K-Pop News 2018: SHINee Returns to Stage After Jonghyun's Death
Korean boy group SHINee dedicates its return to the stage to its late band member Jonghyun.
SHINee returned to the stage in Osaka, Japan on two concert nights over the weekend. It is the group's first performance after Jonghyun passed away in December.
The group, who is known to be tightly knit, dedicated the two concerts to their late member. They performed the Japanese versions of their hit songs "Sherlock," "Juliette," and "Diamond Sky" before introducing a new Japanese single that was recorded prior to Jonghyun's death, and thus features the voices of all five original members.
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Fans, who felt the absence of Jonghyun's iconic voice, said that SHINee will be a group of five no matter what. A Twitter photo even shows that the spotlights used for the concerts remained to be five, as if one spot is still allotted for Jonghyun.
It was definitely an emotional couple of nights for the group, and the audience noted that the group members still looked shaken at the beginning of their concert, but were rejuvenated by the fans' support and cheers.
By the end of the concert, each of the members thanked their fans for the continuous support and asked them to keep the memory of Jonghyun alive. Even here, a spot at the end of the line was reportedly allotted for the late singer, with a pink rose marking his place.
"The memories of my time with Jonghyun are precious to me. He's like family to me, so I will never forget him and I will always keep him in my heart," said youngest member Taemin, before promising that they will try to be a stronger group from now on.
Minho followed up by saying he was afraid to step up on stage, but he was able to get over it with the fans' support. "I was able to overcome that because I'm not alone, we're here with all of you. We hope to keep approaching every stage like all five of us are standing there," he shared. "Will you promise us one thing? Please keep your memory of Jonghyun alive forever. I can't put in words how precious Jonghyun is to us."
SHINee is set to perform for another night in Tokyo on Feb. 26.
