Jebi Show (Show Recap)
Pretty City Lights played Jebi Dabang on Friday, June 13th, 2025, for an hour. Read about it..
The night.
Pretty City Lights performed their 3rd band show ever on a rainy Friday night - June 13th, 2025. to a packed house. The outdoor temp was pleasant, despite the rain. That attendees were a mixture of: total strangers (mostly Koreans) who were visiting the venue for a fun night, artists & friends of band, foreign language students, regular jebi patrons, and some interesting people who followed one of the advertisements online to the venue.
The rain came down suddenly, and intensely, right around show-time (a PCL trademark™️, haha). The rain did not prevent the venue from keeping their outward doors open. This was nice, as you could hear the rain between songs.
Unbeknownst to the audience, the rain did cause some problems for the band. The drummer was caught up in a traffic jam and didn’t arrive until the middle of the show. The show must begin on time, so the band performed stripped down versions of 4 songs before the drummer took the stage in the middle of the 5th song. This was a fun moment. The entire show vibe changed when the group was together. At the time is was flustering, but in hindsight, it may have been the thing that made this show special.
This was the first time the band had played with a tenor saxophonist. The drum-free prologue proved to be perfect for the feel of their new sound, which is now alternative rock songs, with a peppering of jazz like spontaneity. The mixture of the sax with the lone vocal, will hopefully make every show very unique.
This venue
JEBI DABANG - is a iconic folk/indie-cultural mainstay in Seoul (since 2012). It’s run by a collective. By day it’s called, Jebi Dabang / 제비다방, translation “Swallow (the bird) Cafe”. At night they slide the outdoor ‘Jebi’ sign over, and the venue becomes ‘Drunken Jebi’ - 취한제비. Shows are 5 times a week, and Free (on site donation to artists, via QR code or cash). Jebi hosts only 1 performer/band per evening. The show must go on a solid hour. That’s roughly 1.5 albums of material a band must perform. Many consider it a milestone to perform there. Gigs are coveted, and the caliber of musicianship there is worthy of a visit any night. Akin to a 5-star restaurant, band bookings happen 3-5 months in advance. I give it 3 Michelin Rock-Stars.
The “Acute” Triangular Building
A triangle without a right angled corner is an oblique triangle. Triangles with less than 90º angle = acute. Triangles with larger than 90º = obtuse
The Jebi building is unique. It’s an older 1980s Jebi’s stage is in the basement, with a cutout ceiling, exposing a view from the first floor. The sound is piped through the venue, gently. The ground floor patrons can look down upon the band. By day this B1 stage room is a library where people can study and read. It transforms at night into a performance space. It’s small. To increase capacity, they provide “kiddie” chairs (made for 1-4 year olds) to squeeze more people in. People eventually resort to sitting on the back stairs when a show’s crowded. Some arrive hours in advance, read in their books, then close their books for the show - sounds fantastic right? The stage is at the pointed end of the room and is roughly the same size as your queen sized bed. Considering there’s a drumset there, it’s very small. In fact, they use a miniature drumset (similar to Pete’s Candy Store, in Brooklyn) to make space. Acoustically, the building’s oblique triangular shape (no right angle) makes for less sound reflections. The sound is improved greatly when all the people are in there.
PHOTOS / VIDEOS (crowd sourced)
