Band, FTISLAND, held a successful solo concert in Taiwan.

FTISLAND concluded their ‘PLAY! FTISLAND’ concert in Taiwan earlier on 26 May. All 8,000 tickets for the concert were sold out within 10 minutes after the sales started. FTISLAND’s popularity is proven once again.

FTISLAND performed about 20 songs in total, including their hits like “I Hope”, “Love Love Love”, “NEVERLAND”, “Confession”, etc.

The members were especially touched by the fans who held up 5th anniversary congratulatory placards at the end of their encore song.

FTISLAND expressed that, “We’re really thankful to our fans in Taiwan for their passionate support. And we’re really touched by the surprise event they’ve put up for us. We promise to work even harder, in return for the love they have given us. We feel really happy to receive such generous love from fans at this Taiwan concert.”

Credit: OSEN + ying1005@withtreasures

FTISLAND sold more than 40,000 copies of their latest Japanese album ’20(twenty)’.

FTISLAND’s latest Japanese album ’20(twenty)’ that was released on 16 May, recorded a total sales of 41,726 copies on 21 May. This new record exceeds the total sales of their first regular album “FIVE TREASURE ISLAND”, which marked a record of 36,980 copies sold in the first week, by approximately 5,000 copies.

Title song “STAY”, from their new album “20(twenty)” is written and composed by FTISLAND’s Choi Jonghun. With regard to their new album title “20(twenty)”, member Lee Jaejin said that, “The average age of FTISLAND members is currently 20 and this album portrays the kind of music that we are doing right now, so we name it 20(twenty).”

Credit: Star Today + ying1005@withtreasures

FTIsland held an official fanmeeting with the theme “Congratulations!” in Japan, at Tokyo Dome City Hall on 19 & 20 March.

This event was originally planned to be held in March last year but was postponed due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

FTIsland performed songs like “Severely” from their latest Korean mini album “GROWN-UP” and other hits like “Like Birds” live at the event.

During the talk show, they had a cake celebration for Lee Hongki & Choi Jonghun, whose birthdays fall in March, and for Choi Minhwan & Song Seunghyun, who have officially turned into adults this year. Their Japanese fans also sang the congratulatory song in Korean for the boys.

Lee Jaejin recalled their Christmas live concert held at Yokohama Arena last year, “It was the biggest stage we had so far and we had lots of fun.”

Choi Jonghun also commented about their song “Neverland”, which is releasing on 18 April, being chosen as the opening song for WOWOW 20th anniversary commemorative animation “Ozma”, “The music video is excellently done. We’re happy that this song is linked to such a famous animation.” 

The animation “Ozma” that started airing on 16 March, was written by the famous Japanese manga artist Matsumoto Leiji in 1980 and has never been released, gaining interest from public.

Credit: Yonhap News + ying1005@withtreasures

FTIsland showed their love for fans by holding a fanmeeting after their last performance stage.

About 400 fans attended FTIsland’s fanmeeting after SBS ‘Inkigayo’ on 18 March. On this day, Choi Jonghun personally treated fans to candies, bread and drinks.

Starting from 14 March which is also White Day, FTIsland members took turns to give candies to their fans who came to support them at the music shows, for a period of 5 days. 

With their promotional activities coming to an end, FTIsland said that, “We would like to thank our fans for all the love and support given to us. We love them ‘severely’ too”.

Credit: Newsen + ying1005@withtreasures

FTIsland and CNBlue held their first concert in LA and wowed the audience with their splendid performance.

Their management company, FNC, said on the 12th, “FTIsland and CNBlue held their first concert on the 9th at LA Nokia Theatre. They performed to an audience of 5,000 people and it was a great success.”

Their management company also mentioned that 80% of the crowd came from the Philippines, Spain, Italy, America, Mexico, Taiwan, Japan and other countries, realizing the popularity of K-Pop.

According to their management company, some fans came in groups to the concert venue few hours before the performance, holding FTIsland’s symbolic pentasticks and some with CNBlue’s logo boards and came wearing their tshirts.

CNBlue performed hits like “Intuition”, “I’m a Loner”, “LOVE” etc. and FTIsland performed “Hello Hello”, “Love Love Love”, “Severely” etc. leaving the audience happy and fulfilled.

The Vice-President of the US company AEG, Ms Susan Rosenbluth, also attended the live concert. AEG is the company that runs concerts for Bon Jovi, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber and other famous artistes.

VP Susan Rosenbluth gave favourable comments at a meeting with CJ E&M, mentioning that, “No doubt on the increasing popularity of K-Pop. Besides the performing skills, the abilities of the artistes made the performance a more than satisfying stage.”

On the other hand, FTIsland will embark on their Asia tour, including Japan as one of their tour stops. CNBlue will also be releasing their new album at the end of this month.

Credit: Star News + ying1005@withtreasures

FTIsland has taken legal action against a cosmetic company for infringement of portrait rights.

According to the Seoul Central District Court on 27th, FTIsland claimed that they were used in cosmetic advertisements without any authorization and requested for a claim of 200 million won from DEREON Cosmetic.

Their complaint stated that, “The model contract with DEREON in Korea had already been concluded last April. But  DEREON continued to use FTIsland as models without authorization in Japan and recently, even in Malaysia and other Asia regions.”

“After the expiry of the contract, they are still using FTIsland as models in the country even in recent cases. We are requesting for a compensation of 200 million won for the infringement of portrait rights.” 

Credit: Money Today + ying1005@withtreasures