Until this week, I’d never been to a K-pop concert. That being said, I do play a lot of video games that partner with K-pop groups for promo and overpriced in-game cosmetics (that I inevitably buy), so I thought it’d be cool to take a peek into a scene I’ve only dabbled in on a very surface level. While that disqualifies me from saying anything definitive about the genre, it also made Baekhyun’s Reverie tour stop at WaMu Theater on Tuesday night hit that much harder. Walking into the venue didn’t feel like showing up to a concert. It felt like being dropped into a world that had been going strong without me for a long time. The lights were intense, the crowd was already moving to the music playing over the house speakers, and, even though I didn’t know the lyrics to a single Baekhyum song, it was obvious that wasn’t going to be a problem.
Let’s start with the crowd. Imagine a Discord server come to life. Friends who’d never met in person were hugging for the first time. There were conversations about favorite League of Legends champions and whether or not Solo Leveling robbed Frieren of Crunchyroll Anime of the Year (which it did). This wasn’t just a show, it was an occasion. The outfits spanned Harajuku-core, streetwear, ethereal fae, and a heavy dose of glitter. No single theme, just a shared understanding: You show up looking good.
And there were a lot of moms. Like, a lot. Some of them were probably just escorting their kids to the show, but most looked like they were there for themselves, seemingly more excited than their much younger neighbors in the crowd. The crowd was overwhelmingly femme and shockingly diverse. People of all ethnicities, all body types, all ages, and they were all screaming when, in the second act, Baekhyun pulled out the fedora.
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