Playlist: Live Performances

 Published on MacGMagazine on February 14th 2020, 6:00:45 pm

I love a great playlist. At the risk of sounding old, I feel like it’s becoming a dying art. The control of the flow and mood, the diversity of a shared thing. So in this article, I’ll be curating a list of songs around the theme of great live performances.

Now, before we get into this, I had three rules I wanted to (mostly) adhere to.

1. No end-of-year performances. Yes, the MAMAs alone could fill this list, but the camerawork and mic issues are frustrating and diminish a song.
2. No music show performances. Again, I could easily use a bunch of Inkigayo and Music Bank performances to do this. That’s exactly why I didn’t include them. I wanted to challenge myself.
3. I’m focusing more on vocal than dance performance, so no “Hit The Stage” or fancams. I want that good audio.

Now that we have that established, let’s go!!

Dynamic Duo — Dodoripyo

Dynamic Duo has been performing for over 15 years, and you can see how comfortable they are with their work. Even in this small and ridiculous setting, they bring this chaotic energy that hints at what their stage performances are like.

Park Bom — Hann

Yes, I realize this violates rule 2, but I had to add this one. Before this stage, I’m not sure if Park Bom has ever done something like this alone. She killed this stage! Much like Dynamic Duo, you can see her years of experience in how she just controls EVERYTHING. Park Bom showed up to remind you that she was in 2NE1 and she’s not here to play games with these kids. Then she did it with a cover of a junior group’s song! I had to break my rule for Bom.

SHINee — Excuse Me Miss

Listen, we all know that SHINee can just destroy a live stage. While doing this list, I was torn between this or the “Evil” performance from “SHINee World III.” I picked this because it is a perfect encapsulation of what makes SHINee spectacular. From Key‘s general fabulous and sultry existence to Minho‘s slinging his long limbs while Taemin is being extra. Onew is smooth and smoldering and the late, great Jonghyun being his tiny, disrespectful self.

So Hyang — Arirang

I don’t even know where to start with this one. The song “Arirang” is an honorary Korean national anthem, and So Hyang‘s delivery carries the majesty and emotions to even the least patriotic person. The background vocals perfectly compliment her, and the orchestra just launches this into another atmosphere. I typically don’t like songs like this because they often feel manipulative. This, however, feels sincere and uplifting. It’s a great example of how music can transcend language and culture.

Onew — Nessun Dorma

I want to give some backstory to this. In 2014, he had to have surgery to remove vocal polyps from his throat. While the typical recovery time for this procedure is a few weeks, Onew couldn’t talk for months. During that time, Jonghyun and Taemin made their solo debuts and not much news came from SM Entertainment about his recovery. This is actually the second time he’s sung this song, but this performance? With his vocals not only recovered but improved, this will always bring tears to my eyes.

Xia Junsu — 11am

So since we’re in our feelings, we might as well stay there for this one. Ugh, Xia Junsu! This makes me want to go to one of his musicals. This performance lives solely on the strength of his voice and emotions. He goes for nearly three minutes without any accompaniment. No background vocals, no guitar, nothing but a piano and some noisy birds that still work? He does so much with such a sparse setting and it’s perfect. The album version has more instrumentation, but to me, it pales in comparison to this.

There are so many other performances I nearly added to this list. When I first made my playlist of songs to consider, I forced myself to stop at 12 … And still added five more. But at the end of the day, these stood out to me and made me completely fangirl over.

Be sure to let us know what performances would make your list!