EXO glows in Olympic Park concert

By Chung Joo-won

SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean boy group EXO shined at the Olympic Park stadium with a rich performance on Sunday, despite the absence of an injured member.

Eight members of the K-pop band -- Suho, Chanyeol, Xiumin, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, D.O. and Sehun -- performed a total of 37 songs, three talk sessions and three video sessions in the third day of the group's Seoul concert, "EXO Planet #3 - The EXO'rDIUM." Kai only partly joined the six-day concert, set to run July 22-24 and 29-31, due to an ankle injury.

The three-hour concert set out with a special movie clip, in which the EXO members are portrayed as supernatural demi-gods who represent different elements of nature, such as fire, water, earth and woods. The fans screamed frantically as their favorite members showed up on the screen, standing high on the Egyptian Sphinx, rescuing an innocent girl in Vietnam War and protecting a little boy from hurricane.

"I think we will show more than enough of what EXO has in store," said EXO's D.O. at the start of the concert.

EXO's concert flaunted a main stage, 66 meters long and 13 meter wide, and a giant movable stage, in addition to the runway-style linear stage and six live screens. The highlight of the stage effects came with the fourth song, "White Noise," with EXO members dancing under a 15-meter curtain of artificial rain.

The audience apparently made the largest "stage effect," changing the color of their glow sticks from white to red, as well as blue and green, in a show of solidarity for the group.

Between the seventh and eighth song, "Unfair" and an acoustic medley of hit songs "My Lady," "My Turn To Cry," "Moonlight" and "Call Me Baby," the eight performing members ushered Kai onto the stage in his wheel chair. The injured member fell and hurt a ligament during a recent rehearsal for the concert. The grim-faced singer apologized to the audience about the mishap, apparently holding back tears.

"My face got so swollen because I cried so much after the injury," Kai said, amid cheering fans. "The X-ray says my bones are okay except for the ligament of the same leg that was hurt a while ago. I'll try to get well soon and return to the stage."

The EXO frenzy turned up even wilder towards the second half, with some of EXO's greatest hits "XOXO," "Overdose" and "Growl."

For the twenty-first song, a trio of Xiumin, Chanyeol and Sehun staged a new hip-hop piece "Gachihae." Tentative titled "Together" in English, the song was first unveiled at the Seoul concert.

Towards the end of the evening, the stadium turned into a club, as the members shouted "Jump, jump," to the audience. At an EXO concert, everyone gets sweaty.

S.M. Entertainment, the organizer and management agency of EXO, estimated that about 84,000 concert-goers would surge to the six-day concert.

The concert comes after the K-pop idol group released its third full-length album "EX'ACT" in June.

Since its debut in 2012, EXO quickly became popular among its Asian fan base, raising K-pop's presence in the global music market.

jwc@yna.co.kr
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