You never know what to expect at a BTS concert. And J-hope is no exception.
As he kicks off his world tour, J-hope gives us a true masterclass in performing. From the stage production, lights and sound, choreography, setlist, and even fashion — J-hope breaks every K-Pop Idol and boyband stereotype.
Anticipation and excitement was through the roof since this was the first concert of a BTS member post military enlistment. What songs would he play? Will there be new choreo? Guest appearances? Surprises in store? There was an endless list of things to look forward to. But when the stage was enveloped in red, and J-hope emerged in his all-red ensemble, the anxious cheers of the crowd shifted to disbelief as they all thought the same thing — this was really happening!
We’ve seen J-hope perform tracks from Jack In The Box when he headlined Lollapalooza, but opening his concert with tracks from the album was another level of insanity. Right off the bat, starting with ‘What if…’, the atmosphere was electrifying. J-hope commanded the stage, and ARMY only hoped to make it through the night. Then there was ‘Pandora’s Box’, ‘Arson’, and ‘Stop’, and you’d think there was no way things could get any more heated. The rawness and passion of his performance only made to ignite the crowd that was already on fire.
Things take a more sombre turn when he transitions to tracks from HOPE ON THE STREET VOL. 1, as J-hope reflects on the journey of his career in ‘On The Street’. But he quickly spices things up when his dancers join him and immediately pay homage to the art of the dance. It wasn’t just J-hope’s stage, but his dancers’ too, and watching them own the stage was pure art in motion. He even highlighted different members of his crew to the tunes of ‘lock / unlock’, ‘i don’t know’, and ‘i wonder…’
It was a quick cut to nostalgia lane when he performed ‘Trivia: Just Dance’. J-hope resurrected the energy he received from the Love Yourself tours, but tenfold. If you could hang a performance in the Louvre, it would be this one next to the Mona Lisa. At this point, the crowd is in awe of J-hope’s unlimited supply of energy, singing and rapping while doing incredibly complicated choreography. His rent was due, and it would accumulate interest.
And just when you think the excitement has reached its peak, J-hope surprised the crowd with his first performance of his new song ‘Sweet Dreams (feat. Miguel)’.
Yet again, it didn’t end there! He went on to sing and dance to a medley of his tracks, from mixtapes and soundcloud releases to songs he’s written or produced for BTS. It was crazy to perform ‘Baseline’ and ‘HANGSANG’ back Lollapalooza, but doing this again AND including ‘1 Verse’ to the mix was pure madness! Who could forget the legendary hip thrusts from ‘Bapsae’? How comforting is it to know that ‘Outro: Ego’ finally gets to tour the world after missing its chance back in 2020? One after another, the crowd was treated to absolute showstoppers. All this culminating into a final wave of mayhem with ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’ and ‘Hope World’.
It’s hard to believe that there was only one man headlining this concert with a full 26-track setlist, and even tougher to process the idea of a person being an unstoppable force. But J-hope was all this, and then some. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that this tour is still ongoing!
In his encore, J-hope finally lets go of his stage persona and comes to us as Jung Hoseok, the man crazy for dancing. Before he became J-hope of BTS, Jung Hoseok was just another member of an underground dance team called Neuron. It’s been a wild ride for him since then, becoming a multi-awarded rapper, songwriter, music producer, and also a famous dancer, prominent fashion icon, and philanthropist.
