Lovelyz: Alwayz 2017 Summer Concert DVD Review

Lovelyz began holding solo concerts in 2017, beginning with Lovelyz in Winterland in January and then Alwayz on July 29th and 30th. Unfortunately LIW1 doesn't have a concert DVD, but starting with Alwayz, Woollim has released both a DVD and bluray version for Lovelyz' solo concerts.

Alwayz was released on January 25th, 2018. I purchased the DVD version of this in April at Music Plaza in LA, which I blogged about here. The bluray version, which also contains different inclusions, is sold out now.

The packaging is really cute! The exterior looks like a popsicle, and the vinyl tab at the bottom looks like the popsicle stick. Furthermore, the outer box is really thick and sturdy. This outer box is about 6" by 8.9375" by 1.6875".

The backside lists the DVD info.

Using the vinyl tab at the bottom to pull out the inner box reveals the contents inside. The DVD version comes with a polaroid set, one random paper stand, a digipack with 3 discs, and a photobook.

Unfortunately one flaw in the packaging is that the top layer of the inner box ripped, probably when it was originally being packaged. Other than that, the overall packaging is quite sturdy.

The polaroid set is held together by a paper flap. Unfortunately here the flap is really hard to remove without damaging the packaging; I accidentally tore a pit of the flap to open this.

Here is how the inside of the polaroid set looks.

The polaroid set contains nine cards; one group and eight individual member ones. The set came with the group photo on top, then age order from Soul to Yein, except for the exception of Kei and Jin. Each card is about 2.125" by 3.375".

Here is the backside of the card.

Here is the paper stand! The DVD set comes with one random paper stand out of eight. The front has a glossy finish. I got Yein~

Here is the backside of the paper stand.

Here is how Yein looks after folding together the stand. It stands about 7.25" tall.

The digipack is matte teal with glossy yellow and pink accents.

Here is the back of the digipack.

Opening the first flap of the digipack reveals the first disc, along with the tracklist of all three discs.

And here are all three discs. The discs all have the option of Korean, English, or Japanese subtitles. Now I'll talk about my personal highlights of each disc below.

Disc One:

• About 126 minutes long and covers about 2/3 of the concert footage all from the second day
• Opening VCR is like a young version of Sanctuary with the girls in wedding dresses
• "똑똑 (Knock Knock)" stage was really cute, incorporating two doors and opening and closing them within the choreography
• Lovelyz Diary 4.5 Part 1 VCR showed the girls' reactions to their predebut clips from Lovelyz Diary Season 1, as well as the girls practicing a cappella and choreo
• Mini VCRs from the outdoor field shoot and pool shoot to introduce each subunit stage
• I'm grateful the subunit stages are Lovelyz' own songs so that they could be released on DVD! Also they show different sides outside of Lovelyz' usual concept
• Jiae and Jisoo's subunit stage was really cool; it had such an eerie effect like in a haunted house, and seeing Jiae playing the piano and hearing the girls' real vocals made the stage perfect
• For Mijoo, Sujeong, and Yein's subunit stage, even though they were wearing sexy outfits, the opening was really cute and the first verse so adorable. It looked like they had so much fun shooting the crowd with the water guns too
• Lovelyz Diary 4.5 Part 2 VCR showed the girls replaying previous adventures they had on earlier seasons of Lovelyz Diary, like Babysoul and Kei reminiscing their past blind date at a cafe, and Jin and Sujeong doing a recognition test in Hongdae.
• "Aya" stage was really fun, especially using the stethoscope at the end of the choreography. And Myungeun's high note!
• The girls had a ment where they had a syllable relay for "Lovelinus I love you", but they kept messing up so Jisoo, who was first, had to keep starting over!
• Lovelyz Truth Talk VCR showed each member being given a statement by another member, then she has to give her truthful opinion. Yein said Jiae wears pigtails to look young, Yein also said Lovelyz isn't funny without Mijoo, Jiae asked Jin if she wants to be the maknae. Most of the statements were snarky, but then Soul was so cute, asking Yein what she ate to become so pretty.
• While the concert contains songs from debut to "Now, We" era, they also performed "Fallin'" before its release.

Disc Two:

• About 58 minutes long and covers the remaining 1/3 of the concert footage
• To Lovelinus VCR is like a spring garden party, where each member shared a handwritten letter dedicated to Lovelinus
• During "Candy Jelly Love" the girls came out of the back of the crowd and the upper deck.
• The girls spent about 30 minutes for their ending ment. They tried not to cry, but Soul broke down thanking her family. Mijoo cried when she asked the crowd if they have sore throats from cheering and they said they're alright; all of this was so touching
• In total, Lovelyz performed 24 songs

Disc Three:

• About 93 minutes long and contains making films and special clips
• Making Film #Practice Part.1: about 24 minutes long, showing D-5 in their training room with footage including stretching, practicing choreography while singing with mics, talking to the camera for impromptu interviews, practicing their ments. Soul predicted that she'd cry at the concert.
• Making Film #Practice Part.2: about 21 minutes long, showing D-3 in the band training room with footage including practicing choreography and singing with mics with the live band, practicing ballads, and individual member cams during break time. Jiae showed her point of view while "The" unit practiced. Then there was a chairman cam too.
• Making Film #Rehearsal: about 13 minutes long, showing D-1 in the waiting room with footage including the members talking to the camera, clips of rehearsing on stage, the members monitoring themselves. They said it's difficult because the spacing is different in the training room versus the concert stage. There was also a lot of footage for the "Knock Knock" stage. Myungeun also played the piano while on break, then the camera followed her to the waiting room; it was really cute and a great transition.
• Making Film #Backstage: about 26 minutes long, showing D-Day in the waiting room with footage including the members talking to the camera about food support from fans, Myungeun hurting her ankle during "1cm" practice and going to the hospital the day before, Jisoo playing with slime, and Yein thanking the makeup artist for helping make her eyes look the same size. One clip also showed their teacher changing movement arrangements (Lovelyz came into the audience for "Candy Jelly Love" only on the last day), while another clip had a member talking to the camera while you can hear Myungeun practicing her lines in "WoW!" in the background. Woollim Girls also visited Lovelyz backstage. There is also footage throughout the concert itself, such as the nervous members heading to the main stage before the concert, clips of the concert like "Cameo", "Circle", "For You", "Heart" (from ANT), and unit stages, and backstage in between stages. There were impromptu interviews in between stages, including one where Jiae explained that "aya" means "ouch", which is why the choreography is aimed to cure pain. It also showed the girls walking through the venue with rice donations in the background as they headed to their designated spots for "Candy Jelly Love" within the audience. There was also a fan event where fans threw paper planes onto the stage, and members kept them. At the end was a more formal interview of the members' thoughts of completing the concert and message to Lovelinus.
• Special Clip: about 8 minutes of dance practice at the studio "Secret Getaway", "Cameo", and "For You".

And lastly is the photobook.

Here is the front of the photobook.

And here is the back.

There are 88 pages of colorful, high quality photos from the concert.

There are several pages dedicated to rehearsals.

Other pages show the girls backstage.

Majority of the photos are from the actual concert.

This photo of Jiae and Jisoo's unit performance is so elegant.

There are also individual photos.

They also documented the girls going into the audience.

And lastly are photos from the ending stage.

At the end are two pages for the concert credits.

Overall, I'm very happy with Lovelyz' first concert DVD set!  The inclusions are cute (especially the paper stand) and there is so much content on the discs. It looks like the members have so much fun on stage and truly enjoy performing, and it seems so touching when they interact with Lovelinus; I hope one day I can experience this too!