Exo back in Singapore after 7 years, siblings fly over from Texas for concerts

K-pop boy group Exo went through monumental changes in the seven years they were away from Singapore.

One member Lay is continuing with solo projects in his home country China. All eight South Korean members completed their mandatory military service and three — Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin, collectively known as CBX — got into a legal tussle with Exo's management agency which prevented them from taking part in the tour.

But on Friday night (July 24), Suho, Chanyeol, D.O (also known as Kyungsoo), Kai and Sehun performed at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to a full house who loved them just the same. They will be performing a second show on Sunday.

The concert started promptly at 8pm with a suspenseful short clip alluding to the group's backstory as beings from Exoplanet who hold elemental and cosmic powers. Aptly, their first song of the night was the 2012 debut track Mama.

Deafening screams greeted the group as they set the tone for the evening. Clad in red-and-black leather outfits, Exo continued with their classic hits Monster (2016) and Overdose (2014) before greeting fans in their first ment (conversational break).

Singapore is the last stop in their Exo Planet #6 - Exhorizon tour which has taken them to Seoul, Ho Chi Minh City, Nagoya, Bangkok, Macau, Osaka, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Tokyo and Kaohsiung.

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Kai, 32, said through a translator: "The last memory has to be everlasting and memorable, and the main character in that last memory is you!"

Through the 165-minute concert, they sang previous hits such as Growl (2013), Call Me Baby, Love Me Right (both from 2015), The Eve, Power (both from 2017), Love Shot, Tempo (both from 2018), Jekyll (2019) and Don't Fight the Feeling (2021).

Moonlight Shadows, Back Pocket, Flatline, Back It Up and Crazy from their 2026 album Reverxe were also featured.

Elaborate stage, fan service and interaction

While the members went bare face to showcase their good looks, they went big with concert aesthetics.

They had four other outfits: Three-piece black suits, a preppy casual style, formal embellished coats and shirts from their current tour merchandise.

Some fans in the mosh pits saw members such as 32-year-old Sehun take their handphone to take a video of himself on stage as well as Kai blowing kisses at them.

During an interactive segment where the band members asked the audience to dance to their songs, one male fan danced Mama together with Kai, Chanyeol and D.O, both 33, winning air high fives and lots of praise.

Band leader Suho, 35, spoke in English on stage, showing the hard work he's put into learning the language in recent years.

The stage design was lavish — numerous atmospheric backdrops were projected on the expansive LED screen behind the I-shaped stage, and it stretched out into the floor area creating four mosh pits that gave fans a closer look at them.

There were two elevator stages — one on the main stage and a circular one on the extended stage that also rotated. The latter had a slight malfunction as it retracted during Don't Go (2013).

During the song Walk On Memories (2017), a ceiling-to-floor translucent veil of clouds and stars dropped, enveloping the members in a mystical shroud.

Apart from strobe lights, there were also pyrotechnics, bubble machines and confetti.

Before the concert ended, the stadium became pitch-dark and the band members told fans to look up and take in the thousands of 'stars' reflected on the ceiling.

Fans fly to Singapore from Texas and Jakarta

Before the concert, AsiaOne spoke with some fans who had travelled from overseas for the concert.

Sisters Mira Nabila, 32, a designer, and 29-year-old consultant Lulu Zahra have liked the group since 2014.

Even though they were at Exo's concert in Jakarta last month, they came to Singapore to attend Friday's concert and are also trying to buy tickets to the second concert on Sunday.

Another pair of siblings, Araceli and Antonio Guillen, told AsiaOne that they flew in from Texas, US, to catch both concerts here. Their friend from New York, also an Exo fan, is flying to Singapore and will join them for Sunday's show.

Restaurant manager Araceli, 29, was also here in 2018 and 2019 for Exo's concerts, with Antonio joining her for the latter.

She said she started liking the group since 2016 after watching a video of their performance that was trending on YouTube.

"I really like their music, even though sometimes we don't understand what they're saying, but there are always translations for it. That's really it, and just the way they are. That's why we want to come see them all the time," she said.

Antonio, 27, a paint store manager, got influenced by his sister. He added: "They're a really awesome group, but the only chance we really get to see them as a group now is in Singapore since they don't have anything official for the US yet. That's why it pushed us to come out here."

The duo have travelled to other cities in the US to see Kai on his solo tour, and to Mexico City for both Baekhun's solo concert as well as Suho and Chanyeol at the SM Town show.

When the siblings began liking Exo, they were a nine-member band. But because of the recent legal troubles, CBX were unable to join in the current Asia tour. 

Araceli and Antonio said: "That's why we had to come to Singapore because you never know (what will happen)… We support them either way, we support CBX just as much, and we love them."

While they have spent a sizeable US$4,500 (S$5,800) for the four-day trip, they said this is "very special" and "worth it".

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com

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