC totally exceeded my expectations - it was a 4.5 hour concert and although I was a Super Junior stan in those days (cough), Shinee totally stole the show. Green lasers, wire work and fire during Lucifer? Check. Massive Key neon sign in the audience? Check. Pink jacket and Key attitude during "My First Kiss"? Check. Clumsy Onew pizza boy during Kangta's song? Check. I mean they sang "Stand By Me"! They totally blew away their label mates.
6 years on...SMTown in Hong Kong showcased the new generation of SM artists and I didn't like it. The music from newer bands like NCT was chaotic EDM, jarring as opposed to melodious. EXO performed their newer songs, no crowd favorites such as Growl, Call Me Baby or Love Me Right. Red Velvet sounded very shrill. D&E were really fun though - great stage presence and songs were party-pleasing and easy to sing along too. Perhaps it was the incredibly loud sound system that made my ears hurt during the louder tracks. Or maybe I am just showing my old age!
As I suspected, Shinee only performed 4.5 songs - a remix of 1 of 1 that blended into Replay, Sherlock, Everybody and View. Taemin performed a slower remix of Press Your Number and Jonghyun sang Deja Boo. There were no special stages nor collaborations and just a short speaking segment where they introduced themselves in Mandarin. Their time with us was so short. Indeed, the whole concert only lasted 2 hours! We joked that the HK tourism board couldn't afford the SM artists for any longer than that. When the concert abruptly finished, I don't think the crowd could quite believe it. There were screams for an encore but when the lights came on, we all knew it was over. There wasn't even the obligatory "SMTown" closing song when all the artists appear on stage...