Earlier on during the day, the Korean Cultural Centre hosted the London Korean Festival 2017. However, for the evening, Feel Korea returned to Olympia National to host the evening concert.
SEE MORE: [COVERAGE] London Korean Festival 2017
As the fans slowly piled into the venue, the concert started once the fans had all entered. The stage blasted K-POP music, as well as various videos in relation to Feel Korea. Fans would cheer for their favourites as they appeared on screen, as the stage alternated between Feel Korea videos and the groups’ MVs.
Thus the concert began as the fans anticipated which groups would enter. To reassure everyone’s safety, a staff member gave a short explanation regarding health and safety as well as guidelines to abide by in an emergency. Once the clarification was made, the Kukkiwon Taekwondo group returned to the stage from earlier (from the London Korean Festival) for another performance.
Once the Taekwondo performance had finished, the hosts Dan and Joel from the Korean Englishman YouTube channel, along with EXID’s Hani entered the stage. Dan and Joel was hosting the London Korean Festival for the KCCUK, but returned once again to MC for the Feel Korea concert. EXID’s Hani received endless screams from the fans as she stepped out on stage and she spoke to the audience in English.
The first act for the night was KNK! Tinkerbells were anticipating their entrance as the group opened with their debut song ‘Knock’. The group also performed their other 3 title tracks including: ‘Sun, Moon, Star’, ‘Back Again’ and ‘U’. KNK also teased the fans with the announcement of their next comeback on the 20th of July. The tall idols captivated the hearts of the fans at Olympia National, with their mature and handsome appeal.
Once the group had finished performing, the hosts returned, with EXID’s Hani who introduced her fellow co-member for a special stage performance. As the hosts left, EXID’s Hyerin, entered the stage to perform a rendition of Josh Groban/Westlife’s ‘Raise Me Up’. The song choice was made as a tribute for the hardships that London and the rest of the UK have been through recently. The emotional rendition, reached the hearts of the fans, sparking tears for many audience members.
Next up, SNUPER entered the stage sporting red, glittery, velvet jackets as they enchanted the fans with their stage presence. The group performed songs such as ‘Back Hug’, ‘Platonic Love’ as well as ‘It’s Raining’. For a short aspect of the show, one lucky fan holding a hand fan with a special heart keyring on it, was chosen to come on stage and perform with SNUPER. The lucky fan, Bex sat down on stage as SNUPER sang ‘Oh My Venus’ from the Korean drama from the same name. to serenade her. The members would take it in turns to charm her and win over Bex’s heart.
For the following performance, KNK returned to the stage to perform a rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud’. The sweet ballad caused the audience to sway in unison to the rhythm of the song, as the group demonstrated their vocal abilities.
The hosts return to announce the following act, however we found that one host was missing. It was none other than EXID’s Hani, who had gone back to her group to prepare for their upcoming performance. EXID came to perform with 4 songs including ‘Hot Pink’, ‘Night Rather Than Day’, ‘Ah Yeah’ and ‘Up and Down’. With the only girl group to attend the festival, the girls received an amazing response from the audience, as fans chanted to their songs as well as sang along with them.
Before we heard from the final group of the evening’s concert, we had a special stage from LoKo who collaborated with SNUPER to perform a number of BTS songs. The songs included ‘Danger’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Not Today’. SNUPER previously attended LoKo’s dance workshop on Friday the 7th of July to teach the selected participants BTS’ ‘Not Today’.
Last but least, the final performances held for the night were from the only and only, Highlight! After returning to the UK after their attendance at the United Cube concert in 2011, the group came back with their latest songs as well as their old BEAST songs. Highlight performed 5 songs including ‘Plz Don’t Be Sad’, ‘Calling You’, ‘Yey’, ‘Good Luck’ and ‘Beautiful Night’. Many fans were feeling nostalgic, as they had the opportunity to reminisce old BEAST songs (particularly as Highlight rebranded themselves from BEAST).
But what concert doesn’t have an encore? All the groups reunited together on stage to perform a final encore song. To commemorate the finale, there was balls thrown around the crowd, along with confetti in balloons! Confetti shot from confetti canons at the bottom of the stage, creating a beautiful impact. The groups (excluding Highlight who had just finished their performance) sported the ‘Feel Korea’ t-shirts as they came out on stage for the final hurrah!
Can you believe it? It’s already over… Let us know your thoughts below regarding the London Korean Festival and Feel Korea concert!
