Often described as the underground “GOATS,” Lucy Bedroque with special guests 9lives and Kuru recently stopped by Portland, Oregon, while touring Lucy’s new album “Unmusique” and Kuru’s new album “Backstage Hologram.” Their concert was held at the popular live music venue “Holocene” at 8:00 pm on April 19, 2026, a Sunday night. Despite the concert being the night before a busy Monday, people ran to get the chance to see these three performers. But who even are these performers, and why exactly are people rushing for the chance to see them? Let’s begin with Bedroque.
Bedroque, born in 2006, is an upcoming artist who’s now pursuing his career as a rapper, producer, and songwriter from the Bronx, New York. Some people may call him a genius, as he combines alternative genres of music like sigil, rock, metal, and shoegaze. Some of his work was shaped by his inspirations, which can include Dir en grey and POiSON GiRL FRiEND. Bedroque is also known to frequently incorporate elements of his liking into his music, such as cinematography, soundtracks from Nintendo games, and Visual Kei. We see Lucy’s interest in Visual Kei as he primarily incorporates the band, Malice Mizer. We hear Lucy sample a Malice Mizer song, “Le Ciel,” in his song “INFINITUDE//UROBOROS” featuring mana, a member of the band Malice Mizer, as the cover of his song “whitehorsemannequin.”
Next up is the king, 9lives. 9lives, born in 2004, is a well-known producer from New Zealand. He’s popular in the underground music scene, known for producing songs with a variety of cool artists in the sigilkore industry, but he also writes his own music, which gained a lot of popularity through social media. Some notable songs are: “Go (Xtayalive 2) (with kanii),” “Jerk! (with jnhygs),” and “Khaos Emerald,” which is one of his most successful songs. Some people could even say he’s a “valuable asset” to the underground music scene. He has achieved rapid global success and has been referred to as “Metro Boomin” of the underground by Rolling Stone Australia’s Future of Music. It’s a little insane to think about how successful he is, knowing that he started his producing career in a bedroom with an iPad. That just comes to show that anyone can really do whatever they put their minds to, and I don’t doubt he’s inspired people to begin producing as well.
Last but not least, I’ll cover kuru. Kuru, born in 2005, is a rising singer, rapper, and producer from Maryland. He’s best known for his work with Xaviersobased and opening shows for his friend, Lucy Bedroque. Kuru is more of a mysterious person, and not much is known about his personal life, but his work really speaks for him. Kuru’s music incorporates a wide variety of sounds, ranging from bass-heavy drill hip hop to light melodic and playful hyperpop. Kuru’s music career began in his early teenage years, but he mostly dedicated his time to it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kuru produced and recorded all types of things during this time, some examples being breakbeat-infused experimental pop to semi-satirical rap songs about the popular game “Among Us.” As time came, so did his success and uprising; his music began to rack up serious numbers on the app Soundcloud, which he seems to still use to this day. As Kuru saw this success, he began to take his music more seriously. “I didn’t even expect to get traction. I expected to live a normal a*s life as a computer science student going to some coding studio or whatever. But when COVID hit, and I really started going crazy for no reason, I was like holy sh*t, this could really be something crazy, so I started going for shows as soon as the lockdown was ending.” This is what Kuru had to say during an interview with Jasper Hunsinger in October of 2023. In the present day, Kuru still seems to be growing his success, with new albums being released and even creating his own merch. He’s also been described as a “profoundly significant” figure in the new wave of digital rap. When describing him, people like to say that he performs with high energy and all the confidence in the world.
Now to cover the actual concert. Honestly, I just have so much to say. This concert was really special to me because it was the first one I ever went to. It might sound odd, but it was genuinely one of the best times of my life because it was like a whole new world I was experiencing for the first time in person. There were years in my life where I listened to their music, and I never would’ve thought I’d get to see them live, so being able to do so was just so eye-opening to me. The day of the concert, I was pretty nervous, because I didn’t believe that I might have the chance to see them in person, and I didn’t know if they would let me in based on the location and capacity. The concert was set to start at 8:00 pm, with Kuru opening for Lucy. I got there, and I didn’t see any people lined up, so my nervousness kinda shot up, and as my mom drove me, I kept telling her how I almost felt nauseous because I couldn’t believe they were performing here. I remember parking and walking down the street to the venue and hearing the familiar voice I’ve only ever heard on my phone or laptop on Soundcloud. I saw some excited people showing their tickets and smiling their way in. That’s when I got a funny feeling in my stomach because I didn’t have a ticket. I considered buying the tickets months before the show, but the resellers got them before I did, and they were around $120 to $150, and I didn’t want my parents to spend that much money on a concert that I didn’t even know I could attend due to my age. The security guard asked for my ticket, and I stared at him for a moment before asking if I could buy one there. He answered and said, “This show is sold out,” and he furrowed his brows, showing me a thoughtful expression. I don’t know why, but I was shaking, and I pointed through the door and said, “He’s right there,” to my mom, and she just looked at me and grabbed her keys. The man at the door then told me to hold on, and so I did. He talked to a woman behind the counter, and she took a glance at me, and they decided to let me in. I thanked them so many times before running across the lobby and to the stage. I was so focused on seeing these musicians that I hadn’t turned around to see where my mom would be. I ran to the stage, and I saw a bunch of people a little older than me, but everyone was pretty tall, so if I wanted to see Kuru, I would have to tiptoe or make my way to the front.
During Kuru’s performance, I was pretty lost. I didn’t know what I was doing, honestly. I did not want to be perceived as rude by the other people, so I didn’t push my way through, and instead, I raised my hand with my phone and recorded as much as I could while I tiptoed to see him. Whenever I bumped into people, I would mumble a small apology and try to make space, but what I didn’t understand was that concerts like these are the ones where things like that don’t matter, and forcing your way to the front is the only way to see what you want. During Kuru’s entire performance, I was sort of in the middle, but in the back. He performed “Noir kei” from his album “Backstage Hologram,” and I watched, just amazed, because that’s one of my favorite songs by him ever. He also performed “U wld never do it” from the same album, and I jumped along with the crowd, because I felt awesome. Everyone in the crowd was so hype, energetic, and cool overall. I screamed and clapped as loud as I could when his performance ended, and after it did, it was then that I realized that I was not gonna stay in the back for the rest of the show, so during the break, when they were getting ready for the next performer, I pushed my way to the front. I was one person away from the stage, but they were fairly small, so I was basically at the stage. When 9lives came out, everyone was so lively, and a mosh pit opened up, which was honestly amazing. He played a variety of music, ranging from Playboy Carti to Jane Remover to Slayr and then even his own music. He was smiling the whole way through, and the air in the venue became hot and foggy, but none of it mattered because everyone was just happy to be there. I wouldn’t stop recording, but my eyes were never on the screen, which explained some of the horrible angles.
9lives was an amazing DJ because he knew exactly how to get the entire crowd amped up, and I swear the building was rumbling, the ground was vibrating. They were projecting the show in the small lobby, and I wasn’t aware that my mom was watching the show, which was hilarious because she could just see us jumping around. After about half an hour of him DJ’ing for us, he looked at his watch and said, “It’s nine f*cking fifteen, you know what that means, right?” Then he played one of the most glamorous instrumentals I’ve ever heard, and I can’t name it, but it was absolutely incredible. It played for a minute before Bedroque came out, and I swear I’ve never screamed so loud in my life. I felt my throat becoming sore, but I was only focused on screaming because I was so deeply amazed. I reached my hand out to Lucy, but out of respect, I knew not to touch him. The people in the crowd seemed as amazed as I because my voice became shaky, but so did theirs, and they were saying things like “he’s right there” and “holy sh*t.” Lucy performed songs like “Married to my Jeweler,” which the crowd absolutely ate up. During this song, he asked the crowd to form a mosh pit, and so they did. That was a life-changing song, I’m dead honest. I listened to it before on my laptop, and now I am here listening to it live. I was so close to crying, but I was too hyped to do so.
After that song, he came around, grabbing people’s hands, and I was one of the lucky people among those. In the videos I took, I can hear myself screaming because people in the back were pushing me so hard that the guy in front of me was bending over the stage. I did my best not to hurt anyone, but it was difficult because you can’t control your movements in there; you’re just being pushed repeatedly. After an hour, everyone in the venue was dripping in sweat, but nobody cared, which shocked me. Bedroque then performed “Yes, you may,” and in the video I took, his microphone almost hit my camera. That song was equally as incredible. Something Bedroque and 9lives did that got the crowd crazy was that they kept switching from fast bpm songs to slower, calmer ones, so the crowd just kept switching it up. After Bedroque performed his main songs, he went backstage, and 9lives did as well. The crowd screamed for “one more song,” and we waited like 5 minutes before 9lives came back and said he forgot his USB. This was a lie because Lucy came out next and started touching the effects they had on the small table. The intro to “How to pretend” started playing, and I started singing. I felt like I could burst into tears, but I was too focused on everything else that I just forgot about it. I also held up a small figurine that resembled Kuru, but I wasn’t tall enough to enter Lucy´s field of vision, so this guy behind me asked if I wanted him to hold it up for me because he was about a foot taller than me, and I smiled, nodded, and thanked him. Bedroque did not take my figurine, but it was a sweet interaction that I remembered. The entire crowd sang his song, and I felt a warm feeling in my chest because I was just so thankful to be there. Everything came together so perfectly, and I can’t even verbally describe how happy I was that night. I don’t think words could describe how much I felt that night. Bedroque performed a couple more songs before ending the show for real. The crowd screamed for an encore, but obviously, he wasn’t coming out again; hope was still present. When he did not come out, the crowd began leaving the stage towards the lobby. Everyone was covered in sweat, and laughter was heard everywhere. A security guard was handing out water to everyone, and everyone was in line to buy merchandise. I had about a hundred and something dollars saved, so I bought a zip-up and a baggy shirt, merchandise from Kuru’s new album ¨Backstage Hologram.¨ I then left the place with my mom, but there were some fans outside hoping to see Kuru, 9lives, or Bedroque, but I couldn’t stay because it was a school night, and although that didn’t matter to me at all, it was also a pretty scary area at night, so I decided the best thing to do would be to get out of there.
Overall, I just wanted to write about this experience because I was hoping that people at OCHS or OC in general would read it and maybe get a little excited if they know what I’m talking about, and I wanted to share my experience with people. I also wanted to introduce this type of music to people who are clueless about it, because maybe it’s something they might be interested in, and if this piece made them listen to that type of music, then I would be ecstatic because I don’t meet many people around me who listen to that type of music. If you’re ever thinking about going to a show, then I recommend you absolutely do it if you can, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you never know what will happen there, it could be the best time of your life. Till this day, I think about that concert, and I remember every detail; everything is so fresh in my mind. If you need a sign to go to a show, then this is it: go to that show, live your life, do what makes you feel like yourself, and always stay true to yourself.
