MBLAQ’s first Asian tour in Jakarta 'daeblaq'

MBLAQ: (Antara/Agus Apriyanto)

“Only one word, daeblaq,” said Ghrena Anggayasti, one of A+, as fans of South Korean group MBLAQ (Music Boys Live in Absolute Quality) are called, after its Saturday’s concert at the Mata Elang International Stadium, North Jakarta. Daeblaq is a combination of daebak (awesome in Korean) and MBLAQ.

The group that kicked off its first Asian concert “The BLAQ% Tour” in Jakarta left the fans in awe despite several shortcomings in the implementation.

The concert was started 30 minutes behind the schedule of 7 p.m. and some photo journalists were only allowed to enter the venue after the third song Try was sang, while they were only allowed to take pictures during the first three songs.

However, thousands of MBLAQ fans who filled half of the venue did not seem to bother with the delay and enjoyed the entire performance as they waved their light sticks and screamed their lungs out during the two-hour show.

After several songs the group’s members; front man Seung Ho, G.O., Lee Joon, Thunder, and Mir, started to greet the fans and introduced themselves in Indonesian, prompted the fans to scream even louder.

The group later toned down the show with two ballad songs, followed by a solo performance of G.O, who sang Cracks of My Broken Heart.

Another solo performance of Thunder who sang Don’t Go came up next before members appeared on stage and sang the upbeat songs No No No and Cry.

MBLAQ keept its promises to make the first live performance of its single Wild, a duet song of Mir and G.O that had just been released last week.

Several songs were performed later by the group before the big screen at the center and two smaller screens at the right and left side of the stage showed Lee Joon’s activity starting from waking up, changing to dressing up in a zebra-motif suit and ending in an elevator before they appeared on stage in the exact same suit.

Joon, who played the teenage Raizo in an American action movie Ninja Assassin, then said “I’m looking for my girlfriend” and went down from the stage to select a girl, who would be brought on stage with him.

A lucky girl with a red headband written Joon’s name in Hangeul (Korean alphabet) was chosen to be his “girlfriend” when he sang Nan (I) a song popularized by noted singer Rain, who established MBLAQ in 2009 under his management company J.Tune Camp.

During the performance Joon, who seemed to be really aware of his charm, started to take off his shirt and seduced the girl by dancing around her. He also showed a little of his ballet dance skills.

The show wrapped up with encore songs including You’re my +, a new song that was performed for the first time in the concert.

“The show was worth all the efforts,” said Miranti Komariah, 47, who had come to the venue since 2 p.m.

She said all MBLAQ’s members had given their best for the show, which unfortunately gained a smaller audience than she expected.

“It was supposed to be witnessed by a larger audience given the all-out efforts that they had put into the show,” she said.