Someday Pleroma -festival was held on October 9th and October 10th, Sunday and Monday, in Yonsei University’s open-air theatre. Someday Festival organizes various festivals during the year. Their latest festival was held at Nanji Hangang Park in September this year. Someday-festivals have some of the best artists in South Korea: the list of artists and groups is impressive that perform at these festivals. You hear various styles of music, and the artists get to perform for about an hour, which is a good amount of songs.
My plan was from the summer that, I would come on a holiday halfway through October to South Korea. And then I heard the lineup for the Someday Pleroma, and that there would be my favourite artist. So, I modified my plans and managed to get my holiday, hotel bookings and flights earlier! It was a hassle because there was little time for the actual concert when the lineup was announced for this festival. This has been a problem during the holiday here in Seoul. We had already booked festivals, and other exciting concerts were announced in a short time frame happening at the same time. But we already had made bookings for different plans. But I understand there is hesitance in organizing big events such as festivals and concerts; it can be tricky to get the performers, the venue etc. So, not an easy job.
Getting the tickets to Someday Pleroma
So getting the tickets was relatively easy from the global Interpark site. I got a mediocre seating place at first. As people were cancelling their reservations, I got a better seating place and changed it for free. That is my hint to you if you’re new to buying seated tickets. All the instructions were clear, and when you arrive at the festival you should have a passport if you are a foreigner, and do check that the name on the ticket is how it is on your passport. Usually, in South Korea, you go to the ticketing booth to get your ticket first. And then keep the ticket safe because you may need it even after you enter the site!
I arrived at the festival about 1,5 hours before the start of the concert. Yonsei University has a beautiful main building, reminding me of British Universities’ architectural style. The concert site was relatively easy to reach because there were many buses, and the subway was within walking distance. What I discovered on my holiday in Seoul is that you walk a lot here, because of the distances. Many times it feels fast to walk to another place, and I want to see what is on the way. So then I end up walking a lot, hi hi 🙂
Someday Pleroma festival experience and expectations before the concerts
Fans were waiting outside the festival area, and some friendly Ha:neuls (Ha Sung Woon fans) gave cute paper bags and two copies of Ha Sung Woon’s “Select Shop” albums as I went and greeted them! This was so kind and generous ♡
On Sunday, the festival day, I attended, it was raining the whole day, and the festival organizers had prepared all of the customers a seating cushion and a raincoat! How great is that 🙂 I had an extra raincoat with me and an umbrella, but I wasn’t mentally prepared for this amount of rain 😀 I had at home looked at the weather on Sunday (I came to South Korea on Friday), and it looked like there was so going to be so much rain that I haven’t experienced that much in my life in a day! In Finland, the amount of rainfall is not as massive, but it rains on many days of the year. So Sunday was a truly wet festival day!
Another tip when going to concerts/festivals in South Korea: check if you’re allowed to bring snacks, a bottle of water etc., to the festival. At this festival, it was okay to bring snacks. But sometimes it is not allowed. So outside the festival area, there were many food stalls – I didn’t try any foods, unfortunately. The outdoor amphitheatre was a perfect place for the concert, in my opinion. At my seating place, the acoustics were excellent! Also, the view and the atmosphere were superb.
On Sunday, there were performing the following solo artists: Woodz, Ha Sung Woon, Heize, Crush and Loco. My favourite artist is Ha Sung Woon, so that was my main reason for being there. And this was my first time seeing him live! So I had been waiting for this long and was so excited!
Woodz: classy and jazzy
The festival started with Woodz’s set, with some heavy rain. All the artists seemed to have about an hour to perform, and Woodz performed many songs at Someday Pleroma. Woodz started his set with hip-hop beats, “Multiply“, from his EP last year “Only Lovers Left”. Next up was “Bless You“, continuing the laid-back vibes of the gig with a hip-hop beat and jazzy tones.
Woodz continued the concert with urban vibes and slow beats with songs like “Waikiki” and “POOL“. “Sour Candy” changed the mood to a more upbeat poppier sound and was refreshing with the stage visuals. Next, it was time for calm songs, “Tide” and “Hope to be Like You“, which is a pure pop song. We then got back to urban poppy tracks like: “Kiss of Fire“, “NOID“, and “FEEL LIKE“.
Woodz performed fourteen songs in total and from the newest album, “COLORFUL TRAUMA”, there were two songs,” I Hate You” and” Hope to be like you”. So next up was the punk-pop song of Woodz, “I Hate You“, which is so catchy and energetic! Continuing with the same style, Woodz performed “BUMP BUMP” from his 2020 album” WOOPS!”. The next song was also from the same album, “Trigger“. During this song Woodz came jumping to the rain in the stage and appearedexcited. This indeed got the festival goers and fans excited too! For the last song, Woodz performed “Love Me Harder“, which was a playful and poppy song.
The artists at this festival all seemed to have live band playing, which is always awesome! Woodz’s style is very R&B, with jazzy sounds, chilled and laid back. There were some exceptions, with the poppier and rockier songs. This was my first time seeing Woodz live, so I had no expectations. The concert was atmospheric and laid back, concentrating on vocals and the live band. I enjoyed Woodz’s show a lot! It was great to see live an artist who released one of my favourite EPs this year.
Ha Sung Woon, Electrified Awesomeness
Ha Sung Woon was the reason to come to the Someday Pleroma to see the live show. I’m a super fan if that hasn’t been obvious in this blog! 😊 I was curious how the setlist would be today as it was raining and if there would be dance choreographies. His last live performance before this was the “Strange World” concert at Sejong University for two days, which was streamed online. I have a short review and setlist in my blog about the show.
Sunday’s performance was exceptional for the fans because this was the last chance to see Ha Sung Woon live before his military enlistment. So, this was a happy, but also a bit sad moment, as you knew there would be no concerts for a long time. A bitter-sweet moment.
The Sunday’s set started with “I Can’t Live Without You“, a slow joyous love song released this year in February EP “YOU”. So, the concert started with positive and warm feelings. Next up was my personal favourite song, “On & On“, which is from the EP and album last year, “Sneakers” EP, and the re-packaged album “Select Shop”. This song continued the calm and warm vibes of the gig. The song has some gorgeous vocal melodies and words, and I love the instrumentals in this song! And the beat is groovy.
The third song was a happy summer song, “Riding“, and we got to see a little bit of cute dance choreography during this song with dancers. The fans sang “Riding” loudly at the concert. It was a great atmosphere! The weather conditions weren’t good for dancing: there was staff getting the water out of the stage almost after every song. So, it must have been slippery there!
Next was a slow, moody, R&B-style song, “Baby Blue“, from the newest “FOCUS” EP. In this song, Ha Sung Woon’s vocals shine live and on the record, and there are some tricky parts in the melody. Next was “Electrified“, the title track from Ha Sung Woon’s 6th EP “Urban Nostalgia”, an upbeat, disco beat, groovy track with a great chorus. This was also a sing-along song, as everyone was singing this at the venue. It sounded fantastic: it was amazing to sing along to this song with all the fans.
“Eeny Meeny Miny Moe” is a cute fan favourite song, from the “Sneakers”/”Select Shop” last year. This is a fan-favourite because of the cute melodies and dance choreography. And it was indeed cute live! Next up was also a song with a choreography, “Bluemaze“, which continued the cute and warm mood of Ha Sung Woon’s show.
“Tell Me I Love You“, an upbeat pop song from Ha Sung Woon’s first mini album, “My Moment”, got the fans excited, and we got to see yet another cute dance choreography. “Too Little Too Late” from the “Strange World” EP was next. This is a catchy pop song, and the performance was super-energetic with great vocals, dance choreography and atmosphere.
As the last two songs, we heard a beautiful ballad, “Daylight“, from his “FOCUS” EP, and “Love Sound” from the “Urban Nostalgia”. “Love Sound” is a mid-tempo pop song with a great chorus and melodies throughout the song. As I think of the set list of this concert, all the songs are so melodic and catchy. Also, the show’s spirit was very optimistic, cute and happy overall.
During the concert, the singing was amazing, as Ha Sung Woon is a master at delivering the feeling to the audience: happy, cute, sad, optimistic, and everything possible. Also, the sense of humour and speeches were so funny – although I didn’t understand everything with my Korean basics. I’ll study harder!
The live sound was terrific in the amphitheatre, and the band was superb! The arena was well suited to this type of event and music, where you want to hear the singing clearly and all the instruments. Ha Sung Woon’s vocals and performance were fantastic from start to finish.
The song selection fitted the Someday Pleroma because there was variation in styles and moods. The fans heard old favourites, and this set presented new songs well too. Ha Sung Woon performed almost all of the latest EP’s “Strange World” songs. We didn’t hear the title track, “FOCUS”; it was probably too slippery to perform on the concert day because this song has a fierce dance choreography.
So, one happy fan here: the concert was super awesome! 😊
Heize, R&B and Disco Mood
As the sun set, Heize started her set. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the whole concert from the start. I knew some of Heize’s hit singles but had not listened to much of her discography before this show. Heize has a very bright and clear high voice with a distinctive sound, so it is pretty easy to recognize it from other singers.
Heize performed at Someday Pleroma, her hit from last year’s EP of the same name, “HAPPEN“, which is a funky, upbeat song. Her song, “We Don’t Talk Together“, sounded bright and sparkly on the darkening night. Another upbeat song was “She’s Fine“, with a disco beat and a catchy chorus. Another disco beat song at her festival set was her relatively new song from this year, “Undo“. More of the upbeat songs on the set was “And July“, which is from her same-named EP from 2016.
Heize performed songs from her career from different years, most of which were mid-tempo pop/R&B songs and some slower songs. This fitted the starting nighttime mood very well. Heize’s voice was bright, and she had a charismatic appearance on stage. So, I enjoyed this concert a lot! It had been a long day, and I felt exhausted but happy. At this point, all of my clothes were wet from the constant pouring rain. So, I decided to head to the hotel and not catch a cold at the start of my trip.
Summing Up Festival Experience at the Someday Pleroma
Everything went smoothly at the Someday Pleroma festival, and I enjoyed going there. This was the case in all the concerts and festivals I attended during my October holiday in South Korea, Seoul. All in all, forgetting the rain, all the organizing and the performances were great! And I’m super happy I changed my holiday to an earlier date to see Ha Sung Woon’s concert!
I loved the concept of many solo artists at the same festival. The next day, Someday Pleroma continued with even more artists: Hynn, Yena, Ha Hyun Sang, Kim Jae Hwan and Suho (EXO). I only attended the Sunday. Naturally, the weather affected the general mood of the people, and Sunday was a very rainy day. So people maybe were calmer and more reserved in this weather. Overall, I loved the festival experience and was happy to see my favourite artist live!
I hope you enjoyed this short festival post and my experience at the Someday Pleroma. You can check out my festival experience in a video on my Instagram, and on my Youtube channel I have a longer video.
Until next time: I hope you have a great week and be inspired! 😊
