Seoul, South Korea (November 26th, 2025)
Text and photos: Hyunji Choi
Special thanks to Jieun Lee (aka Cranberry)
Tickets sold out within 30 minutes of going on sale. I don’t think anyone had anticipated that.
In Korea, you can see the gender ratio and age range of ticket buyers on the booking website. Surprisingly, the gender ratio was almost exactly 50:50 male to female, and the majority of the audience was in their 30s to 40s.
Compared to Mew’s first solo concert in Korea on November 13th, 2010 (at now-defunct AX Korea), this concert at least was off to a much better start. Back then, I was really sad because only about 700 people showed up, even though it was a 2,000-capacity venue.
The capacity for this venue was about 1,000 people. While there were many complaints that the venue was too small, I was actually happier that it was sold out in a smaller venue.
In November 2010, The Flaming Lips and Sigur RΓ³s came to Korea for concerts just days apart, which was another reason Mew’s first Korean concert tickets didn’t sell well. I jokingly say that I haven’t listened to either band’s music since then because I was so annoyed by what happened, haha.
On August 9, 2015, Mew headlined the Sub Stage at Pentaport Rock Festival. They left receiving lots of praise for having amazing sound quality considering it was a concert in Korea. Someone on x.com jokingly called it the “Legendary iPad.” They said it was the best sound quality among all the foreign bands that performed at Pentaport in 2015.
It’s been ten years since the All Waves Festival (which was going to be held in Korea in November 2015) got canceled.
This November 2025, Mew had no competition for Korean concerts except for Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s show on December 3rd.
Nodeul Island Live House
This performance venue is built right in the middle of a bridge crossing Seoul’s Hangang River. It opened in 2019 and is largely operated by the Seoul city government. Directly across from the venue, I could see The Hyundai Seoul, one of Korea’s hottest spots. In the building right next to the venue, there was a university graduation exhibition taking place. Seeing bouquets of flowers in the exhibition hall, I momentarily mistook them as being there for the concert. A large Christmas tree was also decorated near the venue.
On the day of the performance, the weather in Seoul was a low of 2Β°C and a high of 10Β°C, but it didn’t rain all day. It was cold and rainy the day before and after the concert. Even the weather seemed to be helping Mew’s performance go well.
Two days before the show, an announcement about t-shirt sales suddenly came up from the Korean concert promoter. They were selling two types of t-shirts, and both were made in Korea, which is rare. The shirts completely sold out 30 minutes before the show started, so I didn’t get a chance to take any photos of them.
The show started at 8 PM. Most weekday performances in Korea tend to start later in consideration of office workers who are still getting off work. I had a friend who rushed over on their way back from a business trip, while some others came straight from work.
I spotted a few foreign fans wearing Mew t-shirts that hadn’t been sold at any previous Korean shows. Oh my god, how on earth did they survive that brutal ticketing war?!
Just before the show started, they were playing songs by Slowdive and Radiohead.
Mew’s third Korean concert began at 8 PM sharp.
My goodness, did Jonas cryogenically freeze himself? His voice hasn’t changed a single bit from ten years ago. He also didn’t even lower the original key at all. At the end of Reprise, Jonas briefly made a gesture of clasping his hands together as if in prayer, which made him look holy. Before performing Symmetry, Jonas introduced it as a song he wrote in high school. He said “Gamsahamnida (Thank you)” with perfect pronunciation, which made everyone gasp in the audience. Among all the foreign bands I’ve seen perform in Korea, I’ve never heard anyone pronounce “Gamsahamnida” so close to the native Korean pronunciation.
After the main performance and Encore
Before starting Introducing Palace Players, Johan told us he’d sing us a funky song.
During the encore, Jonas acknowledged that he was leaving, but said Mew would continue and asked the audience to keep supporting them. After Tsin-Tsi, someone in the audience shouted for She Came Home For Christmas. Jonas joked that they weren’t a band that took requests. He said playing that song would require retuning, which would be difficult.
At the start of Am I Wry? No, Nick ran to the front of the stage to get the crowd going. Mads was flying all over the stage throughout the show, haha. Johan said they would come back to Korea.
Before the members got together for the final bow, Johan took the setlist paper that had been at his feet and tore it into many pieces to distribute them equally to fans in the audience.
I had the opportunity to meet Jonas after the concert. Since early November this year, I’d had a cold (I don’t know why I had it for three weeks), so I wore a mask when meeting him. Luckily, he didn’t catch my cold then, haha. The Finland and UK concerts were postponed due to his health though, so I hope he gets well as soon as possible.
I wanted to ask Jonas why he was leaving Mew, but I thought he’d tell us that someday, so I didn’t ask.
For this Korean performance, Jonas gave me the best seats in the reserved section on the second floor and invited my husband and friends too. I’m also so, so grateful to Mew’s tour manager, Rob, for all his help this time.
When I parted with Jonas, I clenched my teeth and didn’t say the words “Goodbye” at all. I just said thank you, and that I was grateful for everything up until now. I don’t know when or where I’ll meet him next, but I won’t say “Goodbye” yet.
Setlist (Nodeul Island Live House):
Reprise / Satellites / Special / The Zookeeper’s Boy / Circuitry of the Wolf / Chinaberry Tree / Then I Run / Gliding / The Wake of Your Life / Symmetry / 156 / Apocalypso / Saviours of Jazz Ballet / She Spider / Rows —– Introducing Palace Players / I Should Have Been a Tsin-Tsi (For You) / Am I Wry? No / Comforting Sounds
