KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — A Saturday night at Zepp with three performers from South Korean alt R&B label you.will.knovv sounded like an interesting proposition.
I’m a sucker for good R&B and DEAN, you.will.knovv’s founder, has been a fixture on my Korean R&B playlists for a while.
For once I decided to just go to the concert “blind” instead of searching up playlists and reading up artist bios.
My expectations were simple — I just wanted to be entertained.
A friend was excited enough to come along; she knew who Tabber was, having seen him perform on TV before.
At first I thought it would be a standing room kind of gig but was relieved to find it was all seated, at least for my creaky knees’ sake.
Starting off the show was soloist Kim Mi-so, more known by her performing moniker Miso.
“Cantiknya (so pretty)!” Audience members, women mostly, weren’t shy about showering compliments on the singer who performed seven songs with a DJ in the back mixing the grooves.
Starting off with the 2xxx remix of Where Did I Go and seguing into other midtempo tunes that included happy, Stay and the very enthusiastically welcomed Take Me, you could say that her set felt like welcoming mood music.
Miso’s distinctive voice coupled with the dreamy overall feel of her music lingered with you.
On a cold night like that Saturday it was a lot like being greeted with a hot chocolate (if your drink could last seven songs, that is).
Then came Rad Museum to raise the thermostat.
Rad Museum got the crowd warmed up with ease. — Picture courtesy of TopGallant Show
You can always tell when an artist had a hand in writing a song — there’s a kind of honesty you feel from the way they sing the words so it wasn’t surprising to me to find out later that Rad Museum (born So Jae-hoon) is a singer, producer and songwriter.
He wasn’t content to let the audience chill in their seats, nope, halfway through he had us stand and dance, even sing along to tracks like his very fun (and added to my playlist) Off-Line.
I was also quite taken with the song Paper Cut as well as Dancing In The Rain.
Rad wasn’t shy about working the stage and getting the crowd to remember it was Saturday night, and they weren’t in a chamber hall.
It was a great warmup for when the final soloist of the night Tabber (Kim Hyun-joon) appeared to near-deafening screams.
One girl behind me kept screaming about how she needed Tabber’s jacket off ASAP.
Ah, to be young…
From newer singles such as Hysteric Glamour to the very fun Chi-Ka and Like A Vampire, Tabber was in fine form, gamely interacting with the audience and jokingly accepting a marriage proposal.
Miso’s fairy-like presence lulled the crowd into chilled enjoyment. — Picture courtesy of TopGallant Show
All-in-all a fun night was had and kudos to the organisers for managing the occasional rowdiness that ensued.
Kuala Lumpur was the only South-east Asian stop for the you.will.knovv trio and hopefully the audience appreciated the effort put into making it a great Saturday night.
In the meantime, it’s time to update my K-R&B playlist.
