ITZY, MIDZY, Let's fly!

I don’t always go to Kpop concerts, but when I do, I travel to Dallas to do so. Why? Because it’s far easier to get tickets for cities that aren’t Los Angeles. Besides, we have a friend who lives in Dallas, so it made sense to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. The increase in cost in terms of airfare and hotel is a worthy tradeoff to spend some time with a cherished friend. Money, we can always make back. Relationships, might not be here tomorrow.

The Kpop act we went to see at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas (close enough to Dallas) is ITZY. I’ve been a fan of this quintet since their debut back in 2019. One long pandemic later and they are finally having a world tour. Perfect time to go see them live. I’m glad ITZY is not so popular to perform in huge venues like arenas and stadiums. The Toyota Music Factory seats 4,000 indoors, and it’s just the right size that even in our “cheap” seats, it’s intimate enough to see the singers’ faces.

I never understood why people go to stadium shows. Unless you pay absolutely through the nose for seats up front, you really cannot see shit when you’re up in the bleachers. From that position you’re more watching the LCD screens instead of the acts themselves. At that point, why not simply watch the concert DVDs? Even though I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music, I cannot ever attend her stadium concerts. I’m not rich nor fanatical enough to pay for the expensive seats.

Anyways, back to ITZY. They are fantastic to see live. The five of them really showed off their vocal abilities. To be able to dance choreography and sing live at the same time, song after song, is really difficult and impressive. The allure Kpop for me is always the synergy of song and dance into one complete performance. Not all groups in Kpop achieve commercial success, but I can say all of them work their butts off.

I was only disappointed that ITZY did not perform my favorite song of theirs: Swipe.

En route.

Epik High is here

Last evening I went to my first concert since the summer of 2019. South Korean hip-hop band Epik High was playing at the Fox Theatre in downtown Oakland. Suffice it to say it’s been a really long time since I’ve experienced live music in person. We were scheduled to attend the BTS tour at Levi’s Stadium back in May of 2020, but sadly we’re all too familiar with what happened to the world that spring. What’s still going on, no matter how lax the COVID restrictions are now comparatively.

Summer of 2019 we saw South Korean pop girl group Twice at The Forum in Inglewood. Kpop was huge back then but not nearly as big as it is now (thanks, BTS). Tickets to the 2019 Twice show were still a relatively easy get. The group’s 2022 North American tour? We didn’t even try. I’m quite happy to have seen Twice in concert before Kpop’s explosion in popularity on this side of the globe.

Being a somewhat indie hip-hop act, tickets to Epik High weren’t too difficult to get. In fact you could’ve bought tickets right at the show, should you be the type of person who lives life so spontaneously. The Fox Theatre seems to be the perfect size venue of the group. We sat up top at the mezzanine level with assigned seating, because we are too bloody damn old to be humping and bumping with the crowd down on the first-come-first-serve floor. Though I totally would for an artist I truly admire, like IU.

I have to say that acoustically, the Fox Theatre is a mix bag. The setup seems to be more suited for the EDM type of music. Songs with lyrics you have to make out will struggle to find the necessary clarity at the venue. It’s loud for loudness sake, which is kind of disappointing, honestly.

Of course, Epik High didn’t disappoint. DJ Tukutz, Mithra Jin, and Tablo sang many of their hits and quite a few songs from their latest album. I had a great time, though I think my ears will need a few days to recover from not having such intensity of decibels in a long time.

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Epik High is here.

Bang tan

One of the few regrets I have throughout this COVID-19 pandemic is missing the scheduled BTS concert at Levi’s Stadium back in April 2020. Not because of any fault on my part, obviously: the entire tour was rightfully cancelled. Live Nation held onto our money (interest free) for more than a year, hoping against hope that the tour would simply resume when circumstances allowed. Unfortunately, it was a not to be, and ultimately I got my money back.

There goes my opportunity of seeing the golden boys of South Korean music. With two additional years of popularity increase - assisted by a few English-language singles - the pent up demand for BTS is at a maximum. Which explains why getting tickets for their concert at SoFi Stadium down in Los Angeles, held earlier this month, was incredibly difficult. Wait many hours in the virtual queue only to not get a chance to purchase? That’s what happened to a friend.

I’ve heard similar experiences in getting tickets for TWICE’s upcoming North American tour. Lucky for me, I already saw them in concert back in 2019. I don’t have a great need to do it again.

Back to BTS: I have to say I really can’t get into their English-language songs. I don’t understand why they (and other Kpop groups) need to pander to our market and sing in English. The principle problem is that the rap line - J-Hope, Suga, and RM - can’t showcase their skills at all. The same trio that utterly electrified on a track like this is hopelessly wasted when BTS do songs in English. Difficult to rap in a language you only have elementary (at best) knowledge of, understandably.

BTS’s built their popularity singing and rapping in Korean. The rest of the world not able to understand the language was never a problem nor a barrier. Singing in English when only one member of the group can even speak it fluently just seems wrong to me. I feel the same way about Kpop artists releasing Japanese singles when no one (or very few) in the group can speak the language. Contrived. Forced. Money grab.

I’ll stick with BTS’ Korean discography, thank you.

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Metro life.

BTS hunger games

Tickets for BTS’ latest world tour goes on presale later today, so may fortune be forever in your favor (or whatever that famous line is from the Hunger Games films). Like most functioning adults, I am not free at 3PM on a workday to get in the virtual line on Ticketmaster; luckily, my friend is (he’s a functioning adult, though; promise), so I’ve given him my login information and hoping for a good result.

That said, it’s not a huge deal if I don’t get tickets, because I’m not the most ardent of BTS fans. I have been a fan of Kpop since the late 2000s, so I feel it is important to go see an act such as BTS - the worldwide cultural phenomenon the group has become. Our group of friends simply wants to get in and listen to the songs, rather than paying out the nose for expensive seats, hoping to get a close glimpse of whoever is our “bias” (Suga, obviously). I’m glad that BTS is a big enough act to host concerts in football stadiums, because that means we can sit up high for relatively cheap.

The cynical might say I’m merely joining in on the hype and “doing it for the ‘gram”, and my reply to that is, “so?” Indeed it’s true that I would not be trying to get tickets if BTS wasn’t the biggest pop group on the planet, but who says you can’t follow the horde or what’s popular? It’s not like I don’t enjoy their music; and unlike some, I can actually understand the lyrics without consulting a dictionary or Youtube translation videos (hate to sound elitist). Like I said, the point is to have fun, hang out with friends, and listen live to our favorite “genre” of music: Kpop.

Fingers crossed we get the opportunity to do so at the BTS concert.

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Immaculately tended.

Kendrick and the white girl

During a concert, Kendrick Lamar invites a white girl on stage to sing with him. Naturally his songs contain the N-word and in the moment of joy the girl raps right along to 'M.A.A.D City' and uttered the N-word multiple times. A dismayed Kendrick stops the music to reprimand the girl, putting her on blast in front of the entire audience (that's cold).

So then of course the Twitterverse is having the same ole discussion again about who can or can't say the N-word and whether it should be banned entirely or only black people can say it, suck it white folks because slavery.

This particular episode reminds me of Trinidad James's 'All Gold Everything' a few years back. The song's chorus got a bunch of N-words in it and you can bet non-black people rapped through it without self-censoring (at least privately, or on an all-white party bus). An old white-lady even got into trouble when fraternity kids videoed her singing the chorus. 

I think people should be free do do what they want. Want to say the N-word? Go right ahead; just be aware that depending on the color of your skin and whether you're in public or private, there may be consequences. Don't be so naive to think non-black people aren't rapping the N-word to hip hop songs when there are no black folks around to hear it. 

At the very least, you know the white girl invited up by Kendrick does it. 

It's an MX-5 party at the campus parking lot.