Live Report of TOMIKITA in London

Although TOMIKITA have performed regularly in Korea and the States, this club date at The Peel in Kingston, London was the group's first ever UK date. KoME were lucky enough to be able to attend the performance.

It wasn't until shortly before the first act took the stage that the venue started to fill up and by the time TOMIKITA were on stage the venue was almost at capacity. Due to some technical problems the start of the concert was delayed slightly, but this only built the anticipation of what was to come.

The three-piece band TOMIKITA were first to take the stage that night (followed by Steranko and Korean legends Y.B). The show opened with electronics (initiated by drummer Chung on a small synthesizer by the side of his drum kit) before powering into the band's usual rock sound. After the first song, the entire feel calmed down and the lights faded as the band flowed into a more mellow song, IN DREAMZ. The first MC of the set showed a trend for both Korean bands playing that night in that it was in both Korean and English to help the band communicate best to both audiences present.

This was followed by the song LOLLIPOP, which was another slower song that encouraged the crowd to sway and generally received a warm reception from all present. Bassist Al was particularly energetic during this song, attracting a small group of female fans near the front of the stage to give him a hearty scream at the end! The next song, ANGELICA, is taken from their forthcoming American album and was one of the most energetic of the set, something that the crowd seemed to appreciate and enjoy.

At the start of the next song, Hanyeon bi, Tomi (vocals/guitar) had some technical problems with his guitar in the form of a broken string. Not one to be put off, he simply continued the song and joked "the guitar's f**ked up!", which was met with a cheer from the crowd. As the set drew to an end, the group performed a famous Korean song (Sarang) that most of the Korean crowd recognised and sung along to.

The final song of the main set was a high-octane punk sounding song about one of Korea's most famous foods: kimchi. The song featured the line "Give me kimchi", a sentiment that seemed to be echoed by the crowd. As the band left the stage, Tomi held out his guitar and allowed the crowd to play the final few notes.

Despite the lively and entertaining set, the crowd was not satisfied and began screaming for an encore. The band granted it to them and returned to the stage to perform one final song, Areumdaun sarang. The song was a good way to completely end their set as it featured a section where the crowd repeated some Korean lines from the song.

Set List

ROSE
IN DREAMZ
LOLLIPOP
ANGELICA
Hanyeon bi
Sarang
Kimchi

Encore:
Areumdaun sarang