On November 12, SNSD was only one of the many K-pop groups to make their way to the land down under for the 2011 K-Pop Music Fest in Sydney. The MBC-sponsored concert was held in celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Australia, and with swivelling crane cameras all around ANZ stadium to capture the event, it was broadcasted last night (Dec 4) in Korea.

 

MC YulTi made a special appearance at the concert, hosting the show from beginning to end with elegance and poise that we’ve seen through Music Core and previous hosting opportunities. Although the event was primarily hosted in Korean, Tiffany, who is fluent in both languages, was able to introduce groups in English for the audience.

 

Among the extensive lineup, SNSD performed ‘The Boys,’ ‘Kissing You’ (during which they threw roses out into the crowd) and ‘Gee’ (which was not aired). Yuri, Yoona, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung also performed a shortened version of the sexy SMTOWN Dance Break (the Pitbull/Michael Jackson routine) with fellow SHINee members Minho and Taemin for their special stage.

As someone who was present at the concert, it was pretty strange seeing them perform the very innocently cheerful ‘Kissing You’ in The Boys outfits. Regardless, it was a pleasant surprise, although I was pretty bitter that we didn’t get to hear Tiffany scream “SYDNEY, PUT IT BACK ONNNN!” which definitely would have made the already frenzied crowd go even crazier. Finally, although the concert saw more prepared collaborations (such as 4minute, Miss A and 2AM’s cover of Beyonce’s ‘Halo’), I’m gonna say that it was due to SNSD’s busy, busy schedule that they were unable to prepare something else.

 

Unfortunately at the very end of the concert, only four members (MCs Yuri and Tiffany, and Sooyoung and Jessica) came out for the encore, which was due to the fact that the other five were to appear on Inkigayo the following day to accept the Triple Crown (thus leaving the venue early).

 

The success of the concert in Sydney is just another testament to the Hallyu wave that’s steadily taking over the world. Hopefully the explosive response from Australians has enough leverage to prompt follow-up K-pop concerts down under, perhaps even an SMTOWN, and ideally a solo SNSD concert.

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Sources: monmonsnowSeason4@youtube.com, taenacity@youtube.com