[Event] BIBI and ‘Eve’ deliver an entertainingly sultry night in Los Angeles

5 hours ago 6

I’ve always been a fan of BIBI, and the first time I actually saw her live was at least year’s Head In The Clouds show in New York. It was only a small sampling of what she had to offer, so I knew I absolutely needed to attend her first world tour.

Titled ‘Eve’, BIBI’s first world tour is named after her newest album, Eve: Romance, and explores two alter egos named Eve and Eve-1. Before starting her performance, a video of BIBI was shown on the screen where she played Eve and her struggles as an artist.

Starting with songs like “Burn It,” “Hangang Gongwon,” and “Sugar Rush,” I realized that BIBI’s concert had a much different vibe. The atmosphere was much more sultry and tantalizing than the more chaotic and bombastic ones you’d experience at your typical K-pop concerts.

What really helped bring life into her concert was her fluency in English. Although she isn’t a native English speaker, she’s fluent enough to interact with the crowd without any translation services, and you can feel how much more authentic her show is. Oftentimes when K-pop idols and groups interact with crowds, it feels hollow and sounds like empty platitudes, but Bibi says whatever the hell is on her mind and the crowd laughs alongside her.

At one point she asked the crowd if there were any audience members under the age of 18 and where their parents were, saying that her show probably isn’t the most appropriate. However, we all knew that she was just joking with us and that this was just a setup before performing songs like “Real Man” and “Meat.”

During her longer intermissions, the rest of the Eve videos played. At one point, Eve commits suicide and is replaced with her clone, Eve-1. She represents BIBI’s journey through identity, purpose, and love much like the songs on her latest album depict, with songs such as “Hongdae R&B” and “Midnight Cruise.” I’ve seen discourse online about how BIBI should’ve included a trigger warning for that one Eve moment, and I could hear audible groans in the audience when it happened. That was probably the only low point of the concert, although it didn’t take away from the overall vibe.

Towards the latter half of the concert, she began asking the audience what jobs they held, and while this segment went on for far too long (about 15 minutes), there were some entertaining answers. One person said that they worked as a waitress in one of Trump’s restaurants. This interaction was a setup for one of Bibi’s older songs, “Fedexx Girl.”

Of course, Bibi also played fan favorites like Vengeance and The Weekend.

Overall, I had a great time at her show, especially during her fan interactions. It’s a breath of fresh air in an industry that’s so PR and image-focused. Her Eve videos were also engaging enough that the intermissions felt like they flew by, making the hefty 26-song set well-paced.