Boyfriend, who debuted in 2011, continued the stream of K-pop concerts in Finland. The concert held in May 22nd was not only
Boyfriend's first live in Helsinki but also its first in all Europe. However the group is not new to traveling abroad as they have previously visited United States and Latin America. The six member group consists of
Kim Donghyun,
Shim Hyunseong,
Lee Jeongmin,
No Minwoo and the twins
Jo Youngmin and
Jo Kwangmin.
Boyfriend began their show in an energetic way: for instance the dance-inducing hit
I YAH was heard among the first few songs. The young men performed in red-ish jackets, which they took off before performing
Don't touch my girl - refreshing their array on the spot.
Having warmed up the audience, the fans were asked the predicted question: "Who wants to be my girlfriend?"
Boyfriend's image is mostly romantic, soft and kind, even though within the last year or so their style has been developing towards a more mature style.
The solo performances of the members brought a lot of diversity to the concert. A fan was brought on stage and
Donghyun sang to her and gave her flowers - no wonder she looked clearly touched by all this. Later on, the concert shifted into a disco-like passage, ending with
Hyunseong ripping his shirt open for the rest of his solo act. His performance drove the fans wild but it also created a slight chip in the tone of the concert. The solo simply did not fully match the mood for the rest of the evening.
During the two hour live the audience was also treated with some humor. On the video screen fans watched funny commercial-like clips, where the members kept embarrassing themselves while doing sports, for example. After that, the fans got to watch videos that had a more serious sense. In these message videos, the boys pondered about the importance of their fans being a part of
Boyfriend. That seems to be very meaningful to the group, not to even mention the significance of fans - also called 'bestfriends'. In addition, the members played small games on stage alongside an interpreter who translated from Korean to English. Unfortunately, it was often difficult to hear him since the fans shouted while he was talking and surprisingly also the boys themselves kept obfuscating his voice. They are rather talkative young guys so every now and then they kept commenting in a fast pace right after each other, before the interpreter had any time to finish his work.
Later in the evening the concert calmed down for a row of ballads. In addition,
Boyfriend performed hits such as
Alarm and their cozy self-titled track
Boyfriend. The final song in the setlist was the fresh hit
Bounce, though after that the group did return for an encore, which ended the performance with
Good Night. The concert left a positive feeling. However, when looking at their releases, it does look like
Boyfriend is currently developing into something even more multilateral and artistic. We'll be hoping they'll have the chance to return to Finland and Europe at a later time.
You can check below pictures taken on stage published by Kanzen Music.
