and lived to tell a tale of awesomeness and multi-sensory overload 😉 !The day started innocently enough, with a typical sunny Singapore morning, a sudden heavy tropical rain shower in the afternoon that threaten to put a damper to the night’s Soshi concert event, before clearing up to a nice cool evening as the sun began to set (the power of 9 at work here :lol:?).

Well, after a slight delay on my part, I finally made it to the Singapore Indoor Stadium and met up with Abie (EnnéaAngélous) to pick up my official SK T-shirt (yay !) and handover the moshpit ticket which I managed to get for him. Since it was approaching the start of this long-awaited Soshi event, we decided to part ways then to enter the stadium ( I got Terrace seating courtesy of Soshified SG).

After I made my way to my designated seat, this is what greeted me whan I sat down:

Recognise the structure in the photograph ? Yup, it’s the awesome-looking stage device used by the 9 ladies during the Genie introduction song at the start of their 1st Girls’ Generation Japan Tour Concert event 😀 ! This was beginning to look good indeed !

To prep the S-SONEs up for the fan-event later ( the pink Kallang wave), the organisers were showing the pre-recorded Yahoo! Singapore Entertainment video giving detailed instructions on how the event should be carried out. Other videos shown pre-concert were the usual advert stuff by the concert sponsors (F&N, Samsung, Korea Tourist Promotion Board).

As the time approached for the concert to start, we could literally feel the heat rising, such was the anticipation felt by all present. Well, as expected, it soon exceeded the official concert start time :(, but, when the lights finally dimmed and the introduction video started on the 3 big video screens, it was as if I was present at the Japan concert event itself (they basically used the same concept-personally I’m glad for that as it’s my favourite so far 😆 !).

To put it mildly, I was blown out of my mind from the start. The Girls looked Awesome in the videos and the catchy soundtrack just sort of fueled the anticipation of the audience.

Finally, the covers came off the central pyramid structure amid a blast of laser lights and pyrotechnics, the structure walls came down and the 9 earthly angels were finally revealed 😀 ! “Sowoneul malhaebwa” by Taeyeon drove the entire stadium wild !!!

From that point on, yours truly was totally lost to the “soshi-effect” as the mesmerizing effects of a full-fledged Soshi concert took over all present. To say I was fan-boying is a real understatement 😉 ! I had my lightsticks (yeah, I had 2 , one with Tffany’s name on it :)) waving the entire 3 and a half hour concert, pausing only for a few minutes to catch my breath.

I personally felt that we Singapore SONEs were pretty fortunate because SM actually combined the best elements of the Korean and Japanese concerts for us (right down to the interval videos), plus adding in goodies like “The Boys”, “Snowy Wish” and “Mr. Taxi (Korean version)”. My ultimate high: finally getting to see and hear their debut song “Into The New World” and “Fantastic” performed Live (WooHoo !)

The song list for the concert (in order of appearance):

1.Genie
2.You-A-Holic
3.Mr Taxi (Korean version)
4.I’m In Love With The Hero
5.Let It Rain (Japanese Version)
6.Kissing You
7.Oh!
8.Snowy Wish
9.Dont Stop The Music – Hyoyeon [solo]
10.Almost – Jessica [solo]
11.Three – Sunny [solo]
12.Lady Marmalade – Tiffany Taeyeon [solo]
13.The Great Escape
14.Bad Girl
15.Run Devil Run (Re-mixed)
16.Beautiful Stranger
17.The Boys (English version)
18.Hoot (Re-mixed)
19.If – Yuri [solo]
20.Sway – Sooyoung [solo]
21.Stuff Like That – Seohyun [solo]
22.4Minutes – Yoona [solo
23.Danny Boy
24.Compete
25.My Child
26.Naengmyun
27.Hahaha
28.Gee
29.Forever
30.Into The New World [encore]
31.Himnae (Way To Go) [encore]
32.Fantastic ! [encore]

Well, it seems the “ninja-fancammers” that seem to be present at every K-Pop concert made no exception for the Singapore Soshi one too (despite the strict security present then ;)). As catfatcat has so kindly compiled the currently posted fanpics and fancams of this awesome event for all to appreciate (with more appearing online as we speak), I’ll just restrict my fan account to my personal impressions of the 2-day event :).

First off, the 9 ladies are really, really, really naturally beautiful in person (yes, I know that I am gushing here, but, like I mentioned in the initial statement above, it was a visual, aural and mental overload for me 😀 !). From the word “go” with the start of the introductory video, followed by “Genie-Tell Me Your Wish”, it was Soshi-heaven all the way for the next 3 hours. I can honestly say that I gave my right arm a full 6-hour workout over the entire 2-day concert, waving my dual lightsticks (yes, I used 2 ;)) non-stop and singing along to every song.

Next, for the whole 2 days, our dear Ti-Manager was in full control of the proceedings on stage (by virtue of her excellent command of the English language [with her, oh, so cute California girl accent to boot]). Since Singapore is a mainly English-speaking environment, she assumed the role translator for the ladies and unofficial cheerleader to get the SONEs present all pumped up for the night’s festivities. Not only that, when, on the 1st night, some overly enthusiastic “gift-giving” – via flinging the said items on stage, from SONEs, was just an accident waiting to happen, our dear Tiffany actually took the initiative to inform the audience in the moshpits, in her sweet voice, not to throw “gifts” onto the stage, as someone could fall and get hurt in the process. Besides, she added sweetly, the ladies were not supposed to retain these gifts anyway.

Sadly, concert excitement overtook common sense and apparently Seohyun got hit by, luckily, only a fan towel , and Hyoyeon by a sponge sunflower toy, all flung by overexcited fans onto the stage :(. More frightening was nearer the end of the concert, during “Fantastic”, where a large yellow smiley face narrowly missed the Girls’ faces. Thankfully, on the 2nd day, commonsense (and tighter security, I presume) prevented a repeat of the incidents. Personally, I don’t think that is the way to gain your favourite idol’s affection at all.

But, you’ll never guess who was the next frequent English speaker over the 2 nights: would you believe Sooyoung 🙂 ?!! Yup, our dear Shikshin has certainly progressed from her “I like Black men” days to being able to carry-out full conversations in the Anglo-lingo :lol:. Kudos to our dear girl for her great linguistic improvement. I especially loved it when she said, after our extremely successful fan-event (getting the entire stadium to hold up paper signs after the 9 ladies had finished singing “Complete”- all credit goes to Soshified for organizing this):

Sooyoung actually quipped “SONEs make our (Soshi’s) lives Complete” ! That was one of the most touching moments that 2nd night of the SNSD concert, in my humble opinion.

Soshified actually planned 2 events, the 2nd one being the pink “Kallang Wave“. Sadly, the excitement of the concert put paid to that initiative rather quickly :(.

Speaking of “touching” moments, who present can forget the Taeny proposal moment at the “thank-you” part of the concert. Taeny is real indeed 😀 !

But, seriously, seeing the 9 ladies doing that spontaneously on stage reminds us (and me) why we all love them so much: they absolutely have no airs about them and are willing to act dorky for the moment, professional image notwithstanding ;).

Fan service-wise, the 9 earthly angels were heaping it out in spades to all the lucky SONEs fortunate enough to catch their eye whilst they were circulating around the stage during the entire concert. Unfortunately for me, I never had the opportunity presented to me (seated to far away, and in front of too many enthusiastic SONEs :(). Ah well, maybe the next time around, eh 😉 ?!!

Speaking of which, I personally think we S-SONEs did full justice to the Girls when I believe we gave the best fan chant for ” The Boys” (English version) when it was performed on both nights of the concert. Being their latest hit single, this concert is the very first time that the song was included in the songlist line-up for any solo Soshi concert. Thus, when the entire stadium echoed “GG” and “TRX” at the beginning of the song, it really took the 9 ladies by surprise :lol:. In fact, the refrain was so loud that people on the main road in front of Kallang Leisure Park (a good 800m away) could hear it clearly, such was its volume and intensity.

Don’t believe me ? Just listen to this awesome fancam taken during the song itself 🙂 :

One other thing that I felt that we S-SONEs did right was that we never, ever let the noise and excitement level dip below a certain level, singing along to every song that the Girls put forth for us for those 2 unforgettable nights, even though a fair bit were from their Japanese album. Ah, the distinct advantage of living in a multi-cultural society.

Proof of my statement ? Read on: Xinmsn report–Girls’ Generation Brings The Fans Out

All in all, it was indeed an unforgettable, mind-blowing experience for myself (and, I’m pretty sure, for many of the SONEs present there too) attending the entire 2-day concert by our 9 beautiful, talented ladies. I got to meet great fans (even had a chance to meet the guy who runs the Fanwonder blog site. He actually knows who I am and has read some of my articles posted here :D), managed to get myself featured online 😆 and literally had the chance to sing along with thousands of like-minded souls to our favourite SNSD hits.

Finally, a chance to see a few of my favourite songs performed live (“Into The New World”, “Hoot”, “Mr. Taxi”, “The Boys”, “Let It Rain”, “Genie”, “Gee”, etc.), not to mention taking part in expressing out loud the Soshi motto: 지금은 소녀시대 , 앞으로도 소녀시대 , 영원히 소녀시대 (” Right now it’s Girls’ Generation , From now on it’s Girls’ Generation , Forever Girls’ Generation “) makes this experience, in the words of the Visa credit card advertisement, “Priceless” 😆 !

(By the way, all SK staffers will be happy to know that I proudly wore the official SK T-shirt throughout the concert on the 2nd day :D).

The End of A Great Soshi Event

(Just in case you need more Soshi-related material to spazz over, here are some links to the xinmsn articles and videos on our 9 ladies during those 2 awesome nights of Soshi-goodness. Enjoy ! )

SNSD Interview Article

Girls’ Generation on fans, romance and challenges

Concert Videos

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=7bfed866-d5fc-519b-331a-684b6cda9ce3

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=4fc60964-ff8b-db19-f7a9-f645c5fc8758

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=ec832fcc-e558-a4ae-c902-342c09b2a769

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=a6af593c-11ec-17b1-19f3-976f736d9028

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=01230579-c2d6-94b5-2fce-95493b261f19

Press Conference Videos

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=3ea643b6-167f-1bd5-1642-8cc7eb5fdf9d

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=7f5d3d3b-1c56-82f0-0fb7-e81dead172f7

http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&vid=1ba2591d-24ae-a391-5b37-1149d66fa215

by: Kenneth@snsdkorean

sources: xinmsn, cedge@soshified.com, theonlydrugxx@youtube.com