What’s up, SeoulGrid? The World Cup is finally upon us, and even if you’re not a soccer fan, you’d be a fool to miss out — Korea loves their soccer, and the whole city’s going to be partying like crazy on Saturday night as Korea plays their first match against Greece.
So if you stay in this weekend, you’re making a tremendous error. But just knowing when party isn’t enough — you need to know where to party! And to find and where to party during the world cup, I consulted a team of around 10 experts (read: Koreans). So where are the biggest World Cup party hotspots? Read on to find out what I learned.
Thursday, June 10th:
But before Saturday rolls around, we have two days to warm up for it. So let’s start with a relaxing Thursday evening.
There’s a “La Notte Rosa ‘Summer’s Eve Party’” in Villa Sortino’s “M Lounge” in Itaewon to celebrate the coming of summer, hosted by Eloquence Magazine. They will have champagne and finger foods. The party goes from 8pm to 2am. For more information, check out the facebook event page:
Friday, June 11th:
In the past year, and particularly the past few months, Itaewon has been undergoing a transformation before my very eyes. For as long as anyone can remember Itaewon has carried the stereotype of “the armpit of Seoul” when it comes to nightlife. However, recently classy venues like Function, Club LUV, Mu Lounge, Berlin, and Between are springing up out of nowhere, and doing a lot to transform Itaewon’s image.
Thus I hereby propose a new name to differentiate this revolutionary movement within Itaewon: henceforth we shall refer to such venues as being part of “Nu-Itaewon.” [I'm actually laughing as I type this, but I'm going to keep using the name as a social experiment to see if I can get it to stick.]
Anyway, one of the first “Nu-Itaewon” venues [hahahaha] to open its doors and help start this revolution was Bliss, run by DJ Shine of Drunken Tiger fame. This week Bliss turns one year old, and to celebrate they’re hosting a special party. There’s no cover charge, so feel free to drop by and check out the scene if you haven’t done so yet.
At Answer, we have Astro Voize, who I’m always a fan of. Astro Voize plays electro and nu disco.
Korean electro group “TheRiotz” is throwing a party in Mansion in Hongdae:
And the rest is the usual. Tech house / minimal at Eden, techno / house at Heaven, and trance at Volume:
- Colors: Red Point @ Club Eden
- Kombination Vol. 2: Underwater @ Heaven
- Konoco Premium Party: Laptopcompany @ Volume
Saturday, June 12th:
At 8:30pm on Saturday is Korea’s first official game of the World Cup, against Greece. Again, even if you’re not a soccer fan, you’ll want to go out to watch this, since the entire city will be partying harder than you’ve ever seen.
So where to go to watch the game? I asked my Korean friends that very same important question, and compiled their responses to get a general consensus. Here’s what I learned:
- City Hall — this is traditionally where people gather to watch the game, and will definitely have the most people (think hundreds of thousands). They bring in a giant giant screen to play the game. Here’s a picture from 2002 to get an idea of how big of an event we’re looking at:
- Bong-Eun-Sa Temple near Coex Mall — This is where the Red Devils, Korea’s official supporting team, will be to lead the fans. This location is being promoted as the big spot this year, and the responses from my friends were torn mainly between here and city hall. However both of them are pretty much guaranteed to be wild.
- If you’d rather avoid the mob and the sun but still go somewhere a bit wild, any soju tent, hof, or bar in the city will do the trick. You better believe they’ll be broadcasting the game, and the larger and more popular ones are bringing in big screens and projectors to do so. Hot spots will probably be Hongdae, Apgujeong Rodeo, Gangnam Station area, or any other part of town that has a lot of bars and people. From what I hear, the typical busy streets will be completely flooded with people partying after the game.
- Megaclubs. I have confirmation that at least Club Eden, Club Heaven, and Club Answer will be bringing in special screens to broadcast the game. If you’re planning on going to the club afterward anyway, you may want to save yourself an extra stop by viewing the game here.
Remember, the game is at 8:30pm — get there early so you don’t miss kickoff! Anyway, after the World Cup game is over, you can continue to party on the streets, or you can head to one of the many club parties going on this Saturday.
Eden is bringing in a really interesting DJ, Takkyu Ishino from Japan. His style is a bizarre mix of minimal techno, industrial, and a lot of percussion. This seems like a really interesting change of pace, so I’ll probably go check out this show.
If you’re into trance, Club Volume is bringing in another top 100 DJ: John O’Callaghan.
A.N.D. is throwing their 5th party at Hongdae Mansion, featuring Saturnine from Belgium and Flirtphonic from the US, in addition to Korean duo Inside Core:
I’m not sure what Soul Vouse is, but this flyer definitely lists DJ Gon, who usually spins as a resident DJ at Answer, and is one of my favorite DJs in Seoul.
Other Parties:
Party hard, SeoulGrid clubbers, and tune in next week for more updates!
- James
Attn: Promoters: Want to make sure your party gets included in a weekly update? Send an email to parties@seoulgrid.com with the information and flyer. We’ll check it out, and if it meets our standards we’ll include it. Thanks!
