Sachoom and Rodfest Vol. 5

This was a "quiet" week - I only went to see two performances - ha!  :)

Thursday night was "Sachoom" - it's billed as a dance musical, and it surely was. There were varying styles throughout the show - hip hop, b-boy, tango, contemporary, jazz, musical theater - a little something for everyone.  The plot centered around three friends (Jun, Sun, and Bin) and the different stages of their lives with short, dancing vignettes.

Some of the dancing was excellent and some of it seemed to be simply an excuse to show off some "sexy moves".  This is billed as a non-verbal show, and yet there were numbers where the performers sang and spoke to the audience in Korean.  During those times, there were translations on the wall in four other languages (English, Japanese, Chinese, and I believe Russian).  I honestly think they could have skipped having the dancers sing solo numbers - their breath control and tone were not at the same level as their dancing.

Afterwards, the performers assembled in the lobby for photo ops with the audience - 

always a fun bonus after a K-Performance!

This show is playing at the Nakwon Arcade in Insa-dong - accessible by subway.

Look for this sign on the side of the building, which will lead you to the elevator for the show - it was a bit elusive for me at first, but I soon found my way.

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On Saturday night, I went for round 2 of Korean heavy/thrash metal with a visit to Rodfest, Vol. 5.

This show was held in Hongdae, at the V Hall and featured five bands ready to blow their amps.

Manixive, Gwamegi, Method, Crash, and Diablo all had supporters in the audience, made evident by the t-shirts being worn by various attendees and their ability to shout along with the bands. I recognized two of the names from previous events and was interested to hear the new ones.

I enjoyed Gwamegi, as the group has two vocalists and they worked well with each other - there was a good feel/rhythm to their songs. Even though I couldn't really hear or understand what they were saying, they had a good groove.

I also enjoyed Method - great guitar playing from the members of this group, with nice solos thrown in amongst all of the metal screaming and roaring.  Some serious skills.

The hard core audience members really got into things at this show, with a pretty consistent mosh pit throughout and some added crowd surfing for good measure.  At one point, they were even throwing people up on the stage to head bang along with the bands - no one seemed to mind and security didn't pull them off.  They simply jumped down and continued to dance along.

Overall, I had a good time at this one, even though I could only make out a word or two the entire time (which was of course an English curse word accompanied by the appropriate single fingered sign language - this was done quite a bit).    :)

Thanks for a fun week of different performances, KTO!