G-Dragon's "Shine a Light" Concerts at Olympic Park Stadium

G-Dragon's 'Shine A Light' concerts took place on the 5th and 6th of December. Some fans were lucky enough to be able to attend both, but unlucky in that both days were incredibly cold and there was a lot of waiting around outside. The venue was the Olympic Park Stadium on the East side of Seoul, and as expected, the surrounding grounds were filled with VIPs. As is common at concerts these days, there was a large number of foreigners present.

After finding my way to the correct entrance for my standing section, I stood in line for thirty minutes before being ushered into the stadium. The fans closest to the stage get "seated" first, followed by the people "seated" behind. Due to the heightened security these days, getting the fans in takes longer than at previous concerts. While waiting for the concur to begin, we were treated to old music videos from G-Dragon's solo album, as well as some from fellow YG artists, 2NE1. These videos were set to loop continuously with small interruptions from the 11st Shopping Mall commercials featuring 2NE1. By the third or fourth time round, the fans were getting restless, but thankfully the concert started before too long.

Fans were thrilled that he opened the concert with Heartbreaker, albeit a remix version. As a matter of fact, the heavy rock beat of the remix version is actually better than the original when performed live. It feels far more powerful on a big stage with the dancers and the live band. Following on straight after was a performance of his previous solo song, This Love and it is still a firm crowd favorite. As soon as the music started up, the crowd reaction was strong and the fans started jumping in time to the music. The song was performed as a slightly shorter version than normal and it led very smoothly into Hello, featuring Dara of 2NE1. At this point, the crowd was alive as it had been and positively screamed the house down when Dara appeared on stage to join the performance. This performance was so impressive, it probably changed fan perceptions of the song, making it a favorite to see live. Dara looked fresh faced and beautiful as is so often the case and the chemistry between the two of them is very apparent. The entire performance had a very "fun" feeling to it and this was probably added to by the yellow jacket on show.

Gossip Man was the next song to be performed after a short interval and when G-Dragon returned to the stage, he was wearing a change of clothes and started almost immediately. Midway through the performance, he took a ride on a bathtub to the center part of the stage and continued the performance from there before returning via the same route. It wasn't immediately obvious what he was traveling on, but after sitting down in it, the fans further away could see it up on the main screen.

One of the most interesting "performances" was the G-Pod performance in which a giant iPod was projected onto the main screen and G-Dragon appeared to control it by moving his arms. Whether or not this was prerecorded or he had some sort of movement sensor on his person was unclear, but the effect was very impressive and it gave him the opportunity to perform some songs from his past before finally settling on a full performance of A Boy. This song is one of my favorites and when the music started, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of choreography and movement around the stage. I was not disappointed. G-Dragon and his backing dancers kept the movement around the stage to a minimum but the fans were treated to G-Dragon's short "Michael Jackson Tribute" - something that has become a trend this year among Korean singers.

Next to perform was Child, a less familiar song and one from his past. The performance was quite standard and despite the fan's enthusiastic reactions, they seemed to be anticipating a return to his new songs. They didn't have to wait long because one of the most anticipated songs of the night, The Leaders, was next and both CL and Teddy joined G-Dragon on the stage to perform what was arguably the most energetic showing of the night. CL was sporting the black leotard, boots and leather jacket that had been shown on her me2DAY and Teddy was dressed entirely in white to contrast.

The concert continued with a remix version of Breathe. The song didn't seem to get as warm a crowd response from fans during his appearance on TV shows, but the fans made some noise when the music started and G-Dragon started singing. The remix version had a slightly different arrangement and tempo, but was quite similar to the original. I was expecting a little more movement considering the choreography for his TV appearances, but he was quite tame and only had some simple interactions with the backing dancers. That was until Aimee Lee Lucas entered and was tied to the bed that had been placed in the center of the stage. The future controversy surrounding this event wasn't evident at the time and the fans were screaming in delight with the two figures on stage writhing around with each other.

The end of this song marked the half way point of the concert and gave G-Dragon a chance to change and get a rest. The fans were treated to a parody video featuring fellow BIG BANG members Seungri and Daesung, among others. The video focuses mainly on G-Dragon and Seungri interacting in a variety of different situations and starts with the two of them shoe shopping in a typical store. Seungri decides to use his charm to gain a discount and approaches Minji, the store clerk. A flash of his smile and a wink later, he comes away with a discount on his shoes. He looks back at G-Dragon and smirks, only to see G-Dragon get an even bigger discount from her. This playful style continues in the next scene where they're both waiting outside and Seungri looks around at the graffiti on the wall, trying to find a mention of his name. After finding one, he notices that there are far more for the leader and decides that he's going to try his hand at leaving his own message. G-Dragon calls him on this and tells him to look after Gaho while he goes to work on the concert.

Seungri and Gaho are upstairs in the apartment when Seungri decides that he's going to venture into the closet to try on some clothes and pretend to be G-Dragon. While trying on the clothes, he dances in front of the mirror and rips a pair of the pants. Obviously worried, he quickly puts them back and runs out of the closet to be met by the returning G-Dragon. There is no lying to him and it is eventually found out that the pants have been ripped. This leads G-Dragon into a rage and he attempts to get his revenge on Seungri, but is halted by the promise of a date with a beautiful woman. After a second's thought, G-Dragon decides that he'll go on the date and he goes to get ready. The video cuts to G-Dragon arriving at a cafe with CL cleaning the menu board at the front. They look at each other and flirt for a second before he enters, only to return to take another look before sitting down. Dara and Daesung are sitting inside at a table by the window, while Seungri is sitting at a table in the middle waiting for G-Dragon to arrive. Upon arriving, G-Dragon has a look over his shoulder at the arguing couple by the window and Daesung takes offense to this and calls him out on it. G-Dragon apologizes and Seungri introduces his blind date - one comedian, Shin Bong Sun. Suffice it to say, G-Dragon is not happy with what he sees and while gagging, he finds himself becoming more and more attracted to her. They leave together and the video ends.

After the lengthy video, the fans were starting to become restless and despite the chatter and laughter from the video, we were all ready for the concert to continue. G-Dragon returned to the stage, all in black with a large black bunch of material pinned to the front of his jacket. It was a very dramatic look and he sat down with a live band to perform Butterfly. It was a worthwhile performance of the song and a nice change of pace from his previous performances.

Switching things up again, G-Dragon continued with his own version of But I Love You and then into a remix version of She's Gone - another performance that caused controversy among Netizens. The performance of She's Gone was strong and dramatic on its own, but was bolstered by the video playing on the big screen. While running around after Aimee Lee Lucas, the video showed him stalking a girl around a garden maze and finally meeting her in the middle before stabbing and killing her in a psychotic rage. The music came back after the climax of the video and it was an incredible ending to one of the best performances of the night.

The guest appearances were slightly different on both nights. For the first night, Taeyang was the guest singer and performed some of his solo songs and also teamed with G-Dragon for Only Look At Me and Korean Dream. Both performances were incredibly tight and showed a very strong bond between them both as they interacted and pulled energy from each other.

On the second night however, SE7EN was present alongside Taeyang and he performed four songs, including La La La and a remix version. The noise was deafening due to SE7EN's long absence since attempting to break into the US market and his strong following among the YG Entertainment fans. It was a shame that SE7EN and G-Dragon didn't perform together at any point because that would have been an even greater spectacle for the fans.

The concert was winding down by this point and the final song for G-Dragon to perform was 1 Year 1 Station. I was expecting a remix of this song in particular, given the beat it has, but he sang the original track and while dressed in his strangely styled suit, he really showed that his vocal style works for his music. The performance was crisp and it seemed like a fitting end to the concert. However, after the song finished, the fans were treated to an appearance by the rest of BIG BANG who proceeded to join G-Dragon in singing Lies and Last Farewell. This was the noisiest performance of the night and made sure that the fans started to get excited about the upcoming "BIG SHOW 2010" concert.

After the performances and a short talk with each of the members, G-Dragon was alone on the stage again and finished the concert as he had started it a few hours earlier - with a remix version of Heartbreaker. This was the first solo concert I had attended and it really was an incredible experience. The fans and staff were very helpful and added to the atmosphere of the evening.