If you may not know then I'll surely be glad to tell you, I'm a big TVXQ fan and have been since the early 2000s. I won't claim to be a fan since day one of their careers but I became a huge fan during the "Purple Line" era then listened to all of their songs. I was there when the group fell apart because of conflict with their record company S.M. Entertainment and supported the two groups that were born from the separation. TVXQ became a duo group of U-Know and Changmin which made me a bit nervous when they returned for the "Keep Your Head Down" era, however, the two have strongly kept TVXQ's name alive for the past couple of years not only in South Korea but also in Japan, as the two still mange to hit high on the music charts in both places. #Welcome Circle is the duo's dvd for the concert that was held last year in May at Seoul's Jamsil Supplementary Stadium.
This concert wasn't amazing yet, it was good in my opinion. The DVD is worth the money if you are willing to pay fifty dollars to support the guys. Things that need to be noted is that the dvd doesn't have English subtitles which means nothing to me since I speak enough Korean to understand what they talked about but I just wanted to put this out there for people who want to know if there's any type of subs for english speakers. Nope, only Korean, Chinese, and Japanese subtitles. If it makes you feel better, The guys do introduce themselves in different languages, one of the languages being English and it's very cute to see. Moving along, I felt the concert it's self went by super fast, making the whole thing seem short overall. The dvd isn't short in duration at all, It's just that it felt that TVXQ sang through a whole list of songs at the speed of light causing the concert to feel really rushed. This might have also been because their concept was too normal or maybe even too plain. Not that I'm complaining about how they looked. Using a regular gentleman concept for a boyband that's been around for over a decade seems more fitting than they trying to use too many gimmicks to keep up with what's trendy currently. The outfits they wore looked good and fit together very well with the setlist for the most part. I loved the big top hats and the canes they opened the concert while singing Bounce. Having the concert outdoors reminds me of the venues in Japan…. I actually thought it was in Japan for a second when the concert started even though it wasn't. Seeing the Seoul highway behind the stage makes me wonder if the passing traffic could hear Changmin's loud ass voice hitting all those notes.[INSERT ME LAUGHING.] My favorite highlights of the concert were Mirotic, The Chance of Love, Love Line, Before You Go, Keep Your Head Down, and, B.U.T. All the years of experience that TVXQ has showed on stage during each and every song that they performed. U-Know is just a living, walking, ball of charisma whenever he hits the stage. That dude is so amazing at dancing around the floor that you have to wonder if his feet have wings on them. His expressions show he truly engulfs the music he sings too. U-Know's vocals are not as strong as the Ex-members or Changmin but I can hear a strength in his solos showing that he can survive as a soloist. Changmin is the voice of the TVXQ. He was one of the big vocalist since the beginning and I'm glad that he's with U-know. I got to wonder how he does all that dancing while hitting all those big notes. We fans can count on him to bring the house down though.
There was a bit of a problem with the sound. The sound comes out of one stereo stronger than the other when I would watch the concert using headphones. You don't notice it after awhile since most viewers get into the concert eventually. I also wondered sometimes if Changmin and U-Know prerecorded their vocals before the concert. Then again, there's times when you can clearly hear that both of them are singing live especially during ballads such as Sun & Rain. They're so good live that I don't want to believe these two have the talent to dance all out and sing very close to the vocals that was on their albums. If they were lip singing some parts, I would be disappointed depending on to what degree of the lip singing. I understand singers are not robots but I paid to hear you sing live, not press play on a recording. I'll give the the benefit of the doubt because I saw them both adjusting their mikes attached to their faces and U-know really focusing to get the high notes during some of the older TVXQ songs. I'm satisfied with #Welcome Circle for what it was. Well…. "She" should have been added to the set list….. That still got me a bit bummed out.
TVXQ's concert comes as a two dvd set. Both discs contain the concert and the second disc has the making of the show. I only watched a little bit of the making of but it was interesting. Sadly, still no subtitles for English speakers. The only saving grace for non Korean speakers is that the concert is region all, meaning the dvd will play on any DVD player in the world.
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