KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of fans screamed, sang and danced the night away as K-Pop sensation EXO delivered an inspiring and energetic concert at Stadium Merdeka yesterday.
Touted as the world’s biggest boy band of the moment, Xiumin, Suho, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai and Sehun mesmerised fans, dubbed EXO-Ls, with their tight dance choreography, sleek musical productions, melodic singing skills and uber catchy tunes.
The Seoul-based group, whose songs straddle the R&B, Dance-pop, Electronic and Hip hop genres, performed 28 tunes during the three-hour concert.
Among them were perennial hits such as MAMA, Monster, Overdose, Growl, Call Me Baby and Lucky One.
The boys also delighted the enthusiastic crowd with casual banter that included, “Apa khabar Malaysia?”, “Aku cinta pada mu” and “The weather is hot here today, but your passion makes it even hotter,” which drew more screams of appreciation.
EXO was in town for the Malaysian leg of its Exo Planet #3: The Exo'rdium world tour.
The only downer to the spectacular event was the absence of ninth member, Lay, due to having “other commitments,” as reported by the outfit’s management in an earlier press statement, which sparked much speculation online as to the real reason behind his no-show.
The Exo Planet #3: The Exo'rdium world tour began on July 22 last year in Seoul, following the group’s two other successful major headlining concert tours.
Its latest 30-show concert has so far seen EXO performing in South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The popular group will perform in Singapore in April, before heading to Mexico and the US to finally complete the world tour.
Since making its debut in 2012, EXO has snapped up multiple trophies at numerous awards events, including the Mnet Asian Music Awards, the MTV Europe Music Awards and the World Music Awards.
It has so far produced three studio albums – XOXO (2013), EXODUS (2015) and EX’ACT (2016) – with each release selling well over a million copies.
The boy band performed for the first time here in 2013 for the MTV World Stage and had its last performance in March 2016, also at Stadium Merdeka.
Exo’s concert in Kuala Lumpur yesterday was organised by Star Planet with support from Malaysia Major Events.