Friday Bonus: IU live in Berlin!
Korean superstar IU performs in Europe for the first time and showcases the vocal talent, charm, and professionalism that have made her a star.
A landmark tour has been visiting various European cities this month featuring a female singer/songwriter who is probably the most famous person in her home country, has dabbled in acting, has a very famous and supportive boyfriend, and has been working for over 15 years. Surprise! I’m NOT talking about Taylor Swift! In June, IU brought her HEREH world tour to two European dates, performing in London on 21 June and in Berlin on 23 June. Stunningly, this was her first time performing in Europe and in fact her first time taking a tour outside of Asia.
The comparisons to Swift don’t stop: the HEREH tour is a 3+ hour journey through IU’s 16 year career to date. The setlist is organized not by Eras but grouped by mood, showcasing the many emotional dimensions of IU and her music - Hypnotic, Energetic, Romantic, Ecstatic, and Heroic (HEREH). Her band is on stage with her at all times, and she is frequently joined by a large group of dancers.
I saw IU in Berlin two days after an enthusiastic crowd in London almost brought her to tears. For the first several songs it felt as if the crowd was in shock at being in her presence and she was in shock being in our presence. It didn’t help that the sound mix was slightly off for the first two songs, with the band far too loud and obscuring her vocals. As the sound rebalanced and IU’s stage presence eased, the crowd relaxed into the experience and the usual ear-splitting Kpop cheers commenced. She shared that she was the most nervous she had ever been for this concert, and that she thought no one would come because Berlin only liked techno music. (My friend and I were trying to google translate either IU speaking in Korean or the translator speaking in German, so I won’t speculate too much about what she said during the talk breaks).
Berlin’s Uber Arena was not even close to sold out for the show - high ticket prices probably contributed to this. Paying for the elaborate stage production to travel to Europe for only two shows was inevitably going to make the price of those tickets quite high. I paid more for my IU tickets than I did for my Taylor Swift tickets in Milan. It’s a pity the arena wasn’t filled to the brim because IU is a magical, glorious artist. It reminds me of Parasite director Bong Joon Ho’s quote after winning a Golden Globe award - “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” Music and performance transcend language!
Anyways back to the show! Luckily for me, the “Hypnotic” opening section of the show featured three of my absolute favorite songs right in a row. Holssi, from 2024 album The Winning, was the concert opener and closer.
Holssi was followed up by Jam Jam, from IU’s landmark 2017 album Palette and possibly my favorite IU song, followed up by Ah Puh, a playful song written with AKMU’s Lee Chanhyuk from 2021 album Lilac. Next up was 2018 hit single BBIBBI, accompanied by a fan project waving yellow cards. The section concluded by dipping into the early days of IU’s career with Oblivate, from IU’s Latin tinged 2013 album Modern Times.
You can look up the full setlist elsewhere so I’m not going to go track by track, but I wanted to give you an impression of the set up of this concert - each section featuring carefully curated songs from across IU’s career. I know I said the Hypnotic section had three of my favorite songs but how can I really say what my favorite IU songs are? There are so many and they are so diverse! And attendees of the HEREH tour are BLESSED because you get to hear so many fantastic songs.
There were several moments at this concert that felt different than other Kpop concerts I have been to. First of all, there was clear instruction from the outset that there was to be absolutely no standing. Fan project posters had clear instructions about keeping the posters no higher than eye level. In this sense, it felt like a much more Korean concert experience than other Kpop shows I’ve attended in Europe. There were clear signs that IU is extremely successful and has the budget to match. She famously is not signed to one of the big four Kpop entertainment agencies, but despite this, production quality was insane. Keeping in mind that IU is a soloist, so there aren’t 6 other artists on the stage with her to fill the space, cover some of the talking and create a sense of spectacle. But you don’t miss it at all - instead giant screens, lasers, confetti, and IU’s sheer talent completely fill the space. Lyrics projected onto the screen along with instructions for fan chants were an excellent touch!
Finally, you can get a sense of why IU is truly a special artist. As fans entered the stadium, each one was given a gift from IU as a thank you for attending - a little box with a keychain, magnet, and photocards. One of the VCRs during a costume change during the show was a thank you to all the crew and staff who made the concert happen that day - featuring actual footage of the set up in Berlin and all the facility staff that must have been shot and edited really quickly. These are the special touches that set a superstar apart from the rest of the Kpop crowd.
The Energetic section of the concert featured my favorite costuming of the show with IU in a hockey jersey esque top and more of my favorite songs (Celebrity, Blueming, eight, and more!). I underestimated how moving it would be to see one of my 2020 pandemic fight songs performed live in front of me - eight brought tears to my eyes.
I think concert frenzy reached its peak at the end of this section with “I stan U.” This wasn’t a standout song for me from The Winning, but hearing it performed live with IU and the crowd basically screaming back and forth at each other “You’re stunning! So stunning! I’m stanning! Just stanning you!” was so joyful and the incredible energy generated here lasted the rest of the concert.
With the Romantic section, we start to head into IU’s vocal features with slower songs like Meaning of You (2014) and Through the Night (2017). This section also featured an acoustic version of 2021 single Strawberry Moon. Other standouts during the show were a stunning rendition of Love Wins All, which was followed by some concert-exclusive footage from the music video that made the crowd go wild (the music video, of course, starred IU alongside BTS heartthrob V). Speaking of heartthrobs, I did look around as much as possible and didn’t see any sign of IU’s A-list actor boyfriend Lee Jong Suk, although he was in Paris that weekend for fashion week so I wouldn’t be surprised if he had been there!
Finally I want to highlight the encore performances. IU treats her encore as kind of a karaoke after party with fans, so she was interacting a lot with fans to pick the songs she would perform. She tried to get the fans to sing a song by themselves before she came out but there was no background music and the Berlin fans definitely did not know the song well enough to sing along to the Korean lyrics with no supporting music! But we got another five amazing songs during the encore (You, Lilac, Hold my hand, Love poem (!!!!), and an acoustic version of Palette to close the night). After 26 incredible songs, IU waved goodbye to Berlin.
I feel so beyond blessed to have gotten to see IU this year. She was on my bucket list of artists but I honestly never expected her to actually come to Europe to perform. Her vocal talent is no joke and her discography is full of hits. I wish more people had gotten the chance to see her - stream IU for clear skin and to convince her to come back soon!