By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin
Korean boy band Infinite fulfilled their
pledge of making lasting memories with their Filipino fans upon their arrival
on Nov. 2 when they held their concert “2013 Infinite 1st World Tour: One Great
Step” at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.
Sungkyu, Hoya, Dongwoo, L, Woohyun, Sungyeol
and Sungjong headline the concert that ran for almost three hours, showcasing
their vocal talents and impressive dance routines.
“I missed you so much,” Hoya told the fans at
the concert.
Infinite opened the concert with “Destiny,”
the group’s latest single that won them awards on music TV shows in Korea.
They followed this with “Tic Toc” and
“Paradise” from their first studio album and its repackaged version released in
2011.
Other songs performed were “Wings,” “Inception,”
“She’s Back,” “Man in Love,” “The Chaser,” “Nothing’s Over,” “Cover Girl” and
“BTD.”
Infinite H’s Hoya and Dongwoo performed
“Special Girl” while Sungyeol and Sungjong sang “1/3.”
Other solo performances were from L (real
name is Kim Myung-soo), who did “Love U Like You,” and Woohyun, who sang
“Beautiful.” Group leader Sungkyu, meanwhile, performed “60 Seconds.”
Overall, Infinite performed more than 20
songs during the concert.
At one point during the concert, Sunggyu
announced, “We prepared one more special gift for you,” before performing their
rendition of the Filipino folk song “Bahay Kubo” to the audience’s delight.
The group obviously did their homework: Not
only did they speak in English throughout the concert to communicate with their
fans, they also greeted the audience in Filipino.
Fan Eunisse de Leon told Bulletin
Entertainment that her favorite concert moment “was when they rapped
one by one during one of the gaps. It showed their cool and charismatic side.”
Yhe-Yhe Peñaredondo recalled, “There’s my
bias L singing his solo performance with lots of ‘aegyo’ (cuteness), which he
rarely does. Another one was when members kept doing eye contact with us fans
that was really breathtaking.”
She nevertheless added that the most
memorable part for her involved a touching moment with Dongwoo, who actually
cried when the fans sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
Dongwoo is celebrating his 23rd birthday on
Nov. 22 and at the concert, members of his international fanbase Infinite
Updates and the Philippines’ JangDongwooPH and Infinite Philippines distributed
party hats and banners to the audience. What made the concert more special to
Dongwoo was having his parents in the audience.
Yhe-Yhe said, “His parents looked so happy
about it. All our efforts for his birthday project didn’t go to waste for we
met our goal of making him cry. Everything was worth it. It was truly magical.”
As they were saying their goodbyes, Hoya
exclaimed, “Thank you Philippine Inspirits. Thank you for making good memories
(with us)!”
Sungkyu gave huge props to the Manila fans,
saying, “Your support keeps us going all the time.”
He ended with, “Thank you Inspirits for
making this world tour possible. I can’t believe we are going to meet Inspirits
all over the world especially here with Philippine Inspirits. (We are) glad to
be here to hold a concert for you. I love you.”
The “2013 Infinite 1st World Tour: One Great
Step” in Manila was organized by the Araneta Group’s Uniprom Inc. and supported
byAsiana Airlines, Pepsi, Crowne Plaza, Astroplus, Myx, JAC Motors and When in
Manila.
To contact the author, send email to sangchusan(at)gmail.com
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