More Than 20,000 Go Wild for 32-Year-Old Songs... Kim Dongryul Proves the Power of Music

All seats sold out for solo concert "An Old Song"
Scaling back the orchestra made the emotion run deeper
"Let's meet again soon, when we're just a little older."

Singer Kim Dongryul drew an audience of approximately 21,000 at his exclusive concert "Old Song," held at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul from the 17th to the 25th. Provided by Music Farm Entertainment.

More than 20,000 people still flocked to hear a song released 32 years ago. The performance stripped away the orchestra's grand melodies, relying only on a band and a voice, yet the emotion ran even deeper. Familiar songs were reborn through new arrangements, while memories of their own flowed through the audience. In a fast-changing music market, singer Kim Dongryul showed the enduring power of old songs.

According to people in the concert industry on October 30, Kim Dongryul held his solo concert "Old Song" at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul from October 17 to 25. All seven performances sold out, drawing approximately 21,000 people. Although 32 years have passed since his 1994 debut with the group Exhibition, tickets to his concerts remained hard to come by this year. For this performance, he met audiences with new arrangements of songs that have long been loved, performing alongside longtime colleagues.

Kim Dongryul's signature songs, including "Memory's Sketch," "Drunken Truth," "Shall I Say I Love You Again" and "Thanks," remain popular decades after their release. His audience spans fans who have enjoyed his music since it first came out as well as generations who discovered it much later. That's because his songs capture emotions everyone experiences, such as love, separation and longing. As time passes and people accumulate life experiences, familiar lyrics take on different meanings. Even when listening to the same song, each person recalls different memories and feelings.

The most striking change in this year's concert was the absence of a large orchestra. Kim Dongryul, who presented grand orchestral performances at last year's concert "Stroll," attended by 70,000 people, focused this year on his band and his own voice. The two concerts were prepared together over the course of two years. Ahead of the performances, he admitted feeling pressure about trying something new, but said, "I wanted to find the courage before it was too late." It was a choice to move away from the performance style he had maintained for many years.

Without the orchestra, the individual instruments' timbres and the performers' interplay stood out more clearly. In "Old Song," the violin, cello and clarinet blended in harmony, while in "Don't Say It's Not Love," a nylon-string guitar led the song instead of a piano. "Moonlight" took on a jazz feel, while "Falling Leaves" was transformed into a tango featuring the bandoneon. Rather than emphasizing grandeur, the arrangements focused on bringing out each instrument's distinctive sound and the emotion of each song.

Singer Kim Dongryul drew an audience of approximately 21,000 with his solo concert “Old Song,” held from the 17th to the 25th at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul. Provided by Music Farm Entertainment.

Singer Kim Dongryul held his solo concert “Old Song” at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul from the 17th to the 25th, drawing around 21,000 concertgoers. Photo courtesy of Music Farm Entertainment.

The musicians who had worked with him for many years also took center stage. Kim Dongryul said that while preparing for the concert, he wanted to properly showcase the skills of his dedicated band, Yul Band, which had previously been overshadowed by the orchestra. He has known bandoneon player Go Sangji since 2008, maintaining a relationship with her for 18 years. Trumpet player Jo Junghyun spent two years preparing to play the whistle for "Departure," a song featured in the concert. The musical ability the longtime colleagues had developed over the years made the performance even richer.

Considerable care also went into the stage production. In "The End of Summer," a blue wheat field spread across the stage. The production team created the space by planting individual wheat-ear models instead of using video. The wheat field swaying in the breeze and the soft lighting heightened the song's lyrical quality. By contrast, "Letting You Go" featured a vast expanse of space on a large screen. The staging and use of visuals varied from song to song, giving visual form to the emotions conveyed through the music.

The setlist also introduced changes. Alongside well-known hits, songs from his albums that had received relatively little attention were brought to the stage. He performed "Letting You Go," a track from his 2001 album "Homecoming," live for the first time, and revisited songs by the Veranda Project, which he had worked on with Lee Sangsoon. He minimized the number of songs that overlapped with last year's "Stroll." The setlist was designed to offer audiences both familiarity and novelty.

"First Love," released during his time with Exhibition, underwent a particularly meaningful change. Last year, Kim Dongryul sang the song mournfully in tribute to his late Exhibition colleague Seo Dongwook, who passed away that year. This year, however, he changed the mood with upbeat, retro-style band arrangements. The song was rearranged so the audience could enjoy it together, clapping along. He explained that if it remained only a sad song, it might be difficult to perform again in the future. The arrangement reflected his wish to keep the music he had made with his friend alive for a long time.

In this way, Kim Dongryul gives the same song a different look at each concert. He changes the instrumentation and arrangements, incorporating how his thoughts and feelings have evolved over time. That's why he can bring more than 30 years of musical journey to one stage, from his days with Exhibition through his solo career to his more recent releases, without simply recreating the past.

Behind these changes is meticulous preparation. Kim Dongryul is known for paying close attention not only to the songs and performances but also to the stage setup and lighting. Audiences encounter songs familiar from recordings through entirely different performances and arrangements at the concert venue. Hearing the stories behind the songs and watching the musicians work together are also unique pleasures of live performances that recordings cannot offer. The expectation that each concert will present a new stage helped lead to seven consecutive sold-out performances.

Singer Kim Dongryul drew about 21,000 concertgoers to his exclusive concert, "The Old Song," held at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul from the 17th to the 25th. Photo provided by Music Farm Entertainment.

Kim Dongryul admitted that he felt both grateful for the audience's patience and a sense of pressure. He was thankful that fans still hoped for larger venues and additional performances more than 30 years after his debut, but said he also felt anxious about having to live up to those expectations. He also shared his concerns about the rapidly changing music market. However, he made clear that rather than chasing trends, he would continue making the music he does best, at his own pace.

After the concert, he promised to return with music that he had thought about more deeply and devoted even greater care to. Then he greeted the audience:

"Let's grow just a little older, and see each other again soon."

The fans who listened to Kim Dongryul's songs have grown older, too. Songs about young love now prompt them to look back on the years gone by, and lyrics they once heard without much thought can suddenly reach deep into their hearts. Kim Dongryul revisits those songs, refines them and brings them back to the stage. That's why music more than 30 years old still draws audiences. His songs may be old, but the stories of the people who listen to them are still being written anew.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.