On 11 February, FT ISLAND finally reunited with Primadonnas with a sense of nostalgia in Singapore through their latest concert ‘FTISLAND Live [The Truth] in Singapore’. It was a memorable night as it had been three long years since their last full-length concert tour in 2014. However, what makes this reunion more meaningful is the fact that this year marks FT Island’s 10th Anniversary since their debut.
Held at Singapore Indoor Stadium, throngs of fans arrived early to queue for the exclusive sound-check rehearsal and secure the perfect mosh-pit spot. Only VIP ticket holders were entitled to this exclusive sound-check rehearsal and within the first 2 hours of ticket sales, all VIP Tickets were sold out.
Kicking off the concert with big hits such as “Out of Love”, “Time To” and “Lose” from their latest album, FT Island sent the crowd wild and grooving to the beat. After the warm-up, the members moved on to greet their fans. Drummer Minhwan, who is usually hidden in the background, greeted fans using Singlish, “Hello Singapore, we missed you leh” causing the audience to erupt in laughter.
After the warm greetings, FT Island continued to rock the stadium with “Cycle”, “Paparazzi”, and fan favorites such as “I Hope” and, “Freedom”. Moving on to the second interaction segment, Hongki asked fans whether they know the group’s Japanese songs, to which the fans confidently answered yes. However, he tried singing to test the fans only to realize that they were bluffing. Hongki also mentioned that they finally managed to eat local delicacies such as Chili Crab and Black Pepper Crab that they missed for 3 years and now the members were very energetic after receiving “crab power”. Hongki also confessed that the members were most worried about Singapore as it has been a long time since they were here but to their amazement, the turnout was great and they are very thankful for all the fans that have waited so long and promised that their songs would sound even better.
As a special present for Primadonnas, Hong Ki mentioned that the members would sing their Japanese songs in Korean instead for the first time. This included songs such as “Orange Days” and “Hour Glass”. In the third interaction segment, Hong Ki said looking back in the past, they saw really young fans and mentioned how the fans have all grown up. To mark their 10th anniversary, the members wanted to create a jazz bar setting for the fans to enjoy major hits from their 1st album such as “Stand By Me”. A visually stunning stage was set up with a holographic screen for the sad numbers of “Walking Dead”. Fans could feel the sorrow in Hong Ki’s voice as he went on to introduce that this is the song that describes him best after his recent breakup. Despite the heart-wrenching performance, he assured fans that he was fine and not to worry. The members went on to thank the fans as they were still grateful to see so much support after so many years.
The members proceeded to bring the concert to a climax by performing “Black Chocolate” which got the crowd jumping and swaying to the beat before belting out a head-banging and energetic performance of their hit singles “Pray” and “Take Me Now”.
After a quick change of clothes, the members came back for the encore stage dressed in The Truth concert tees and sang “Becoming You” before thanking the fans yet again and taking a group photo together. FT Island finally concluded the night with “We Are”, a song dedicated to their fans. With that, the concert ended with all five members bowing politely to thank the fans and Jaejin’s thank you speech that he would do at the end of every concert during this tour. He stood at the center of the stage requesting for the music to be turned off and for the crowd to be silent before saying “Thank you in Korean is고맙습니다, so” and taking a huge breath to scream “고맙습니다” before bowing 90 degrees and leaving fans moved to tears.
Korea.com would like to thank the concert organizer, Red Spade, for extending the media invitation. For more photos, check out our Facebook page!