Japan rock band King Gnu plays sold-out show in Singapore
Japanese rock band King Gnu played its first Singapore show to a sold-out crowd on April 10 at The Star Theatre as part of its Asia tour.
The band’s latest studio album, The Greatest Unknown, released in November 2023, has been making waves, notably with its opening track Specialz.
The track serves as the opening theme song for the second season of the popular anime series Jujutsu Kaisen. It has featured in several TikTok videos including Japan Airlines’ viral recreation of the opening theme.
During the concert the band's vocalist and guitarist Daiki Tsuneta expressed his fondness for Singapore: "Singapore has become my favourite city." His declaration was met with cheers and applause from the crowd.
Among the attendees was Teo Zhe Kai, a 19-year-old Singaporean student who told TNP that he “had to fight for the tickets” when they went on sale in January.
"It was great, everyone was excited,” he said. “I stood in the front row, so I managed to see everything. What I see online matches what I see in real life."
Fans from across the region also flew in to see the band live. Among them was Aurellia Silaen, a 17-year-old Indonesian student who flew in with a delegate of Indonesian fans.
“We were discussing on X, asking which Indonesians are going to the King Gnu concert, and we were all, like, ‘me, me, me, me, me,’” she said. “So we all decided to meet up and here we are, we’re now pretty much friends. It’s amazing.”
As the concert drew to a close, queues for band merchandise stretched long, with several items selling out quickly. Hordes of fans hung around the venue, still high with concert excitement.
On her experience catching King Gnu live for the first time, Silaen added: “They blew it out of the park. They were amazing. I don’t think we’ll ever have another band like this in our lifetime.”
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