Many are the opinions that swirl around Jay Park: none of which deny his talent on stage. The South Korean singer and rapper has been in the music industry since before many of his fans were born, including one of the boys under his own label, More Vision, that he’s been working closely with, amongst others, to revitalise the industry he knows so well. Some think he’s had too much of a part in LNGSHOT’s careers, as if the 39-year-old is a man-crone trying to suck the youth out of the boy group, Mother Gothel style.
It’s more likely that the artists just really like working together. LNGSHOT have their music dad, while Jay Park gets to dip his toes in the boy group life again, 17 years after his departure from 2PM.
The K-Pop boy factories have increased their quality output in recent years, with the likes of Cortis and 82MAJOR genuinely bringing something fresh to the scene that isn’t just chant-choruses and “dark concepts” amounting to leather outfits and insincere roguishness. LNGSHOT, debuted under the hand of Jay Park, are another such group to defy this meagre fate. Consisting of the very young Ohyul, Ryul, Woojin and Louis, the group was putting out decent music from the beginning. And though it’s barely been a year, LNGSHOT’s careers are looking very promising. If the millions of regular streams aren’t a convincing factor, the sight of the stacked-out OVO Arena Wembley certainly was.
When the four opened the show in effortless streetwear and wet hairdos, we saw that Jay Park direction was paying off.
Of course, the boys aren’t going to be quite as stellar on stage as Park – who, might we reiterate, has been doing this longer than the youngest, Louis, has even been alive – and this was only more obvious when all five jumped on together for collaborative performances. But considering how young they are, and the fact that they only debuted this year, it’s impressive that the boys are on par with many of their K-Pop peers on stage. They know how to move, how to involve the crowd, and most importantly, how to put on a good song.
The boys recalled their discography chronologically by jumping in with “Saucin’”, followed by “Backseat” and “Moonwalkin’”, which went super viral during their debut this year, to the credit of their clean rendering of R&B Hip-Hop.
Lyrics are a healthy balance of Korean and English; the boys tap into their talents fully on rap verses in their mother tongue, but then introduce hooks the whole crowd feels comfortable singing along to. “Moonwalkin’” is the exemplar of this: repetition of “I need you too much, I need you too much” sandwiched between clean verses makes it an earworm of a track. The crowd at London was certainly enjoying the fan-favourite, while the boys had fully warmed up to things at that point.
Louis, whose voice will convince you he’s the reincarnation of 2010 Justin Bieber, provided the softer side of things, while lead vocalist Ohyul took primary control of the singing. They weren’t quite able to render every verse live like Park, but where they needed a breather, they compensated with plenty of stage presence to go around, particularly from rappers Ryul and Woojin.
Serenades & Bodyrolls achieved something rather unique in the concert scene. It’s not just a standard opener – headliner – encore formula, but more like a three-hour festival for lovers of the genre, bringing in multiple guest acts and switching up the tone on more than one occasion. Jordan Adetunji, Sunkis, F.E.M and multiple DJs all shared the stage with the main two acts in London, making it a truly special night for attendees, and justifying its 3-hour run.
When it was finally Park’s turn to entertain London, he split his show into two parts: R&B and hip-hop. He started things off with the very things his tour’s name describes: visibly enjoying himself as he body-rolled, danced, and teased the audience, all the while singing heavenly and mostly live. He’s just like Jason Derulo in that way; his talent and cheekiness factors are on par with the superstar, and often go hand-in-hand. Most notably, he didn’t pass up the chance to sing to London, in the most mellifluous of renditions, the line “I know you got a fat ass” during his infamous song “Need To Know”.
He stretched out the already long runtime with a lot of crowdwork, enquiring right after the latter song: “London, would it be ‘I know you got a fat bum’?” It may well be, Jay Park.
He went on to joke, “On this European tour I said ass in like seven different languages.”
Park had plenty more funny ad libs and audience chats to give along the way. But when he actually stops the gimmicks and gives the time to a slow song, he truly gives it his all. It’s no wonder that after two decades, he still has such a loyal fanbase, and he’s still filling out arenas with his pals.
The dancers were incredible too, not sparing London from a backflip or a very swift B-boy. Park made sure to get the crowd to cheer for every aspect of the show, from the staff looking after fainters to even the producers of his tracks. Many a cha cha cha beat boys were heard during the show: Cha Cha Malone’s producer tag, which Park even got the crowd to chant along to as he began “Taxi Blurr” which was, as he said, “for the OG fans”.
Park talked about his influences, including growing up on Craig David, NSYNC and Michael Jackson. He even put on the full getup for a flawless cover of Billie Jean, and from a seat view, he may as well have been the real deal.
The tone switch came with “DNA”: wherein Park swapped the glittery constellation trousers and tank top for a more serious fit. If anyone was feeling tired out at this point, Park made sure to hike the energy back up with his energetic Part 2 set, even bringing LNGSHOT back out for some collab stages. Louis could only keep his fluffy trapper hat on for about one chorus of “GUKBBONG” before it had to come off. With all five on stage, no one stopped moving for a second.
It’s hard to say which performance was most loved, considering the older singer has so many hits and the London crowd was such a good recipient of each performance. It was an atypical concert: a party for music lovers, and those on stage whose stamina and love of the game are unceasing. The show may have been a long 3 hours, but we’re certain Park would’ve gone on even longer if he could. Just as concerts always have to come to an end, the 37-stop tour came to its explosive conclusion in London. We’re sure they’ll be back soon, though; it’s just Jay Park’s nature to never stop.
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Written by Maddie Armstrong
Featured image © MORE VISION
View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to film, music, and the arts, with a strong focus on the Asian entertainment industry. As we continue to grow, we aim to deepen our coverage of Asian music while remaining committed to exploring and celebrating creativity across the global arts landscape.
