Super Show

Imagine yourself in one of Japan’s great baseball domes, but you’re not here for a game.  There are no bases, no diamond – instead the house lights are off and you’re surrounded by 30,000 twinkling blue lights.  Shrieks and yells of excitement fill the air, anticipation rising by the second.  Then, the stage turns red and nine silhouettes rise from the floor in a crescendo of screams and bass.  This is Super Show.

Super Show is the name of the tours of Korean boy band Super Junior, this one being their fourth.  Part of one of Korea’s largest entertainment companies, SM Entertainment, Super Junior debuted in 2005, and at its peak was claimed to be the largest boy band in the world at thirteen members.  Currently the group has nine active members: leader Leeteuk; Yesung, Kyuhyun, and Ryeowook as main vocals; Sungmin, Siwon, and Donghae as vocals; and Eunhyuk and Shindong as rappers, with the latter three also acting as the group’s main dancers.  There are also two members who participate only in their Mandarin sub-group, Super Junior M: Zhou Mi as main vocals and Henry as back-up vocals and dancer.

Imagine if the Backstreet Boys and Nsync joined together to form a super group to conquer Asia – the group is not only one of the most well known in Korea, but also is also a big part of the hallyu phenomenon, the quickly growing Korean wave of exported pop culture and music.  Super Junior has enjoyed popularity and commercial success in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and, of course, Japan.

Their music ranges from catchy hip-hop and electropop, to silly bubblegum pop, to moving ballads.  What’s also great about Super Junior is that not only are they great at singing and dancing, but they have a lot of other talents – we’ve got actors, radio and television MCs, and comedians.  All of these skills are put to use for their live performances.  They also don’t always take themselves seriously – they know how to be silly just as much as they know how to be sexy or charming.

Having been hit by the Korean wave myself, I grabbed three of my friends and headed to Super Show’s Japan stop at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka.  Honestly, I was a little worried about whether they would like the show at all.  Two of them were familiar with Korean pop (K-pop for short) but not necessarily interested in Super Junior, and one of them had almost no experience with K-pop at all.  I had enjoyed Super Junior’s performance at SM Town, a live show that showcases all of SM Entertainment’s artists, but I wasn’t sure if my friends would enjoy what Super Junior brought to the stage.  To my surprise, however, they enjoyed every minute of the four-hour-long show.

The show opened with one of their new songs, “Superman,” and I couldn’t have been more pleased – the song is epic, with martial-like heavy bass and brass line.  It’s like a military roll call showcasing each of the members’ talents and personalities.  It gave the group great presence and set the mood for the beginning of the show.   From there the group did a couple more of their new dance numbers, impressing my friends and the audience with their complex choreography.

But when it came time for the members to introduce themselves, what we got was an adorable bunch of dorks.  They all stumbled through their self-introductions in Japanese by looking at cue-cards.  Nearly every member said something corny along the lines of “boku wa kimi no mono.”  The crowd laughed, but was charmed.

To go along with the change in mood, they went into some of their more lighthearted songs.  They walked on treadmills for their song appropriately titled “Walkin’.”  For their song “Oops” they were accompanied by one of SM Entertainment’s girl groups, f(x).   In the song, some of the members tell outrageous lies about themselves through rap.  Well, except for member Heechul, whose verse was outrageous because it was actually true.  His part was pre-recorded and played via jumbo-tron because he was absent due to recently beginning his mandatory military service (all South Korean males are required to serve in the military for two years).  What was really nice about this bit was that everyone on stage saluted while his part was playing.

What came next was probably the most enjoyable part for us few English speaking members of the audience – the solos.  Each member, including the two from Super Junior M, prepared a song to perform by themselves, and most of them choose English songs.  Super Junior M member Henry (who is actually from Canada), did a Bruno Mars medley along with dancing and playing the piano and violin.  Kyuhyun did Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” on keyboard and harmonica.  Ryeowook did Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” complete with sexy choreographed dance.  Leeteuk did “She” by Charles Aznavour and delighted the crowd with saxophone and piano.  The charm didn’t end there as he threw roses into the crowd as he moved around the arena.  Comedian member Shindong surprised us and made us laugh with a dance remix of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” which featured pop and lock choreography.

After some more fast-paced, dance heavy group numbers, the solos returned, including Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” performed by Super Junior M member Zhou Mi, and “Kiss Me” performed by Yesung (who also threw roses into the crowd).  Admittedly each member’s English was a little accented, but you could tell that a lot of effort was put into each performance and we enjoyed each one.  What was kind of neat was that one of my friends noticed that the Japanese girl sitting next to her kept looking over at us each time someone performed an English song to gauge our reactions.  It was nice to have that little advantage.

There were some other hijinks that were especially fun for us.  For their song, “Good Friends,” the premise was that the members had all been good friends in high school but had gone their separate ways, then they reunited for Super Show to form a band.  Where this got wacky was that each member donned a different persona for the band complete with costume.  We had Hulk Hogan, Gollum, Charlie Chaplin, Superman, Steve Jobs, Chuckie, Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, and a giant chicken.

They also did an autotuned cover of “do rei mi.”  Before everyone came out to perform the song they played a movie trailer for The Sound of Super Junior.  The von Trapp children (played by seven of the Super Junior members in lederhosen made from rejected drapery fabric) romped, rolled, and punched each other amongst rolling green hills under the supervision of their nanny Maria (Shindong in drag).  The antics continued when everyone came out on stage for the actual song.  At one point Shindong-Maria even attempted to kiss the Captain, played by Siwon.

By the end of the show the members were exhausted, but still going strong.  We had seen everything from cool, sexy, and flirty, to charming, cute, silly and even downright ridiculous.  It was a little sad to finally see it come to an end, but we definitely went home happy.  I’d tell you something along the lines of ‘you should experience Super Show for yourself,’ but sadly that may not be a possibility.  Super Junior will more than likely be going on hiatus since terms of military service are fast approaching for some of the members.  But sub groups and individual members will definitely continue activities, and there is always their extensive discography and DVDs to check out.  Give them a try – I think you will be entertained.