BLACKPINK live in London: fast-paced fun from one of the world’s leading girl groups
If there’s one area that UK festivals are lacking in 2023, it’s an acknowledgment that K-pop is not just a global trend but a musical movement worth embracing. In the US, events like Lollapalooza and Coachella have been leading the charge with bookings of Korean artists but, across the pond, things remain steadfastly behind. Aside from one major appointment, the Hallyu wave has yet to make its mark on the country’s music festivals, but all that could change with BLACKPINK’s headline performance at London’s BST Hyde Park tonight (July 2).
It’s a performance that has the potential to blaze a new path for festivals in the UK, but it ends up falling just ever so slightly short of the game-changing event it could be. Despite the anticipation and expectations around it, in reality, the four-piece girl group’s set does exactly what it needs to and not an ounce more – a perfectly fun and fine appearance from one of the world’s biggest pop acts.
Coming on stage a good quarter of an hour after their scheduled set time, BLACKPINK immediately fly through an opening series of bangers and keep the pace high for the duration of their time on stage. ‘Pink Venom’ kicks things off in vibrant form before ‘How You Like That’ and ‘Pretty Savage’ show off the quartet’s fiery and fierce choreography, the group commanding attention from the back of the stage to the end of the extended runway. There’s a moment to highlight the underrated 2019 cut ‘Kick It’ – which boasts an infectious, festival-ready chorus – while ‘Whistle’ throws things back to the band’s beginnings.
As with BLACKPINK’s own concerts, the four-piece take time tonight to showcase their individual talents. Jennie goes first, delivering a one-two punch of both fresh and familiar material, first with a snippet of the unreleased poised pop gem ‘You & Me’ before segueing into her irresistible 2018 single ‘Solo’. Jisoo takes up the challenge of enchanting the crowd next and wins with an enthralling version of her recent track ‘Flower’, while Rosé keeps the audience on its toes with a brief refrain of her lovelorn ballad ‘Gone’ before twisting her performance into a beguiling and expertly executed version of ‘On The Ground’. Lisa, meanwhile, is last but not least to take the spotlight and uses her moment to deliver an explicit version of ‘Money’ that has the whole of Hyde Park, in contrast, politely twerking to lyrics about splashing their cash.
There’s barely a pause for breath – just a short interlude filled by a troupe of dancers – before the whole group reunites on stage and gets straight back into the business of lifting the park’s mood. From here on out, the tempo only rockets upwards with ‘Boombayah’ serving as a high-octane reintroduction to full-band proceedings before ‘Lovesick Girls’ unites the crowd in one big, contagious bounce-a-long. There are some jarring moments along the way – not least the internalised misogyny of ‘Typa Girl’ coming only one song apart from the empowering ‘Tally’, resulting in a kind of feminist whiplash – but, for the most part, the show’s crescendo is an exercise in keeping the tension high and the songs as energetic as they come.
“We’re so honoured to perform here at Hyde Park, it’s absolutely a dream come true,” Rosé tells the crowd as things begin to wrap up. When the girl group headlined Coachella just a few months ago, you could tell that sentiment really applied to that show but, in London tonight, there is a feeling that this is just another gig; one more big concert on a seemingly never-ending world tour. It might be momentous in terms of what it represents for UK festivals – hopefully the first of many K-pop bookings to come – but the rushed ending of ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’ and ‘Forever Young’ has shades of going through the motions from an act that has, by now, become a well-oiled machine. We’ll take it, but it doesn’t feel like the spectacle it could be.
BLACKPINK played:
‘Pink Venom’
‘How You Like That’
‘Pretty Savage’
‘Kick It’
‘Whistle’
‘You & Me’ / ‘Solo’
‘Flower’
‘Gone’ / ‘On The Ground’
‘Money’
‘Boombayah’
‘Lovesick Girls’
‘Playing With Fire’
‘Typa Girl’
‘Shut Down’
‘Tally’
‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’
‘Forever Young’
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Rhian Daly
NME
