Touted as the concert of the year, the highly anticipated SMTOWN Live World Tour III in Singapore proved to be a record-breaking feat. Last night, the first ever commercial concert to be held at the Floating Platform kicked off to a 24,000-strong crowd.
With a total production value of more than S$5 million, and a stage set-up which took 96 hours to complete, the concert which featured some of the biggest names in K-pop proved to be nothing short of spectacular, as expected of SM Entertainment’s standard.
The popularity of KangTa, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, f(x) and EXO are unmistakable as it was earlier reported that the queue for the free-standing moshpits began as early as one week before the concert, and the fans did not go home disappointed.
Though one of the big screens failed to work halfway through the concert and never did recover, and though the lightings seemed mismanaged during certain songs such as Super Junior’s Superman, it is the artistes’ energy and dedication to their craft that made up for everything that was lacking technical-wise.
Pyrotechnics such as laser lights, revolving stages, water elements and mobile carts that carried the artistes around the huge concert venue have always been the highlight of SM Entertainment’s concerts. Combined performances by artistes from different groups like the Dance Battle are a hit with the fans as usual. It was a sight to behold, as the lightsicks of different colours (representing different fan clubs) filled the venue in neon rainbow shades.
Just as the idols were thankful for the downpour which subsided before the show, it started raining heavily towards the last six songs of the concert. The artistes were drenched but they still tried their best to sing and dance on the slippery stage, and the fans were soaked to the knees despite their ponchos but few chose to leave.
It was one touching moment as all the artistes came on stage for the finale song Hope, when the rain suddenly became a drizzle and eventually came to a halt, and the die-hard fans were rewarded with plenty of fan-service and splendid fireworks display.
Rain or shine an event it was, with the artistes giving their all and the fans giving their support to their idols until the very end of the concert.