Epik High - MAP THE SOUL WORLD TOUR (in Seoul)

Epik High began their MAP THE SOUL WORLD TOUR 2009 in Japan, and it wasn't until the beginning of May that the tour swung them back around to Korea, where they performed in Seoul. The concert was held at the Melon AX Hall on Saturday, May 2nd at 6pm. Unlike other concerts that I've attended, such as the Korea Sparkling concert, this was a much more intimate show. Whereas before I was sharing the experience with ten thousand fans, here I was only sharing with about eight hundred.

The venue itself feels like a small university campus, and you walk past a library and some other buildings before seeing the hall on the other side. The building itself is quite small and the courtyard out front was equally sized, but full of fans nonetheless. Inside, there was a good sized stage with room for Tablo, Mithra, DJ Tukutz with his DJ set-up, MYK, Kero One, Beatbox DG, a guitar section and their piano player to mix it up all at once. The stage was set at the perfect height, and fans didn't have to crane their necks to see the artists' faces.

Once everyone was in, the lights dimmed very quickly and I was expecting the show to start, but it was just music from an advert playing to a video. The lights came on again, then almost immediately it went dark. Music started up again, but once more it was just music from a commercial. This prompted some light hearted 'heckling' from the crowd. The show began with a message on the wall screen about how it would make people sad if we were to take pictures of the event, and an apology for making us wait an extra five minutes.

After a wait that was actually only three minutes, Big Vince came out on stage to address the crowd and prepare for Kero One's set. After putting on his guitar and setting up, he realised that he didn't have the show CD and had to return backstage to find it. Upon returning to the stage, he apologised and introduced Kero One to the stage. I hadn't expected that both MYK and Kero One would perform their own sets at the show, assuming rather that their main role would be to freestyle with Epik High. While Kero One did return near the end of the concert for their encore, he was given his very own, forty minute set at the beginning.

Beatbox DG was the next to perform, with DJ Tukutz on mixing duties. I am one of those people who find it difficult to believe that all those sounds can be made by one person's mouth, but it was proven in what were brief but intense skits. Once he had run out of breath, Beatbox DG introduced Tablo and Mithra. This is when the show really started, and they opened with Cipher and a personal favourite from the latest album, Believe. By this time, they were really flowing and the songs were melding into one another nicely. Top Gun is one of the songs that I thought would be quite hard to do live, because the music backing is less than in other songs. Even so, they pulled it off and made it one of the best performances of the night.

The Future is a heavily synthesized track and as such, DJ Tukutz was mixing it up on his decks. I was worried that it might not make the transition well to a live performance because of the heavy reliance on the DJing, but it was stunning. The slick vocals from Tablo and the rougher rapping from Mithra combined superbly to create a really solid performance. This continued with Flow, a track that moves from fairly normal vocals to heavy, almost shouted ones near the end and the climax, coupled with the crowd and the multiple singers on stage, was really heavy and loud. The chorus is a simple one to follow and the crowd didn't miss a word as they sang along.

Map The Soul is a good song and obviously the title track from their latest album, but it's not a personal favourite. Despite that, I was interested to hear how it sounded live. This was the Korean Version of the song, with the Worldwide Version being performed near the end. MYK got a lot of respect for his performances and this was another opportunity for him to show his talents. After the song finished, they went straight into Scenario, another song that I was immediately drawn to on the album, and it came off great on stage. Mithra was so crisp in this song and his vocals really carried it along with MYK's almost eerie vocals. Next up was a song that I didn't recognise at all, and which turned out to be Geunyeoneun Molla, an acoustic song from Epik High's third studio album Swan Songs and which features MYK. With the backing band on guitar it was a nice change of pace and led into MYK'a solo set.

MYK is an 'honorary member' of Epik High due to his collaboration on this album and his work with them in the past, and his own set included a total of seven songs. The first two - Beautiful Mess and Geek in the Pink - were covers of American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. I wasn't familiar with any of the songs that he performed, apart from Follow the Flow, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the set. MYK had a lot of charisma on stage and his vocals were smooth.

After the MYK set, Epik High came out with some fan favorites from previous studio albums. I was really looking forward to hearing some of the songs that got me interested in them in the first place. One is possibly my favorite song of theirs and it was the first to be performed. At the end of the song, the entire crowd shouted and raised their hands to show one finger. It was an awesome moment. There hadn't been any backing dancers on stage until this point, but they came out after this to join Epik High on stage for the next eight songs. Next was Fan which included the overworked backing dancers and some slick vocals from all members. 1 Bun 1 Cho was also well performed and the crowd responded well to it. Fallin', Love Love Love, Paris, Peonghwauinal and Fly were performed in sequence and all received a very positive response from the crowd. The songs were all high energy, and with everyone jumping up and down and moving from side to side, standing was quite difficult. The atmosphere was electric and it was definitely the high point of the concert, and a very fitting end.

With the concert over, the crowd called for an encore and were treated to the Worldwide Version of Map The Soul with everyone on stage. Free Music, a personal favourite from Hon: Map The Soul, was played at the very end before they left the stage for good. It was the perfect end because of the fun and playful nature of it. It showed that everyone was having a good time and there was none of the usual formalities that you get at bigger concerts

Before leaving the concert hall, Tablo's family waved along with his girlfriend from the top stand. It was nice to see everyone there, showing support and it just confirmed that they are having more fun being in control of their own music these days. I also noticed some more foreign fans as I left, which is something you don't often seen so it made me smile.


Set List
Epik High
Cipher
Believe
Top Gun
The Future
Flow
Map The Soul
Scenario
Geunyeoneun Molla

MYK
Beautiful Mess (Jason Mraz)
Geek in the Pink (Jason Mraz)
Weekend Sesh
It's Over
Celebration
Dazed and Amazed
Follow the Flow (with Epik High)

Epik High
One
Fan
1 Bun 1 Cho
Fallin'
Love Love Love
Paris
Peonghwauinal
Fly
Map the Soul (Worldwide Ver.)
Free Music
Sajincheop