Concert Review: Saranghaeyo Indonesia 2017

Held on November 25, 2017 at Hall 5 Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), BSD City featuring Day6, Eric Nam, DEAN, Lee Hi, and iKON.

Well, well, well.

Look who's here reading into the first post on this brand new blog of mine. You're probably wondering, "Annete is blogging now?" The answer to that I actually don't know yet, as the sole purpose of all of this is for my digital marketing finals, so... you might want to stick around for a bit.

As you can see on the title, yes I am going to tell you my experience attending SHI 2017. What happened before, on, and after the show is going to be written in the next few paragraphs. So, please, bear with me. It's going to be a long one.

First of all, I did not even plan to watch the show in the first place even though it was tempting—there were DEAN and Lee Hi, come on. I wanted to save the money for Day6's fanmeeting in August, but I couldn't go anyway. I am still so bummed out. A month before SHI, they announced the last line up for the show and guess who it was? Yes, Day6. As if God wanted to end my sorrow.

Now, if you haven't caught up to the fact that I am their huge fan, I looked for a ticket in an instant and got my hand on someone's pre-sale pink. Apparently, the pre-sale has a queue number and mine's B9. Pretty good, right?

SHI 2017 was promoted by Mecima Pro, I assume many of you concert lovers know a few unkind and unprofessional things they have done in their past concerts. I've heard some myself and it made me anxious as my previous concert experience was almost a nightmare. Turns out they did pretty decent on SHI 2017, the queue numbering system was well-organized. There were no angry screaming crowd, the condition in the waiting dock was pretty chill and not overcrowded. Thankfully no one tried to be sneaky and cut the line or something this time.

I luckily got a secure spot by the front railing with a nice clear view of the stage. Off to a good start. The show begins about fifteen minutes late, but that's okay. Each performers got to perform five to eight songs and as I had guessed, Day6 opened the show with a bubbly feel-good song, I'm Serious and followed by one of my favorite—their entire discography is my favorite, but whatever—Dance Dance. They are clearly very experienced to put on a show, as I could see even non-fans jumping around to their music in excitement.

Next song is the emotional You Were Beautiful and Congratulations, as if they were telling us to cool down the atmosphere. Their ment was almost full in Korean, but thank God for Jae talking to the audience in English. Then, the unthinkable happened. They presented a song for Indonesian fans, Noah's Separuh Aku. They used their own rendition and sang beautifully—with a spot on pronounciation at that.

After that mindblowing experience, they lifted the mood up with the upbeat with a touch of electronica Sing Me. I sang and jumped so hard, my legs went numb. Their last song was Freely, the song to end almost their every concerts. Jae even ran down to the crowd area and started jumping around as well. Their performance felt like it went way too fast because of how amazing it was, started and ended with a banger. Worth every second of it.

On to the next performer, Eric Nam got on the stage with his dancers, singing his song featuring Timbaland, Body. Followed with You, Who, his collaboration with IOI's Somi. His interaction with the audience was cute and he talked in full English as well. The crowd sang along pretty well and he went to say thanks for the great birthday present happily.

After that, taking the crowd's request, Eric sang his collaboration with Tablo and Gallant, Cave Me In. The mood was chill and his high notes was on point. For the last three songs, he chose Into You, Oooh Oooh, and his most famous song, Can't Help Myself. He even taught and made us follow the dance moves. Thus, his performance ended and I surprisingly really enjoyed it. I hope more people would check out his music.

The third one to come on stage is DEAN. My friend was so pissed he didn't throw a solo show and I had to agree to that. His stage was beyond amazing and memorable. He opened with one of my favorites, Put My Hands On You, making the night feel euphoric. He proceeded to perform Fanxy Child and Where U At medley that got every body pretty much shook and hyped at the same time. His stage was full of lights play, it really boost up his performance. He also talked with the audience very casual and naturally. It was refreshing to see an artist so humble. Next up were What2Do and 21, DEAN successfully delivered his sweet vocals and charmed the pants out of every one.

The next song is Love, which got every one screaming the lyrics like crazy—including me. He did a lot of adlibs and I could see him enjoying the night as much as the crowd did. After that, he told us to turn on our phone's flash light and asked the operator to turn off the stage lighting so it was just our phones lighting up the room. DEAN proceeded to sing Half Moon in that atmosphere and everyone in the room sang along with our phones waving above our heads. It was so beautiful and yes I cried.

As the song ended, he announced his next and last song is I'm Not Sorry—my ultimate jam—so everyone was kind of disappointed. When the lights were turn off the crowd was asking for an encore and the wish was fulfilled. DEAN got back to the stage singing Bermuda Triangle remix, which was the definition of lit. Honestly, my hands were up in the air the whole time. By the time he went off the stage, I am so sure that no one was going to leave the place not stanning DEAN.

The fourth act was Lee Hi, it was her first solo performance overseas. As a big fan, I was afraid that the crowd may not be familiar with her music, but as she appears with the tear-jerker, Breathe, I was blown away. The crowd sang so loud, even she were on the verge of tears—not me, I was full on sobbing. Next, she sang Rose and World Tour; a song she had always wanted to come true, it was cute.

After that, she performed Hold My Hand, My Star, and her collaboration with AKMU's Suhyun, I'm Different. Three of my favorites in a row! Her voice is just out of this world, she sounded perfect live, and her adlibs were so elegant. Don't even get me started on her visuals, trust me, she is way more stunning in real life. She looked like a living doll. Oh, back to the concert, she ended her stage with 1, 2, 3, 4 and gave almost no time for the crowd to stop singing along. She was so thankful of our response and promised to come back to Jakarta in the future.

The last act for the night was iKON. I am not a fan of their newer releases, but I'm thrilled to say that their stage was definitely fire—figuratively and literally, those red bat light sticks, man. As I would expect, most of the crowd were there for iKON. So, the atmosphere went wild and people started screaming louder. It was chaotic. They came on stage with Start (Sinosijak) and Rhythm Ta, my doubt for them went through the window. Everyone was banging heads and hands along the loud bassline.

It was a little too loud for me, but then they continued with more relaxed songs, My Type and WYD. They spent a lot of time on the runway stage, one of them—Yunhyeong—even grabbed fan's phone and took pictures. I liked their vibe more this way. I wish they would promote with songs like this more. Next up were Bling Bling and B-Day, iKON's latest releases. The room got painted hot red again, the fan chants got to the loudest point. It was so surreal and funny, I just started laughing. Their last song was Dumb and Dumber, I was pretty sure everyone let out their last bits of energy on this one, as I could see some people looking like they wanted to started a mosh pit or something.

The night was over with a bang, and every second of it was a roller coaster of great music. Opened with Day6's stunning instrumental skills, Eric's sweet vocals, DEAN's nightclub session, Lee Hi's touching performance, and closed with iKON's eruption of energy, each and every artists brought down their best performance and I honestly can not pick a favorite—Well, it's Day6, I am biased. Saranghaeyo Indonesia 2017 was well done and executed. Although there were minor mistakes—like Lee Hi's VCR played too soon—the whole thing went pretty good. Hands down my best concert experience so far.

If you are reading this, then congratulations, you have reached the end of my SHI 2017 concert review. Agree? Disagree? Or you think that I missed something? My comments section are always open.

Until next time!

(Credits on the video belong to the rightful owners! My own videos sucked.)