Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/02/08/201002080051.asp

All the hype and hoopla surrounding Whitney Houston's first concert in Korea fell flat for fans who had eagerly expected a return to form from the singer.

The aging R&B diva, ailing from a noticeable cold, struggled to reproduce the powerful notes she became so famous for during her concert on Saturday at the Olympic Park Gymnasium in southern Seoul.

It turned out Houston's Saturday night concert was more rehearsal for her world tour than anything else.

An estimated 11,000 turned up for the first concert of her "Nothing But Love World Tour" where she fumbled and squeaked through her set of 20 songs.

Of them, four from her latest release - including "For the Lovers," "Nothin' But Love." as well as past hits such as "Saving All My Love for You," "Greatest Love of All," and "I Will Always Love You."

The 47-year old Houston looked jetlagged and showed cracks in her physical condition after performing just the first song.

From the opening performance, instead of enjoying the relaxing night of soulful music that some had coughed up 180,000 won for, the audience had to sit and stand nervously throughout the 90-minute performance hoping their beloved Whitney could get through her set without keeling over.

And judging by the amount of perspiration she gave, the audience had good reason to be concerned for her wellbeing.

All of the talk about the deterioration of her singing voice over the past decade seemed to have been well placed.

Perhaps the cold she had been ailing from was to blame, but she was not the Whitney Houston people knew at the peak of her popularity.

Every bit of her heavy breathing echoed across the concert venue and close-ups of her face, contorted from exhaustion, could be seen on the giant screens on both sides of the stage.

Houston told the audience midway through her concert that she was not in the best of physical shape due to her cold, just before she left the stage to change costumes.

After the short intermission, Houston performed better. She was clearly trying her best to show some of the passion that had been missing in the first half of the concert.

At one point, the heel of her shoe broke after getting wedged in a crevice on stage and her performance had to be interrupted.

Through all of this, the crowd in Seoul remained upbeat without sending out the heckles that normally would have been expected.

Near the end of the concert, Houston took time to pay tribute to Michael Jackson after mentioning one of her dancers had been part of the late King of Pop's dance troupe.

She also spoke of the tragedy in Haiti and requested a moment of silence for the victims.

Though she made a hash of her first ever concert in Korea, she should be commended for giving it her all, in spite of a cold and jetlag that she had tried to shake off by flying in to Seoul three days ahead of the concert.

Maybe the decision to come early was not the right one. The biting cold of Korea might have given her that sickness which ultimately denied her Korean fans the show of a lifetime they had so hoped for.

([email protected])


By Song Woong-ki

[wylies99]

An outdoor concert in early February at night? No way anyone should sit through that.

Do Koreans KNOW about her many personal issues?

[conrad2]

"Crack is wack."

[pkang0202]

No way Whitney's concert could top Beyonce's performance a few months ago.

[djsmnc]

1989 Whitney Houston might

[tzechuk]

I love Whitney Houston.. I wish I could have gone to her concert. But judging by the review, may be it was better I didn't go.

Still, I think she is fabulous for making a come back.

[redaxe]

Surprise, surprise. Everyone outside of Korea already knows that she's washed up and only taking this tour so she can continue to fuel her coke habit.

[Yaya]

I love Earth, Wind and Fire and they performed in Seoul late last year, but they are missing their lead singer Maurice White due to dementia. I have three of their concerts on DVD so I didn't feel the need to see them in person.

About Houston, well, I thought about going to see her live but given the account of her bad concert, I'm glad I didn't.

Chicago won't be too great without lead singer Peter Cetera, and I've heard the group without him and it don't sound good.

[thurst]

all of her drug problems aside, she also had surgery to remove cysts on her vocal chords so her voice is different than it was in the 80's and 90's. it sucks that her performance went south though, bcuz from what i saw the tickets were more expensive than those for the beyonce shows (which were awesome btw).

[itaewonguy]

11000 people x 2 nights..
100.000 average per person..

DAMN!! 2 million dollars!

guess she just pocketed about 1 million!

anyway maybe she did have a cold who knows..
still hope she gets better , otherwise these reviews are going to be repeated in every country she visits..

[talltony4]

I went on Saturday night. The review was right, it was a very sub-par performance.

Twice she had to stop a song and start it from the beginning again.

When she left the stage to change her costume she was gone for about 15 minutes, during which time the band had to cover for her.

I heard that Sunday night was much better though, so maybe she did really iron out the kinks.

[Gibberish]

She's rich enough already, hang it up or pull a Beatles and don't bother performing anymore.

[Rteacher]

Well, at least she tried to perform. I remember going to a sold-out stadium concert by Genesis, and after almost the entire crowd of 50,000 fans had arrived, lead-singer Phil Collins decided to cancel the whole concert instead of trying to sing with a sore throat. Fans were disappointed to say the least.

Bob Dylan is scheduled to come to Seoul (Olympics Gymnastic Center) on March 31. I doubt that a cold would affect his vocal quality much...

[SHANE02]

Dylan....any details?

[itaewonguy]