Treasure Island

Korean band rocks Bangkok

By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos courtesy of Feoh

F.T. Island always look so stylish that they could easily be mistaken for a manufactured K-pop boy band. On the contrary, the band are a group of skillful, charismatic and energetic musicians whose great live performances make them one of the best Korean acts to hit Bangkok in the past two years.

On June 9, Thunder Dome was host to the F.T. Island Concert Play! event. At the concert, the guys — leader and guitarist Choi Jonghoon, 22, lead vocalist Lee Hongki, 22, bassist and vocalist Lee Jaejin, 20, guitarist and rapper Song Seunghyun, 19, and drummer Choi Minhwan, 19 — kicked off their performance with their smash hit “Hello Hello,” followed by the fun songs “Get You” and “Bad Woman.”

Hyper singer Hongki proved to be a great entertainer at the concert by constantly moving around, interacting with the audience and singing with plenty of emotion.

The band played solid rock tracks like “Neverland,” “Satisfaction” and “I Want,” as well as acoustic songs such as “Always Be Mine” and “We Hope to Become Lovers,” which featured singing from all five band members. During the concert, F.T. Island’s Primadonna fan club held up signs showing their love for the stars.

The concert ended with an encore of the hit songs “Severely,” “Love Love Love” and “Like Birds.” Everybody seemed reluctant to leave when the concert ended with Hongki saying goodbye to the crowd in Thai.

The day before the concert, Student Weekly and the Thai press met F.T. Island at CentralWorld Playhouse for a group interview.

Question: Has much changed for you guys since you released your debut album five years ago?

Jonghoon: There’ve been lots of changes. Our albums have improved every year. We can also handle accidents during our gigs better than before!

Minhwan: If one of us does something wrong, we just continue to play so that audience usually isn’t aware of the mistake.

Question: Can you describe one of the most memorable moments during your five years in the music business?

Jonghoon: Splashing water during the Songkran Festival in Thailand. That was great fun.

Hongki: I want to splash water at one of our concerts!

Question: What would you like to do in Thailand that you haven’t done before?

Seunghyun: I want to go fishing from a boat.

Jonghoon: I’d love to go to a market to check out the local lifestyles. I also want to shop for some delicious food and souvenirs for my friends.

Jaejin: I want a Thai friend around the same age as me to learn about how they spend their free time and what their life is like.

Hongki: If I have a chance, I want to go shopping at malls and ride on an elephant.

Minhwan: I want to lie on a beach and get a suntan.

Question: Jonghoon, how do you manage to tweet in Thai language so often?

Jonghoon: I ask our fans what kinds of phrases they’d like me to say. When they send me replies, I just copy and paste the phrases they send onto my Twitter account.

Question: Would any of you guys like to study Thai language?

Seunghyun: I want to learn Thai seriously. I always like to learn new languages so that I can communicate with our fans all around the world. We visit Thailand often, so I’d definitely like to learn Thai.

Question: Is there anything special you’d like to say about your five year anniversary on June 7?

Minhwan: We’d like to thank our fans for their support during the past five years. If there were no fans, there’d be no F.T. Island.

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