Big Bang Returns with Concert Tour 'Alive'

Big Bang held the first concert of their world concert tour that presents live music along with a fictional story like a movie. There was an introductory comment, saying, "The world's best band had been kept in a freezer since 85,000 years ago, and it is the time that the entire world wants their music. It is time for Big Bang to return". The lights were all turned off, and the subtitles in LED lights appeared as if announcing the return of a superhero in a science fiction movie. The capsules in which the Big Bang members boarded appeared on the stage, and the five group members woke up and began to move right after the live music came on. The 13,000 audience members stood up from their seats and began dancing to the music while holding yellow cheering tools, and the venue heaved with the audience jumping up and down. It was the first scene of Big Bang's first world concert tour entitled "2012 Big Show-Alive", which was held at Olympic Gymnasium on March 2.

Advertisement

"Dream team's Participation to present live music" = Big Bang's world tour has been organized by world famous concert promoter Live Nation, which had organized the world tours of world famous pop stars such as Madonna, U2, and Lady Gaga. Live Nation formed a "dream team" by inviting the best agencies in the fields of direction, lighting, and sound for Big Bang's concert. The director Laurieann Gibson, who had directed Lady Gaga's tour entitled "The Monster Ball Tour", participated as a general director of Big Bang's concert, so people had the expectation that Big Bang would present extraordinary performances, but their expectation was not met. Gibson said before the concert, "This concert will focus more on the music and the group members rather than utilizing equipment to display splendid special effects. The key to this concert is the live performance of the group, unlike concerts by other K-pop stars". As he stressed, the concert focused more on presenting Big Bang's new songs included in their new album entitled "Alive" and their hit songs within a storyline.

Along with the live music performed by excellent musicians who had worked with other world famous stars, Big Bang made their bid for a successful performance with only their own music. G-Dragon said, "Big Bang tended to present shows that the group members could enjoy together with the audience at a close distance up to now, but this concert will be like a musical that has a storyline". Like what he explained, there was no scene in which the group members communicated with the audience. The members did not make many speeches and sang four to five songs at once instead. The stage direction highlighting special points of each song did not diminish the audience's attention. When G-Dragon and TOP (Choi Seung-hyun) sang the song "Knock Out", a lion mask doll, which appears in the traditional Korean Bonsan masked dance, appeared on the stage, and when they sang the song "High High", a huge Korean flag was hoisted. Dae Sung said, "A world concert tour is a very good opportunity to show Korean music and culture to people in every corner of the world".

In addition, Seungri came up onto the stage with a machine gun prop and shot beams of light at the audience, and Dae Sung "flew" with attached fake wings during his solo performance. Tae Yang took off his shirt and bared his upper body, which drew a roar from the audience. The lighting and video images completed the performance that never neared any possible monotony. The lighting set designer Leroy Bennett, who had participated in producing concert tours of Madonna, Paul McCartney, and the Eagles, designed the colorful lighting that danced to the beat of the music in perfect sync. And Possible Production, which had worked on the concert tours of Jay-Z and Eminem, provided background video to each performance including scenes of a city, ice canyon, dragon, fantastic forest, and underworld to connect each story. An English instructor from the USA said after watching the concert, "It was like watching a music movie thanks to the live music and storyline. Big Bang successfully showed that people from a different culture who speak a different language can become one solely through music". Gibson also highly praised Big Bang by saying, "I have worked with many artists such as Alicia Keys and Puff Daddy, but today I was impressed with Big Bang. Big Bang has a special charm as they have elements of a vintage past and the future simultaneously. They come close to the world's superstars".

◇ "Back to the basics by having a turning point with world concert tour" = Big Bang released their new album after a ten-month break, and they had had time for self-reflection before holding this concert because Dae Sung and G-Dragon were involved in causing a car accident and smoking marijuana, respectively, last year. During the press conference that was held on the day when the concert began, the group members addressed the negative opinion about their quick comeback and apologized, asking people to understand them. G-Dragon said, "We have given worry and disappointment to the pubic due to our own fault, and I think that it is our responsibility to make people have a favorable response to our group while having a feeling of anticipation about our activities, like before. We will be more careful not to disappoint your expectations of us. I am sorry, but I want you to give us another chance. We will only devote ourselves to present excellent music and to become a proud group". Dae Sung also said, "I apologize for causing confusion. I could reflect about myself during the time after the accident, and it was such a valuable time for me".

The members all agreed that they could go back to the basics while preparing their new album. G-Dragon said, "As a person and member of Big Bang, I could become a more mature person while going through those difficulties and I could go back to the basics. We contained our concerns and worries in this new album which was produced right after we experienced tough moments". The title of the album "Alive" means that Big Bang's passion, enthusiasm, and love for music are still alive. They confidently presented six songs including "Blue", "Love Dust", and "Bad Boy" in all different genres. The group members clearly revealed their goals. Tae Yang said, "Releasing a new album and holding a world concert tour will become a very good opportunity for us to leap forward. We anticipate becoming a group that receives great love from more people in many different countries if we can successfully finish our concert tour". G-Dragon said, "This world tour will become a turning point for Big Bang. We will first introduce our shows to the world, and then we hope that fans from overseas will come to us to watch our shows later. I hope that we can stand at the center of these days when the world can become one through music and when we can have a chance to popularize Korean singers and Korean culture".

Big Bang will continue their world concert tour in 25 cities in 16 countries beginning with their concerts in Seoul that were held until March 4.