Seo Taiji Wormhole 2nd Single Release Concert

March 14th 2009, White Day in Korea, marked legendary Korean musician Seo Taiji's first solo concert since his July 29th comeback and release of ATOMOS Part Moai. The concert, titled Wormhole, was held to signal the release of ATOMOS Part Secret, his second single since his return. Tickets for both the March 14th and March 15th shows sold out in less than 30 minutes. Seo Taiji also welcomed guest bands to open for the show: Yozoh and GumX on March 14th, and PIA and Janggeeha's Faces on March 15th.

Of course, since it is Seo Taiji, everything had to be themed. The front entrance had a black façade with two round doorways cut out of it, and then the crowd walked through a short corridor lined with fiber optics made to look like tiny stars. Once inside the actual building, everything was pitch-black and bombarded with neon-green strobes while spacey-music played in the background to create the atmosphere of a "wormhole."

The two opening bands, Yozoh and GumX, played half-hour sets, after which the lights dimmed, and a giant black curtain with the "secret" logo enveloped the stage area. What was only about 10 minutes of set-up felt like hours but, when the curtain dropped and the first guitar riff went off with a bang, it was easy to see why set up had taken so long. First, there was an electric sign spanning the entire stage, which panned random images of malady and disaster (an apocalyptic theme) across it before the entire thing rose up into the air to nest at the top of the stage, revealing the actual set. The drummer was nested behind an enormous plexiglass cube and in the center of the stage was a massive MOAI-esque pyramid embellished with ancient scrawl. A keyhole was cut out from the center of the pyramid with white light beaming through it. Seo Taiji emerged from the pyramid, and the whole band burst into Juliet.

Gold confetti fell from the ceiling and Seo Taiji energetically jumped around the stage with mic in hand. Fans were also able to witness his new look - aside from his hair being dyed a light brown hue, he also sported a radical new haircut that looked like it had been accidentally chopped unevenly on the side (which was, perhaps, not accidental at all). He was wearing a refined white plaid jacket, which made the whole ensemble look a bit unrefined when paired with a T-shirt of an artistic-looking apple. He resembled a more mature version of the Live Tour Zero '04 look - still rocking the plaid and chained pants, but with a hint of sophistication.

Bermuda [Triangle] followed Juliet, and then he took some time to welcome the audience and MC. Like an old sage he discussed his past as well as his comeback and reminded fans that he came back in August of last year. "No matter how much I tried to hide, you guys always found me!" he said with a giggle. He also talked about White Day, and said mockingly, "Did you girls get any candy? Did you want me to give you some?" Of course the females in the audience broke into a chant, "Give us candy! Give us candy!" He trailed off to chants of "We love you!" and did three songs from his 7th Issue era: Heffy End, Robot, and Take Five. During the first two, the music videos played on the screen, but during Take Five a trippy, rainbow and clouds display with Seo Taiji's smiling face in the middle played.

The next part of the concert was especially meaningful for Korean fans, particularly long-time ones. The make-up of the concert was unique: young girls, young boys, middle-aged women, and middle-aged men. People of all ages, dressed both conservatively and liberally, all with their own reasons for succumbing to the cult of Seo Taiji. Two signs next to the seats read, "My husband doesn't know I'm here" and "My wife doesn't know I'm here," to coincide with the "secret" theme. Seo Taiji did another MC, when he mentioned that he was once asked, "If you could go back in time [in your life], where would you go?" "I would go back to my first concert," he said. All the fans responded, "Sinawe, go back to Sinawe!" and he giggled accordingly. He said that the next song he was going to play was one he hadn't played in 17 years: Ijeneun. The screams were incalculable and some of the fans even began to cry. Top opened with the soft guitar riffs and for those of you wondering - yes, there was a second guitarist. After the song, he leaned his arm on Top and gave him the mic for a few seconds.

Another mellow piece, 10wol 14il, followed, then more MCing during which he asked which single fans like better. Many of them replied, "1st single," so next up he played Moai, Human Dream, and T'IK T'AK. Of course he brought along the robot dancers from the Human Dream MV and the crowd did the "hand dance" along with the dancers while bubbles floated around the stage. Next he performed T'IK T'AK, a high-energy song with an array of pyrotechnics to go along with it. The screen flashed an image of an LCD ticking away time like a bomb set to detonate. The last song was Coma, and was equally as powerful as the song preceding it.

He left the stage for a time, which everyone knew was momentary, so the crowd started to stomp their feet and chant "Seo Taiji!", then "Encore!". After a few minutes the band members came back on, followed by Seo Taiji, looking not a bit tired - even though he told the audience that they all looked tired. He played only one song for his encore, Nae Mamiya, another song that he hadn't played in over a decade. It was at that moment that, evidenced also by the crying fans and the looks of awe in everyone's eyes, as a foreigner you can never understand the power Seo Taiji holds over Koreans. All you can do is step back, observe, and enjoy the music. But only those fans who were there from the start, who understand just how much of an impact Seo Taiji had on their culture, can grasp the silent force behind his humility.

Seo Taiji and the band members got together for a short bow and everyone waved them goodbye. He threw a water bottle, along with a towel caked in his sweat to the audience and was pulled back on again by Top as he tried to leave the stage for one last wave. Then, with his index fingers, he drew an invisible heart in midair.

After he left the stage, an announcer came on stage to tell the crowd that he had a special surprise for the audience - candy! After much confusion (some people said there was no candy left for the standing audience because the people who'd left first had taken more than one piece, eliminating the supply), they finally brought out more cans of Chupa Chups and each fan received one.

Inside the metro station after the show there was a long line of people buying train tickets, indicating that many people came from afar just to see him (Seoulites would just use their metro cards), even as far as Busan, as evidenced by the dialect some fans were speaking.

Although Seo Taiji did not give details on his future projects, many of his fans (many of whom include top Korean celebrities and musicians) hope that Wormhole won't be his last solo concert before he recedes once again into a hiatus. All that remains is purely speculation, of course, for the man who prefers to keep his aspirations under lock and key. We can only hope that the "secret" of Seo Taiji's forthcoming releases will be revealed soon.

Set List

Juliet
Bermuda [Triangle]
Heffy End
Robot
Take Five
Ijeneun
10wol 14il
Moai
Human Dream
T'IK T'AK
Nae Mamiya