(x)clusive!: Catching the Love Bug at GO GO GFRIEND in Singapore

After a long wait of 1050 days, GFRIEND finally returned to Singapore for their ‘GO GO GFRIEND’ Asia Tour, held on July 20 at The Star Theatre.

The concert kicked off with a comedic video introduction of GFRIEND members racing each other to the finish line, immediately ratcheting up excitement! And when the bubbly members of GFRIEND appeared in pastel-coloured costume to give us an energetic performance of ‘Me Gusta Tu’, followed by the up-beat ‘Life is a party’, the crowd went wild.

The catchy ‘Vacation’ closed off the first set, creating happy vibes around the concert hall. Everyone in the audience was quickly caught up in the infectious rhythm of the songs while cheering for the girls, especially when they showcased their distinctively clean group dance with powerful and accurate moves. Their perfect synchronization was definitely impressive.

Singapore was the third stop of GFRIEND’s Asia tour and although they sat through a 7-hour flight to get here, they told us they did not feel tired and instead, were very excited to be on stage. They were also very surprised to see so many people at their concert and were very grateful that Singapore Buddies came to see them.

The members also shared that they had three things in store for us and what we should be looking forward to for the night. First was the hidden charms that they have been saving, next would be unit stages, and lastly, they promised to show us their acting skills!

The next part of the concert featured a series of cute love songs—‘Glow’, ‘Truly love’, and ‘Love in the Air’. During the ‘Love in the Air’ performance, we got to witness one of the cutest stage mishaps ever when the heart-shaped balloons that Eunha and Yerin were holding got entangled!

GFRIEND then took a quick break while a video was played, in which they shared their wishes with Buddies. Their messages were full of their love for their fans, with the sincere wish that Buddies will always be happy as they create more precious memories with GFRIEND. This was followed by ‘Love Whisper’ and ‘Windy Windy’, to which everyone in the audience sang along with.

The girls showed off their excellent command of English as Sowon cheered their fans on with, “All the best everyone! I love you guys!”. Yuju surprised us with her perfect pronunciation when she asked, “Her English is very good right?”. Your English is very good too, Yuju!

The next performance showed their love for Buddies as they sang ‘You are my star’. The black and white footage of GFRIEND playing in the background made the song even more sentimental. ‘A starry night’ came next, and you could tell Yerin was always trying to interact with their fans. She and Eunha got especially excited when they spot their names on placards

And then it was time for what the girls had teased at the beginning of the night—unit stages! Not only that, the sketch video that played before that showed off their acting chops. Beginning with pre-debut GFRIEND being called into a meeting room during practice, they were presented with the good news of being able to debut… as two 3-member teams!

The two teams were World Peace with Sowon, SinB, and Yuju, and Hug Hug with Yerin, Eunha, and Umji. They were each given their own debut song, swaggy ‘Monday Blue’ and cute and catchy ‘Shy Boy’ respectively. The video showed both teams picking leaders, practicing their group greeting, and practicing their performances.

They later revealed that they almost didn’t debut as a 6-member group and that these songs were also considered for their album, but since the songs didn’t really fit their concept, they were finally excluded. We think GFRIEND is perfect as a 6-member group and wouldn’t want it any other way!

We were also treated to another skit where the members were portrayed as masters of different sports in very unique ways. The conclusion we all gathered was that GFRIEND belong to the stage, where they shine the brightest!

Following the fun and laughter, it was time for the sentimental segment of the night as GFRIEND performed ‘You are not alone’, ‘Only 1’, and ‘L.U.V’. They impressed everyone with their powerful vocals in a ballad version of ‘Rough’. It definitely gave a whole new vibe to the previously summery bop. GFRIEND can really take on any concept whether cute, emotional, or even powerful!

‘Flower Garden’, ‘Sunrise’, and ‘Time for the Moon Night’ followed, during which Buddies nearly brought the roof down with their fanchant. Then it was time for a quick mood change as GFRIEND shed the emotional image and came back dressed in glitzy glamor to perform ‘Memoria’, ‘Flower’, ‘Crush’, and ‘Finger Tip’.

As the concert neared the end, GFRIEND took turns to express their gratitude and love for Buddies. This is their 5th year since debuting, and Yerin said that she felt like that they have grown a lot individually and as a group. Eunha agreed and thanked Buddies for their constant love and support. SinB promised to try and come back more often and Yuju expressed that they were only able to come back to Singapore to perform thanks to the Buddies here. Umji and Sowon disappeared off stage—Umji to get iced water for the others and Sowon, it turned out, wanted to make an impromptu setlist change!

She really wanted to perform their latest song, ‘Fever’ for Buddies, but since it wasn’t in the original setlist they prepared, she had gone to ask the staff to see if it was possible to change the last song. Unfortunately, they couldn’t change it, but it didn’t stop GFRIEND from gifting their fans one of the best presents of the night. They cheekily performed an impromptu acapella version of ‘Fever’, which Buddies loved, singing along enthusiastically.

After the acapella version of ‘Fever’, GFRIEND performed ‘Navillera’ and that was the end of the concert…. Or so we thought.

A video started playing soon after GFRIEND left the stage, in which the girls were informed that they were to write their own lyrics for a prepared track, a song dedicated to their fans. We were shown footage of the girls working hard at it, humming the tune, and thinking of the right words to put in. Titled ‘Hope’, the song was about GFRIEND and Buddies shining together as they depended on each other. Even when they are exhausted, they can find strength through this song. After performing ‘Hope’, GFRIEND brightened up the stage once again with ‘Love Bug’ while taking videos of themselves with cute selfies filters.

In a short speech that followed, they promised to continue to work hard and do even better each time, in order to make the Buddies proud. And then, it was the moment Buddies were waiting for as all of a sudden, the lights dimmed and a video created by the fans was played. The girls were taken by surprise by the video, which showed the hard times GFRIEND went through before and after the debut, their first win, and a very touching message from Buddies.

As the lights came back on, the girls turned around to see the entire concert hall holding up placards with the message “Always with you, Buddies”. They were visibly moved, Eunha even crying as she thanked Buddies for waiting so long for them, and apologized for making them wait so long. With tears in her eyes, Yerin shared that it felt weird now to see how they were before. Yuju was choking up as she shared about how she always used to try and resolve problems on her own. But she is very much happier now, learning to overcome problems together with the members and after meeting Buddies, she is smiling a lot more. She promised to also make Buddies smile. Sowon ended with apologizing for making Buddies wait as well and that they will try to come back earlier the next time round!

After taking a group photo with the audience, GFRIEND suggested singing ‘You are not alone’ together with them. It was a very beautiful moment as we could hear everyone across the concert hall singing together with GFRIEND!

Umji concluded with a short speech in English, saying that that day has been perfect and thanking the fans for all their love and support.

It was great sharing our night with these six angels and the very warm Buddies! We look forward to seeing GFRIEND back in Singapore again soon!

And in case you are wondering, here’s 6 moments from GFRIEND’s Singapore concert we can’t stop thinking about! What’s yours?

A big thank you to UnUsUaL Entertainment for extending the concert invite!

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