Feature | MusiCube: Super Junior’s Super Show 5 Review

Over the span of Super Junior's career, as backed up by the special episode of K-Pop Korner that focused on their greatest hits a few weeks ago, there have been some amazing songs that stand the test of time - Bonamana, Sorry Sorry, Mr. Simple, Sexy Free and Single, and so on. There are also some obligatory drippy ballads to appeal to the teen girl market…songs that proved to be the lowlight of an otherwise extremely active stage performance from the eight members that were able to attend (Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, and the ever popular Kyuhyun) the recent Super Show 5 in London, UK.

Cringe worthy introductions aside - albeit pleasing to see them attempt English, despite some of it being out of place given the age group of the audience, encouraging the young teen girls to forget their boyfriends for the night - Super Junior's World Tour was meant to be an amazing spectacle, especially given how ticket prices were astronomical. At £89 for 'standard' seats, and nearing the £200 mark at the upper end of the scale, they were even pricier than when Madonna played at Wembley a few years back! Clearly something truly wondrous was on the cards, right?

Sadly, though, everything was under par, despite what numerous fan sites will tell you. From a neutral standpoint, this was not the concert event of the year, by any means, and the multitude of empty seats around the arena merely went to show that SM Entertainment's arrogance backfired. Sure, there will always be loyal fans that traipse around the world, but squeezing the teenage fan base for as much money as possible is disappointing to see, especially when there has been zero promotional work in this country. Anyone other than the loyal 'ELFs' - as fans call themselves - would look at the prices and scoff. A long time ago Robbie Williams attempted a similarly cocky move in the US with 'The Ego has Landed,' expecting everyone to adore him, but was promptly ignored by people who knew nothing of his fame in Europe, nor cared. The same could very well happen with SM's artists unless a change of attitude is taken. A lot of hard work is required to win over the European market. A fanciful Variety Show is not going to cut it.

Driving the point of SM's attitude home was the shocking treatment of the Press on the day of the event, with management dragging one female member of the Press away from the designated media area by the arm merely because he 'changed his mind' and only wanted Korean Press to cover the event. It also left other members of the Press in a situation where the first 10-15 minutes of the event were missed because of pomposity that is simply not accepted in any form in Western media. SM may be number one in Korea, but unless something changes, the likes of YG Entertainment - with PSY, 2NE1 and BIGBANG - and even Chrome Entertainment via its Sony Music deal - with Crayon Pop's incessant hard work not going unnoticed - will win over the Western audience with ease and they will rule the roost here, riding the Korean wave to glory. No matter how often the guys of Super Junior take their tops off or thrust their hips at cameras, poor management and an outdated format for concerts will not save them.

[score=4]Dressing up as women and superheroes at various points, wasting far too much time showing lengthy video clips of the group acting in different scenarios, falling back on all manner of out of place comedic sequences between songs to 'kill time,' and even going as far as to openly reveal how some parts were merely pre-recorded and mimed over, Super Show 5 was anything but 'super.' Those wanting to enjoy Super Junior's impressive repertoire of songs from the past eight years would have been sorely disappointed by what was not a traditional concert, but more of an outdated variety show lacking any punch and vastly over-priced.