[Event Coverage] KCON NY’s 2017 Day 1 Concert!
KCON NY 2017 Concert Day 1 started on June 23 at 7:30 pm with an amazing line up consisting of KNK, SF9, GFRIEND, ZION.T and HIGHLIGHT (formerly known as BEAST).
Before the official concert and live streaming started, Kevin Woo (former U-Kiss member) opened up the Pre-Show Dance battle as the MC for the night! Up on stage were 5 chosen K-pop fans who had to win the hearts of the judges and fans in the center. In the end, taking 2nd place was Brianna, who won a Pro Camera and a hotel stay next to the PyeongChang Olympics 2018 and coming in 1st was Ellen who won a free trip to South Korea and also a stay at a hotel next to the PyeongChang Olympics! Last but not least the Pre-Show ended with next year’s PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics where the 2 great mascots that represented the White Tiger and the Brown Bear made their appearance. Three head representatives also came to talk about the greatness of the Olympics next year and we hope everyone, K-pop fans or Olympic fans, gets a chance to attend next year’s big event!
With that being said, let’s get Concert Day One started! As the lights finally dim, KCON’s opening video was shown to the fans, introducing the artist lineup of this year’s KCON NY. Soon after shining through the darkness, 5 member group KNK started the night with “Sun, Moon, Star (해, 달, 별)” from their latest album “Gravity” in an all white head to toe suits. Introducing themselves one by one they expressed their joy to be here and love for their Tinkerbells (KNK’s fandom name), member Seung Jun talked a little about how their song “Sun, Moon, Star (해, 달, 별)” is about broken lovers, and hoped for fans to enjoy their song “Knock” which is their debut song. Their last song was “Day N Night” where they walked around the big stage giving away multiple lollipops to Tinkerbells and made great eye contact and fan service before exiting the left side of the stage.
Our first Special MCs of the night were SF9’s Chan Hee and GFriend’s SinB who came out to discuss what they would like to see in New York! From their passionate fans to main attractions and parks, but of course you can’t come to New York without going to Broadway and watching a musical! And the next Special Stage was just that, taking us back to a Walt Disney‘s romantic, fantasy and drama “Beauty and The Beast”. GFriend’s Yuju and HIGHLIGHT’s Dong Woon covered “Beauty in the Beast” with a magical background that will take you back to you in time where love is eternal.
Next up, 9 member boy group SF9 came out with dim lights for an Intro dance, but you could barely make out all the members. As they head into their positions, “Easy Love” from their latest album “Breaking Sensation” comes on. The members then get a chance to introduce themselves to the K-fans and gets a chance to do a special surprise event, which is none other than the Fortune Wheel. Categories like love song, kissing time, photo time, propose, dance time, face time, hug me and many more… as the wheel spun around it landed on PROPOSE in which members where chosen to propose to one Fantasy (SF9’s fandom name) chosen by the camera man himself.
SF9‘s Chan Hee, Ro Woon, and Da Won were chosen by the members to propose and the selected fan named Paige was given the chance of a lifetime, Chan Hee going first did the famous aegyo song that was made popular by Lovely‘s Kei on weekly idol here. Ro Woon went second and serenaded her with Bruno Mar’s “Just the Way You Are”. Topping that Da Won went last and did both; aegyo and sang the same song Ro Woon did to win her over. In the end, Paige chose all three as they did a great job nonetheless. After the concert she said she was still in shock about the great experience given by the three SF9 members. They boys ended the game and continued their stage with “Roar” and their debut song “Fanfare”.
Our only girl group for the night, GFriend, finally came out to the stage wearing all white from head to toe as well. They started out their stage with an Intro dance and moved onto their latest single “Fingertip” from their album “The Awakening“. Forming a line, the members did their introduction one by one and expressed their joy to stand on New York’s stage this year after being able to attend KCON LA last year. Noticing that member Yerin was missing from the stage, SinB then explains that Yerin wasn’t able to attend due to her own schedule, but never the less every member will do their best to fill her spot on that night’s stage! “Naverilla” was the next song they performed, followed by “Me Gustas Tu“, and before performing their last stage Yuju tells the fans to enjoy their last song “Rough“. GFriend is definitely known for their fast paced choreography, like their 2x speed dance on Weekly Idol and awesome powerful dance breaks with SinB taking the center! As always, GFriend proved themselves as the best, not disappointing their Buddys (Gfriend fandom name) one bit with the night’s performances.
Next Special MCs were SF9’s Insung and Ro Woon, who asked the fans if they were true K-pop fans by answering these questions “The first girl group to be on the Billboard 100?” Do you know the answer? JYP’s first girl group ‘Wonder Girls‘ with their most popular song “Nobody” as fans were seen dancing along to lyrics “I want nobody nobody but you, I want nobody nobody but you“, and the last question “The first boy group to win an award at the Billboards 2017?” Hopefully you know because it was all over the K-pop news! K-pop’s worldwide group sensation ‘BTS‘ with their song “Fire” came out and turned up the ARMYs (BTS fandom name) all over the stadium. Finishing up the questions, Insung and Ro Woon introduced the next artist that took RnB music to the next level!
Leading the RnB music scene, Zion. T comes out to perform his song “Complex” for the very first time in front of the fans. Sitting with his fingers playing the piano fans are definitely the charms of the great RnB artist! He starts “The Song” and as fans claps to the beat of the melodic tune, he gets to his introduction and continued by telling them his next song is “Eat” and ended his spotlight stage with his great voice with the fan’s favorite “Yanghwa Bridge” which will always have fans singing along to as he walked around the stage with the one spotlight on him and ended it as usual with a wonderful 90 degree bow.
Let’s now go back into time with K-pop history, a small video of SF9 dancing to Infinite’s “Be Mine” and Block B’s “HER” was seen on screen to take us back before coming back out once again to perform tracks from the top two most popular groups leading Hallyu, EXO “Call Me Baby” and BTS “Boy In Luv“.
Special MCs Umji and Yuju came out to talk to the fans about next year’s PyeongChang 2018, and announced the last artist for the night’s concert line up. The Ambassadors of PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics and K-pop group who’s come a very long way till now, Highlight!
Before appearing on stage, Highlight had a Intro video shown on screen telling their Lights (Highlight fandom name) when they are most beautiful! The finally come out to the stage with their newest single “Don’t Be Sad” from their album “Can You Feel It?” from BEAST to now HIGHLIGHT fans were seen giving the group lots if love. The members then did their introductions, and like every rookie during their rookie days, tells what each member’s role are in the group. Being honored the Ambassadors of PyeongChang 2018 they gave a little speech and asks the fans to definitely come see the Winter Olympics next year. “Calling You” was their next song before going back and playing the Fortune Wheel game with the fans. The chosen category was PHOTO TIME and the members gathered on the main stage to get a snapshot of everyone who attended.
The members one by one gave their last thoughts about the night’s concert and thanked the fans for their endless love and support, for waiting for their return and ended the night away with lots of fun! Turning up the mood, “Yey” came on and everyone got out of their seats and pumped their fists in the air! Fans were brought to a surprise as they performed songs from BEAST like “Beautiful Night” and “Good Luck” which defintiely got a few fans emotional and fans weren’t sure if they’ll ever be able to hear them ever again. Definitely a wish come true for the last 2 stages for HIGHLIGHT/BEAST fans tonight!
We would like to thank CJ & M for giving us this opportunity to cover the convention events and doing a concert review for both night of KCON NY 2017!
