Another day, another concert. This one happened to be the very next day!
JUST B is a group I had never heard of, or at least I wasn’t aware that I had, until the algorithms showed me that they were going to be making their way near me after a crowd funding endeavor paid off. As I’ve said, if K-Pop groups are bothering to come to Ohio, then I will bother myself to go see them. And as an adult with adult money, I decided to do one of the VIP tiers since it was actually very reasonably priced. The show much later was announced to be at the same small venue that 1VERSE was at just barely a month or so earlier.
The crowd for this one seemed a bit smaller, but gosh was the passion of these fans equal, or maybe even greater! They squeezed in for sound check and stayed there until the show actually started an hour later. But I will say their soundcheck consisted of a lot of songs! The most I’ve heard by far. The energy was mixed form the members, and I was particularly drawn to their maknae who seemed to be the only one really zeroed in on making sure everything was working well. The outfits were an interesting mix, and one of friends wondered if that’s what they were going to open the show in.
Wrong. They all bounced out with leopard print straight out of the Backstreet Boys and N’SYNC days! I was a fan. There was another outfit change about half way through that was just generally black, which I also really liked. But I will admit, I did not really give these guys a proper amount of research time, so their names, faces, and music were really a mystery to me until like two days before the show. I got a mix of songs from recent setlists and also from their most popular songs on iTunes and queued it up for my drive to Columbus. Y’all. Their discography is random as FUCK. I do think more recently they’ve settled on a very strong EDM vibe, though the internet seems to be dubbing it hyperpop. Either way, it belongs in the clubs.
But that genre is weird because they have a lot of slow, almost ballad like songs that make you want to whip out your phone light, but then they also have a fair amount of songs with a pop punk vibe. Just so random! The tour itself was meant to be promoting their most recent album, Snow Angel, so we definitely got to hear all of those club bangers (and maybe one of them three times…), but they have a pretty decent sized discogrpahy, so we were treated to a lot of their other popular tracks. The shrieks that followed the intros of some of the songs were honestly hilarious, but I was really impressed with the diehard fans. I wouldn’t have really guessed they existed in central Ohio.
Overall, the show was great, but the most unique bit of the night came with the solo stage portion. Each member that came out slowly progressed the tempo of the songs they covered, but it all culminated in Bain’s multi-song tribute to Lady Gaga. Remeber when I said I’d never heard of JUST B? Well, turns out I kind f had. Last year, Bain happened to become the first publicly gay K-Pop idol – crazy! From my spot in the crowd he could be Joohoney’s younger brother, but he put on a SHOW. He was stomping and dancing around the stage in a corset and four inch knee high boots and he positively SLAYED. At one point he called out a cute guy from the crowd and they had a moment that had everyone’s jaws dropped – mine included!
After that insane run, they kind of killed the vibe with a bunch of their slower songs, but they ended on a high with more of their EDM-heavy tracks. I can honestly say this is the most entertained I’ve been by a K-Pop group so far. Do I love JUST B? No, I wouldn’t say that, but I’d definitely go see them live again someday. Honestly, after the solo stages, I was geeking in the lead up to get my picture with them after the show. What a bunch of cool guys. All in all, it was a great way to round out a kind of busy and shitty work day. Go see JUST B in your city if you can!