Cho Yong-pil comeback show lively, though a letdown

The legendary Korean artist Cho Yong-pil made his return to the music scene with a live showcase Tuesday night at the Olympic Hall in Seoul to make his long-awaited 10-year comeback official.

Hundreds of eager fans made their way to the limited-seating event where the 63-year-old iconic singer introduced his new 10-track album “Hello,” which was also released to the public on the day.

Cho’s showcase was streamed live worldwide on Naver. However, to much disappointment, the guest of honor only performed three songs and did not even make his way to the stage until more than an hour into the showcase.

Rather, much of the show consisted of audiovisual previews of his album’s tracks as well as featured musical guests such as hip-hop trio Phantom, who performed the group’s single “Like Cho Yong-pil,” as well as rockers Guckkasten, IDIOTAPE, Park Jung-hyun, Jaurim and Verbal Jint -- all of whom sang their interpretations of the artist’s past hits including “Mona Lisa,” “Short Hair” and “Dream.”

However, when the musical icon finally did make his way to the stage, where he performed his new singles “Bounce,” “Someday on My Way Back” and “Hello,” fans of all ages went absolutely wild, filling the stadium with screams of “Oppa!” 

At his press conference ahead of the performance, Cho expressed his appreciation to the fans who patiently waited 10 years for the artist to return to the stage with new music and his 19th full studio album.

“This album is very different from any of my previous albums,” said Cho. “The process was very tedious, going back and nitpicking at every song. … I did put a lot of effort into this album and this time around, I really wanted to produce a brighter album than the previous ones.”

At the beginning of the showcase, Cho unveiled the music video to his new album’s lead track “Hello” featuring rapper Verbal Jint. Both the song and the music video are youthful, upbeat -- nothing at all that one would expect from a musician in his 60s -- with the music video itself set in an American suburb and including vibrantly animated computer graphics.

“I was so happy to hear people say that my voice did not sound like the voice of a 63-year-old man,” he said, laughing. “For those fans who have waited for me for so long, thank you so much.”

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com )