

When K-Soul caught word that there was going to be a pre-convention party at Rage, a night club in West Hollywood, our two reporters, Rebecca and Samantha, went through a broad range of feels in rapid fire:

Oh my god we’re so tired do we have to? We would be terrible reporters if we didn’t. Just Redbull it. Wait, Spica are going to be there? AWESOME. Wait, this is in West Hollywood? YEAAH PARTY IN HOLLYWOOD. Wait… Isn’t Rage a gay bar? …THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAZING.





My understanding has been that the LGBT community and their clubs are perhaps the most supportive of bringing in K-Pop music to their regular mix. Probably because it’s really easy to dance to and everyone is fierce as hell. So the idea of the KCON preparty being at Rage easily became something we were really excited to see.



We arrived fashionably late at around 11:30, and our jaws DROPPED when we saw the line to get in. It was MASSIVE! It was so encouraging to see that the club was absolutely packed, and that there was a line right around the corner to get in to see SPICA that evening. Thankfully, press passes = we weren’t actually clubbing at all and so the line was passed and we attempted to find a way to the stage where SPICA would be performing.

I’ve been to a few venues where k-pop music has been playing before, but never in my life have I seen such energy on a dance floor than when “Fantastic Baby” began to play in Rage. It was packed tighter than a can of sardines on the floor, all of them dancing and singing along with Big Bang. It was the same for when “I Am The Best” and “The Boys” all came on. The crowd was loving it. It was really encouraging to see.

After a while the crowd began to rumble with excitement, and cameras and heads all turned up towards one of the VIP sections. Up on the second floor, SPICA were watching the crowd and greeting their fans. Supporting his labelmates, Eric Nam was there as well, off to the side while avoiding dancing at all costs (Eric Nam will often state that he can’t dance). Getting to see both the B2M artists that were in LA at the club was really exciting for the k-pop fans in the audience.

Finally, the music began to fade, and the dancers were cleared off the stage to make way for SPICA to perform. It took some amazing organizing skills from the GaMeBoI staff to get the staff, press, and everyone who had got in in the right places, but it finally got sorted out. When the girls came out on stage, the crowd went absolutely wild. The first song that was performed was “Tonight”.

Boa was wonderfully confident as she came out to the edge of the stage to come up close to the fans, breaking from the choreo when she could to get close with the audience. The girls owned the stage, their powerful voices showing just how talented they are.

The stage at Rage is very small, and so it created a pretty small, intimate atmosphere for the event. It was very different to most kinds of concerts in South Korea, so it would be very easy to understand if the girls were caught off guard with just how close the fans were, or how loud and energetic they were. The audience was amazing, but it was definitely an overwhelming one as well.

The second and final song performed was the new English track, “I Did It”. The audience already knew all of the words, and sung along loudly as SPICA performed.

Unfortunately, after that song, the girls had to leave the club quickly, and so the performance was over and Rage went back to being an incredible k-pop night.

We definitely enjoyed our evening at Rage with GaMeBoI, and thought that SPICA did an amazing job! We really hope that all k-pop fans in North America will be buying the new single, to show their support of k-pop in North America. Remember, bringing k-pop to other countries doesn’t start with the biggest companies first. The more we support the smaller, test groups, the better it will be for bringing over groups in the future! 99 cents and you can be making a difference to the k-pop community in North America! Download on iTunes here! Or, if you’re not an iTunes fan, you can also buy it through Amazon!







SPICA Rage Nightclub Night – Photos



