I was fortunate enough to be able to attend their first solo concert in ten years, titled “리쌍 극장” (Leessang’s Theater). So yep, this review is entirely based on my experience and all the comments are entirely mine and mine only. The reviews I wrote here are based on my very limited understanding of Korean language, as well as from the bits and pieces that my friend managed to translate for me throughout the concert. Also, please note that I wrote this few days after I got back from South Korea, so it is prone to mistakes due to my brain’s terrible ability to retain memories (which is also my main reason in putting this experience into writings). It is possible that I might mixed up the songs order and talk sections. However, what I’m trying to do is just to give the overall overview on what’s happening during the concert, as well as expressing my personal impression as part of the audience.

It started off with a TV-like screen showing clip with pictures of Gary’s and Gil’s childhood so it seems like we’re watching a snippets of their past life on TV. Little Gary had that distinct lips, while little Gil’s has had that eyebrows from when he was a baby. Hahah. Then a moment after that, the screen fades out while leaving the TV outline and we saw them behind the screen! LeeSsang’s Theater starts, we screamed like there’s no tomorrow.

The best transition ever. While still looking like we were watching TV with them inside, they started with <831> with both of them sitting down. Gil was playing the guitar, Gary of course raps. Moshitta! There was an ensemble of 5-6 people playing instruments on the back of the stage, and 3 background singers. I never really noticed that this songs has a really nice rhythm to it. Clearly becoming a new favorite of mine. They continued with <출사표>, with Gil’s singing whats originally Bobby Kim’s verse. And I really think Gil’s voice really stood out singing it, that even in the beginning of the song we thought it was one of the background singers. Next up, <인생은 아름다워> (Life is Beautiful), still sitting down. Again, this is one of those old songs that I never really noticed, but it really surprised me how I actually can sing along to the hook part – Apparently, I listened to too much LeeSsang, hah.

The stage dimmed, the TV outline is gone, and a clip plays on the background. A middle aged woman who appears to be Gary’s mom was being interviewed. She was saying how she didn’t mind his son (which she kept referring as Kang Hee-Geon – Gary’s real name, LOL) chose to be a singer that didn’t earned that much of money in the past (although, now he must have earn A LOT of money). She was also saying to Gary, no matter what, to just stay healthy. She keeps saying all that touching motherly messages. Awwwh~ Then right after that, my favourite songs from the newest album played, <회상> (Remembrance). I do know that this song is really personal to Gary so it does fit the fact that Mom’s in the intro clip. I adore how Gary wrote most of LeeSsang’s lyrics, and that most of them are really his personal thoughts, but I specifically love this song cause it kinda summarized all of it. First verse, he raps about how he was being this bad kid to his mom when he was a child. Second verse, how LeeSsang became successful, and how he lost the love he wrote in <LeeSsang Blues>. Third verse, about the people who inspired him in doing variety shows and music. I also love that when he rapped “될 때까지 노력하는, 유재석! “ (”Who tries until successful, Yoo Jae-Suk!”), the crowd are chanting along on the “유재석” (“Yoo Jae-Suk!”) part. Hah. Yoo God!

At the end, his mom came out again in the clip saying “Gary? Who’s Gary? Ahhh, Kang Hee-Gun, my son..”, which I thought was super adorable how she put it that way. BUT, just when I thought that, a clip of the same woman in some random advertisement plays, and it turned out.. She’s just some random actress! So, no, she’s not Gary’s mom, haha. You got us, big time! Nonetheless, it’s still adorable though. Gil told Gary to apologize to the audience, then Gary made the biggest bow to the audience apologizing on how he fooled us thinking that the woman was really his mom. LOL.

They did a little bit of talk, they welcomed us and introduced each other. Gary introduced Gil as “재미없은 칭구, 길성준” (“Uninteresting Friend”). Hah. I didnt really remember what they talked about, but I think at that point Gil started teasing how Gary has found a new love or something. Gary retorted by saying “I heard you’re getting back together with Jung-Ah”. Hahaha, I’m liking this so much. More teasing, and somehow, Gil ended up saying how right now Gary really wanted to be have (“갖고싶다”) by anyone in the audience or in fact anyone really. Ah these two.

However the talk lead to <변해가네> (Keep Changing). Still on the same theme, the background singers also sang the hook part of <의정부 Song> (Uijeongbu Song) – “내게 필요한건 지금이야 모르겠니? 모두 그렇게들 얘기하고 변해 갔어~” and also – “Slow Down, 시간아 제발 보채지좀마 나의~ 추억을 모두다 니가 가졌잖아~”

Next up they did another talk about how they got to this point right now. Didn’t really understand the whole thing, but through out this talk, Gil kept teasing the audience by saying “개리와 기리 리가 두 개, 그래서?” (“Gary and Gil, two Lee’s, becomes?” – a verse from ‘Gary and Gil’ song), and shoving the mic to us. We, of course thinking that they’ll sing the song right away, spontaneously screamed “리!쌍!” (“Lee! Ssang!”) with a lot of tensions, but then Gil coolly just said “맞습니다…” (that’s right…) killing our tension and continued talking about other things. Duh. After a couple of times he did that (and surprisingly we fell for it every time), they finally started with <개리와 기리> (Gary and Gil). Yayy! I love that this song is always a must in any of LeeSsang’s performance, and its such a fun song for us to sing along.

The light dimmed again, and another clip is playing again. This time it’s Lee Kwang-Soo and HaHa in some kung-fu skit. <격산타우> started playing while Kwang-Soo supposedly learned kung-fu from master HaHa in the clip, with appearances of both Gil and Gary in some random scenes. I’m not sure what this song’s about, and truthfully I always skipped through it when I’m listening to their newest album because its simply a bit too loud for me. But somehow, probably because of the music arrangement, it is kinda bare-able at that time. Still, I enjoyed the clip more than the song, honestly. Then, still in a rock mood, they continued with <Run>. This time YB made an appearance through the screen. The crowd were jumping along, the song finished off with confetti flying everywhere. It almost felt like a finale really. Good thing its not.

Another talk, and then they introduces the next song as LeeSsang’s love song, yup of course its finally time for <LeeSsang Blues>. Yayy! I think at this point Jung In came out and joined them. I was totally impressed by Jung In’s voice that sounds super perfect live. Anyway, one thing about this song is that I’ve always been listening to this song from their old album, so that the version that I’m used to is the one where Gary’s rap style is still in his super high pitch style, and I’m always annoyed at the potential this song could have. But at that point in the concert, I’m amazed how it sounded so amazing with current Gary’s rap style. Hahaha. Gil, Gary, you guys should really need to re-record every song that has Gary’s high pitch rap! Because honestly, its not that cool to listen to. Sorry Gary. Heehe. Then they were continuing with <내가 웃는 게 아니야> (I’m Not Laughing), which is also one of the songs that was inspired by Gary’s own past love and heartbreaks. Still with Jung In on stage. Ah~

All three of them then exit the stage, and a clip is playing again. This time it started off with a siren and then its Jung In’s voice directing the audiences to do random thing. At first it still makes sense, she told us to put our hands up and screamed certain things, but then she started to make us move our hands in some impossible ways. Haha, fun! And still through the screen, she was telling us to scream “닥치세요” (“Shut up”) every time Gil sings. Interesting. So all through out the next song, <광대> (Clown), we screamed “닥치세요” every time Gil sings, which turned out to be a lot of fun for one dark song. “오~ 내가 웃고 있나요?” “닥치세요!” 두 거짓이겠죠? “닥치세요!” FUN!

Still on a darker theme, next up was <Ballerino> and they have two ballerinas as a background. I think they also did <내 몸은 너를 지웠다> (My Body Has Forgotten You) right after. For this song, they got two dancers (male and female) doing pretty intimate things in the middle of the stage. And I never really noticed until my friend pointed out to me that this song is pretty explicit in its lyric. Waw, so that explained what the two dancers were doing. What’s the minimal age to attend this concert again?

Next, they were playing this clip about the late boxer that was a very close friend to Gary and Gil, Choi Yo-Sam, and how he tragically died during one of his match. We knew its definitely the intro to <Champion>, which is one of my favorite LeeSsang’s songs ever. I totally enjoyed how heartfelt the performance was. Also by the way, Jung in was back on stage joining these two for this song. Only after <Champion> that the guys introduced Jung In. They teased her that when they first met her she was wearing all discount clothes from head to toe, because her parents own a clothing shop. Hahaha. Gil was saying that it’s true, and that everything he’s been saying is all true, that he did not said any single lie, hmpph. They continued talking about how the guys will give everything to the one they loves, and of course its a cue to <나 그대에게 모두 드리리> (For You I’ll Give Everything). Very cute song indeed. While Jung In is still on stage, they continued with <헤어지지 못하는 여자 떠나가지 못하는 남자> (The Girl Who Can’t Break Up, They Guy Who Can’t Leave) and <나란 놈은 답은 너다> (The Answer for Me is You). Love. Love. Love. At this point I was afraid the show is ending soon, cause they almost sang all their hit songs. Haaah. I really didn’t want it to end. Ever.

But then the intro to <Grand Final> played. Someone is ascending from the middle stage. Lots of explosions. Lots of screaming. And I just couldn’t think straight. It’s Yoo Jae-Suk in his Apgujeong Narali pink outfit and wig!!!!! I think at that point people were screaming even louder than when LeeSsang first came out. The God sang his verse of <Grand Final>, and I thought that his voice sounded a little bit higher than what I’m used to hearing on TV. Or maybe it was just the effect of my brain not having enough oxygen because I stopped breathing at some point during the song. LOL. I didn’t really remember much of the song, but right after Yoo Jae-Suk introduced himself. We screamed. He took off his sunglasses. We screamed even louder. Hahaha, Guaranteed 100% success rate just by taking off his glasses. At that point, I think he did everything, the old scanning gestures, grasshopper dance, kyaaaa~ Everything. Full service. On how loud we screamed, he responded by saying “이럴줄알았어요!” (“I knew this is gonna happen!”). Funny guy. LeeSsang introduced Yoo Jae-Suk as LeeSsang’s Shin (God). Hah. They were also saying how they were thankful to Yoo Jae-Suk, that even the night before, he still had time to rehearsed even after he finished his late shooting for Infinity Challenge. Then Yoo Jae-Suk was saying other things, and then he said something about the outfit he was wearing which is a cue to him singing his own song, <압구정 날라리> (Apgujeong Playboy). Whoaaa! The audiences spontaneously singing Lee Juck’s part right away. “어서 와요 예쁜 그대~ 몇 명이서 놀러 왔나요~ 사양 말고 한잔해요~ 모든 것이 그대 거예요~” I think I died at that point. Hahah. When he did that signature dance break at the middle of the song, I died one more time. Finally the song was ending, and he was saying that it’s a secret but he’ll come again the next day, yeah right, like we’re gonna be here again the next day. Hah, I wished. Good bye Yoo Jae-Suk! And I accepted my faith that this is probably the closest I’ll ever be to the guy. Huaaaa.

Next up, it’s Honey Family turns to make a special appearances. I think they did three songs overall <우리 같이 해요> (Let’s Do it Together) , <랩교1막> (Rap School Act 1), <남자이야기> (A Man’s Story). I personally didn’t really listened to lots of Honey Family except <남자이야기>, but it’s just as interesting to see LeeSsang in their old elements with the people they debuted in the beginning of their career. For the last song, <남자이야기>, they did a sampling of Sinatra’s <My Way> for this, which I think is brilliant and very fitting for a closing act (which sadly, I knew was coming sooner and sooner). All of them left the stage afterwards, and we screamed begging for some encore.

A clip of Shin Se-Kyung holding a piece of paper with “Turn-off your TV” in writings played on the stage just like that series of promotions they did when they released the latest album. Then, they came out again, with the same TV outline that they began with in the beginning of the concert. Then, <TV를 껐네…> (Turn-off the TV..) was playing. Woohooo! Gary’s part was just hilarious, especially the last part of his raps where everybody chanted together “내 몸을 적시고 엉덩이 토닥토닥하고 싶어“ (“I wanna wet my body and pat your bottom”). Awww. Following Gary’s verse, the crowd fluently sang Yoon Mi-Rae (Tasha)’s part, haha fun! This is the first time I get to saw them performing this song, cause they never really did performed it on TV anyway, but yeah its such a fun and flirty songs even without the real featuring singers there.

They went out again, but this time they came back even without us asking for it. This time Gil’s making Gary dance for the audience. LOL, and he actually did dance with Michael Jackson’s as the background music. Poor Gary and his 90’s dance, they kept making him dance in all the weirdest places. Then, it’s Gil’s turn. But looks like it’s not even part of the script, so he hesitated until the music stopped. But, I think at the end, he finally did that stupid dance he always does on Infinity Challenge. Duh, after all the trouble he gave to Gary. Hahah.

Right after, they called Jung In again to the stage and it was time for <우리 지금 만나>(Let’s Meet Now) . Gahahaa. Another fun song! Next, they did <Rush>, and we knew this song was going to end the whole awesomeness we have been experiencing for 3.5 hours. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this last performance cause lyrically it’s so very uplifting. Ah they also talked about how <Rush> is one of the first songs they created as LeeSsang, and how Gary’s made lots of draft lyrics for it, but Gil kept rejecting Gary’s drafts before it is what it is right now. The audiences awed to this, in which Gary responded by “We’re not that close, everyone!” Hahaha. Nah, we don’t buy it.

“Oh~ My mind~ 내꿈을 위해~ 이제 Rush! 다시 Rush! 저 태양 위로!” (“Oh~ My mind~ For my dreams~ Right now, rush! Again, rush! I’ll rise above the sun again!”)

Hahhhhhhhh~ They both waved and bowed at us. Gil took time to received the fan gifts from the stage. And it just ended~ Huaaaaaaaaaa~

One last note. Yes, both of them has their sunglasses on all time during the concert. Sunglasses LeeSsang! Um, probably only at one time when Gary’s calling Gil as “Murisoo” (Gil’s nickname in Infinity Challenge, means Being Overacting) during <우리 지금 만나>, Gil took off his sunglasses just for a moment. Hahah. He definitely lost his singer feel at that moment. And that’s exactly why they always have them on at all time while singing. LOL.