MIK Festival: 'K-Pop's brightest stars bring six non-stop hours of fun to London'

It’s been a summer of K-Pop in London, with MIK Festival rounding out July bringing the brightest stars in the genre to the capital’s Southwark Park.

The show-stopping festival line-up featured icons of the genre including legendary girl group Red Velvet and EXO member Suho, as well as rising stars including Cherry Bullet and boyband favourites Pentagon, as well as others.

With tickets costing either £108 for general admission or £168 for a closer view of the stage in the “golden circle”, fans were promised six hours of non-stop live music – and they were not left disappointed.

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Acts were given at least 30 minutes each, meaning there was plenty of time for fans to enjoy more than a handful of their favourite songs.

Unfortunately, girl group Billlie were unable to fly to London as members Suhyeon and Siyoon tested positive for Covid-19.

However the previously announced special guest Holland made sure the K-Pop day (July 30) got off to an explosive start.

The soloist – known as the first openly gay K-Pop idol – received huge cheers from the growing audience as he interacted with the crowd, taking a rainbow Pride flag back up onto the stage and defiantly shouting: “I’m f***ing gay!”

Girl group Cherry Bullet were up next after a short break, with the members looking ready for summer in floaty pastel dresses.

They performed fan-favourite hits such as Love In Space, Love So Sweet and started with their debut song Q&A.

With on point choreography and high energy, they made their first ever performance in London a memorable one – and one that late arrivals would regret missing.

Boy group Golden Child were up next, with the members especially excited to be in London as the next day they were celebrating two members’ birthdays.

They instructed the Southwark Park crowd to sing Happy Birthday to members Y and Joochan, with the fans happily singing with them.

Superstar soloist Chung Ha really got the crowd excited, with her appearance on the stage met with screams from fans desperate to see her for the very first time in London.

The singer is known for her incredible vocals and dancing talent, and she treated fans to some of her biggest songs including Snapping, her recent comeback Sparkling, her debut Why Don’t You Know and her most famous songs Gotta Go and Roller Coaster.

She got the crowd singing as she performed the English-language track Flying on Faith, and confessed she was “nervous” before debuting a brand new song, Don’t Believe In Love.

Her time on stage flew by and the crowd, singing along to her songs, would no doubt have enjoyed an even longer set-list.

However trio VIVIZ – formed of three members of the sadly disbanded girl group GFRIEND – were ready to get on the stage next and brought a completely different vibe with their light, airy, disco music.

In matching denim outfits, members Eunha, SinB and Umji – whose interaction with the crowd in English was met by booming cheers – proved why they’re already icons of K-Pop, despite debuting as a trio in February.

Of course, fans already know them as members of the legendary group GFRIEND, which debuted back in 2015 and would go on to spawn hits such as Rough, Me Gustas Tu and their final release Mago.

And giving a nod to their previous group, the girls performed the GFRIEND song Time For The Moon Night.

The crowd was full of fans of the different groups, but especially during VIVIZ’s set, there were plenty of people with banners showing their support.

The group performed their two title tracks Bop Bop! and Loveade, as well as Lemonade, Love You Like, Red Sun! and Love Love Love.

They noted that a lot of their songs were about love, and the love was reciprocated from the crowd.

Each act had photos taken with the crowd, and even during their photo op, VIVIZ showed their cute personalities as they ran away from a bee buzzing around on stage.

PENTAGON were up next, and it’s safe to say they had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands.

While showcasing their songs such as Do Or Not, Beautiful Goodbye, The Game and Sparkling Night, they gave as much energy to interacting with the audience as they did performing.

But it was their final song, Shine, which had the crowd really excited, with fans copying the iconic choreography as the members performed.

If MIK hadn’t felt like a festival by then, it certainly did when Suho – member of long-standing boy group EXO – performed.

He brought out his live band, treating fans to a completely different sound than what they’d heard all day so far.

His fans were easily identifiable in the crowd, with many of them carrying yellow flowers – a nod to his track Grey Suit which featured them all over the album cover.

As well as Grey Suit, Suho performed tracks such as Let’s Love, Morning Star, Hurdle, Met You By Chance, O2 and Made In You.

With no flashy choreography like the previous groups of the day, the focus was on Suho’s powerful live vocals and the music.

He even celebrated performing in the UK again with a rendition of The Beatles song Let It Be.

His EXO bandmates Chen and Kai had performed in London earlier in the month, and Suho promised they’d be back with the other members as soon as they could.

Suho got the crowd eager for the final act of the night, his “favourite girl group” Red Velvet, who were performing as a four-piece as member Joy had previous commitments she couldn’t miss.

However the other four members – Seulgi, Wendy, Irene and Yeri – were the perfect closing act of MIK’s K-Pop day.

Red Velvet have a rich catalogue of songs spanning their eight-year career, but they brought some of their most well-known songs to London.

Despite being incredible performers with years of experience, the members were clearly very happy to be in the UK with their European fans.

Yeri, the youngest member of the group, admitted she was a bit nervous to speak to the audience.

That didn’t translate into the music though, with the girls providing crowd-pleasing performances of Feel My Rhythm, Psycho, Bad Boy, Peek-A-Boo, Bamboleo, Carpool, You Better Know and Queendom, before the final song of the night, Red Flavor.

Despite most of the songs have full choreography, it was clear to hear the members were singing live, proving why they’re one of the most popular K-Pop girl groups in the world.

Aside from the music, there was a range of Korean street food available for guests, including tteokbokki, dumplings and fried chicken.

It was an alcohol-free festival, which was actually a refreshing change, meaning nobody had to worry about forgetting anything if they’d had one too many.

And after a fun first time, there will hopefully be many more MIK Festivals to look forward to.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk