THE girls of South Korean group GFriend brought their sugar-sweet voices to Kuala Lumpur for a showcase of bubblegum K-pop that soon progressed into a lusher, edgier performance to finish the night on a high.
The six-member group – comprising Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, SinB, and Umji – was in Kuala Lumpur for the first time for its 2019 GFriend Asia Tour [Go Go GFriend!] on June 29, organised by Macpie Pro.
The girls delivered on the promise made in their press conference a day prior. Speaking through a translator, the girls collectively said that they wanted to make “good and happy memories here in Malaysia” for its Malaysian Buddies – a moniker GFriend fans are affectionately referred to – before the group moves on with the tour.
The warmth from fans was felt even at the airport, after the group’s six-and-a-half-hour flight.
According to GFriend, the best thing about touring is being able to meet fans from all over the world through social media.
Besides hearing “delicious” things about the local cuisine, the girls were also excited to finally meet Malaysian Buddies, who have been flooding their social media accounts with requests to perform here.
GFriend also spoke about its seventh mini-album Fever Season, which was released on Monday, and hope that Buddies will love its title song Fever, which compares love “to a tropical night that doesn’t cool down even during the night”.
The girls opened the show with Me Gustas Tu from its sophomore EP Flower Bud, followed by Life is a Party, Vacation, and Glow, and the evening was off to a sugary start.
The stadium was gently a-glow with twinkling lights that would match any high-school prom night, as the girl group danced in cute synchronised unison, and their singing punctuated by high-spirited cheers from fans.
During the concert, the girls made plenty of attempts at the local language, inciting more affection from Buddies every time a member said ‘bagus’, ‘saya suka kamu’, or ‘terima kasih’, much to the delight of the crowd.
Midway through the night, a change in GFriend’s attire from sweet pastel shades to darker, edgier outfits indicated a slight shift from its sweet-tinged tunes to lusher ballads such as Flower Garden, Memoria, Sunrise and Time for the Moon Night.
With these numbers, the girls showcased a more mature form of choreography and musicality.
GFriend, who had a translator present during the concert as well, even commented on the crowd’s Korean pronunciation while singing Time for the Moon Night.
For 20-year-old Lee Yu Qi, who has been a GFriend fan since its debut in 2015, the highlights of the night were during the girls’ unit performances – where they split into two groups of three known as Hug Hug and World Peace – and “near the end when they performed more of their title tracks such as Sunrise and Navillera”.
The first-time GFriend concert-goer said: “It was one of the best concerts I’ve been to in a while. The girls had a lot of energy and gave their 100% for the entire three hours. It was so much fun!”
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Dayana Qistina who was there to accompany a Buddy, said the “concert was very enjoyable”, and that “it was a really fun experience”, despite having never heard of GFriend’s music prior to the concert.
Noting that “the members were very lovely and the crowd was super enthusiastic”, Dayana particularly enjoyed the second half of the show, where GFriend showcased more of its ballads.
GFriend also managed to squeeze in Hope, a song the six members wrote together for its Buddies, saying: “This is a song that we’ve written ourselves. Every word in the lyrics, we put our heart in it. Did you guys feel it?”
Based on the starry-eyed crowd, happy smiles, and school-boy shouts, local Buddies certainly felt the love from GFriend.
