Line-up

Headliner
CNBLUE Last time in Berlin: First time!

Venue

Uber Eats Music Hall

Uber Platz 2, 10243, Berlin, Germany

Capacity: 4,500

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CNBLUE biography

CNBLUE (formed in 2009) is a South Korean pop and rock band formed of members Jung Yong-hwa, Lee Jong-hyun, Lee Jung-shin and Kang Min-hyuk from Seoul, South Korea.

After performing on the streets and at various live clubs in Japan, CNBLUE released their debut mini-album “Now or Never” in August 2009. With Jung Yong-hwa on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Lee Jong-hyun on lead guitar and vocals, Lee Jung-shin on bass guitar and vocals and Kang Min-hyuk on drums, the mimi album was recorded entirely in English, although never really won the band any real attention.

The band’s second mini-album or EP “Voice” did a little better than the first, reaching No. 227 in the Oricon (Japanese Chart) comprised of both English and Japanese tracks. However it wasn't until 2010 that CNBLUE really made their mainstream mark. With their debut in South Korea, the min-album “Bluetory” was released in January 2010 and topped the Gaon Chart for two weeks. It’s lead single “I’m a Loner” debuted at No. 2 in the chart and was followed-up by a pair of mini-albums that cemented the band’s popularity in Korea.

With this popularity CNBLUE returned to Japan, which due to the cross-marketing technique adopted in the East Asian pop market, meant their success in Korea developed into success in Japan. This led to a stream of hits in both countries where the band simply had to re-record the lyrics in either the one or the other language.

CNBLUE’s subsequent Japanese releases were mainly studio albums due to the format’s popularity in Japan and included “392” in 2011, “Code Name Blue” in 2012, “What Turns You On?” in 2013 and “Wave” in 2014. The preference of mini-album or EPs in South Korea led CNBLUE to release and string of subsequent mini-albums including “Bluelove” in 2010, “First Step +1 Thank You” in 2011, “Ear Fun” in 2012, “ Re:Blue” in 2013, and “Can’t Stop” in 2014.

Live reviews

Welcome to the mainstream pop/rock scene of South Korea. It’s a place where bands are expected to release an album and a couple of EP’s of completely original material every single year, all the while touring said releases and most likely trying to cultivate an acting career at the same time. They must do all of this while promoting everything they’re putting out be it album, E.P or film, or they’ll be considered past it by the time the seasons change. I wish I was exaggerating. It’s a massively cut-throat world where if you fall behind, nine times out of ten you stay behind. The upside of it all is that it sorts the wheat from the chaff, and those left are the best there is at what they do. CNBLUE are one of the best examples of this out there. This is a band able to juggle everything I listed above with absolutely astounding live shows that, only five years into their career, can comfortably last up to two and a half hours long. Think about that for a second, Django Django, The Dead Weather and Fidlar all formed in the same year, and you’d be an idiot to expect the same from them. We’re not talking about some choreographed faux-rock show where everything is mimed either. Jung Yong-hwa, Lee Jong-hyun, Kang Min-hyuk and Lee Jung-shin are unmistakeably the real deal, spitting out everything from shredding guitar solos, quiet piano ballads, slick raps and perfect harmonies over that outrageous running time (fun fact, a considerable amount of the bands material is written by them as well). A hell of a lot of our western so called “rock stars” could learn a lot from CNBLUE show, and most of their fans would be utterly astounded by the same thing, so anyone with an appreciation for Rock and Roll at it’s finest keep an ear and an eye out, you will not regret it!

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