Monday, February 29, 2016

[CONCERT REVIEW] EXO Planet #2: The EXO’luXion in Jakarta (2016)


Photo Credit by Andira Putri

Hello everyone! For today’s post, I will write about a concert review or to be exact, my experience in watching EXO Planet #2: The EXO’luXion in Jakarta. It’s my first time writing a concert review despite often plan to write it on my blog. I actually have watched quite a lot of K-Pop concerts, but I never wrote it. I don’t know maybe because I don’t have enough confidence or maybe because I’m just too lazy to write it hahaha. But, today I finally write it! Thanks to my love for EXO J

Anyway, boy group EXO just made their third visit in Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, February 27th to hold their second concert, The EXO’luXion in Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE). It’s the third times because they have been to Indonesia for SM Town concert in 2012 and EXO Planet #1: The Lost Planet, their first concert in 2014 (For Chen and Xiumin, it’s actually the fourth time because EXO-M was the guest for Super Junior’s Super Show 4 in 2012). Apparently, Indonesia is also their second last stop before wrap up this whole EXO’luXion tour.

It’s my first time watching EXO solo concert because I didn’t watch their first tour. I only watched them during SM Town stage four years ago. I watched EXO’luxion with three of my friends and booked tickets for Blue Section. For those of you who plan to watch EXO’luXion, I strongly recommend the Blue section because you get a clear image of the stage and the boys up close.

Photo Credit by MecimaPro


The concert started around 6.30 PM and opened with a VCR that related with their Pathcode teasers. Basically, it’s about nine objects from outer space that came to earth. The VCR stopped and the end of maze in Overdose music video slowly opened. The eight boys of EXO (Lay didn’t present) appeared and went straight to perform Overdose. It’s an epic opening accompanied by VCR and lightning that constantly changed. They followed through History and El Dorado where EXO moved to the front stage and played with light saber.

After three songs, EXO introduced themselves. They made sure we moved back so nobody got hurt. Baekhyun and Sehun also made sure we knew that they just had a haircut for today’s concert. EXO continued with the fourth song, Don’t Go that has beautiful choreography with delicate hand movements. The seductive Playboy became the next song where the boys went into different stage and danced in pair. I was captivated by Kai’s dance in front of me. He continued to mesmerize me again when he danced Baby Don’t Cry on the water for the next song. This boy is magical! Baby Don’t Cry followed with another ballad, My Answer where Baekhyun displayed his piano skill.

We took a break until Chanyeol introduced us again with EXO, who now changed into red and black suit. They performed The Star, Exodus, and Hurt on the stairs just like in Broadway. It showed elegant and mature side of them. They worked those expression, especially Chanyeol and Kai every time the camera shot them, although you can see some of the boys’ move were a bit loose.

The next section is an adorable EXO time where they acted as elfs in coffee machine for VCR. They continued with Peterpan and XOXO with playfulness and mischievousness. For Lucky, the next song, they teased audiences by changing their outfit on stage behind white curtain. Everyone was hysterical while I was shocked to see how fast they changed from the stripes outfit to pink shirt hahaha.

The boys had a chat with audiences after singing 3.6.5 and leader Suho pointed out there were many embarrassing photos of EXO that we brought. Cue to Chanyeol took out Baekhyun’s ugly photo from audiences and made him imitated it precisely. The best part was the note behind the photo mentioned that it belonged to a fan boy! EXO then talked about how lovely it is to spend Christmas in Jakarta and began singing Christmas Day, First Snow, and Miracle in December. During Miracle in December, Chen stopped singing for a while to listen audiences singing his part.

Photo Credit by Andira Putri


Our singing got praise from Xiumin in the next section. He and Chanyeol asked us to jump carefully and sing like their instruction. Both of them began to rap Full Moon while another member came and changed the song into Machine. Chanyeol took a center stage while acted as a DJ inside a diamond for the next song, Drop That followed by Let Out The Beast, which displayed breathtaking lightning, including green laser that came from Baekhyun and D.O’s jacket. This got to be my favorite section of the night. We finally see the different side of EXO. Forget the perfectly executed choreography; they ran around the stage and motioned us to jump while say E X O. It actually worked and audiences were completely hyped up. Everyone sang along until the last song for this section, Run.

Another VCR played. Kai called somebody, which of course led to the next song, Call Me Baby. The boys started to look tired, but then Growl came and it turned audiences crazy. The fan chant was so loud, even Chanyeol motioned us to sing the fan chant during his part. The boys had a chat with audiences again while threw off their jacket because it was hot. At this time, audiences held a banner that said, “Terima Kasih EXO (Thank You, EXO in Indonesian language)”. They performed the last song, Love Me Right all smiling and energetic before said goodbye to us.

As expected, the audiences weren’t satisfied and began chanting encore. Finally, a VCR showed behind the scenes of this tour accompanied by a piano of Promise. Everyone sang along until EXO came back again with Sing For You. We continued to sing throughout the song while held the banner that said, “우리 다시 만나요 (We will meet again for sure)”. The boys looked touched, even D.O stopped singing and motioned us to sing his part.

Suho mentioned about our fan project during the last segment and felt touched to see us thanking and asking EXO to comeback even though it was them who supposed to do that. Chanyeol praised us saying that we did a great job in singing, knew how to enjoy the concert, and told us that we’re beautiful. D.O said that we will meet again for sure in exact same way like our banner while Kai suggested us to take a hot shower after the concert because we must be tired. Chen kept saying thank you in Indonesian language while Xiumin said, “Aku Cinta Jakarta (I Love You, Jakarta) and other members followed him. Baekhyun said, “Terima Kasih” in the most playful way and Sehun closed the greeting, talked about how great it is to eat watermelon in Jakarta hot weather and repeated saying we will meet again. EXO took a picture with audiences and performed Unfair as the last song while strolled around picking up gifts from audiences.

Photo Credit by Andira Putri


Overall, The EXO’luXion was a great concert! Effective set list to build up the concert, spectacular lightning and VCRs. The audiences are energetic and I love that we always sing throughout the concert. However, it was EXO attitude as performer that made this concert memorable for me. To be honest, I didn’t expect much from them because most of K-Pop groups tend to have a “perfect” performance that we can’t really relate too. From what I experienced, only some of them worked it such as Big Bang, 2PM, and 2NE1.


EXO proved the otherwise. Their performance doesn’t perfect; some members voice sounded off pitch at certain part and their movement was slow at some point. However, they made it up with great stage presence. They know how to interact with the crowd, dominate the stage (the blocking was really good because each member takes turn to different stage), and the most important thing is they enjoyed the concert. This kind of attitude really brought the concert to life. It’s a completely different EXO that I saw four years ago in SM Town concert. EXO that I see now is more mature and more confidence. Definitely deserved the title as top tier group!

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