Sofie to Korea

Yesterday was Christmas Eve, and since this holiday is far more low-key in Korea than we’re used to in the west we figured we’d do something completely un-Christmassy (not sure if I’m ready to commit to that word). We had booked our tickets a month in advance and were über-excited! The concert was held in Seoul’s Olympic Park indoor stadium and there were about 12,000 people attending. The atmosphere was thrilling and everybody was ready to have a blast. Since I mainly knew about Psy because of his global hits “Gangnam Style”, “Gentleman”, and “Hangover” I had prepared for the concert by listening to some of his other songs so that I would recognize them. It also helped tremendously that the lyrics for the new songs from his 7th album were written on the big screens during the performance. No excuse for not screaming along.

There is no doubt that Psy is a natural performer. His energy and the whole setup made the evening absolutely epic. Since it’s hard to imagine how he performs live I’ve included a music video filmed at a live performance. It was a perfect mix of fast-paced songs and more quiet ballads like “Father” which is not to be confused with the recent “Daddy”. Two very different songs indeed.

In the middle of the performance Psy disappeared for a while, everything when dark and when the lights went on again no other than Rain was standing on the stage performing his classic hit “It’s raining” and two other songs. Everybody in the crowd (including myself) went completely wild (I’ve liked Rain long before I had any idea of what he was singing) and he made an awesome guest performance. After his performance he said that he had hesitated when “Psy-hyung” had asked him to perform on Christmas eve since “it’s not like I don’t have a special someone to spend the holidays with” to which the crowd (including myself) started chanting “Kim Tae Hee, Kim Tae Hee, Kim Tae Hee!”.

After Rain’s surprise appearance Psy came on stage again and performed the second half of the concert. After that he gave at least 8 encores, and that’s where I learned that “encore” in Korean is 앵콜.

Here’s a song from his new album, which I really enjoyed yesterday. With that I wish you all a Merry Christmas!