Daesung’s trot surprise

Daesung turned part of BigBang’s Coachella Weekend One set into a trot stage on April 12, bringing a Korean genre rarely heard at the festival to Indio. (koreaherald.com) The Korea Herald reported that Daesung performed his solo songs “Hando-Chogua” and “Look at Me, Gwisun” during BigBang’s 67-minute set at the Outdoor Theatre. The group’s Coachella appearance came six years after its planned 2020 festival booking was canceled during the COVID-19 shutdown. (koreaherald.com 1) (koreaherald.com 2) Trot is a Korean pop form known for its repetitive “ppongjjak” rhythm and vocal inflections, and it is still less familiar to many international festival crowds than hip-hop, dance pop, or rhythm and blues. Daesung opened his solo segment after G-Dragon and Taeyang, shifting the set’s sound abruptly from their hip-hop and rhythm and blues stages. (koreaherald.com) A large Korean subtitle reading “Hello, this is Daesung” appeared on screen, and the stage visuals kept Korean lyrics on the backdrop without English translation. The Korea Herald said Daesung used playful gestures and a live band to turn the performance into what it described as a carnival-like scene. (koreaherald.com) “Look at Me, Gwisun,” first released in 2008, is one of Daesung’s best-known solo songs and mixes trot with more modern production. The Korea Herald said the Coachella staging was driven largely by Daesung himself and developed through multiple revisions with the production team. (koreaherald.com) BigBang’s Coachella set was the trio’s first full-scale group performance since the “Last Dance” tour in 2017, according to The Korea Herald. The newspaper also reported that the show signaled renewed group activity as BigBang approaches its 20th debut anniversary in 2026. (koreaherald.com) The group had been announced for Coachella’s 25th edition in September 2025, with performances scheduled for April 10-12 and April 17-19, 2026. Coachella’s official site lists those two festival weekends, and fan-setlist records for April 12 show Daesung’s two-song trot segment near the end of the set. (koreaherald.com) (coachella.com) (setlist.fm) Music critic Lim Hee-yun told The Korea Herald the moment should be read in the larger context of why legacy festivals keep booking Korean pop acts, not only as a novelty genre switch. In Indio, Daesung still made trot the most unexpected sound in BigBang’s return. (koreaherald.com)