The lights dim in The EagleBank Arena, instantly, the arena glows with hues of pink, silver, green, and aqua as the lightsticks of the 10,000 fans in attendance wave to the beat of SuperM’s debut song Jopping. SuperM is the product of combining the members from four of the most prominent groups under SM Entertainment; Taemin from SHINee, Baekhyun and Kai from EXO, Taeyong and Mark from NCT 127, and Ten and Lucas from WayV. This type of group is the first of its kind in that it is more than a mere collaboration, it’s a “supergroup” that is working to become one of the faces of the KPOP revolution which is taking the world by storm. When you assemble a dream team of KPOP legends like SuperM, there are high expectations due to the superior reputation that each of them has in their own respective areas. SuperM definitely delivers when it comes to the public’s high expectations of them as performers, however the show itself left a different impression overall.
“Don’t think about anything, just feel the music!” Baekhyun said.
The DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) area is a new territory for many KPOP groups and SM Entertainment artists are no exception. However, as the market for KPOP has expanded and the demand for concerts have grown, SM Entertainment and Capitol Records saw the potential of their newest creation, SuperM, and decided to test the waters by adding a D.C. stop on their first tour. When SM Entertainment announced that SuperM would be going on tour, fans were over the moon, but it’s safe to say that some were skeptical. Considering that their mini album contains only five songs, many fans were wondering, ‘how will they put on a show with so few songs? And ‘How long could the concert possibly be?’ These types of questions added to the suspense and mystery of what the concert would hold. During their We Are The Future Tour, not only did they perform all of these songs, but each member was given a representative solo to showcase their individual talents.
The show started with SuperM’s powerful performance of “I Can’t Stand The Rain”. This was a perfect way to start the show as it gave every member a chance to shine. When the song ended, Taemin, the most veteran member of the group, took the stage with a remix of “Sherlock” by SHINee and “Danger” from his first mini album Ace. This was followed by the Korean version of his Japanese song “Goodbye”. Immediately after Taemin, Taeyong, along with a few background dancers, captivated the audience with his self-produced song “GTA,” which he later explained stands for “Grand Trouble Artist.”
When the members took center stage and got closer to the audience, they took the time to do their formal introduction and show off their English skills. Baekhyun, the leader, started off the greeting; “Hi guys, we are SuperM!” they said excitedly as they beamed, their eyes filled with a mixture of pride and astonishment. “Are you guys ready to party tonight?” Ten said, hyping the crowd up. “Thank you for coming. Don’t think about anything, just feel the music!” Baekhyun said, which resonated with a lot of the fans in the crowd. Most KPOP fans are not fluent in Korean, they simply go to concerts to see their favorite idols and to enjoy the atmosphere; and Baekhyun reiterated just that. Mark, who is fluent in English, gave the fans a little anecdote and said, “We were all really excited cuz we all thought we were gonna see the capital of America, Washington D.C., but it seems like we’re just nearby.”
After the introductions, Ten took the stage and performed his two songs: his expressive dance piece, “Dream in a Dream”, and the more vocally focused “New Heroes.” Lucas came on next with the catchy unreleased tune “Bass Go Boom” and got everyone up and dancing. Baekhyun, the vocal representative of the group, was the next member to perform as he gifted fans with his songs “Betcha” and his solo debut song “UN Village.” Later into the show, Mark and Kai took the stage separately to perform their unreleased solo tracks “Talkin Bout”, and “Confession,” respectively. After each member got their solo, the rest of the concert focused on the group numbers.
They sang “Dangerous Woman,” and “With You”, two special songs that hadn’t been released yet. These songs showed the members’ playful side and allowed them to interact with fans. The fans were delighted to see all the members come back together again for the performance, but it was hard for the fans to meet their energy since they couldn’t sing along to the new tunes. The next songs were their upbeat and easy-going song “2 Fast”, Ten and Taeyong’s duet, “Baby Don’t Stop,” and one of the most anticipated songs of the night, “No Manners.” Although these songs were all considered to be crowd favorites, it only furthered the idea that the concert lacked unity. For example, “2 Fast” and “No Manners” are unit performances and only featured four of the seven members.
This review is coming from someone who is an avid KPOP aficionado and has seen SHINee, EXO, and NCT live many times. I love each and every member and I was so pleased to see their talents combined as a super team. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the concert seemed more like an SMTown event than a SuperM event. Therefore, I would give this concert filled with KPOP Olympians a silver medal this time. When the members were saying their goodbyes, they mentioned that they would be back with a better performance. I believe that when they do come back with more songs under their belt, we can see their true potential and chemistry that they have as a group. I look forward to awarding them that gold medal that we all know they are capable of receiving.
This review was written by Taryn Burress of the KPOP-TV blogger team.
