[Event Coverage] CNBLUE Back In Malaysia, A Memorable Night For Malaysian BOICE!
“The 10 year wait was truly worth it!” said a Malaysian Boice, after the 3 hour plus concert by CNBLUE on Saturday. The 2024 CNBLUENTITY Asia Tour in Kuala Lumpur, but famously named by Malaysian fans as CNBLUE Balik Raya (CNBLUE came back for celebration), as the concert is held in the Muslim Eid celebration month. CNBLUE last held their concert in Malaysia in 2014, and made an appearance for a store opening event in 2015.
The Mega Star Arena was packed with 5,000 fans donned in everything blue – be it a head scarf, accessories or clothes, including a small light given upon entry by the fan club. As the theme color was announced ahead of time by the South Korean band, Yonghwa, lead singer of CNBLUE even made a ‘fit check’ during their concert – with him mentioning all the blue things he has on.
CNBlue checking if everyone was following the theme color for the night..#CNBLUEinKL #CNBlueinMY#CNBLUENTITYinKL #CNBLUEBalikRaya pic.twitter.com/LdIM0Pxmny
— K-popped! (@k_popped) April 20, 2024
The band kicked off the show with ‘I’m A Loner’ and fans enthusiastically started singing along. The band continues on with ‘Love’, ‘Intuition’ and ‘Hey You’, and even though the lyrics are mostly in Korean, the fans were still singing along to every word. Testing the crowd, Yonghwa stopped singing for a couple lines, just to hear the fans singing along to every word – happy with the participation by the fans, the singer can’t stop smiling while he continues on performing.
Love love love!! Everybody clap clap clap!!#CNBLUEinKL #CNBlueinMY#CNBLUENTITYinKL #CNBLUEBalikRaya pic.twitter.com/Wc3Ov2HnSN
— K-popped! (@k_popped) April 20, 2024
During one of the breaks, the band conveyed their happiness of finally being able to perform in Malaysia again. “진짜 Mantap (great)!”, said Yonghwa after picking up the word from the fans who were in the front row. And that’s not the only Malay words used for the night, as both Jungshin and Minhyuk also picked up a few other Malay words and repeatedly using it to interact with the fans. “Amboi, hari ini cantik gila” (wow, everyone looks really pretty today), chimes Minhyuk from behind his drum set.
Not only using local words to interact with the fans, the band also pinky swear that they will come back soon, to perform in Malaysia. Yonghwa put up his pinky and said “Saya janji awak, because saya sayang awak” literally translated to “I promise you, because I love you”.
“Saya janji awak, because saya sayang awak”… a promise by Yonghwa to come back again.. #CNBLUEinKL #CNBlueinMY#CNBLUENTITYinKL #CNBLUEBalikRaya pic.twitter.com/Ief1snSDca
— K-popped! (@k_popped) April 20, 2024
As the show continues on, the band brought the fans further down memory lane with fan favourites such as ‘Imagine’, ‘Love Light’, ‘You’re So Fine’, ‘Cinderella’ and ‘I’m Sorry’.
After performing high energy songs, Yonghwa stopped and said “This year, I am 26 years old…”, erupting laughters from the fans. “No, actually in Korea, I am 36 years old this year, but performing in front of you, and your energy, we are young forever”. Yonghwa asked the fans to also sing along to ‘Young Forever’, with lyrics shown on the screen. With words such as “Can we go back, there’s no way back, we’ll stay young forever”, there’s not a single dry eye in the arena.
The highlight of the evening came with the encore session, which lasted for an hour. Not looking tired at all, the band performed an explosive performance of ‘Can’t Stop’ and further brought the arena into a frenzy. The fan club in turn surprised the band with a short heartfelt video expressing love and gratitude towards the band – which includes clips of each of the band members winning awards for either as a band, and also as solo performers, as all three are also known actors.
The encore then continued on with ‘Then, Now and Forever’, followed by ‘Love Girl’, as the closing performance.
Final song for the night.. Love Girl!!!#CNBLUEinKL #CNBlueinMY#CNBLUENTITYinKL #CNBLUEBalikRaya pic.twitter.com/r6DlhYWAb0
— K-popped! (@k_popped) April 20, 2024
In a time where performers mostly relied on backtracks and lip syncing to put on a good show, CNBLUE shows the power of a second-generation K-pop band. With Yonghwa’s power vocals, Minhyuk’s explosive energy and Jungshin’s boy-nextdoor charms, CNBLUE delivers, leaving the fans satisfied and wanting more. We would like to thank Lo-Fi Entertainment and Hit Maker Entertainment for the invitation.
