What better way to welcome the weekend than with a pumping concert by South Korean hip hop
group Epik High?
The trio held their Epik High “The Pump Tour” in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 2nd August at HGH
Convention Centre, marking their second concert in Malaysia following their previous show at Zepp
KL in December 2022.
Despite the sudden announcement of the group’s lightstick (which does have an…interesting but not
so family-friendly design) being banned from use during the concert, fans remained unfazed and
proceeded to calmly enter the venue, where they would patiently stand for an hour plus waiting for
their favourite hip hoppers to perform.
“Epik High audiences are the best,” leader Tablo would later say, and he has good reason to be
proud of their fans, or High Skools as they’re called. He is no doubt happy to have fans who do not
derail into “rabidness” the moment any inconvenience arises.
At 8.30pm sharp, the trio took the stage, opening with their new track, “Pretty Much”. The crowd immediately sang along, continuing together as the group segued to their next songs, “Antihero” and “Fly”.
This was followed by the trio’s energetic self-introduction that was met with roaring laughter from
the crowd. DJ Tukutz started it off by showing off his smooth moves, dancing to his own rendition of
the “Baby Shark” song with the lyrics changed to “DJ Tututututu…tutukutz”. (We know you can hear
that in your head.) “Korea’s number one cutie,” Tablo called him, rightfully so.
Mithra Jin was next. “Apa khabar?” he said, before breaking into a dance to the beat of “Y.M.C.A.”,
of course with his own name inserted into the lyrics. “The number one MC, Mi-th-ra Jin” the song
went, as Tablo enthusiastically hyped him up: “So cute!”
Tablo, meanwhile, chose a “not cute” intro. “I. Am. Tablo,” he said before striking poses as “Star
Wars – The Imperial March” played in the background.
The “cute” (or slightly menacing on Tablo’s part) introductions over, the trio went back to being their
cool hip hop selves. “Face ID”, “No Thanxxx, “Late Checkout” and “Eternal Sunshine” had fans singing
along loudly again.
Their setlist for the night consisted of songs from their new mixtape “Pump”, which was released in
conjunction with their current tour, as well as their older hits. “Group Chat Freestyle”, “In Self
Defense”, “Rosario”, “Burj Khalifa”, “K-Drama” and “Screen Time” were among the other songs they
performed at the concert.
Mithra Jin momentarily left the stage when Tablo was performing “Eyes, Nose, Lips”. When the
rapper returned on stage, Tablo said to him, “Did you miss me? I missed you when I was performing
that song alone.”
The typically quiet Mithra Jin could only respond with a resigned smile. It was obvious the more
extroverted members enjoy teasing him. During a ment when they were suddenly discussing MBTI,
Mithra Jin seriously answered “ISFP”, but DJ Tukutz continued by declaring his own MBTI as “E.P.I.K.”
while Tablo added that his was “H.I.G.H.”
“I’m the world’s first H,” he chuckled, while DJ Tukutz laughed and Mithra Jin, again, could only smile
in resignation at his members’ shenanigans.
This doesn’t mean the more reserved MC doesn’t have a sense of humour, however. As Tablo
recounted, there was once when the group was replying to the oft-asked “Where do you get your
inspiration from?” and Mithra Jin answered, “Strawberry milk.”
“We just wanted to be funny because we always answered it so seriously in the past,” Tablo
explained, as Mithra Jin’s dimples danced on his cheeks again at this recollection. “Because of that,
fans gifted him with strawberry milk for the next three years.”
It’s evident that crowd work is something that the group excelled at. Even if Tablo does the most
talking, the Korean-Canadian being the most fluent in English among them, it is apparent that all
three of them enjoy interacting with their fans.
DJ Tukutz, though anchored to his turntables most of the time, will occasionally step out to the front
to show off his dance moves and make fans laugh with his antics and banter with his members.
For one lucky High Skool, the evening would definitely be unforgettable thanks to Tablo’s interaction
with her. After going into the crowd to film himself with fans’ phones while singing “Rain Song”, he
pointed to a fan and said, “You need to check your messages. It might be urgent. The whole time I
was singing, I could only think ‘this girl needs to check her messages’.”
@hypemalaysia #EpikHigh #Tablo came down to the crowd in KL and gave the best fan service. Plus a funny story. #epikhighishere
He later brought this up again towards the end of the concert, asking her if she’d finally replied her
messages.
Tablo also took the time to sing praises for their fans. “Epik High audiences are the best,” he
commended, “because even when we go down and everybody’s like kinda excited, we’re very
careful not to hurt each other and everyone’s so nice. I love it! I love being Epik High because I love
to perform for audiences like you. Thank you so much.”
After hitting fans with nostalgia again with songs like “Love Love Love” (which saw Tablo jumping
into Mithra Jin’s arms and getting carried around like a clingy koala for a bit), “One” and “Fan”, they
pumped up the crowd with “High Technology”, “New Beautiful” and “Kill This Love”.
With one last song, “Home is Far Away”, the trio wrapped up their main stage and thanked everyone
for the fun one hour and a half that they’d had. Waving goodbye, they disappeared off stage.
Of course, the moment the stage went dark, fans started chanting, “Encore! Encore!” The trio happily returned to perform their encore, closing the show with “Born Hater” and “Don’t Hate Me”.
High Skools reluctantly trickled out of the venue after the ending credits started rolling on the big
screen. However, most of the fans did not immediately leave as they were entitled to fan benefits
after the show, which include Hi-Bye and photo sessions with the group, signed posters and signed
polaroids.
All in all, it was an epic evening that both Epik High and their High Skools will always remember.
