A Difficult Problem Solved
Until the very last minutes before the sound and lights went out, a large number of the audience did not want to leave. That image perfectly captured the success of the Thanh Xuân concert.
One hour before the concert, the audience had already filled the event area. Photo: Trọng Tài.
Just a few minutes before the show began, a reporter from Báo Tiền Phong spoke with DJ/Producer Hoaprox, who would be the first to perform at the Thanh Xuân concert. Hoaprox said his first emotion was nervousness, because right at the opening act at 7:30 PM, 20,000 spectators had already settled into their seats according to the areas arranged by the organizing committee.
Hoaprox has stepped onto many music stages with tens of thousands of audience members, both domestically and internationally, but this time was more special than any other. He shared: "I know the Thanh Xuân concert is a special program with journalistic artistic elements. Being a DJ present here makes me proud. And being chosen to start the DJ set, when the concert is already filled with the audience, makes me both excited and a little anxious."
Emotional music, fireworks lighting up the sky
The organizing committee mobilized hundreds of staff and volunteers to set up the ticket-checking "battlefield". All members worked urgently and decisively to ensure that each ticket matched the audience's information on the original ID card (or VNeID). Next came the task of routing and assisting the audience to ensure everyone arrived at the concert before "G" hour.
The DJ/Producer was entrusted with a set lasting about 30 minutes, like an "appetizer" to warm up the "music feast". The concert's music began with the familiar melody of With You (Ngẫu hứng), a hit that is an icon in the Vietnamese electronic music scene.
Fireworks filling the sky at the Thanh Xuân concert. Photo: Hiếu Duy.
Bringing a DJ set to the stage to energize the crowd before the show's opening was a creative move clearly calculated by the organizers—the Thanh Xuân concert is a music event gathering audiences aged 16 and above from all walks of life. The DJ's music was an important part of stimulating excitement in the vast space and connecting different generations of the audience.
The Thanh Xuân concert took the audience through three emotional phases. First was a series of classic songs associated with the tradition of the Youth Union, elaborately staged with choreography and visual effects on massive screens.
Explosive emotions in music and a feast for the eyes—this is how the Thanh Xuân concert evoked the glorious years of the resistance wars, where our fathers and brothers devoted their youth to sacrifice for national independence. Then came Chapter 2 of the Thanh Xuân concert, reflecting the modern and energetic life of young people representing the green uniform of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union today.
The Thanh Xuân concert reached its climax in Chapter 3 with a series of performances embodying the passion, courage, and patriotism of today's youth. One by one, Hòa Minzy, Lâm Phúc, Đông Hùng, Double2T, Võ Hạ Trâm, Hà Myo, Trần Ngọc Ánh, buitruonglinh, CONGB, Muôịi, and Quang Hùng MasterD stepped onto the stage to the ecstatic cheers of the audience.
Alongside them were the "silent heroes"—hundreds of people from the Student Group, the Children's Group, and the dance troupe who performed and set up the stage. A special highlight of the Thanh Xuân concert was the fireworks displays for each artist's performance, culminating in a 6-minute fireworks display that led to an explosive and complete ending for the concert.
Đông Hùng and Võ Hạ Trâm delighted the audience with their live singing prowess. Photo: Hồng Vĩnh.
A Difficult Problem Solved
Báo Tiền Phong invited 12 artists to the concert, divided into four distinct groups. First was the vocalist group (strong voices) with Đông Hùng, Võ Hạ Trâm, Lâm Phúc, and Trần Ngọc Ánh. Next were the stars leading the current Vpop trends: Hòa Minzy, Quang Hùng MasterD, Double2T, buitruonglinh, Hà Myo, and Hoaprox. Finally, there were two promising young faces: CONGB and Muôịi.
The spirit of the Thanh Xuân concert was to harmoniously combine traditional elements with popular music that appeals to young audiences. Looking at the audience area, some young people brought posters to "fan" their idols. And there were also audience members wearing the red flag with a yellow star, carrying the flag to immerse themselves in the patriotic spirit.
The music at the concert did not lean entirely toward any one element; instead, it was a balance. That was the difficult problem for the team. Because if the program were too academic, it would be hard to reach young people. And a program that was too easy, purely entertaining, would not fully convey the message of the Thanh Xuân concert.
The music production team came up with many options to select the list of songs performed at the Thanh Xuân concert. One of the effective options chosen was to mash up traditional and popular songs. Each performance by the singers largely alternated between a traditional song and a hit familiar to the audience.
When the Thanh Xuân Concert Becomes a Part of 20,000 Audience Members' Youth
Each artist who stepped onto the stage of the Thanh Xuân concert shone in their own way. Đông Hùng amazed the audience with his powerful vocals, holding high notes continuously in the climax of It's My Life. Võ Hạ Trâm sang live as if "swallowing a CD" and did an excellent job of leading the 20,000 audience members to sing along.
Hòa Minzy brought a new version of Thị mầu to the stage, with the highlight being two drops that stirred the stage even more. Female singer Hà Myo composed an entirely new segment especially for the Thanh Xuân concert, completed just hours before the show.
Hà Myo rearranged Xẩm folk songs into EDM styles (House, Drum & Bass), surprising many with the novelty of a musical color that seemed hard to listen to but managed to energize the stage wonderfully.
Quang Hùng MasterD proved his star quality with a set that "set the stage on fire" for about 30 minutes. Just the intro segment alone, lasting over 3 minutes, seamlessly combined explosive music, stunning stage effects, and elaborate choreography, heating up the Thanh Xuân concert.
Quang Hùng MasterD set the stage on fire. Photo: Trọng Tài.
The hits that went viral on platforms like Catch Me If You Can, Tình đầu quá chén, and Thủy triều were completely revamped compared to their MV versions, bringing new emotions to the Thanh Xuân concert tied to Quang Hùng MasterD's voice. Other famous hits like Thịnh vượng Việt Nam sáng ngời by buitruonglinh evoked feelings of pride and excitement as the song's creator performed live at the Thanh Xuân concert.
Quang Hùng MasterD finished his set and left the stage, but that was not the end. The Thanh Xuân concert welcomed the presence of a large team including the Children's Group, the Student Group, and dancers in a mashup of Nhà tôi có treo một lá cờ and Nhớ mãi chuyến đi này.
Images of the red flag with a yellow star appeared everywhere on the giant LED screens, in the hands of dancers and students, and draped over the children. Over 20,000 audience members sang along, creating the most moving stage moment at the Thanh Xuân concert. And that was the perfect conclusion to the main part of the special music program organized by Báo Tiền Phong.
The organizing committee treated the audience to a "music feast" until the very last minutes of the program's duration. The DJ/Producer and MC stirred the stage again. Originally, this was a set to thank and say goodbye to the audience. However, thousands stayed to enjoy the explosive EDM tracks. They held hands, forming a "train" to fully immerse themselves in the music.
A reporter from Báo Tiền Phong approached Hoaprox again and asked: "How do you feel when a large number of the audience stayed with the DJ and MC Hype until the very end of the concert?" Hoaprox emotionally exclaimed: "It's wonderful that the stage exploded until the end. This is definitely a concert that leaves many impressions and opens up many groundbreaking things."
Hoaprox joked with the program team: "If the music were still playing, I think the audience would continue to stay and burn with the music of youth, of passionate youth."
DJ Hoaprox closed the emotional Thanh Xuân concert. Photo: Hiếu Duy, Trọng Tài.
Hương Ly - Trạch Dương
