Curated From jrocknews.com Check Them Out For More Content.
On Sunday, May 14, South Korean girl band Rolling Quartz arrived at the Wayfarer in Costa Mesa to meet their fans and play some good old rock and roll. This was the fourth stop on the Rock N’ Roll Paradise US Tour 2023, their first-ever US tour where they will play eight shows across seven cities.
The band is known for their debut single Blaze, as well as their first mini-album Fighting, which ranked in the top 5 US rock albums chart on iTunes when it came out in 2022. All of their original songs are currently available on Spotify.
The Wayfarer is an intimate venue and Rolling Quartz filled the stage with their presence and vibrantly colored hair. However, it was the bassist Arem and drummer Yeongeun who took the lead, as they started their set with the iconic intro to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes to get the crowd pumped. As if that wasn’t enough, they transitioned into another cover, but this time it was Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls to really get everyone ready to rock. Vocalist Jayoung had the audience pumping their fists in the air, and the night was only just getting started.
Now that the crowd was properly warmed up, Rolling Quartz took the audience to new heights with their song Higher which builds into the chorus and takes full advantage of Jayoung’s power vocals. This was followed by a cover of Paramore’s Misery Business. Next came more songs from their mini-album Fighting, skillfully weaving covers of beloved rock anthems into their set with their own original music.
They thrilled fans with Delight and then the more somber Azalea before launching into Holler where the audience eagerly joined in on the refrain. Then, Rolling Quartz switched gears and played the beginning of a cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit that transitioned to Dreamcatcher’s GOOD NIGHT in a way that shouldn’t make sense—but they pulled it off naturally. Frankly, the audience would have probably been enthralled with anything they wanted to play.
Next up in the setlist was a cover of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance that suited Jayoung’s deep and powerful vocals perfectly, and got the crowd jumping. Then, as if they hadn’t proved how versatile they can be, both guitarists stepped into the spotlight for a guitar solo, including a brilliant cover of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Scuttle Buttin from lead guitarist Iree.
A short break gave each of the members a chance to speak to the fans (affectionately referred to as “Diadem”). Their messages were a mix of Korean and English, but at the end of the day, the meaning was clear—they were all thankful for their fans and just wanted to have fun and rock out together! There were also a good number of heart signs and rock n’ roll salutes made.
They kept the energy high with NAZABABARA which opens with an electric guitar melody and leans more towards pop punk than their other songs. However, this song choice makes perfect sense when their next song was a mashup cover of Kpop hits Pink Venom by Blackpink and MIC DROP by BTS. Rolling Quartz recently posted a video to their YouTube channel where they performed this cover in collaboration with the singer AleXa. You can watch it below!
After their pop rock detour, they got back to their hard rock roots with a cover of Skid Row’s Youth Gone Wild to keep the audience pumped up. Each of the musicians got a moment to show off their skills, starting with Yeongeun on drums. Sometimes drummers can get visually overshadowed by their fellow members who are closer to the audience, but with her purple hair flying in time with her drumsticks, there was no missing her presence on stage.
Drums were joined by bass and then guitars and as the notes of their hit song BLAZE rang out, the crowd began clapping their hands along with the beat. The band showed no signs of tiring as they finished the set with two final original songs. Of course, they had to play the tour’s namesake Rock’n’roll Paradise, but then they got the whole crowd involved to help sing their final song Sing your heart out.
Unfortunately, all great concerts must come to an end, but at least we get an encore. Chants of the band’s name brought the members out for a final song and for their last song of the night they chose to sing a cover of Helena by My Chemical Romance. As the lyrics said, “So long and good night”.
Setlist
- Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes cover)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica cover)
- Higher
- Misery Business (Paramore cover)
- Delight
- Azalea
- Holler
- Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover)
- GOOD NIGHT (Dreamcatcher cover)
- Bad Romance (Lady Gaga cover)
- Scuttle Buttin’ (Stevie Ray Vaughn cover)
- NAZABABARA
- Pink Venom x MIC DROP (Blackpink and BTS Mashup cover)
- Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row cover)
- BLAZE
- Rock’n’roll Paradise
- Sing your heart out
Encore
- Helena (My Chemical Romance cover)