3,000 fans streamed in armed with posters and lightsticks for the fan meet (Photo courtesy of Running Into The …
Hallyu wave idol Kim Hyun Joong redefined the meeting of fan-meetings at the Indoor Stadium on Friday night.
Call it gimmicky or impractical, but the Boys Over Flower star made the dreams of 3,000 fans come true that night when he high-fived and shook hands with all of them.
To his fans, some of who waited in line until midnight to go palm-to-palm with him, that was just the icing on the cake after a night of songs and games designed to melt the hearts of the hardest cynic in the audience.
Fans from the region turned up to support their idol. (Yahoo! Photos / Elizabeth Soh)
Fans streamed in as early as two hours before the meeting was scheduled to start, turning up with posters, green lightsticks, specially made t-shirts, and customised banners to declare their love for their idol.
Some had flown in from as far as Japan to catch Kim, and members of his fan clubs from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines also turned up in full force.
The theme of the night was based on Kim’s self-given moniker — the “Alien Prince” — and true enough, he appeared on stage in a luminous egg-shaped capsule after a slickly produced video introducing him as the “ruler of the universe” who felt “loneliness”.
Kim turns up in an orb as part of the ‘alien’ theme. (Photo courtesy of Running Into the Sun)
Kim then went on to perform a set of high-energy songs, psyching up the already frenzied crowd with songs like “Let Me Go” and “Break Down” , eliciting loud screams from the mainly-female audience when he pulled open his black blazer to reveal his toned, lean torso.
Kim showed why he was called the best dancer of ex-boyband SS501. (Photo courtesy of Running Into the Sun)
Kim then cooled off with with a series of ballads like crowd favourite ”Thank You”, a hit from his SS501 boy band days, and “Happiness is”, a classic Korean song that he covered for hugely popular Korean drama Boys Over Flowers.
The usually-reticent Kim also made several cringe-worthy attempts at speaking English to his fans by translating two lines of “Happiness Is” into “Happiness without you Baby/ I can’t even imagine it” and getting fans to sing-along, which they did with gusto, many even breaking into emotional tears.
As if that wasn’t enough for his already over-wrought fans, five lucky ones reached under their seats midway through the fan meet to find lucky yellow slips allowing them to play get-to-know-you games with the star.
Melting one lucky fan’s heart with a serenade and flowers. (Photo courtesy of Running Into The Sun)
One very lucky girl not only received a serenade and bouquet of flowers from Kim, who had changed into a more casual ensemble of t-shirt, jeans and Adidas sneakers, but got to cuddle up to him on a park bench a la Korean idol dramas.
The second part of his concert saw another series of videos and performances, including a special Boys Over Flower segment featuring theromance between Yoon Ji Hoo (played by Kim) and Geum Jan-Di (Gu Hye Sun) that catapulted him into fame.
Four songs and two encores later, the concert ended in a rousing rendition of casino-themed “Lucky Guy” , which saw him playing the role of a handsome cad surrounded by flashy cars and beautiful women.
Fans then waited patiently in line, some for as long as an hour, for the chance to high-five him — which he did, rewarding each and every one of them with a smile.
One young fan was visibly awestruck when Kim affectionately patted her face while shaking her hand.
With a set of 15 songs in total, slick videos, games, and the once in a lifetime opportunity to shake the hand of their dream man, it was clearly money well spent for his fans here, despite earlier controversy when Taiwanese fans claimed his tickets were too expensive.
“I would spend twice that for a chance to come so close to Hyun-Joong oppa (elder brother),” said Singaporean fan Jessica Teo, 19, who forked out $300 to buy her premiere seat from a middleman after they sold out. “It was so much more than a fan meeting, like a concert, but better.”