After waiting for a long time,we finally got to have our first Korean musical experience in Romania.
LEDApple started their world tour at the beginning of February, and have fortunately included Romania in their concert list-to the delight of the Romanian fans and foreign ones as well.
The guys from LEDApple (Hanbyul-Vocals, Kyumin-Vocals, Youngjun-Guitar, Kwangyeon-Bass, Hyeoseok-Drums) have made their debut in 2010 with the song “Dash” which is a remake of a song originally sung by Baek Ji-young. They went through multiple member changes, reaching the current line-up in 2012 when they also released the mini-album “Run to you”.
Their style could be described as a very fresh mix of k-rock, power-pop and electronic-rock-which brought a pop of colour in the Korean music scene as well as in the international one, the boys quickly gaining fans all over the world.
Romania made no exception from that rule,the concert being quickly deemed a success when all the tickets from the VIP and Golden Circle categories got sold out 2 months prior to the concert date.
The show took place at Turbohalle,where we arrived around 6pm when we were supposed to enter the venue-which eventually happened an hour later.While we were waiting to get inside, I noticed a lot of fans who came from different cities but also many from different countries. Accompanied by their parents or friends, they were all eagerly waiting to see the guys from LEDApple live for the first time.
Close to 8pm the dance crew DSK went on stage, followed after by another dance crew-CMZ.Both groups managed to increase everyone’s excitement by performing choreography pieces from famous Korean k-pop groups. Unfortunately the girls from CMZ encountered some technical difficulties but they showed determination and managed to finish their performance without music-being supported and cheered on by the crowd.
Around 9pm the concert started with Youngjun playing a rendition of the Romanian national anthem, which I think was a very nice and well thought moment. The rest of the band joined him after on stage and the fun filled show began with them performing Bad Boys from the album with the same name, which was released in the summer of last year. Throughout the entire evening the boys interacted constantly with the fans – Hanbyul and Kyumin running across the entire stage surface making sure to engage every area of the crowd while gaining lots of sreams of joy from the fans who were more than excited to see them up-close and have their attention.
Because of the overwhelming number of people in the Golden Circle area and probably from the excitement as well, a lot of girls felt sick and had to be pulled out of the crowd by the guys from Blackhawk Security – who did an amazing job taking care of each fan by giving the water and carrying them backstage to recover.
In spite of the little mishaps I saw an endless amount of happiness on everyone’s faces, singing and cheering throughout the entire show – being united by the music and surpassing any linguistic or cultural differences.
The setlist was pretty diverse, the guys performing older songs like “Dash” and “니가뭔데(How dare you)” but also more popular ones like “Run to you” and “바람아 불어라(Let the wind blow)”. They also performed several covers like “When I was your man” (originally sung by Bruno Mars) which Hanbyul dedicated to the female part of the audience, gainging tons of cheers and screams of joy. Between songs,the members made little dialogues with the fans and even took some pictures being visibly impresssed by the huge dose of excitement and support they received.
We also had the honour to be the first ones in the world to hear a snippet from their new single which will be released on March 21st, and we got to be a part of the music video for the song-the band being filmed on stage singing and performing a few choreographic moves along with the fans.
Throughout the entire evening the boys from LEDApple were extremely friendly, lively and talkative-they even tried to pronounce a few lines in Romanian, which made the fans ecstatic – screaming at the top of their lungs after each word.
After they left the stage for a short break,the guys came back being constantly cheered on by the fans who wanted more. They performed their encore songs: “Times Is Up” and “I’ll be there for you” and even though they were probably tired from the long flight and the intense performance, they gave their all until the last minute-always smiling and engaging the audience.
Before saying goodbye to the fans, two of the girls that were in charge with the organizing surprised the boys with a cake-which made them very happy and visibily touched. Taking a moment for themselves they gathered in a circle being probably overwhelmed by all the unexpected love and support they received and wanting to save the moment in their memories forever.
Around 11pm after thanking everyone, LEDApple bid the audience farewell and left the stage-leaving fans in tears, being extremely happy that they got to see their favorite band live-but at the same time sad that it was over.
The concert was followed by a meet&greet session with the fans that had VIP tickets, after which the boys came on stage one last time to thank the people that were still in the concert hall and to say their last goodbye for the night. And I say “for the night” because I am sure that both them as well as the fans would love to have another LEDApple concert in Romania.
It was an extraordinary show,everyone showering the band with constant cheering and support-making it clear that they are well loved here as well.
LEDAPPLE WERE INDEED LIKE LED LIGHTS,SHINING BRIGHTLY AND PULSATING WITH ENERGY-OFFERING US AN ASTOUNDING PERFORMANCE WHICH ONLY MADE US LOVE THEM MORE AND LONG TO SEE THEM AGAIN.
Photo Gallery here
By Shimmaya