David Choi Concert

So last night I went to David Choi’s concert. It was great fun. Even though David Choi is one of YouTube’s foremost celebrities and his concerts are filled to capacity, his celebrity status has not gone to his head. He is just a normal guy who is slightly uncomfortable in the spotlight. I guess that is part of what makes him so amiable. His shows are very informal. He sang songs interspersed with Q&A sessions. People wrote questions on paper and chucked it in a box before the concert and he casually pulled questions from the box and answered them at leisure. Most questions revolved around his relationship status which he never gave a definite answer to. One person asked: “Do you have a girlfriend. Answer with only Yes or No.” To which David responded “Yes or No.”

What I like about the Internet culture is the interactiveness of it all. People watch David Choi perform on YouTube. David Choi has a live show and then takes a video of it using his iPhone. This video of his audience is in turn put on YouTube so that the audience become themselves “viewed”; in so doing the roles are turned around and David becomes the audience of his audience. There is just generally more interaction. For instance, for one of his songs David invited a fan up on stage to sing the song with him. This fan learned the song off the Internet and was now singing with him -- I'm sure someone recorded it and we will soon find the duet on the Internet.

What I also liked about the show was how David tried really hard to use Korean, often replacing some words from his songs with Korean equivalents to his (Korean) audience's delight. It was nice to see his effort at using Korean. His Korean is not all that good. In fact, it is a little better than mine (his vocabulary is little better). Still, his effort at using Korean was nice. It is pleasant to see somebody coming to grips with their cultural heritage. (Something I’m still trying to do.) David grew up in America and is very much American. It is only recently that he started to really "return to his roots." He only met his grandparents for the first time late last year.

The video below was of the concert on the previous night which I stumbled upon on the YouTube. I ordered a camcorder recently, but have not yet received it, which is quite a pity as I would really have wanted to record some of the performances. That is another thing I like about Internet culture and Internet celebrities. At a David Choi concert recording the show is aloud, because that is the medium of choice. It is because of free video clips on the Internet that he has become famous. Instead of seeing such recordings as copyright infringement of some sort, it is instead viewed as free marketing. David is not signed to any big record label and also doesn't see the need for it. He markets himself through the Internet using social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. In so doing he skips all the red tape, and the audience enjoys a closer relationship with him. I have emailed him before and received responses. (That was last year when I wanted to go to his show and tried to find out more information. He kindly emailed me back and gave me links to the relevant websites.) This kind of interaction is hardly possible with conventional celebrities.



This video below is some of the little snippits that David Choi uploads on YouTube, talking about the things he is doing and commenting about his experiences in Korea.




Again this type of personal interaction is not something one would find with normal celebrities. Of course there are those terrible Reality TV shows like "The Ozbournes," but those are just creepy. What we have here is something more personal. David Choi is actually sharing a little bit of himself with his audience -- we do not feel like voyears spying; instead we are invited into parts of his life. This kind of openness seems to release us from any voyearistic, stalking behaviour. There is no need for it.

After missing out on David Choi's performances last year I am really happy that I was able to attend a concert this time round. I almost missed this time two as I was taking an afternoon nap and overslept somewhat. Luckily by the time I arrived at the concert hall the opening act was just finishing off her last song, so I did not miss anything.