KARD Brought Their Playground to London and it was 'Lush'
On September 6, KARD brought their highly anticipated Playground tour to London for a 'wild, sexy' and exciting night of music for their U.K.-based Hidden Kard.
Hours before the concert began, Camden High Street was full of Hidden Kards waiting in line, eager to meet the co-ed quartet and see them take to the stage of the area’s famous Electric Ballroom venue. So many fans had put a lot of effort and detail into their outfits, wearing green and black attires to match KARD’s Playground tour aesthetic. Once let inside, the venue was brimming with these adoring fans, showing how impactful KARD’s presence and music are on those who had waited six years to be reunited, in the U.K., with their favorite group.
Before KARD entered the stage, the crowd was singing along to the music that was being played in the room and also started barking at certain points (something that is increasingly popular at K-Pop concerts today.) Once 7:00 p.m. struck, the noise from the crowd heightened and was replaced with the sounds of cheers and screams that took over the room as the KARD members made their appearance on the stage.
KARD started the show with a performance of the addictive “ICKY,” which had the crowd following KARD’s chorus choreography and fiercely rapping along to BM’s wild verse. This was then followed by the sweet and laid-back electronic track “Without You” before going into their moombahton sound with “Ring The Alarm.” During the crowd interaction of this first segment of the show, BM flexed the British slang he had learned from his fans, describing the crowd as ‘lush,’ a British slang term meaning ‘good,’ ‘excellent,’ ‘attractive,’ etc, and a word BM seemed to enjoy using throughout the night.
The show then carried into “Hola Hola” and “Oh NaNa” before KARD treated us to their duet and solo stages. Kicking things off, Somin and Jiwoo put on a sensual performance with their Latin-pop-inspired track “Fxxk you” from KARD’s most recent mini-album ICKY. BM then delivered two solo tracks with his songs “LIE” and “Broken Me” before turning up the heat with an exceptional performance with J.seph for their rap-heavy track “Been That Boy."
The concert then went into a mini break with a VCR of KARD appearing on the screen, documenting the process that went into making ICKY and why they named the tour 'Playground.' KARD then came back on stage for the second part of the show with an outfit change, performing the tracks "RUMOR" and "Don't Recall." The crowd then recommended that KARD go to U.K. hotspots–Nandos and Wetherspoons–before BM decided to impress us by rapping his “ICKY” verse in a British accent; this took a couple of attempts much to the crowd’s and the other KARD members’ amusement.
The show then stripped back with a performance of KARD’s slow, sensual pop-rock track “Break Down” with the members standing behind mic stands compared to the other tracks that had them moving around the stage. Following “Break Down,” BM revealed that KARD is currently planning their next comeback while simultaneously touring, which brought even more excitement to the already enthusiastic crowd.
KARD then went into a performance of their intense track “GUNSHOT” followed by the energetic “Bomb Bomb” before gracing our eyes with special solo sexy dances that saw J.Seph twerk not once but twice, giving us an extra twerk performance to George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” of all songs, much to his embarrassment but the crowd loved it. This sexy segment got the crowd’s excitement and anticipation high, leading nicely into a performance of their provocative track “CAKE” followed by a fierce performance of “Dumb Litty” that served as the last track of the second half of the show with KARD exiting the stage after. However, the show was not over as the word ‘ENCORE’ flashed up on the screen before the crowd had a chance to chant the word themselves.
For the encore stage, KARD came back out wearing their official tour T-shirt, performing their EDM summer tune “Ride on the wind.” They then brought out a wheel of songs to determine the next song that they would perform, with “Red Moon,” “GO BABY, “Good Love,” and “Enemy” to choose from. Although happy to hear any of the songs, the crowd went wild for “Red Moon” and when the wheel looked as if it was to land on “Good Love,” BM turned it to “Red Moon” to give the crowd what they wanted to hear, going into a performance of the impactful, Latin inspired EDM track. KARD then took a moment to take a photo with everyone in the room, posing with a U.K. flag that they had received from the crowd before going full circle and closing the show with another performance of “ICKY.” Here they taught the “ICKY” choreography but of course, everyone already knew it, and encouraged fans to dance along to the chorus with them before the show came to an end.
KARD’s Playground tour in London was an incredible night of music and showed what great performers each of the members of KARD are. With a comeback on the way, let’s hope that we U.K. Hidden Kard’s won’t have to wait another six years for them to return to U.K. ground.
Edited by Cara Musashi