February, 16th was quite a milestone for the Korean band The Rose, who held their first concert ever abroad. Definitely a night to remember for them and for fans.
The Rose debuted on August 2017 and are barely 6 months old. They recently made it to our list of underrated K-Pop bands that you should check out. Hence, going on a Europe tour as their first international experience may have been risky. Or maybe not ?
The Rose’s Europe tour has been organized through MyMusicTaste. A website that enables fans to become “TasteMakers” – which means to request the concert the want in their own city. This system is perfect to bring artists to an audience they may not have visited otherwise. That is how Europe became The Rose’s first experience abroad… Just as The Rose became Belgium’s first K-Pop concert. So what initially looked like a slight risk definitely ended up being a major success.
For everyone’s “first”, both the band and fans prepared a lot and were very excited. Because the band is fairly new, fans made lightsticks themselves, as well as banners, pins and other fanmade goods to support the members. They wished Sammy’s an early happy birthday and shared some of the members’ private jokes through banners.They did their best to make the members feel loved and welcome.
On the other hand, the band also prepared a lot. They had covers of both Korean and international songs ready. Among the fans’ favorites were Big Bang’s “Last Dance” that all K-Pop fans know well. Fans also really enjoyed Breakeven, a well-known cover by The Rose who are self-proclaimed fans of The Script. Through the covers of many popular english songs (Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, Bruno Mars’ Marry You and more), fans could sing along most of the concert.
But the highlights of the evening were, of course, The Rose’s own songs. Like We Used To and Sorry gathered the most fanchants. Two songs that perfectly blended in the whole setlist, proving that their self-composed music more than lives up to their influences and aspirations.
Throughout the concert, the band seemed mature and experience. Small mishaps happened as they are meant to whenever you perform live with a group, but the members handled it perfectly. Sammy made fun of himself for forgetting the lyrics of one song. If a guitar went out of tune, they would tune it while talking with the crowd. The interactions between the stage and the pit sounded natural and easy.
The only things that betrayed the novelty of the situation for the members were their genuine reactions to the fans, their smiles and happiness at seeing the support and hearing the cheers.
So don’t miss the opportunity to catch them on their Europe tour as they still have to visit Moscow, Istanbul, London and Budapest.
KAvenyou wants to thank MyMusic Taste for having us at the concert.
Pictures and articles : Céline @ Kavenyou
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