새소년 (Sesoneon) at the Pentaport Rock Festival 2024

I first discovered 새소년 at Pentaport in 2018. I was really stoked on their sound back then. I listened to their first album on repeat for months after that. They inspired me to start playing electric guitar again, actually. Back then they were a relatively new band, and since then all but the singer have been replaced. I hadn’t kept up on them since binging on that first album, but they were the band I had been looking forward to seeing most.

Their set was really fun, and it was interesting to see how their sound has evolved. Apparently they have been playing at Pentaport every year since their debut there in 2018. Perhaps playing for these large, high energy crowds had an influence on their aesthetic. They seemed louder overall, and maybe a bit rowdier than I remember them being. I would describe their set as having a “larger” sound and presence than how I remember them from six years ago. I really liked what they played, but if I am being honest, I kind of miss the understated vibe they had when they were younger and still a three piece. They had a certain charm that I really fell in love with then. I think that I am too attached to their original sound to objectively review their set, which really was great, actually. I realized too that while I was out of the loop, they really became quite popular. The crowd that came to see them was massive! I was really stoked for them about that, and you could tell they were too!

The only thing about their set was that the mixing was kind of off. Where we were in the crowd, it was all kind of garbled, but I noticed that as we made our way toward the back it improved somewhat. Even so, it still felt kind of smudged together in a way. I don’t think this was the band’s fault. Overall, the festival had sub par audio quality.