Hello everyone! I thought I'd share my thoughts as the concert is still fresh in my mind. I made a post a few months back detailing a very mixed and honestly negative experience I had at the boys' concert in Osaka, and I'm very, very happy to say that last night was amazing and this is the SHINee that I know and love.

So, going into this concert, there was one thing I wanted. I wanted someone to mention Onew, even just once. I felt that was a pretty low bar, but I started to be unsure when Your Number was performed and Key had to do Onew's final line and they were joking about it (which I'll get to later)... and they didn't mention him at all. Honestly, at that point, I was like, is their company forbidding them to talk about him, or is this something they all decided on? I just couldn't understand. I have been really unhappy with the way their company has handled Onew's hiatus in terms of transparency. I wish they would have straight-up said, for example, they wouldn't be selling merch of him and that he wouldn't be coming to this concert way earlier. With how long SHINee has been in the industry, the fans deserve this, at least.

Ok, now for the actual concert.

Just to get one thing out of the way... Minho is a danger to society. Lord almighty that man did so much fanservice with his body... (LOL) How do flamers deal with him? I don't understand. (But honestly all of them did tons of fanservice in general!!)

Here is the setlis (The gaps mean VCRs or talk segments):

Sherlock (JP & KR; actually included bits from both Clue and Note)StrangerPicassoKimi no Sei deGet The TreasureDream Girl

(Minho started wearing his Body Rhythm outfit here...)Like ItGood EveningHardDon't Call MeBody RhythmJuice

EverybodyLuciferViewDowntown BabyLucky Star

ReplayLove Like OxygenYour Number

Keeping Love AgainFireDiamond SkyLove

Shawols sing Kimi ga Iru Sekai

SuperstarRunawayThe Feeling

Colors of the Season1000 Years ~Always by your side~

Here are some very quick notes i managed to take during the concert (I have more but they will have separate paragraphs in depth.)

Some songs they talked about where they forgot some of the choreo and joked about it were Picasso and Get The Treasure.

Minho flexed his bicep at the end of Body Rhythm. And yes, he lifted his shirt up and down to show his abs.

I forgot when, but omg when Key put his hair up. Phew.

In Stranger, Sherlock, and Lucifer, Taemin NAILED Jonghyun's high notes.

During Lucky Star, they looked like they were having sooo much fun. They were so happy. They bickered about how they used to do their actual performances and kicking the boxes over.

As mentioned earlier, Key did Onew's final line in Your Number.

I'm not gonna lie, I think my expectations were a bit too high because their company hyped up their setlist and as a shawol who's been around for a long time, I was hoping for a good chunk of old non-MV songs, or rather, lots of b-sides, and for the setlist to significantly differ from their arena tour (like not having that stretch from Like it to Juice) but!! The Japanese songs they did... It meant a lot to me to see them live.

The one thing that really caught me off-guard at this concert was just how similarly Taemin sounds like Jonghyun. This is a topic that is discussed a lot, but I was actually so shocked last night and hearing how much he sounds like Jonghyun made me tear up really hard multiple times throughout the concert.

I was certainly not expecting Taemin to do Jonghyun's famous adlib note in Sherlock so that was an amazing surprise!! I literally ascended. I also loved that they sang in both Korean and Japanese. Hear Taemin KILLING IT here!

For the most part, Taemin did a lot of Jonghyun's lines, and Key did a lot of Onew's, while Minho did a pretty even mix of both.

Let me tell you I was NOT prepared for Picasso to be the second song... This is one song I have dreamed of seeing live and they killed it. And to have Stranger right after?! I don't know how I didn't pass out then and there.

Kimi no Sei de was really nice; I had so much fun singing "baby blue" along with them!

I don't know why I didn't expect they'd perform Get The Treasure.. Thinking back on it, it was pretty obvious it was going to be performed. I loved it! And of course the line "This is SHINee five and we're right by your side"... /cries

I was a little surprised they decided to do Dream Girl again as 3.. Not to be negative but this is one song in particular that feels so empty when it's just the 3 of them. Also just my opinion but I think Taemin gets nervous every time he has to do his mic move(s). LOL I noticed they tend to not do Jonghyun's high note in this one!

Btw, I won't be talking much about their talking segments, but I'll just say here that they did a lot of classic and adorable bickering and they were VERY cute all night.

Like It is a really fun song and I think it is one song that not many people talk about from its album. I think the choreo is really fun and they clearly have fun dancing it! They make the chorus choreo so satisfying to watch! I can only imagine how they feel hitting every move.

Good Evening was not on my list, but a welcome one for sure. Like Dream Girl, definitely a song you can feel the lack of presence of Onew in, but they did really well.

As for Hard, omg... when each of them do the chorus.. They slayed so hard. They slayed ME so hard. LOL They were SO into this song. They did a rock remix version of Hard btw! And basically from Hard to Juice they went all out and it was absolutely amazing to watch.

Everybody, yet another difficult one to watch with just as 3, and interestingly enough they did not do the final long note, but yeah... This one is when I full-on started crying because of THE Minho move he loves to do with Jonghyun... He blew a kiss to the sky and that's when the tears came out. (Couldn't find a clip sorry :( Here!)

As mentioned earlier, Lucifer... THIS I did not expect and it was SO GOOD AHHH I teared up many times seeing how they distributed the lines and just the overall nostalgia really hit me with this song. Also, GAH Taemin's is SO good at belting notes. I don't know how he does it every time, truly. When he belts, you can just feel your very core being cut by his voice. You can find his note here.

It was around this point I started thinking, omg, is this concert going to be 3 hours long? And yes, it was. Barely made the last train home in fact!!

Next was View, a song I wasn't expecting, and I cried again because Minho continues to show acknowledgement for Jonghyun during the line he sings that's his. Always looking directly to the sky and gesturing with his hand... (Couldn't find a clip again sorry ;_:)

Downtown Baby and Lucky Star are really fun to sing along to, and they, as mentioned earlier, looked very happy and had a lot of fun on the moving cart singing to both songs, especially Lucky Star.

Next was Replay and Love Like Oxygen, which they did at the arena tour. I dream of the day they actually do the choreography for Replay, but alas...

My heart dropped when they started doing Your Number. It is one of my most favorite Japanese songs by them, and I've always dreamed of them doing the actual choreography, but they didn't do that here, which I understand as this is another song that really does need all of the members for. They did a sort of ballad version and it was so nice. I believe they've done this version before. So yeah, at the end, Key did Onew's final line really quietly, like it caught me off-guard. And their talk segment was immediately after and Taemin teased him and told him to do it again, and he did, and then Key went to Minho and was like Ohhh I know why Taemin wanted me to do it.. It's because HE wants to actually do it. So they egged him on and Taemin was just so adorable here because he got giggly and shy and said with his classic cheeky grin, HI! Can I get your... numBER? LOL They talked a bit about the intonation/tone when saying number so that was so funny and cute. Oh, and Minho saying, "No, you can't." And this is when I was like, you're really going out of your way to not mention Onew... Anyways.

Now the emotions really hit here as we enter their ballad segment. Keeping Love Again is a song I somewhat expected, but wasn't sure because Onew's voice is so important in this song, but they did it and it was a surreal experience. To hear Fire next shocked me and ugh the chorus to Fire always gets me. I love that the lightsticks all turned orange for this song. (The lightstick show in general was absolutely amazing and the staff killed it!)

And for the song we all get emotional during... Diamond Sky. I think this was one of the best concert experiences I had in that everyone did the hand gesture together with SHINee many times throughout the concert and we all came together raising our hands in the sky for Jonghyun... Yes, I of course cried experiencing this.

Around these songs I was thinking to myself SHINee is doing really well with not crying... until they sang Love. That's when all of them started tearing up hard. Minho almost full-on started crying and he had to physically turn his back away from the camera to compose himself.You can see in Key's and Taemin's eyes the song was getting to them as well. This was one song in particular they didn't sort of "quiet down" Jonghyun and/or Onew's parts... Their voices were very, very clearly heard. This is definitely the one song last night they struggled with singing. (Full performance)

Then they come back with Superstar on the moving carts after a short break (what whiplash lol), and it was cute seeing that song live! I really like Superstar and think it's a cute song! I hope when Onew is back that they do the actual choreography since it's so cute! And then they did Runaway and The Feeling while still in the carts. I got to see all of them go by with my binoculars very clearly, and guys, they looked very happy. (cries again) The Feeling is so amazing hearing it live, I hope they end up doing a real performance in the future and not just sing that song while they're in the cart.

Encore time! Japanese staff asked us to sing Kimi ga Iru Sekai and guys, it is no exaggeration that shawols are really good at singing. Here is a clip. Taemin was REALLY happy we sang this song.

Btw, if you haven't seen the 1 of 1 VCR, I highly recommend it, especially since Onew isn't dancing in the actual MV.

And then.. Colors of the Season... a song I really was not prepared emotionally for... Key straight-up started crying during it and you could see in Minho and Taemin they were trying to keep themselves together. Full performance here.

As for the very final song, which says so much about them and their feelings... 1000 Years ~Always by Your Side~. There are no words that can express how I felt hearing this as the final song.

Also, for the fan project, we spelled out SHINee IS BACK and Minho was REALLY happy. (I personally thought it was a bit of an odd phrase to pick for this, but I supposed they meant like SHINee is back in Tokyo Dome? Idk)

No one mentioned at the very end at the goodbyes, Key brought on a surprise person on stage... Onew's SHINee Kids performer Ryunosuke was there as a back-up dancer!!! SO CUTE! He is now 19 years old!

As for the final talk segment.. I think everyone has heard by now that Taemin mentioned Onew, and yes, he did start to cry before talking and needed more than a minute to compose himself. Minho continues to always be the first member to comfort a crying member. I think this is the best translation of what he said at the very end of his turn. And I want to emphasize when he mentioned Onew, he said he really, REALLY, REALLY wants to stand on stage with Onew as 4 and that he knows we are all waiting to see that. Minho said that they were very, very nervous about this concert, but after seeing everyone's eyes, all of the anxiety melted away.

I leave you with this. Thanks for reading!