Playing on a weekday I was skeptical if I could get down to Horse the Band’s Earth Tour ‘08 in Seoul at Live Club Ssam. Luckily I finished work early and headed straight there. Mini review:

Opening the night were Same Old Story. There emo sound wasn’t really my thing and I thought they looked a little awkward on stage. However, they were pretty tight sounding and did seem to appeal to a lot of the crowd.

Next up were Hollow Jan. Wow, simply put - I was blown away. Epic songs graced with loud guitars, strong melodies and screamo vocals all combined well for an enjoyable set. They played through their set almost elegantly and the vocalist was seemingly possessed with emotion. Superb.

Finally Horse the Band took to the stage and brought back all the memories of the last time I saw them back in Wales. They bang out decent hardcore with that extra element that works so well for them - a keyboard spurting out video-game inspired tunes. They looked good on stage and energetically stormed through their set. Their “nintendo-core” brings a tear or two to my eyes. Catch them somewhere on their “Earth tour” if you can.

Photos at flickr.