For a band that doesn't come from Japan, Tohoshinki(DBSK) have already achieved a great deal.
2007 was the third consecutive year that they performed at A-Nation, the biggest pop festival in Japan, which is organized by Avex. This year DBSK performed at all the 7 concerts and KoME had the chance to see them live in Tokyo at the Ajinomoto Stadium on the 25th August.
Tickets for this festival are almost always sold out and on the way to the stadium it was already clear that the audience would be huge, as thousands of people were making a pilgrimage there.
Entrance was at 1pm and the first thing everyone did, after getting a small bag with stadium guide, program and lots of advertisements, was to find the merchandise booths in order to stock up on their favorite artist's stuff. Soon it was easy to distinguish the fans and surprisingly there were nearly as much people running around with Tohoshinki merchandise as the ones with Ayumi Hamasaki.
Finally, around 3pm, the opening act started and after performances by great Japanese artists like Anna Tsuchiya, Every Little Thing and the surprise act Remioromen it was finally DBSK's turn.
At the moment their name was displayed on the screen, the widespread DBSK fans became noticeable by waving with the obligatory (and considering the high temperature on that day also useful) fans and towels and holding up the red balloons, the trademark of DBSK's fanclub. Another remarkable thing was that at this point many people started to leave the stage area to most likely use this time and get something to eat, drink and spend a few minutes in the shade.
But the fans didn't care and neither did DBSK. Their performance began with their last summer single, Sky. Just like during their Five in the Black Tour the song started while the band was still behind the stage and the five members entered while Yoochun and Yunho were rapping the intro to the song, slightly changing the lyrics from "2006" to "2007". With this light hearted opening their half an hour in which to shine began. Last year they sang this as 4, as Yunho had been sick, but during this year's performance it was evident that the 5 boys were enjoying doing it together this time.
Straight away Choosey Lover followed. Despite the heat, burning sun and the hard dance choreographies all the five members managed to sing live perfectly as always and proved themselves worthy of standing on that stage and singing in front of such a huge audience. By using the whole width of the stage and running from left to the middle and the right, they tried to animate and include the audience.
After these two exhausting performances, DBSK were finally able to slow things down a bit with their touching ballad Lovin You. At this point, you could see people returning again and stopping in their motions, as if they were finally recognized the band that was standing on the stage. The sound system in the stadium turned out to be great, as every single line in Lovin You could be heard perfectly, even when it was nearly whispered sentimentally and also the 5 singers showed their professional harmonising abilities, making everyone in the stadium quiet down.
The second to last song for this day was Summer Dream and it was definitely the most funny and entertaining to watch. Besides the accurate dance performance and strong vocals, the 5 members kept smiling at each other and laughing into their microphones. In the middle of the song the seats were once again as full as they had been before and it seemed like the whole stadium was singing along and enjoying this summer day with the summer single that debuted on #1 in the Oricon Charts.
Last but not least, as their time came to a premature end (which is always a problem when you're having fun) with the powerful song O-Sei.Han.Go. For the last time, the audience was singing along and the O resounded ten times louder, so that people outside the stadium definitely heard it as well. At the end they thanked everyone and left the stage with huge, satisfied smiles on their faces.
Even they might be Korea's most popular band right now and even they have spent a long time in Japan to promote their music and have managed to always debut in the top 10 of the Oricon Charts, DBSK are still not as popular as other bands in Japan. But they are on the right way. Also, their Japanese has improved immensely and they were able to talk to the audience between their songs, to make jokes and raise a laugh.
So maybe soon enough they'll reach the top and we can expect to see them at the next A-Nation as well.
