On Saturday, July 20th, ATEEZ took the stage at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles for their first sold-out stadium show, part of their ongoing “Towards the Light: Will to Power” tour. This eight-member team is not particularly known for playing by the rules; even those who have been following the group since 2018 have learned to brace for the unexpected when it comes to an ATEEZ concert.
K-pop groups rarely, if ever, bring openers on tour. But at 7:30 p.m. at BMO, a rising group out of Japan called BE:FIRST took the stage, noting that this was their very first time performing in the US and thanking ATEEZ for inviting them out. Sharing the spotlight with openers isn’t the only way these guys stand out in the K-pop landscape — while most acts train through highly regimented programs in Seoul, ATEEZ spent a good chunk of their trainee years in Los Angeles, which they happily referred to onstage as their “second hometown.” And, while many bands in their age class are content with being separated from the majority of the creative process, these members (particularly team leader Hongjoong) are in the smaller ranks of self-produced artists performing largely self-written music. Separately, these details might not sound all that unusual; when combined, something remarkable happens.
It feels silly to sit down and try to describe what it’s like to watch these eight in concert, because even in a corner of pop music particularly known for elite levels of performance, there’s something especially shocking about ATEEZ. There’s their aforementioned captain, Hongjoong, all slinky energy and spitfire rapping. He’s followed by Seonghwa, for whom striking feels like a gross understatement of an adjective. Yunho towers above his bandmates, but exhibits unbelievable control as a dancer; meanwhile, Yeosang’s graceful, fluid movement style is offset by the depth of his vocals.
San, sweet and conversational offstage, is a wildly intimidating figure when in performance mode, swaggering and strong — appropriately, his name translates to the word “mountain.” Mingi is the confident, alluring puzzle piece rounding out the rappers of the team, and Wooyoung delivers buckets of playful, mischievous charisma. Lastly, there’s Jongho, the youngest, whose vocal abilities have been the subject of my praise in the past. Respectfully, it must be noted that Jongho was singing his entire face off at BMO Stadium this weekend.
For three hours, the band rose to the challenge of their very first sold-out stadium show. There’s something especially charming about the homegrown nature of ATEEZ’s success story — the product of a tiny label, by Seoul industry standards, the band has embraced their overseas popularity through well-timed tours and opportunities like a slot at this year’s Coachella. The primary difference between their 2022 appearance at The Forum and this weekend’s show is that they’ve cleared the bar for “big leagues.” They’ve arrived.
Best of all, the eight members have retained that scrappiness that won over this many fans in the first place. There’s no sign of resting on any available laurels; though they were visibly thrilled and engaging with the audience, there were minimal points of conversation, with the focusing remaining squarely on running through as many songs as possible.