r/interestingasfuck • u/Jdm965 • 1d ago
A quiet moment as PSY locks in and surprises the crowd as he takes the stage.
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u/StretchVFX 1d ago
I can't imagine how much adrenaline must go through your body the second you pop out that thing and see thousands of people lose their shit at the sight of you. Performing to that many people must feel incredible
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u/fishsticks40 1d ago
I have performed for about a thousand people and it's heady for sure. I can't imagine many thousands, especially when they're all that amped.
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u/ThresholdSeven 1d ago
I've only performed for hundreds and I still can barely keep my leg from shaking on stage. It took years, even after I felt confident. My leg still had stage fright apparently.
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u/fishsticks40 1d ago
I get wound up but not nervous. I have a buddy who's a very talented songwriter who throws up before every show.
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u/badhairguy 1d ago
I'm the exact opposite. I have pretty severe social anxiety and meeting new people in a small setting is excruciating for me.
When I take the stage, I'm super confident.
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u/PooShappaMoo 23h ago
Same. One on one i suck.
Me with 100 other people no problem. Just a little nerves and shakes until I get out the first sentence and boom gone
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u/Ryphttrasc 21h ago
On stage, I would have a script or outline to follow, and the audience has at least a general idea of what they are in for... doesn't work that way in direct/small interactions.
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u/tm0nks 17h ago
I did vocals in our metal band for several years when I was younger, and once I had gotten pretty good at it, I turned into another person on stage. I sometimes wish I could channel more of that dude into my regular life. I was always crazy neverous before we started, but once we got going I felt unstoppable. 20 years later, I still crave that feeling.
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u/ThresholdSeven 1d ago
Yeah, I used to do that too. It was fucked up. I'd hide it because I felt embarrassed about it. I felt confident, although admittedly nervous and for some reason my stomach really wanted to be empty before I got on stage. It wasn't often though. The left leg shaking while trying to play and sing was the real problem.
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u/HoneyWizard 1d ago
Did you ever fix that? The leg-shake thing happens to me, and it's like my whole body will feel calm except the leg. No idea how to sort that out.
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u/ZenTense 1d ago
I’m not the one you asked, but I’m a shaker too (hands and leg) and it resolved completely when I got on prescription propranolol (a beta blocker). It’s available as a cheap generic and doesn’t have the same sort of addiction/dependence risk that benzodiazepines have.
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u/DJRichSnippets 1d ago
I once "performed" for three people on the other side of a waffle house window at 3am. Total adrenaline rush.
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u/Hattrickher0 1d ago
I love being on stage in front of people and I've always turned into a hot sweaty mess while I'm up there. It's weird how our bodies can just have this inherent reaction that our minds are only able to partially override.
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u/Cerdak 1d ago
First guy.. i have performed In front of thousand Second guy performed for hundreds Third guy "in front of people"
I have performed for my mum
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u/Gallileo153 1d ago
My leg shakes performing in front of less than a hundred people. Only really happens if I’m up there with no instrument just singing, I had to move around a lot to hide it lol When I play bass though it doesn’t really happen, it’s like a buffer between the crowd and me.
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u/DrSteamyShartPants 1d ago
Hell yeah. I've performed Listen to the Music by Doobie Brothers for my cat, Barnacle, and it's heady for sure. Great feeling. 🤘
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u/deadbyvacancy 1d ago
My biggest was 4.5k and let me tell you the moment I ran on stage was simultaneously the scariest and most incredible feeling I ever felt.. I been chasing that high since
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u/icancount192 1d ago
Heroin is a good alternative
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u/deadbyvacancy 1d ago
As much as I wanna laugh my ass off at how funny that is, I’m also sad as fuck cause that was a show I did with juice wrld 😭😭😭
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u/agodrevealed 21h ago
Yeah. Biggest crowd I've had is a thousand people maybe, to respond in unison, at my direction.
I was watching Prince on stage in an arena sectioning sixty thousand fans to form a choir and then instruct them. With only a gesture, he controls his band, his light and sound, his choir. He's surrounded, for a while, by sixty some thousands mirrors, giving him slightly different versions of himself, his creation, back. His words, his notes, his visual designs.
I was thinking of how I felt and trying to imagine how you live your entire life at that level.
I know how boring everything else seems in comparison. But, at the end of his life, he said he was bored with it all. I guess you habituate.
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u/SultansOfSam 22h ago
There's a reason rockstars turn to drugs. The rush of performing is hard to beat, and there absolutely is post-performance depression from the come-down.
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u/seatlessunicycle 1d ago
Oh yeah the adrenaline rush is the best. I've performed for 10k+ people in an arena before and it's like your body is a conductor for everybody's excitement
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u/VESUVlUS 1d ago
Do you mind sharing more about your experiences? I'm fascinated.
Are you a musician? Do you still perform?
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u/seatlessunicycle 1d ago
Sure! My family comes from a circus background so I grew up performing. Been doing it for 35+ years now as my main career.
I have a variety act - cyr wheel, that is featured in various shows and events. My biggest gig was at the MGM arena in Las Vegas and there was around 15k people there for an event.
I've been in a magic show for the past 10 years or so and that one will have anywhere from 100-500 people at every single show.
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u/hotdogtears 1d ago
Saaame! But on a bit smaller scale. I remember my first time performing at a sold out venue… man it was so cool! Place was packed, everyone loving the music, people getting wild (responsibly) up on the half walls… ughhh will never forget that moment!
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u/Pigmy 1d ago
When you can make the crowd pop its everything. I acted a bit from high school into college. I usually played the comic relief role. Selling that joke or that fall and hearing the crowd lose it must be what doing heroin for the first time feels like.
One i specifically remember was when i was supposed to catch a beating from the lead. He was an old man and had a cane. He walloped the shit out of my back and i sold it hard. The entire theater gasped. It was great.
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u/HassanMoRiT 1d ago
This guy is the Michael Jackson of Korea. He's by far the most famous East Asian artist alive.
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u/bigmeech85 1d ago
I saw a comment once on one of his videos that said "if aliens were only shown this video they would think that undoubtedly he was the leader of this planet"
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u/MrXero 1d ago
Love this entrance for PSY, hate it for Jensen Huang or any other tech oligarch.
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u/andysimberg 1d ago
Yeah, need to launch the oligarchs a little higher
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u/majime_11 1d ago
Fun fact- PSY's father is the Executive chairman of a Semiconductor equipment company and he wanted his son to take over their family business, but psy had other plans.
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u/OnlyFreshBrine 1d ago
I like it for Jason Mendoza
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u/Killerkendolls 1d ago
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u/sewer_child123 1d ago
I know what you’re talking about friend.
He did this exact elevator entrance stunt in 1992 to a similar crowd reception.
People don’t remember how famous he was.
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u/Sit_Ubu_Sit-Good_Dog 1d ago
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u/DHFranklin 1d ago
And that was Bucharest
I'm old. People don't realize who 90's Micheal Jackson was. He was the greatest solo performer of all time and it's not even close. He was a one man media empire.
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u/Sit_Ubu_Sit-Good_Dog 23h ago
He’s easily the most famous person to live in my life time. There’s nothing to compare it to today.
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u/faleboat 1d ago
What a shit cut of the launch. I get what the editor was trying to do, but we see literally 1/4 second of the 1 sec event.
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u/GullibleDetective 1d ago
It has more crowd reactions and panning shots than the GOku vs Frieza fight on Namek
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u/HassanMoRiT 1d ago
He made crowds faint by just standing there. He was legit larger than life.
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u/Agent223 1d ago
I believe it. I've never heard of him but I've been to a thousand plus shows in my life and this is one of the most hype crowds I've ever seen.
Edit: nevermind, he's the guy that does gangnam style. Of course I've heard of him.
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u/cans-of-swine 1d ago
He's the only east Asian artist I can name.
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u/Knitsanity 1d ago
The only one I know (besides PSY) is Euson Chan but that's because I went to school with him back in the day...waaay back.
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u/MudddButt 1d ago
How dare you disrespect the most famous and influential solo artist to come out of the broader East Asian world... Jay Chou!
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u/qqquigley 21h ago
Yeah Chou is like the #1 artist for millions of Chinese and Taiwanese millennials. Both him and PSY are past their peak though, Chou was drawing K-pop level crowds of swooning fans in the 2000s, and Gangnam Style was 14 years ago.
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u/2Slow2Nice 1d ago edited 21h ago
To sit in silence as you wait to magically appear in front of tens of thousands of people that are going to go insane when they see you is crazy. I’m not egotistical at all but, ngl, I might develop an ego problem if this was my life.
Like you want me to wait in a line like everyone else? It’s me!
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u/sun_not_cold 1d ago
This guys’ agent reached out to our bar asking if we wanted to book him. I want to say they wanted like $50K. Against our typical $1500 Friday night budget, it didn’t work out.
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u/partyon 23h ago
Protip: Big acts usually do this when they have a gig booked in a city next to yours. This was probably's PSY's management trying to find an extra gig in the area, or sometimes it's a promoter that had to book him for two nights but they can only fill the big spot on one night, they're just trying to recoup some costs.
If you would like them to come to your bar, just say you're too small for that but would pay 1500 for PSY to do an appearance, or DJ set for $1500. Sometimes you can get just his DJ or dancers to appear, or even just get PSY to just drop in. Jayz does that all the time, he charges like $2000 to drive by in his limo on the way to whatever is the official afterparty.
They may initially say no, but maybe they'll contact you closer to the date to see if you'll still do it just so they can recoup anything. If it's just the artist's people reaching out you can offer them a free backroom and a few bottles in exchange for a quick appearance and a few walks through the crowd if you just want to create a little buzz.
Someone was basically tasked with "make us some money". They'll go back the the money man and give all the offers, and they'll accept whatever they want to do. It's not always the most lucrative offer, if they just feel like doing something else.
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u/thesmellnextdoor 20h ago
I feel like offering Jay Z $2000 for anything is like offering you or me a nice shiney nickle to go out of our way. I find it hard to believe that would buy anything from a celebrity that big, unless they're just being generous or something
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u/iTzDoctor 14h ago
Jayz does not need to be in jayz limo when it drives by for the effect to be the same.
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u/hereisasine 1d ago
Now I'm just curious on logistics here. What's the capacity of the place? Just wondering how much you'd have to charge per ticket to make that number work lol
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u/Ha55aN1337 1d ago
You charge Justin Bieber 100k to close it down for him and his friends and have a private Psy performance.
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u/sun_not_cold 1d ago
296 capacity limit. Roughly $170/cover for a bar that’s never charged a cover.
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u/AAA_Dolfan 1d ago
Not gonna lie, saw him in Korea and the shows are epic
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u/KSW8674 1d ago
I know nothing about his songs other than “Gangnam Style”. Are his other songs similar?
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u/AAA_Dolfan 1d ago
No they’re different but great. Fun as hell. Super poppy but gotta let go once in a while and man is his show one of those things to do it to
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u/Whhatsmyageagain 1d ago
Gentleman is great.
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u/AAA_Dolfan 1d ago
I only knew Gangnam but walked away fucking LOVING that song. And TAKE THAT.
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u/mrminutehand 20h ago
Daddy is a banger too.
"Hey, where'd you get that body from?"
"I got it from my Daddy."
Really, only PSY can make that work. And it works well.
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u/GWeasels 1d ago
I don’t know if it’s originally his, but I really like Passionate Goodbye (get past the first 10 seconds lol)
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u/avantgardengnome 1d ago
Oh I bet, look at that crowd absolutely losing their shit! I’ve seen videos of the big kpop groups where the fans seem weirdly calm and people say it’s a cultural thing to be a bit understated compared to some western audiences; if that’s true then this level of hype is even more impressive.
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u/Triquetrums 1d ago
PSY concerts are always like this, you cannot not go to a PSY concert and sit there waving a lightick, you must dance, jump and sing along.
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u/AAA_Dolfan 1d ago
I put it on par with seeing Bieber in Toronto in 2017. I didn’t really wanna go, but I went and it was such a pot bonanza. I completely understood why people obsessed over going to these shows. The spectacle is fucking incredible and if you stop taking yourself seriously you start to realize you’re dancing and don’t know why.
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u/Switcher1776 21h ago
I know there is a clip of Red Velvet performing in North Korea where it was very quiet, but South Koreans can be quite vocal during a K-Pop performance.
Songs are usually designed with fanchants in mind, where the fans are supposed to shout things at a particular time.
Here are a few performances (from a university festival, mind you) and you can hear the crowd in both.
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u/NeenersBrucers 1d ago
This reminds me of starting my first period class every morning. I’m a public HS teacher
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u/EnoughOutOfYou 1d ago edited 1d ago
And dipshits will say "oh whatever happened to that one hit wonder PSY?"
Gangnam Style - 6B views
Gentleman - 1.7B views
Daddy - 787M views
That That - 682M views
Hangover - 373M views
New Face - 318M views
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u/Whhatsmyageagain 1d ago
No joke. He was the first person to hit 1 billion views on YouTube. And I think 2 as well. He’s doing just fine.
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u/tnoy 20h ago
Fun fact, he broke the view counter. YouTube used a 32-bit signed integer for the view counter, so the maximum number at the time was 2,147,483,647.
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u/Pr3st0ne 1d ago
It's crazy that it took nearly 15 years of YT for a single video to collect a billion views, and nowadays there's probably at least 1 video a month that reaches that milestone.
I just looked and the top 30 videos and position #30 is "Girl like you" by maroon 5 with 4b. #1 and #2 are actually nursery rhymes/kid songs (baby shark, wheels on the bus go round and round) at 17.3 and 9.8 billion plays respectively. #3 is the first real song, Despacito at 9.1b
There's some pretty funny things in there. A lot of ads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-viewed_YouTube_videos
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u/rythis4235 1d ago
Tbf 10 billion of the baby shark plays were just my house during covid, pretty sure our then toddlers tried to break us with it.
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u/lesb1real 1d ago
To be fair, what Youtube counts as a view in 2026 is much different from what they counted as a view even 5 years ago. The numbers are hugely inflated these days.
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u/Pr3st0ne 1d ago
I'm not too knowledgeable, but IIRC what they counted as a view 5 years ago was ridiculous for long-form videos.
Didn't you need to watch like 75% of a video for it to count as a view? So someone posting a 30 minute video gained 0 views from someone watching 21 minutes of their video.
I don't know how they do it these days but how they did it back then certainly lacked nuance
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u/Purify5 23h ago
It was a 30 second threshold and they only changed that in August of this year.
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u/BackgroundEngineer11 1d ago
I have a feeling the reason his third hit didn't make it in the US is because of Gentleman. Not because of the quality of the song, but because "Mother Fucking Gentleman" was uncensored and was never "Mother Father Gentleman".
I could be very wrong though.
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u/BitchesQuoteMarilyn 1d ago
Monkey fighting gentleman please. Or Monday to Friday gentleman if you must
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u/iamright_youarent 5h ago
and before Gangnam style he already had enough hit songs in Korea to do a full concert and it was always sold out.
also a fun fact he joined compulsory military trainings 3 times and still found time to be the most successful Korean artist with Gangnam style. the guy can’t fail
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u/StrangelySerious- 1d ago
The only people who think Psy is a one hit wonder are Americans who don't understand the rest of the world exist lol
Psy was big in Korean before Gangnam Style and he remains huge still
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u/Hi_Im_Ken_Adams 21h ago
As a performer, just imagine the rush when you jump out and see the 100k fans going absolutely bonkers and bouncing to the music. That must be such a high.
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u/dblan9 1d ago
What does that do to brain chemistry? The lift alone has to release a bunch of dopamine but instantly being hit with all of those screaming fans and adulation while still in the middle of the original dopamine flood has to be incredibly intense.
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u/DarlinusFloofinton 23h ago
Yeah it must be an incredible feeling. I remember hearing a rockstar (don't remember who) telling that being on stage was such an intense experience that a lot of people felt extremely empty after their show, hence the heavy alcohol and drug use.
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u/dblan9 22h ago
Yes thank you, that is exactly what I am wondering about. That explosion of positive/good feeling/happy emotions must have a downside at some point. I would love to know if Psy finds himself bored, uninspired or irritable in other areas of his life.
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u/emjaywood 1d ago
I once did a whippit at the exact moment of orgasm...I imagine it's something like that.
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u/Y0___0Y 1d ago
one time I shit my pants and then pissed in the shit
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u/emjaywood 1d ago
What does that do to brain chemistry? The shit alone has to release a bunch of dopamine but instantly being hit with all of those streaming drops and urination while still in the middle of the original dopamine flood has to be incredibly intense.
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u/zinten789 1d ago
Probably cool the first few times and then you get used to it like anything else
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u/The-King-of-Cartoons 1d ago
Idk, being in front of a crowd of thousands of people stoked AF to see you screaming and cheering? I couldn’t see how that would ever get old and never not pump you the fuck up
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u/Dagordae 1d ago
Doing it over and over as the stress and strain breaks you down physically and mentally would do it.
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u/Alienor-of-Aquitaine 1d ago
He is so insanely charismatic. I've seen him in backstage and dance practice videos, and he looks like a regular person. But when he's "on", you can't keep your eyes off of him. An immense talent.
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u/Jasonicman7435 17h ago edited 12h ago
I saw him perform twice here in Korea and Koreans still go batshit when he appears on stage. He’s still very active in the festival and concert scene here too (he has a couple large-scale annual shows and is very active in university festivals).
His songs are also very well known here too although the English speaking world mostly just knows Gangnam Style
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u/Bartok_and_croutons 1d ago
Also worth noting that Psy started his own entertainment company, P-Nation, and it's one of the few K-pop music entertainment companies I know of that doesn't abuse the hell out of their artists.
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u/Ok_Hand5810 1d ago
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u/New_Lingonberry9789 1d ago
Dudes was born to be a performer goddamn. People think he’s a one hit wonder but that’s far from the truth. I listen to that that at the gym all the time.
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u/BVits-Lover 11h ago
I think PSY still makes bangers, I'm really glad Gangam Style wasn't a lightning in a bottle thing for him
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u/GladiatorJones 18h ago
I like how you can virtually see the speed of sound traveling across the crowd as they all jump to the beat of the music in a visual ripple.
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u/prada1989 18h ago
This one time I got pulled on stage to throw shirts into the crowd during a Swedish house mafia show. Man, it was intense seeing those many people and looking at you to throw the shirts their way. I can’t even explain how that moment felt but I’ll never experience that again or forget 😂
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u/Malfeitor1 22h ago
When you think Psy was a one hit wonder, just know…
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u/AngryIronToad 22h ago
The only people to seem to think he's a one-hit wonder are westerners
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u/kiwiflight 14h ago
Curious.. a platform with enough force to toss him up the air with no protection from the gaps under the stage…. Decapitation time
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u/buttermelonMilkjam 13h ago
noticed that and i definitely agree. at least they waited for his signal to go (the lights went on and then he flicked his hand to go up... then toaster!). plus he was squarely centered on the middle of the platform.
...youre still right though
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u/EndOne8313 13h ago
This is why stage cues and rehearsals are very important. Big show productions are actually kind of dangerous and a lot of behind the scenes work goes into making them safer.
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u/YouSelect762 10h ago
Damn...now imagine being in the crowd, just a headless guy shooting up out of nowhere...
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u/christamh 1d ago
https://youtu.be/L5vz3GOBd7c?is=4o77eWhDwBknVZEe
From the crowd at 3:20
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u/Unhappy_Ad_4761 1d ago
You can delete everything after the 7c and it'll still work, all the rest of it does is track clicks, and tells anyone who clicks the link what your YouTube account is and lets them message it
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u/Luftburen 1d ago
I honestly see this possibly going wrong, it just looks like a reverse guillotine but you’re in the middle of it.
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u/Panorabifle 1d ago
Yeah that's what I was thinking too. You must NOT let any appendages stray outside of the square !
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u/themuleskinner 1d ago
Or the cylinder, which, I can not emphasize enough, must not be harmed
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u/Oubastet 1d ago
It's hard to tell but they may have light safety curtains around the sides. Basically a strip of lasers or infrared LEDs that stop it if any beam gets broken. Similar to what is at the bottom of a garage door except it covers the whole area. We use them at work to prevent machine operators from sticking their hands where they don't belong.
At least I HOPE so.
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u/LukeReloaded 1d ago
All other instances of this I’ve seen have glass (plastic?) coverings, so there is no chance your arm gets caught in it. I don’t see it here but it might just not be visible
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u/Panorabifle 1d ago
Unless it's super clean and free of any scratch I don't see any evidence of plastic coverings ! But it's really what I was thinking . This thing needs walls to avoid an... Unforgettable concert
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u/mcjimmybingo 1d ago
The production term for this feature is called 'the toaster' and I just love how perfectly that fits.