Review: B1A4’s Road Trip Tour in San Francisco
by Lynh Nguyen
Popular male group B1A4 held their Road Trip Tour in San Francisco, CA at The Warfield theater on October 11th, 2014. Marking the third and last stop of their first American tour, Jinyoung, Baro, Gongchan, Sandeul, and CNU presented a fun, high-energy, and interactive stage for the fans in attendance.
Due to the overwhelming popularity of the group, security staff did not allow fans to camp outside in front of the concert venue overnight prior to the show because of safety purposes. Instead, fans came early in the morning to line up in front of the concert venue to see B1A4. However, the lines immediately grew longer as time progressed, going all around the block. But at 7:30 p.m., the fans were able to finally go inside the beautiful venue.
At 8 p.m. sharp, a live band –drummer, pianist, bassist, and guitarist –began to play. It was a rare thing to see in a K-Pop concert, but it was pretty neat because it added quality to the stage. Fans started screaming when the screen introduced a video clip of B1A4. It featured each member smiling with their names. Once over, the stage lights went off. Suddenly, all five handsome boys appeared wearing white tuxedos.
B1A4 started the concert with their debut song O.K to get the audience in a concert mood, followed by Beautiful Target, where they were swooning with their heart-like poses. But as the group hadn’t greeted their fans, they took a break to introduce themselves in English. It seemed like they worked hard in learning the language as it was a great improvement. Jinyoung said that it was his first time visiting San Francisco, and he actually loved it here. Fans would cheer happily every time the boys mentioned “San Francisco.”
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After their heartfelt greeting, they preceded with the slow romantic melody I Won’t Do Bad Things, under a starry night atmosphere. It demonstrated how strong their vocals are –especially Sandeul. For Oh My God, the boys got spicy on with their fedoras, causing the fans to scream louder. Because of You played afterwards with the boys taking it slow. After that, B1A4 took a break again to talk to the crowd with the interpreter translating their speech in English.
For their slow romantic song Seoul, B1A4 stood on stage with microphone stands as the screen showed the city view of Korea’s capital. The spotlight transition on the performers was rather interesting to glance at, as it points to one of the members who took turns singing individually. At this, the performance took a sadder route and the guys poured their emotions on stage with Try to Walk and This Time is Over.
As the boys took a break, the screen played another clip of the band being silly on camera. Later, the boys sat together on their chairs to face their fans, and Jinyoung brought his guitar over to sing a song. He had initial problems, but an assistant came by to help him. While this was happening, Baro talked to the crowd, asking fans to take a lot of pictures of the concert and send them to him through Twitter and Instagram. It made the audience laugh and smile. When Jinyoung was able to get his guitar to work, he played Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. His English was pretty good and it had the fans singing along with him. This was the perfect transition into Wonderful Tonight.
Once over, Jinyoung put away his guitar for You Make Me a Fool, and the boys got intimate with the audience for Amazing. For Lonely, the boys wore scarves, which segued to their recent song Solo Day, which had fans singing the whole thing through.
The audience turned green with envy when, after a wardrobe change, one lucky fan was called onstage as B1A4 serenaded her during their song Chu Chu Chu.The boys sang to her, hugged her, and gave her a panda bear as a gift. As the sweet atmosphere continued, the boys sang Pretty.
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A highlight of the night was definitely the high energy What’s Going On?, that had the boys acting silly on the screen and onstage likewise. The colorful photo booth of the boys on the screen was especially engaging and entertaining to look at. Continuing with the upbeat vibe, the boys jumped and interacted with fans during A Glass of Water. They even taught a simple hand wave for Who Am I. It was simple and easy for fans to follow through with the song as the boys danced.
But then, the dreaded moment every concert goer fears: the guys announced their final song of the night. Following that remark, they performed Baby Goodnight and You Are My Girl, and then said goodnight to their fans. Lights went off, and fans started chanting, “We want B1A4!”
With so much enthusiasm, of course the boys came back for an encore, wearing black T-shirts for In The Air. During the performance, the boys went into the audience and gave them little gifts. The concert ended with If, which concluded the memorable night and left fans with a promise for their return.
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