Event Coverage | News K-popped Around the World

Red Velvet Brings Happiness To Chicago!

May 3, 2018August 11, 2023 Mai

Venue: Rosemont Theater
Date: April 29th, 2018
Promoter: SubKulture Entertainment

It was a windy day in the city of Chicago and many ReVeluvs (Red Velvet’s fandom name) showed up early to start the entrance line. As the day progressed many fans were seen wearing red, Red Velvet, and many outfits from Red Velvet’s music videos. Some even copied outfits from “Rookie” and “Dumb Dumb” which included small red crowns attached to the head. ReVeluvs also planned a fun flash mob and dance section for fans that were waiting for time to pass by. Since it had been awhile for a K-pop group to perform at Rosemont Theater, lines had wrapped around the entire venue by 5p.m. Meanwhile, merchandise pick-up was at the front doors of the building and fans could enter by 6p.m. to grab their merchandise.

Although outside was chaotic, ReVeluvs entered Rosemont Theater and sat in their assigned seats. After everyone was situated, the music heard throughout the venue stopped and the lights dimmed down. ReVeluvs knew that this meant the concert would start. Automatically, fans cheered loudly and it echoed in the space. The fanmeet then started with small clips of Red Velvet’s music videos and introduction videos of each member.

Red Velvet opened the night with a song that everybody played more than once in their lives, “Red Flavor”. The cheery beat was perfect to start the fanmeet with! The girl group came out and looked fabulous as they were made to be in chic outfits. Irene had two curly pigtails on each side of her head while Seulgi owned the simple straight hair look. Wendy had her wavy hair in a half-up and half-down style while Yeri had two braids down the back of her head. Unfortunately, due to Joy’s drama “Tempted”, she wasn’t able to attend the fanmeet. But, the girl group did not forget about her throughout the show, nor did ReVeluvs. Not to mention, during the song, fans created a beautiful rainbow ocean for Red Velvet.

After “Red Flavor”, Red Velvet did a group introduction. The girls introduced themselves individually starting with Yeri, then Irene, Seulgi, and ending with Wendy. Once introductions ended, the members of Red Velvet sat down and chatted with their fans. Since Chicago was the only stop in the USA due to their busy schedule, ReVeluvs prepared a special video for the members. In the video, ReVeluvs thanked the members for their hard work. Multiple fans showed off their talent by either singing or playing an instrument. At the end of the video, all the fans held up a banner that said, “Thank you for coming, you are our happiness.” Although it was simple, the members of Red Velvet were touched by how much ReVeluvs prepared for them. This became a memory of happiness for Red Velvet, as they did not expect anything from their fans.

Next, the girls performed with their angelic voices and harmonization to “Moonlight Melody” which was followed by “Russian Roulette”. After the two songs ended, the host of the night, Danny Lim came out to do a Q&A session with Red Velvet. All the members ended up choosing two questions to answer instead of one because of Wendy who saw that there were group and individual questions from Chicago fans.

First was Yeri. Her question asked what her ideal type was. She then looked into the audience for a while and chuckled to herself not knowing how to really answer. Yeri mentioned that she didn’t look at someone’s face, but rather, personality. When asked what type of personality Yeri liked, she answered someone like ReVeluvs. She then asked where the fan boys were in the audience, and in response, the fan boys cheered at her cute answer.

Next was Irene. She was asked to do the shark song that she did on the Korean variety TV show, “Weekly Idol”, which Red Velvet appeared on in the past. All the members joined in with Irene and became shocked when the music came on overhead. The members also did a cute version and a scared version while running around and hiding behind the red blankets.

Seulgi went third and was asked what item could she not live without. Seulgi answered that it used to be her cellphone, but after she went to the jungle for a TV show, she realized that she didn’t need it much. She then told ReVeluvs that the episode she appeared on didn’t air until June and for them to anticipate it. Seulgi’s final answer was that she couldn’t live without ReVeluvs because she couldn’t live without their love and support.

Fourth was Wendy. She picked out a sticky note that asked how did she release stress. Wendy answered by saying that she watched a lot of funny videos such as reaction videos to their music videos and variety shows. Wendy then went on to answer the group question that she picked out. It asked if Red Velvet had anything they wanted to do this year. Wendy replied, “I want to go around all the states doing fan meets or concerts.” She also gave her managers and her company a shout out to make it happen in the future, which got the crowd riled up about the hopes of Red Velvet coming back to the USA to do a full concert.

It was then Seulgi’s turn again to answer the group question. It asked what hairstyle or hair color Red Velvet wanted to try next. Seulgi took it seriously as she wanted to know what fans would like to see on her. She also asked ReVeluvs for their opinions on her personal thoughts. Seulgi mentioned that she would go short, maybe a bob-cut. She showed fans how it would look like in person by covering her long hair which caused fans to react extra loud. ReVeluvs more than definitely approved of Seulgi’s “bob-cut”. Next, Yeri answered that she wanted purple hair while Irene chose brown hair. Wendy wanted a lighter blonde color, but she said her hair was too damaged to do anything soon.

The next group question was Irene’s. It asked what Red Velvet’s favorite hairstyle and hair color were. Irene answered that she liked wavy, curly long hair and wanted to try a perm and styling it when it was healthier. Irene also gave her honest answer and said she wanted a bob-cut hair, but her family and friends told her it wouldn’t look good on her. In response, ReVeluvs (being the best fans) told Irene to do a bob-cut hairstyle because they would always support her no matter what. Yeri simply answered, “I did everything… Actually, I think I did everything.” On another hand, fans thought that Yeri should go back to short hair or coloring it bright pink or blonde. Lastly, Wendy mentioned that she would like to go back to having her debut hair from their “Happiness” era.

The Q&A session was coming to a close and the members of Red Velvet were asked if they wanted to compose for the group. Yeri replied, “Yeah, sure, I really want to make (it) in the future.” In response, fans told Yeri to do love songs, which she said she wouldn’t since she didn’t know love. MC Danny then commented saying that it was okay because Chicago ReVeluvs would show her love. The lights turned on just in time and showed fans in the audience making hearts to Yeri, but in the end Yeri chose that she would create dance songs.

The fanmeet continued on with the game “Random Play Dance”. The rules were easy and all that Red Velvet had to do was match the dance to the song as it came on randomly. The fans then choose the best dancer of the group at the end and one member would receive a penalty, which was to do a sexy dance.

Slowly, the girl group warmed up and the game began. “Ice Cream Cake” played overhead and then switched to “Dumb Dumb” and “Happiness”. Yeri lost the first round while Irene and Seulgi lost the second round. In the end, Wendy won the best dancer and chose all three members to do the penalty. Irene then took over the stage and swayed her hips a little shy and embarrassed. Next, Yeri came out not knowing how to do anything sexy and instead she did some popping which made her even cuter.

Seulgi, who watched the members from the side, made her way to the center of the stage and posed like the queen of dance that she was. With confidence and power, Seulgi got on the floor and whipped her hair around while doing body rolls. ReVeluvs went wild and then started to chant Wendy’s name. Despite being the winner, Wendy still did the penalty and got down like Seulgi, showing that she was capable of being the main dancer too.

The second game that the members of Red Velvet played was called “This or That”. The fans had to guess what choice Red Velvet would choose and the remaining four standing ReVeluvs in the audience would win a special prize.

To play the game, there would be two choices: “Choice A” (raised left hand) and “Choice B” (raised right hand). The girl group, at the same time, would choose “Choice A” or “Choice B” while the fans also chose an option that they believed Red Velvet would choose.

Irene went first for the game and was asked if she would rather link arms or hold hands. She chose linking arms as a choice because she thought it was more intimate with your partner and the feeling of being close was nice. Next was Seulgi and she had to make a choice of having makeup on or having a bare face. She chose having a bare face since she always wore makeup for work. Wendy chose between an Americano and latte and chose the first answer because she liked the bitter taste of things. It was finally Yeri’s turn and she had to pick Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande. She replied, “This is too easy.” and chose Ariana Grande. Yeri also mentioned that she liked all of Ariana Grande’s songs.

The game proceeded for a while until the remaining questions determined which ReVeluvs won. Seulgi had the last turn and chose between dancing and singing. Unexpectedly, Seulgi chose singing over dancing which left many fans surprised, but it left one fan standing in the crowd that won the special prize.

Afterwards, the members of Red Velvet headed backstage and a behind-the-scenes video of “Rookie” came on to show how excited the members were to film on a new set. Once the video ended, the girls came back out for the last time and performed their hits “Rookie” and “Peek-A-Boo”.

As the night came to a bittersweet ending (since ReVeluvs didn’t want to depart from Red Velvet), the members said their closing comments. Yeri went first and said, “I hope to see you guys in Chicago. Thank you so much. See you soon.” Irene said she didn’t know they would be having a fanmeet in Chicago. She didn’t believe she would be meeting so many Chicago ReVeluvs and would like to come back to hold a full concert with all five members. Seulgi went next and apologized for not being able to speak English. She mentioned that she was tired the day before the fanmeet, but seeing ReVeluvs gave her energy to have fun that day. She then said, “Thank you for the amazing memory and I hope you enjoy it. Next, we will be coming back with more songs.” Wendy talked right after Seulgi. “I didn’t expect so much ReVeluvs. Even though we’re a K-pop group, thank you so much for sending us love to Korea. Because you exist, we exist. (I) hope Joy can come with us next time.”

To end the beautiful night, Red Velvet took a group photo with their lovely fans. Not to mention, Yeri inserted that she really liked Chicago pizza, which we can always agree to that opinion. The fanmeet wrapped up with Red Velvet’s latest title track, “Bad Boy”, which had every ReVeluv singing and dancing along for the last time.