Epik High Brings Down the House at SXSW 

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Epik High thrilled the crowd at the third annual “K-pop Night Out” at South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. The concert showcase also included performances by Crayon Pop, EE, The Barbarettes, and more.

Prior to the show, the general manager of SXSW, James Minor, had already chosen Epik High as one of the top bands-to-watch at this year’s festival.

Epik High took to the stage in the early hours of the morning on March 20 as the final act of the showcase. They opened their set with their latest track “Born Hater,” which has been hugely successful on Korean music charts despite its 19+ rating. They then performed their hits from last year including “Burj Khalifa,” “Happen Ending,” and a cover of Taeyang‘s hit song “Eyes, Nose, Lips.” They also dazzled fans and newcomers to K-pop alike with classic tracks like “Map the Soul,” “Fan,” “One,” and “Love Love Love.”  

Fuse TV calls the performance one of the best 12 moments of the year’s festival so far.

This was the first time in six years that the band has performed in the United States, and their first time ever appearing at SXSW.

Epik High will be continuing their concert tour next month, when they head to the Philippines to perform at the SM Skydome in Manila on April 18 and then perform at Rotunda 3 in Hong Kong on April 19.

Personally I though Epik High was alright but I and some university friends (non KPop fans) who I went with much preferred Crayon Pop. It\'s not that Epik High was bad or anything but maybe because they rapped in Korean (which we don\'t understand) all we had to base the performance on was their musicality and performance which kind of consisted of screaming English into the mics layered on top of generic dub step. I know it\'s a KPop event so of course they shouldn\'t perform in English but I really enjoyed Stromae who rapped entirely in French but had a really unique sound and "dance." I think for next year Elysium (the club who puts on KPop Night Out) should invite another fun girl group (like maybe Orange Caramel?) because let\'s be real, all drunk guys want to see at 1 AM is a bunch of cute, hot, fun, dancing girls. Also, aegyo-y girl groups don\'t really exist in America whereas there is an endless supply of good quality rap/dance music, so GGs are really novel.

Sorry if I offended anybody, but this is my honest firsthand account of being there a few nights ago.

You\'re open to your own opinion about their performance but noneof the songs Epik High performed came anywhere close to being dubstep.

Okay you\'re right, dubstep is way more nuanced than what they had. Their rap/scream was layered over an overpowering bass beat (with a little synth thrown in) that was so loud you couldn\'t hear the rap, just when they screamed HI HI HIIIIIIIII. Don\'t get me wrong, I like a lot of what YG does, but aside from the already extant Epik High fans in the crowd, I don\'t think that it\'s anything special for American audiences.

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