KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — It's been seven years since I saw VIVIZ's Eunha, SinB and Umji on stage, but that was when they were still part of GFriend.
While GFriend members have all gone on separate paths (though they briefly reunited for their tenth anniversary), VIVIZ has gone from being one of the fastest debuting girl groups to win a music show to being TikTok viral with their song Maniac.
According to organiser TopGallant Show the crowd numbered 3,000 enthusiastic attendees.
While I'm used to K-pop fans being at a level of frenzy you won't quite see for other genres, I was still surprised to see that fans had been queuing up since morning to get into the 5pm show at IDEA Live Arena at 3 Damansara.
Most were even wearing the light blue and white concert "dress code", and I only happened to know what to wear myself when I spotted fanposts.
Anyway, onto the show.
I wasn't so sure if I should come considering work had been hectic and my joint pain had been flaring up badly; fortunately the venue's Category 1 seating wasn't hard to get to and my friend (a massive GFriend fan) was there to make sure I didn't trip.
The organisers kept the flow smooth with no entry bottlenecks, and the show ran pretty much on time even by Malaysian standards.
VIVIZ started things off with a bang of a musical intro followed by the first track of the night Shh.
GFriend has always been known for their sharp knife-like synchronisation but VIVIZ as performers have a different energy that matches the more energetic vibe of their discography.
I wasn't familiar with the opening numbers but it didn't matter as VIVIZ seamlessly kept up the strong, frenetic tempo throughout Cliché, Love or Die, Overflow and Blue Clue.
They then gave each member a solo segment with SinB opening with Hipnotic, followed by Umji's Love Language and finally Eunha with Milky Way.
All the members were in fine form, taking the time to make banter and joke with the crowd.
When SinB and Umji needed to hastily run off backstage to fix their mics leaving Eunha alone on stage, she jokingly welcomed the audience to her "debut solo concert".
While IDEA Live Arena wasn't a very large venue the staging and backdrops were well put together, and I enjoyed the attention to detail that made each song an interesting set piece.
If you want to listen to an artist you can do it in your bedroom or your car but when you go to a concert, you expect to be fed well visual-wise.
The audience was super enthusiastic throughout, cheering even during lesser-known tracks and the dance challenge segments where random audience members were made to do the dances were particularly entertaining, thanks to how sporting those who were chosen were.
As the night drew to a close after performing the song that raised their profile globally (Maniac, of course) VIVIZ thanked their fans for the warm welcome and said they wouldn't take too long to come back next time around.
Let's hope the fates are kind enough to let them keep that promise.
