By Jason Yu
I thought I was for the IU experience. Armed with a notepad and my iPhone, I had the extreme honor of being invited to the concert and covering the event. I was prepared to take notes and capture the concert’s moments through my phone’s photos and video. From the start, I expected the IU concert would be great.
But the word “great” is a mere understatement.
Her HEREH concert – an acronym meaning Hypnotic, Energetic, Romantic, Ecstatic, and Heroic – blew my expectations away, and they were quite high already.
IU’s Oakland show would be the second to her last stop on the HEREH tour (Los Angeles being the final stop on August 2). Bay Area fans were wondering how incredible this concert would be. Including myself.
To prepare myself for the upcoming IU experience here in Oakland, I asked friends in Washington D.C. and Atlanta how their IU concerts were. In turn, I got nothing but glowing praise and “you can’t miss this concert.” I read reviews on the other IU stops all over the US, as well as in Asia, with fans gushing about their respective concert stops.
Yet, their huge praise of the K-pop starlet still did not prepare me for what was to come.
After the nearly three-and-a-half hour concert, I told myself that this concert will be most likely be my favorite concert of 2024. And after talking to my friends and fellow Bay Area IU fans – dubbed Uaena – they all nodded in agreement.
IU’s Oakland concert is truly an epic experience.
While the HEREH tour excitement was already at an all-time high when she performed her at first stop in Seoul in March, its anticipation was already at an all-time high across the Pacific.
IU-mania started early in the US
About five months ago in early March, US fans would get their chance to buy IU tickets online for her the US leg of her tour. Fans wasted no time preparing. They would camp out sites such as Ticketmaster hours early, with many of them waiting by their computers at work or school.
When the ticket floodgates finally opened, many fans described this rush to secure tickets as “a bloodbath,” with queues being as high as 30k, 35k, and in some cases, such as Los Angeles, up to 50k or more people waiting in queue to get a chance to buy tickets.
For those lucky fans that saw the “purchase now” option, fans shelled out anywhere from $250 to well over $1000 for seats right next to the stage. Some fans dropped several thousands of dollars to buy tickets in-bulk for their friends and family that couldn’t get past their own queues.
However, for those unlucky fans – and there were in the tens-of-thousands – they would soon be shut out from buying tickets at all. Tickets instantly sold out in all US cities, ranging from a mere 10 minutes in some cities to 30 minutes in others.
One of the most significant reasons for the frenzy surrounding IU’s 2024 HEREH US tour is that it marks the first time Korea’s most beloved solo K-pop singer has embarked on a tour in the United States. Fans of IU, a superstar of immense stature, are well aware of her substantial impact on the K-pop industry.
Known as the nation’s “Little Sister,” IU earned this affectionate moniker early in her career, reflecting her influential presence in the K-pop scene. Throughout her illustrious career, she has garnered over 130 music awards, achieved 31 #1 singles, and received 10 Daesangs, one of the highest honors in the Korean music industry. She sold over one million albums and more than 120 million paid digital downloads.
Beyond her music achievements, IU has also established herself as a top-tier actress, starring in hit dramas such as “Hotel del Luna,” “My Mister,” and “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo.” Her role as the poster girl for Chamisul soju ads further solidified her status as a cultural icon in Korea.
In addition to her entertainment accomplishments, IU is renowned for her philanthropic efforts, having donated approximately ₩4.8 billion (around $3.53 million) to various charitable causes throughout her career. She is widely regarded as one of the most successful female solo singer-songwriters in K-pop.
While this isn’t IU’s first appearance in the US—she previously performed at KCON 2014—her HEREH tour marks her first headlining US tour. Since her debut in 2008, her label, EDAM Entertainment, has waited 16 years to bring her talents to American audiences.
With such a remarkable career and influence, fans didn’t want to miss out on IU’s inaugural US tour. The immense demand for tickets and the skyrocketing prices reflect fans’ fear of missing out (FOMO) on IU’s US debut.
A Gift from My Mom to You
Photo Credits: the author
When concert attendees first arrived to their seats, there were greeted by a small, pink tin container consisting of a key ring, a magnet, and IU picture cards tucked inside the seat cup-holders. Shortly after discovering this tin container, many read the large protector screens that said, “Each seat has a gift from IU to her fans. Please enjoy it.”
The starlet herself would further elaborate on the gifts during the beginning of the concert.
“It’s a gift from my mom for all of you. I hope you treasure it,” she told her fans to a roaring applause.
Fan Service in Spades
From this simple, yet meaningful gift, IU’s concert was filled with fan service. Her label, EDAM Entertainment, prepared numerous throwbacks to her earlier songs. The starlet gave away a flower and a coin – with the coin kissed by her twice – to two lucky fans.
During many of the intermissions, she would often engage with the audience. Sometimes she would joke around in English and when explaining more complex thoughts, used an Korean-to-English interpreter.
Some of her more memorable quotes in English include:
- “I’m going to hypnotize you with a magic spell and gather all your memories.”
- “I’m going to make you forget about the first part of the show.”
- “This is top secret: I’m still shy when I dance.”
- “In Korea, they call me the Korean dancing machine.”
While the fan service was apparent from the start, another noticeable aspect was the concert’s high production value.
The Concert’s High Production
From the start, EDAM Entertainment, IU’s label, spared no expense in providing a grand experience to its audience. If this concert’s production used the hotel star rating, the HEREH concert would be a 5-star hotel.
There was confetti shots throughout the concert, at least five costume changes, and numerous changes to the concert’s background. The spotlights and lighting came from so many angles, illuminating the stage. There were four intermissions, each with their own highly-polished videos portraying a story. Towards the back stage, a live band played renditions of all her songs, enriching the music.
IU also brought along a large team of 16 dancers – 8 male and 8 female – to dance to her songs. She even brought on local kids for the opening act, “Holssi.”
Fun story: After the kids were finished performing “Holssi,” they went back to the crowd to watch the concert. But these kids merely weren’t clapping along; they were dancing in lock-step to many of IU’s songs. My friend was right next to the kids, as they were busting-a-move in the crowd.
Perhaps the most impressive feature was that all the monitors had all the lyrics to her songs Romanized in English. This allowed anyone to sing along to IU’s songs, even if they can’t read Korean or don’t know the lyrics to a particular song. There were even purple-colored lyrics where it cued the audience to loudly chant. I personally think K-pop concerts should have their lyrics presented in future concerts to increase audience participation.
The Concert Itself
Throughout the concert, IU mixed it up with her slower ballads, her more energetic pop and dance songs, and everything in-between. Her powerful vocals showed during songs such as “Coin,” “Strawberry Moon,” and “You&I.”
For her more poppy songs, such as “Lilac” and “Havana,” she showcased her own dance moves alongside her squadron of dancers. The Oakland audience, remembering what IU said about being shy about her dancing, loudly roared and encouraged her during her dance sets.
The concert was broken up into four intermissions, each with its own mood change, wardrobe outfits, and video clips. The mood changes consisted of songs to represent each mood. These moods consisted of the creative set that kicked off the show, “Holssi”; to the more romantic set in “Havana”; to the energetic set in “Celebrity”; and lastly the ecstatic set in “Shopper.”
As IU finished up her final song in her fourth set (the ecstatic set), “Love Wins All,” she would tell the audience, “you know how these concerts go. They’ll be an encore,” to the laughter from the audience.
Afterwards, IU would leave the stage and a video of her would appear with a birthday cake. Shown on the cake are the candles “32,” signifying her age in Korean, while also alluding that she came a long way from her debut back in 2008.
Two Encores Later…
Nearly all K-pop concerts have an encore. That’s to be expected.
But IU’s HEREH tour had not just one, but two encores. During her first encore, she would sing four songs: “Shh..,” “Twenty-three,” “Holssi (rock ver.),” and “Love Wins All.” Then the starlet would retreat back into the darkness to change once again.
During the wait for the double encore, a message flashed on the monitors: “To call out IU, we need to sing her song.” Yet, the audience was quite passive and reserved at first. When the first set of lyrics showed up, few people sang. I was actually one of the few people in my section to sing, but I had no shame. After all, to get our double encore, enough voices from the audience had to sing to reach IU.
Fortunately, after the first couple lyrics, the more people in the audience started participating. By one minute, pretty much everyone was singing, whether they knew the song or not. It’s a good thing that the Romanized lyrics were always shown.
“What Shall I Sing Next”?
Photo Credits: EDAM Entertainment.
This is the question that IU asked when she came back out.
For the double encore, she would entertain the audience’s request and sing their chosen songs. The audience’s choices did not disappoint, as they picked some iconic throwbacks. Fans came prepared, with huge signs and their phones showing which songs IU should sing next. The more popular hits had the prepared lyrics on the monitor and music sheets prepared by the live band. Other, more under-the-radar songs had IU adlib with no lyrics on the monitor, as EDAM Entertainment probably didn’t predict that fans would pick those songs.
Songs such as “Good Day,” “Someday,” and “A Gloomy Clock” were chosen. When “Someday” was being sung, there was a fan shown wearing a Dream High 1 T-shirt, the 2011 K-drama where the song originated from.
The song that elicited the loudest cheers had to be “Palette” feat. G-Dragon. Pretty much everyone was singing to the song, showing that this is one of her signature songs. When IU started rapping G-Dragon’s section, the audience started to go crazy.
The double encore where fans get to choose which songs to sing made this concert even more special. Each concert’s song selection was different, as the songs sung during the Rosemont or Newark stops will differ. So one city may request “Someday,” while another city may request “Palette” instead.
After the concert, I looked up the setlists of each city and the average number of songs was 25-26 sung.
Oakland, however, reigned on top with a staggering 29 songs.
The Bay Area Chant: Woo Woo Woo
Throughout the concert, the Bay Area fans lavished praise and cheers in the most charming way: chanting “Woo Woo Woo.” This cheering is reminiscent of Arsenio Hall’s Dog Pound Chant during the late 80s and early 90s.
At first, IU asked the audience, “what’s that?” in a curious tone.
It didn’t take the starlet long to adapt to Oakland and fully embrace the audience’s cheer. Midway in the concert, she too, was chanting “Woo Woo Woo” while laughing. In fact, several times, she would start up the “Woo Woo Woo” chants on her own.
If it’s one thing that IU takes back to Korea, it may be this cheer. “When I go back to Korea and if it’s an exciting or happy moment, I’ll remember ‘Woo Woo Woo’,” IU said to a loud approval of “Woo Woo Woo.”
Can I Get Back Home?
As the second encore ended with confetti shooting out from confetti launchers, I looked at my phone to see that it was almost 11:00 pm. The concert lasted nearly three and a half hours – starting at 7:30 pm.
While I appreciated the extra fan service and the incredible 29-song setlist, I wondered if I’ll be able to catch the last subway train – called the BART in the SF Bay Area – back to my car. With BART services closing at midnight, I wasn’t the only one anxiously thinking, “Will I catch the last train, or will I have to get an Uber or Lyft back home?” Throngs of Uaenas were already cramming the subway station to catch their trains home.
I was seriously tempted to stop by the merch shop, but knew trying to snag merch would be impossible. After seeing over 100 people in line after the concert, there was no way to buy merch and catch the last train. Sadly, I had to skip buying merch.
Fortunately, I met up with some friends outside the venue and two of them graciously offered to drive me to the nearest subway station to catch my train. But it was cutting it close, as it was now 11:30 pm, and I still needed to make a train transfer along the way. If I can just make the transfer station, I would be in hte clear. If not, it looks like I’ll be calling an Uber. I entered the last train headed out with several hundreds of other Uaena and hoped for the best.
As my train approached the transfer station at 11:55 pm, the subway announcer said, “this transfer point is the last train for tonight.” With BART closing at midnight, I quickly left my train and boarded the transfer train across the station that headed to my final destination. I barely made it in time.
Despite the added craziness of catching the last subway afterward, the IU Oakland stop of her HEREH tour was an incredible experience.
One of IU’s last parting words at the end of the double encore was, “I hope we can meet again soon Oakland.” I’m sure I can speak for pretty much all Uaenas in saying we’ll be back when she returns.
Setlist
To see the entire setlist of songs: IU Setlist in Oakland, CA
Misc.
A special thanks goes to EDAM Entertainment and Wonderwall Korea for inviting us to cover the IU concert.