BEAST returns with Seoul concerts

BEAST gathered 24,000 fans from all around the world for the “2013 Beautiful Show” concerts, held at Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Stadium on Saturday and Sunday. It was the boy band’s first performance since the release of its second full album “Hard to Love, How to Love” on July 19.

The six-member boy band performed “Shadow,” “Will You Be Alright?” and “Encore” from its new album as well as its previous hits “Fiction,” “On Rainy Days” and more. The concerts included solo performances as well as a Yoon Du-jun and Yong Jun-hyung performance, hinting at a possible solo or subunit group activities in the future. 

Rapper Yong was highly involved in the production process; he co-produced all eight tracks with songwriter Kim Tae-joo.

“We tried to show a new style of music while keeping BEAST’s own unique color on this album. It contains a wide variety of genres,” Yong said at a press conference held before Sunday’s concert.

The group has already created a lot of buzz with its new album, with all tracks ranking high on music charts despite limited promotional activity by the group. The title song “Shadow” topped the seven major charts in Korea within one hour of the album’s release.

Meanwhile, the group will be heading to Japan for concerts at the Yokohama Arena on July 30 and 31 and the Kobe World Memorial Hall on Aug. 6 and 7.

By Suh Hye-rim (sheren6735@heraldcorp.com)