Psychic Fever from Exile Tribe at Howard Theater, Washington, D.C. (2/2/2025)

Psychic Fever from Exile Tribe began their first American tour last night with a stop at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. and I was lucky enough to attend. For those of you unfamiliar with the group, Psychic Fever debuted in 2022 with the album P.C.F., which contains this absolute banger: 

“Hotline” should give you a pretty good idea of Psychic Fever’s appeal. They lean into a Japanese flavor of global hiphop that the Exile Tribe family of groups is known for. The guys that founded the Exile tribe were fans of acts like Boys II Men and Bobby Brown and you can still hear the echoes of that early enthusiasm for American hiphop in the Exile Tribe groups today.

For a good portion of our current century there were two main flavors of Japanese boy group—on the one hand were the STARTO (née Johnny’s & Associates) acts and on the other were the Exile Tribe. What they offer, musically, is very different. Although STARTO (née Johnny’s & Associates) absolutely has great singers, dancers, and musicians in their ranks, they are not primarily known for singing, dancing, and musical skill but rather for being idols and their music reflected that, morphing to fit the tastes of the day. The Exile Tribe is primarily known for R&B singing and dancing although they do also have a certain degree of idol-ness. You’d never mistake a STARTO song for an Exile Tribe family song. (And this remains true today, although there is a little more crossover thanks to groups like STARTO’s SixTones—their rapper Tanaka Juri recently performed with Psychic Fever’s Jimmy and some other idol rappers for Sky-Hi’s D.U.N.K. showcase.)

The Exile Tribe groups were easily spotted because they would have dedicated singers and dedicated dancers in their lineups. And all of them were expected to be excellent at their crafts. Here’s a television performance of one of my all time favorite Exile Tribe songs as an example—“R.Y.U.S.E.I.” by 三代目 J Soul Brothers.

You’ll notice that the song is quite EDM sounding and that the singing is handled by two singers (Omi and Imaichi Ryuji) with the other members doing the “performance.” 

What’s been interesting to watch over the past few years is how this template has been shaken up with a move away from “performance”-focused members (and EDM) by adding a ton of rappers to their lineups. On the surface, these groups now resemble something closer to a K-Pop group like Stray Kids than J Soul Brothers but, crucially, they don’t particularly sound like contemporary K-Pop.

To contrast with J Soul Brothers, here’s Ballistik Boyz from Exile Tribe, who debuted in 2019, and have an almost equal division of rappers and vocalists in their ranks. 

Ballistik Boyz appeared to have had a eye to pan-Asian expansion although it would seem like the pandemic stifled plans. Psychic Fever was able to follow through, though, spending a lot of time in the emerging market of Thailand and performing at the Korean GMA Awards their debut year of 2022.

Despite all of their growing pan-Asian popularity, and their very appealing and accessible global hip-hop sound, Psychic Fever’s crossover to the English-language K-Pop sphere has remained minimal. I have a few theories about why that is and at least one of them was confirmed last night at the Howard Theater—contemporary K-Pop has mostly abandoned the global hip-hop loving audience that embraced it 10-15 years ago in the wake of acts like 2PM, 2NE1, BigBang, B.A.P., and Block B. The audience last night for Psychic Fever felt a lot more like those old school K-Pop audiences than the audience for a contemporary K-Pop concert. I was only one of a handful of older and whiter people in the audience last night and that is a good sign for Psychic Fever.

The concert itself was a very tight 90 minutes and done to a backing track. The members danced, sang, and rapped through almost all of that with a short subunit interlude towards the middle to allow for a costume change. The MC sections were very brief with the members speaking only in English—there was no translator but they didn’t one for phrases like “Put your hands in the air” and “Make some noise”. I went into the concert only a casual fan of Psychic Fever but I came out fully converted. The songs were great, the performances were great, and the energy on stage was infectious. The members did a fantastic job working the American audience and getting us to participate by singing along and waving along. I know that audiences in Japan are very different so that they were able to adjust to an American audience speaks very highly of their stage skills.

The particular standout song of the evening for me was “Paradise,” which I have been playing nonstop since it came out but I also enjoyed getting swept along with the enthusiastic audience singalong to “Just like Dat.” As a casual fan, it was also fun to learn the individual members' personalities and skills through the course of the concert. Weesa became a particular favorite of mine for his commanding stage presence but Ren’s idol sparkle also caught my eye. Kokoro’s vocals were also as good live as they were on video, which was a nice treat.

I’d love to see what they could do with a live band and a bigger venue. To be honest, the biggest hurdle that an act like Psychic Fever has in the American market is finding their audience. They’re not part of the K-Pop Industrial Machine, which has a built in audience, but normie music listeners who understandably find the sound and aesthetics of contemporary K-Pop a turnoff may not give a Japanese boy group a chance, assuming them to be similar. Psychic Fever works with Japanese rappers like JP the Wavy rather than linking up with soggy mainstream American pop/rock acts, which is great for their sound but does mean they face more hurdles getting their songs in front of American audiences.

If they’re coming to your city, I highly recommend going out to see them even if you aren’t a stan. The show is very accessible to casual listeners. There’s no lore drops, skits, or heartfelt confessions. It’s just 90 solid minutes of great R&B singing and dancing. I haven’t had this much fun at a concert in a long time. 10/10 from me.

A fan compiled a Spotify playlist of their setlist and you can find that here.