If euphoric progressive house wasn’t on your bingo card for the sound of lead singer of a renowned Korean rock band’s solo tour… we wouldn’t blame you. Alas, Kim Woosung is a man of many surprises. Bringing with him to Troxy in London on the 30th October was The Rose bandmate Dojoon (under DJ name parclassic): but it was no sneaky move to bank on familiarity. Rather, two cornerstones of a niche genre they’ve come to be loved for decided to team up on a tour that explores many others. Indeed, they’re ones who put the joy of music above everything else.
After an electric (no, literally) opening set from parclassic, a cap and hoodie-equipped singer snaked onto stage, seemingly drawing attention only to his voice, but earning the blaring woos of thousands nonetheless. Woosung moved with a confident groove under the dim lights, truly feeling each word as he opened with his hit “Paper Cuts”.
“Before We Die” earned the introductions and first deep talk of the night, with Woosung hyping up the crowd with his earnest words: ‘I’m so happy to be here before I f***ing die!’ It seems the singer’s real-life attitude is no watered-down version of the heart imbued in his song lyrics; he means each and every word.
And yes, that includes ‘I like your face’.
Woosung caressed, then belted, then caressed again his lines in the first hit song that solidified him as a strong soloist: “FACE”. It’s a song that particularly milks his unique timbre, and since the singer ensured to grace all attendees with a fully live-sung performance (which should be the standard, but isn’t always these days), they were in for an immense treat.
Dojoon got up from his parclassic seat to sing along to some tunes along the way, and we’ll give you one guess as to which Korean rock band’s songs those were by. Essentially, you can take the boys out of The Rose, but you can’t take The Rose out of the boys. parclassic’s EDM remixes of “Lifeline”, “Back To Me”, and “Sour” melded the beloved melodrama of The Rose with an invigorating electronic pump: enough to get any beer-equipped, seat-ridden attendee off their feet.
Like at any rockstar’s gig, banter made its way in between performances. Woosung’s ramblings between songs, such as the number four’s unlucky status in certain cultures (to which his thoughts were: ‘the four didn’t do s**t’), were so entertaining that the venue started to resemble a comedy club. Be it a seminar of his musings or performances of Tron-esque synthed-up versions of his solo hits, there's no doubt that people will be there for both.
