CNBLUE

Welcome to the mainstream pop/rock scene of South Korea. It’s a place where bands are expected to release an album and a couple of EP’s of completely original material every single year, all the while touring said releases and most likely trying to cultivate an acting career at the same time. They must do all of this while promoting everything they’re putting out be it album, E.P or film, or they’ll be considered past it by the time the seasons change. I wish I was exaggerating. It’s a massively cut-throat world where if you fall behind, nine times out of ten you stay behind. The upside of it all is that it sorts the wheat from the chaff, and those left are the best there is at what they do. CNBLUE are one of the best examples of this out there. This is a band able to juggle everything I listed above with absolutely astounding live shows that, only five years into their career, can comfortably last up to two and a half hours long. Think about that for a second, Django Django, The Dead Weather and Fidlar all formed in the same year, and you’d be an idiot to expect the same from them. We’re not talking about some choreographed faux-rock show where everything is mimed either. Jung Yong-hwa, Lee Jong-hyun, Kang Min-hyuk and Lee Jung-shin are unmistakeably the real deal, spitting out everything from shredding guitar solos, quiet piano ballads, slick raps and perfect harmonies over that outrageous running time (fun fact, a considerable amount of the bands material is written by them as well). A hell of a lot of our western so called “rock stars” could learn a lot from CNBLUE show, and most of their fans would be utterly astounded by the same thing, so anyone with an appreciation for Rock and Roll at it’s finest keep an ear and an eye out, you will not regret it!