Main Square Festival is a well-known festival in Arras, France. For its afficionados, it marks the beginning of the summer season. While it progressively branched out and now includes various music genres, the festival has strong roots in pop-rock music. Of course, many festival-goers are still surprised to see Korean artists appearing among the line-up. However, the inclusion of The Rose in the 2023 almost seemed natural for anyone that knows the group’s music.
Regardless, it shouldn’t disguise what an achievement it is for them. They’re taking part in various festivals across Europe this summer and each of them cements their position as a pop rock group that goes beyond Korea’s boarders. Besides, their latest concert in Paris was in Le Bataclan (capacity of approximately 1500 visitors). So Main Square Festival is definitely a few (big) steps ahead towards wider audiences.
Before the doors even opened on July, 1st, fans with banners, signs and lightsticks were impatiently waiting to enter and grab a front-row spot in front of the Greenroom stage. The Rose have an extensive experience of European stages, but their fans wouldn’t miss a chance to see and support them. Especially for such a major occasion (the festival announced that it sold 40 000 tickets per day).
The group first plays Cure, probably as a way to introduce the purpose of their music. Indeed, Wooyoung later explains that they want to make healing music, which is perfectly embodied by this track. The music alternates between ballads (Sorry, She’s in The Rain), songs fit for a summer summer trip with friends (R.E.D, Time) and tracks that’ll make you dance (BABY). Many audience members sing along, clap their hands, sway their hips and just let themselves get carried away by the group’s genuine love of the stage.
During the performance , the group played an unreleased track. It’s an addictive and energetic pop-rock song full of US music influences. Surprisingly considering it’s not available on any platform yet, most of the audience sings along to the chorus. Just two days after the group first played it in Stockholm, the most loyal fans had already learned the lyrics from fancams. As for local festival-goers, they happily joined in after hearing it once. The song is perfect for festivals and has everyone waiting in anticipation of the group’s upcoming come-back. After the festival, fans came to Twitter to share the song. But the wait for the studio version won’t be too long, as the group just started to tease their come-back with DUAL.
If there’s one thing to remember from The Rose’s set, it’s that the members are experts at balancing long-time fans and local festival-goers. They make sure to explain who the group is during their talks, and include typical fan-service such as throwing roses to the audience. It’s an accomplished mission for them. They both delivered the Korean experience that the festival was aiming for, and proved that labelling them as a K-Pop band would only cover a portion of their music.
In an interview given to the local newspaper La Voix du Nord, the festival’s representatives expressed their wish to keep inviting Korean acts in the upcoming year. We believe The Rose’s performance proved that it’s a challenge that’s worth the risk. Main Square Festival were the first summer festival in France to the invite a Korean act with CL last year, and they’re definitely opening the doors towards a better recognition of the diversity of the Korean music stage.
We’d like to thank Main Square Festival and Live Nation for having us @ Main Square Festival.
