AKMU Left YG After 12 Years, and Their Own Label's First Tour Looks Like Freedom

AKMU rolled a real vintage pickup truck onto the stage to open the Seoul leg of their Paradise of Rumors tour, and Lee Chan-hyuk and Lee Su-hyun stepped out to sing "Spring Color" like buskers on a dusty road. The siblings played three nights at KSPO Dome (the former Olympic Gymnastics Arena) from the 9th to the 11th, drawing about 30,000 fans and starting their nationwide tour.

The Seoul shows were built around a circular stage in the middle of the dome rather than the usual straight stage. A huge LED screen covering roughly a third of the inner wall showed mountains and rocks, and tents dotted the set. With brass players on saxophone and trumpet added to the band, and the siblings dressed like members of a travelling troupe, the whole look recalled a wandering Western caravan or the Mongolian steppe. Before the show, real insect sounds played through the speakers while mime and stunt performers worked the crowd.

A stage that pulled the audience inside

Standing-area fans were folded into the circular stage itself. Every seat held a centrally controlled wristband, and the lights shifted from fireflies in the dark to a swelling blue ocean, so the audience became part of the scenery. The opening was the standout: a trumpet call like a dawn bugle, a video of headlights racing across the far screen, and then the truck itself sliding onto the set.

The set was a 27-song main show plus encore, close to 30 songs in all, and it was arranged like a single day. Morning came with "Spring Color," "Bug Out," "Right Person," "Elegant Breakfast" and "Sunshine Bless You," all from this year's fourth full-length album Blooming, released in April. Midday brought the festival energy of "Paradise of Rumors," "Fish in Water," "Freefall," "Is It Ramyeon," "Love Lee," "200%" and "Fry's Dream." Dusk and night moved into quieter, lonelier territory with "Tent," "Dinosaur," "Refugees' Festival," "Everest" and others. The day also doubled as a map of AKMU's 12 years, from their start on SBS's K-pop Star 2 in 2012 through growing pains and slumps to the edge of their thirties.

When "Paradise of Rumors," this year's chart-topping title song, arrived, the whole dome copied the dance from its music video at once. On "Fish in Water," fans shouted the "oh-oh-oh" refrain together while the blue wristbands made the seats ripple like waves. Su-hyun also played a melodica herself during "Tent," and she lay down on the floor during "Fry's Dream," a song about accepting a slow afternoon instead of grand ambitions.

Facing each other for the emotional peak

The emotional high point came with "Joy, Sorrow, Beautiful Heart." Before it, the siblings told the crowd there would be happy days and not-so-happy ones, and that they had something to say to every one of them. They then sang facing each other, putting each feeling into the song like writing a handwritten letter, while the LED screen displayed the Korean lyrics. During "Right Person," Su-hyun's bright smile and clear voice made the song's gentle plea for people to stop fighting and smile at one another come across vividly.

Su-hyun promised to sing their best so the night would remain "a really pretty puzzle piece" in everyone's lives. Chan-hyuk, who leads the label as its head producer, kept the mood playful, telling fans, "Only people who know how to have fun came today," and urging them to "go all the way tonight." About an hour in, Su-hyun joked that AKMU, 12 years after debut, would be an all-thirties group in two years by Korean age, so she planned to run around with all her remaining energy while still in their twenties. The crowd groaned and laughed at the same time.

The tour marks the first big statement since the siblings left YG Entertainment after 12 years and founded their own label, Inspiration Spring (Yeonggam-ui Saemteo). The tour's tone fits the acoustic and country flavor of their early days that Blooming returns to. It also shows how far Chan-hyuk's songwriting and Su-hyun's clear vocals have travelled since 2014, when the pair debuted with youthful, witty songs.