Korean Job Discussion Forums

[micahjwhite]

hello all,

i'm moving to korea in january and was curious to know if any american/british bands play shows often? i'm very into the american indie scene and hope that seoul is a destination for shows. i know that a lot of bands go to tokyo, but i'm not so sure about seoul. let me know. thanks.

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

[RACETRAITOR]

On the underground level we've gotten a lot of bands this year. The Slackers, Phantom Rockers, Queers, MxPx, Nofx (if you consider them underground), not to mention a ton of bands from Japan and the possibility of a Chinese punk band soon.

But still Korea gets nowhere near as many shows as Beijing and Tokyo.

[rickvaughn]

Metallica play here regularly.

Megadeath and Limp Bizkit were here recently.

So were Franz Ferdinand and the Black Eyed Peas.

==

There's a possibility around February the Smashing Pumpkins will play in Japan and maybe include Korea on the tour; they seemed to enjoy the crowds here last time they played in 2000.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5O55x2g1uk

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

[rickvaughn]

Well, he didn't ask about GOOD bands.

Just trying to help out.

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

[makemischief]

Not entirely accurate-

While it is VERY true that a whole lot more acts go to Japan-

Korea does have a burgeoning indie scene of its own as well as drawing in overseas artists at various times of the year (yah i know- few and far between- unless you like electronica) for things such as Pentaport Festival : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaport_rock_festival

Of course- a lot of the pentaport artists are just spillover from the Fuji Rock festival happening about the same time.

I think wasteland is a bit harsh. I like:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tW6WiQmu31U
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gWtzN4Q6gEw
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lKXsEZrgaCA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lJfSdvBL-S0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NgkSTFbWGPg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T-ti6jD6Fzw
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HwSxoDF-yqY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=woZ7MRjue7U
http://youtube.com/watch?v=swVqia-fpSQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0HBIfMIwg


but I have been known to have horrible taste.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

Artsy Navel-Gazers "mono" were here last year.Can't recall the venue.Downtown Seoul somewhere.

[sojourner1]

I know that Seoul gets a few concerts, but I haven't seen or known of any outside of Seoul. I am hard pressed to find traditional Korean and Asian performances as well except the Andong mask festival has that once a year. There is the ChongDong theater for traditional concerts and then there must be a place (maybe a few nightclubs) where heavy metal bands play in Seoul, but didn't find anything else in the country. I wondered if the big hotels get international artists of various sorts.

I too came here expecting to see a variety of bands that might play western styles of music and others who play traditional styles of music, but there just aren't many cultural events out in the open as most of that is in the noraebangs, the karaoke rooms where people can temporarily and privately be anything.

I will start a thread asking for any of you to list what the concert venues are for all sorts of music as it would be good to get this documented. Just anything that produces any sorts of live performances is a good start, doesn't have to be popular bands from America.

[Bibbitybop]

Metallica played here over a year ago, but TOOL opened for them (which was a travesty in my book). Yet, Metallica was wonderful and much better than I expected them to be based on their latest albums.

In addition to what Racetraitor said about underground, you also have good acts and djs coming here like Ozomatli, Paul Van Dyke, George Acosta, Dave Seaman, etc.

Then there are the big names that can be hit or miss. Nine Inch Nails came, so did Jay Z, Linkin Park and Beyonce are coming, so is Dream Theater.

The music scene can suck, but it's getting better year after year.