By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
August 6, 2023

Just after midnight on Friday, August 4 — technically Saturday, August 5 — The Rose confidently strode on stage at the Vic Theatre in Chicago. The concert was part of Lollapalooza’s series of Aftershows, which gave performers the opportunity to showcase their music in a more intimate setting.

The previous evening, the four-man group headlined at the festival’s Bacardi stage. They had already performed at foreign Lollapaloozas in Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Sweden earlier this year. But this was a special gig. Not only was it on August 3, which was the 6th year anniversary of the group’s debut, but it was also the first time they were booked to close out a festival in a marquee evening slot.

Lollapalooza was originally conceived by Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his group in 1991. The touring festival was such a critical (and financial) success that it became an annual tour. By 1992, Lollapalooza added a freak show element by including Jim Rose’s Circus. (I still have nightmares about trying to write about the Amazing Mister Lifto — who kinda sorta performed genital lifts — for my newspaper’s family-friendly arts section.) By 2010, the festival dropped the touring element and based itself out of Chicago. (Lollapalooza expanded its franchise to other countries in subsequent years.)

During those years when I was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, I never ever imagined that a Lollapalooza lineup would include any Korean artists. It wasn’t because there weren’t any good Korean groups — of course there were — but rather that the U.S. simply didn’t care about them. It was too niche, they said. No one here would be interested in that kind of coverage. To put things into perspective, the U.S. media wasn’t big on covering Americans of Asian ethnicity, either.

That attitude has slowly changed, but it literally took decades to get where we are today. Epik High has thus far been the only Korean group to have been invited three times (2016, 2020 — which was canceled due to COVID-19 — and 2022) to perform at Coachella. Blackpink has played twice at the same music festival. Last year, j-hope’s incendiary performance was one of the most-attended sets at Lollapalooza. And the BTS rapper’s labelmates, Tomorrow x Together, graduated from a smaller stage in 2022 to headlining last night. Other notable acts include NewJeans, whose August 3 concert made them the first Korean girl group to perform at Lollapalooza.

All of this was running through my mind as I watched The Rose’s 80-minute set at the Vic Theatre. Though it’s K-pop’s idol groups that have grabbed America’s attention, K-pop doesn’t encompass who The Rose are. These four men weren’t picked from a talent show or grouped together by a management agency. They chose each other. They busked on the streets of Seoul to hone their craft. They’ve always written their own music and played all their own instruments (on stage and in the recording studio).

And while they may show off a few slinky moves during concerts, they eschew the complicated choreographed dancing common to K-pop performers. There’s simply no time for that. For instance, Dojoon is too busy playing guitar and keyboards and singing to deal with body waves. (And before someone assumes that I’m maligning K-pop or that I hate idol groups, I am not. Clearly, I have an affinity for Korean pop music.)

The Rose is an incredibly talented rock band that is enjoying a career trajectory. They can handle anything thrown at them, including technical difficulties (that they experienced at Lollapalooza) and forgotten lyrics (at the Aftershow). Having spent a year working together as a band prior to their debut with the incandescent single “Sorry,” they were ready before the world ever knew who they were.

As an aside, I had recommended “Sorry” to be included in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music list, but not enough of my fellow music critics and editors agreed with me. So it was left off the list. I still stand firmly by my selection that not only is “Sorry” one of the best songs by a Korean group, but by any band. Period.

Sadly for me, “Sorry” wasn’t on their set list at the Aftershow.

I should clarify that it may have actually been on their set list, but the band tossed it aside and let the audience choose what songs they would play. They said the only two songs they would for sure perform were two tracks from their upcoming fall album “Dual.” Indeed, they ended their concert at 1:20 a.m. with the guitar-heavy “Back to Me” and “Alive.”

This decision added a level of spontaneity that felt fresh and exciting. They didn’t veer away from requests for older songs that they hadn’t performed in years. When memory failed them, Dojoon was there to help. He gently helped bassist Jaehyeong and drummer Hajoon with the melody and chord changes. And when lead vocalist/guitarist Woosung — he of the uniquely gorgeous raspy trill — forgot some of the lyrics, Dojoon remembered.

Usually when I attend concerts, it’s to review them for outlets like Variety or Teen Vogue. But this time, the group and their management invited me to attend just because. (I had interviewed group leader Woosung last year for the Chicago Tribune and the entire group for Rolling Stone a couple months ago.) It was such a treat to just sit in the theatre and enjoy the show without worrying about keeping track of the set list and all the other details required of a review.

So while I don’t recall all the particulars of the concert, what I do remember is the feeling of exhilaration as about 1,500 of us sang back almost every word the group sang. I remember how Woosung had announced early on that at this show, Hajoon and Jaehyeong — skilled vocalists in their own right — would be tackling most of the vocals. And while they didn’t sing all the songs, they sang more than usual. Particularly notable was Hajoon and Jaehyeong’s rendition of the crowd pleaser “She’s in the Rain,” which has one of the most profound lines in a modern song: “It’s better to be held than holding on.”

Their set also included “I Don’t Know You,” which Woosung and Dojoon sang. As I listened to them sing this layered song with its memorably searing chorus, I remembered something Dojoon had told me (that didn’t make it into the Rolling Stone feature):

“We had the ‘I don’t know you’ boom boom boom part. We loved it but didn’t act on it. We had a whole structure that was very rough. And we thought it was good, but not [ready] yet. We brought it up like a year later and [from those] three or four seconds, we made a three-minute song after a year.”

When they performed their penultimate song “Back to Me,” I thought of what my son had said a couple weeks ago when he watched footage of Woosung absolutely shredding his guitar (at Stockholm’s Lollapalooza): “Someone needs to call G.P.S. — Guitar Protective Services.” ㅋㅋ

Not long ago, I was asked to participate in a documentary about Lollapalooza. I declined for a variety of reasons, the primary being that I didn’t have time to do it. But, also, I remembered very little about it, even after looking up my articles and reviews from that era.

But there is one thing I am positive of. If I am lucky enough to be alive in 30 years, I will never forget this performance by The Rose. I may not remember who sang what, but I believe I will always recall the the feeling of how proud I felt and how much joy I had watching this group from my homeland who looked like me (well, they’re better looking, but you know what I mean) and were absolutely killing it on stage.

The Rose are rock stars. And in the next year or so, I anticipate that they will be headlining arenas.

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As as you can imagine, there’s never enough room to include everything you want to in an article. Here are some quotes that didn’t make it into my Rolling Stone feature, which I thought readers may find interesting:

Jae: When you perform at your own concerts on tour, it’s obviously full of [your fandom] Black Roses. But when you’re playing at a festival, that’s not necessarily true. People move from one stage to another to check out new bands. Is there added pressure playing for a crowd that may not know who you are?
Woosung: We definitely understand and try to make the setlist more catered to new people that are not used to listening to our music. So we put songs in an order that will catch their attention. But also, we just get very excited to perform in front of new people.
Dojoon: Yeah, we don’t actually feel very stressed about performing our songs in front of a new audience. Actually, the opposite. We actually get really excited about the fact that we’re playing new songs to them, because it’s our opportunity to plays our songs and make them know us. It’s really great. It makes us even more hyper.

Jae: You’ve all done some acting. Do you want to delve more into that part of the entertainment world? [For more information on the acting the band members have already done, check out my Rolling Stone article.]
Woosung: Music, of course, is our main thing, but I think everybody individually has things they want to achieve and accomplish. Acting is definitely one of them for Jeff [Jaehyeong] and I think for Hajoon as well. And Dojoon I think is more focused on producing. I don’t know if he wants to dive in. Do you want to do acting, too?
Dojoon: As of now, not really. But if it’s Disney, probably. I really love Disney and Marvel, so if it’s those… I’d try my best to take a shot at it, but other than that, not really.
Woosung: Yeah, for me, too. I don’t think I really want to act. But I’ll do voice acting. I think that’s where I want to be involved in.

Jae: What do you think when you look out into the audience and see such a diverse cross section of people at your shows?
Woosung: Our goal as artists is for everyone who comes to our shows — no matter what age, what gender — to feel included. That’s the energy we want at our concerts. We want it to be this happy place, a garden of roses where you’re enjoying music together with all kinds of different people and everybody feels safe.
Dojoon: Yep. There were a lot of grandmas, too, with signs saying, “Granny Loves The Rose.”
Woosung: You know, there was a time during a concert — I think it was a mom and her daughter that came — and they were enjoying the concert. Then only the mom came to the VVIP event. [Laughs] She’s like, “Oh yeah, my daughter’s waiting outside. I got this with my money, so I’m gonna do the VVIP. She’s gonna wait outside because she can’t afford it.”
Dojoon: There was one fan who said, “Please marry my daughter.” [Laughs]
Woosung: I remember hearing that.

Jae: Which one of you did she want for her son-in-law?
Woosung: Leo [Dojoon].
Dojoon: [Laughs]

Jae: I think it’s safe to say that you’re all a bit flirty on stage and Black Roses love that. When you get that kind of adulation night after night, do you think, “Yeah, you should love me,” or do you wonder, “Why do you love me? Do we deserve all this love?”
Woosung: It’s so different. As Sammy, I just live my normal life. I’m just Sammy eating breakfast at my place. And Sammy has the kind of why-do-you-love-me vibe. When we’re on stage, we’re like, “Yeah, you should love us.” [Laughs]
Dojoon: Yeah, entertainment-wise, this is us. This is our music. This is me. What do you think about this? That’s the mindset we go on the stage with. But as an individual, like Sammy said, we’re like, “Oh, really? You guys like us? Wow thank you.” [Laughs]

Jae: Woosung, during our last interview in 2022, you had told me that your first concert was Coldplay. Was it in Seoul?
Woosung: Yeah, I believe that was my first official big concert.

Jae: So I wanted to ask everyone else, what was your first concert and what do you remember about it?
Dojoon: It was Rain. I asked my mom if I could attend his concert and that was my first. I was like 12. As a grown man, Coldplay was the first ticket that I bought on my own.
Hajoon: Coldplay was the first concert for me.
Jaehyeong: Me, too.

Jae: What would you like to tell your Black Roses and the readers of Rolling Stone that I haven’t asked you about yet?
Woosung: Get excited for the album! Woohoo!
Dojoon: I don’t know where we are going to be in one or two years later, but we’re definitely gonna be a very interesting group. So, look forward to where we are headed.
Woosung: We have many things planned this year. We have an album and the singles coming out. We have been working very, very hard on it. We’re still finishing it up. I just want them to know that when we are writing the songs and figuring everything out, like the concept for the photobook, the CD booklet, the merchandise… we’re always thinking about them.
Dojoon: And yeah, we feel like a child now. Because you know how a child draws or makes something and then wants to go up to their friends or their mom and show off the the creation that they made, to say look how beautiful or cool this is? We are like that right now. We made this album and the songs are coming out great, I think. We are just really excited to show off these pieces.
Woosung: Yeah, it’s almost like we’re a child, but we’re also the parent, because we are thinking. “How could this affect listeners? What good, positive impact could it have on them?” And if there’s a way, we always choose what our fans would like more, right? So [this album] … we want it to be meaningful to the listeners.

Jae: Would Jaehyeong or Hajoon like to add anything?
Jaehyeong: To our fans, we will see you this year and next year, so please look forward to us. We are always thankful to you guys. For us, the reason why we write the music we perform is because of our fans. I always thank you so much.
Hajoon: Firstly, thank you for having us Rolling Stone. And I just want to say to Black Roses, thank you always for supporting us. We rose you. Yeah.

Articles You May Be Interested In Reading:

• The Rose: Inside the Korean Rock Group’s Biggest Year Yet (Rolling Stone)
• Touring Sparked Woosung’s Traveling Bug (Chicago Tribune)
• Suga’s D-Day Concert Review: Agust D, Yoongi, and BTS Suga in One Glorious Fusion (Teen Vogue)
• The 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music (Rolling Stone)
• ATEEZ Do It All for the Fans (Rolling Stone)

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