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“Welcome to Pearl Jam’s 50th show in New York City,” Eddie Vedder said to a rapturous response on stage at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night (Sept. 4), the second of two shows the iconic band from Seattle played at the World’s Most Famous Arena this week.
“And for that we are grateful and want to pay that back. So enjoy yourselves to the finest — and Mike McCready promises to do the same,” he added, before the lead guitarist ripped into a searing version of “Evenflow,” playing an extended epic solo with his guitar behind his back.
That was one highlight of a show full of them, and one that captured the band in its element: pushing songs to the limit, having fun with the crowd and also getting serious about some of the big issues in the country and the world at large.
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“The rights of women are not just being threatened, they are already being taken away,” Vedder said after “Evenflow,” a handful of songs into the band’s two and a half hour set. “I know it’s a little early to be getting into this s–t, but let’s get it over with! So the right to choose issue, it used to involve religious fanatics, and then politicians got involved, not because they care one way or another, they just would like the votes. And it’s evolved into judges, and women of all ages are up against a Supreme Court. So there’s good news: It’s time to vote, and as the great Patti Smith said, people have the power. Never have truer words been spoken. Women, feel empowered; women, vote for your own interests, and help a sister out while you’re at it.”
The band then went into “Daughter,” with an extended outro to the melody of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In the Wall Pt. 2,” in which Vedder changed the lyrics to sing, “Keep your bans all off our bodies/ politicians leave our girls alone/ Judges leave our girls alone.”
It wasn’t the only time Vedder, wearing a Walter Payton Chicago Bears jersey, and the band addressed the outside world. On a day in which the U.S. saw another mass school shooting, in which four people were killed and more wounded at a high school in Georgia, the band pulled out a seldom-performed song from its sophomore album, Vs., called “Glorified G” — a cynical sneer at the false bravado of gun owners, with Vedder introducing it by saying, “I hate guns!” More poignantly, and more somberly, two songs later, the band played “Jeremy,” its first breakout hit from the group’s debut album, which is about a boy who brings a gun to school and shoots himself in front of his classroom bullies. Delivered with full energy, the subtext wasn’t lost.
Otherwise, the band clearly enjoyed the 50-show milestone, with Vedder telling a story of the first time he ever came to New York City (“as a Chicago kid, and then on the West Coast, I had never been East of Chicago before”) while introducing “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town,” while there were huge crowd reactions for the high-energy performances of songs such as “Rearviewmirror,” “Hail Hail” and “Do the Evolution.” (The latter, for this fan at least, takes on a different tenor after watching three episodes of the docuseries Chimp Crazy, but I digress.)
After a set break, Vedder came out solo to perform the Steven Van Zandt-penned “I Am a Patriot” and the latter-career gem “Just Breathe,” before bringing tour opener Glen Hansard — “Good human, great Irishman” — to the stage to perform the latter’s “The Song of Good Hope,” shouting out a few fans who had been going through rough times and saying that the song had helped him through troubles of his own. The full band — plus former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and producer Andrew Watt, who chipped in with a few solos over the evening — then returned for John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” and the punk anthem “Sonic Reducer.”
The band then ripped through another rarity in fan-favorite “Leash” and its iconic anthem “Alive,” before Vedder brought Little Stevie himself on stage to run through a joyful “Rocking In the Free World,” complete with Hansard, Watt and the full arena lights on, before closing out with their unreleased classic “Yellow Ledbetter” and sending fans home into the Manhattan night.
Set List
“Garden”
“Corduroy”
“Hail Hail”
“Evenflow”
“Daughter – > Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2”
“Dark Matter”
“React Respond”
“Won’t Tell”
“Not for You”
“Wreckage”
“I Am Mine”
“Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town”
“Glorified G”
“Do the Evolution”
“Jeremy”
“Waiting for Stevie” (with Andrew Watt)
“Rearviewmirror”
—
“I Am a Patriot” (Eddie solo)
“Just Breathe” (Eddie solo)
“The Song of Good Hope” (with Glen Hansard)
“Gimme Some Truth”
“Setting Sun”
“Sonic Reducer”
“Leash”
“Alive”
“Rockin In the Free World” (with Little Stevie, Glen Hansard and Andrew Watt)
“Yellow Ledbetter”
Play Cash Cobain was originally supposed to be an EP, Cash Cobain told me when we named him April’s Rookie of the Month. “Nah, that’s for my Play Cash Cobain EP that should be coming out soon,” he said. “‘Dunk Contest‘ is going to be on there too, along with some other songs like ‘Candle’ […]
Playing a second show in the same city is usually a guarantee for special moments from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
And that was certainly the case on Sunday night as the New Jersey rock icon and his heart-stoppin’, house-rockin’, booty-shakin’ – you know the drill – ensemble played the second night of its latest North American tour leg at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Following up on its Thursday (Aug. 15) performance, Springsteen and company, 18 members strong, played with its usual earth-quaking exuberance, delivering 29 songs over the course of three hours and 10 minutes, making some significant changes to the set, tossing in a warm memorial to a fallen colleague and welcoming a guest to the proceedings.
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The group was nicely rested after a nearly three-week break following its spring/summer European trek but still sharp and hot from being on the road since February of 2023 – with, of course, one notable break.
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The Pittsburgh shows kicked off a kind of make-up leg for the E Streeters, coming back for shows that were postponed in the spring and fall of 2023 due to illnesses, including a peptic ulcer that Springsteen described as “a mother***er” at the opening show.
On Sunday, before closing with the solo acoustic “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” he told the capacity PPG crowd, “I hope we didn’t inconvenience with you too much with our postponements. It’s just great to be back here. You’re just a fabulous audience for us. Thank you so much.”
The Pittsburgh stand was a rare two-nighter in North American arenas for Springsteen on this tour, though he’ll do the same in Philadelphia on Aug. 21 and 23 and Toronto on Nov. 3 and 6.
This leg wraps up Nov. 22 in Vancouver, while some European make-up dates are slated for next May, June and July – with enough space between them to fuel anticipation for more shows to be added. And E Streeter Steven Van Zandt only stoked those hopes when he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before the shows that,” Just between you and me….I don’t see any end in sight. We’re better than ever; you’re gonna see what I mean this week. These five-year farewell tours people are doing are really hilarious. We’re not gonna start our first farewell tour for another 10 years.”
And if Springsteen and crew can keep delivering magic moments like this, who would want to see them stop any time through…
Shakin’ It UpAfter some fans criticized the first leg of the tour for its unusually similar set lists, Springsteen has loosened things up – particularly during the European dates.
That spirit was reflected during night two in Pittsburgh, which featured nine different selections, including seven of the night’s first nine songs. The night opened with a pair of Darkness on the Edge of Town songs. – “Candy’s Room” and “Adam Raised a Cain,” and later the title song.
Particularly welcome, meanwhile, were a riotous, revival-flavored “Spirit in the Night,” with Springsteen and saxophonist Jake Clemons mugging at the front of the stage, and “If I Was a Priest,” in only its sixth performance of the tour. “Death to My Hometown,” meanwhile, was an astute nod to the Steel City’s rust belt history and renaissance. “I’m on Fire” was another surprise late-show inclusion, but seemingly came at the expense of “Rosalita,” which has been a staple of the encores.
Speaking Of Which…Springsteen and the band did not walk off after “Thunder Road,” choosing instead to go straight into the usual encore lineup of “Born to Run,” “Glory Days” (note the high school baseball layer friend now throws a “spitball” rather than a “speedball”), “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” before…
A Special GuestPittsburgh rocker and longtime Springsteen friend Joe Grushecky was in the house on Sunday with his family and then on the stage with the E Street Band during an encore rendition of the Isley Brothers’ “Twist & Shout,” playing acoustic guitar and singing backing vocals into the same microphone as Van Zandt and bassist Garry Tallent.
During part of the song’s schtick Springsteen told the crowd it looked “a little bushed” and ready to go home.
He asked Grushecky, “Is this the way a Pittsburgh crowd looks when they’re wiped out, or when they’re ready to rock their asses off all night?,” to which the Iron City’s own houserocker replied, “I don’t think they’re ready to go home yet. I think they’re ready to rock!”
Among their many collaborations Springsteen produced Grushecky and his band the Houserocker’s 1995 album American Babylon and made a guest appearance on Grushecky’s 2006 solo album, A Good Life.
A Moving TributeAfter posting a social media message addressing the Aug. 9 passing of journalist and author Charles Cross – co-founder of the Backstreets fan magazine, Springsteen dedicated that song to him, telling the crowd that, “This is for a friend of ours, Charles Cross, the founder of Backstreets magazine and his great writing and his influence and his help in communicating between our band and our fans will be sorely missed. This is for Charles.”
Springsteen held his guitar high above his head, towards the heavens, in salute.
Party FavorsSpringsteen was in a giving mood, materially as well as musically, on Sunday. He played his closing harmonica solo during “The Promised Land” directly to a young fan sitting on her father’s shoulders near the front of the stage, then gave her the harp.
He handed two other harmonicas to fans after “She’s the One” and “Thunder Road” and distributed a selection of guitar picks towards the end of “Darlington County.”
E Street Guitar ArmySpringsteen, per usual, handled most of the guitar solos during the show, but also tossed the ball to the able axemen who flanked him on stage. Van Zandt scorched some earth at the end of “If I Was the Priest,” while Nils Lofgren tore it up with epic six-string excursions during “Youngstown” and “Because the Night.”
Out in the SeatsSpringsteen made one sojourn into the crowd on Sunday, walking to a platform near the middle of the house during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, where he pressed flesh and accepted a drink while performing the song.
It also served as a tribute to departed E Street members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, with footage of both shown on the video screens.
We Are But MortalSpringsteen has been doing it since the beginning of the tour, but his speech before “Last Man Standing” – about the death of his longtime friend and ’60s bandmate George Theiss and being, literally, the last surviving member still alive from the Castiles – was still moving and inspiring, even tear-jerking: “As you get older, death brings with it a certain sort of clarity. Its lasting gift to us is an expanded vision of living this life, every day…And the grief, the grief that we feel when our loved ones leave us, it’s just the price that we pay for having loved well. “
By the NumbersFor those counting, the Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums were the most represented with five songs each, followed by Born in the U.S.A. and Letter to You with four each.
In all Springsteen played songs from 11 of his 21 albums, including his cover of the Commodores’ “Nightshift” from the most recent, 2022’s Only the Strong Survive.
Foo Fighters closed a two-date stand at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium on Sunday night with a nearly three-hour set that would have threatened to blow the roof off the venue if it had one. From the high-octane opener “The Teacher” (which is typically part of the encore) to standard closer “Everlong,” Dave Grohl and bandmates […]
In the time since Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Rema dropped off 2022’s Rave & Roses, he experienced both the most staggering heights of crossover success and the vilest parts of the demonization of his culture in one fell swoop.
In 2023, “Calm Down” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a record-setting 58 weeks atop U.S. Afrobeats Songs. The infectious, Selena Gomez-assisted track also reached No. 1 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, making history for a song by an African lead artist. Then came his sold-out headlining performance at London’s O2 Arena later that year (Nov. 14, 2023), which sparked accusations of Satanism due to the imagery – in actuality, they were hallmarks of the Edo culture of his hometown of Benin City, Nigeria – employed during the show.
These two things – genuinely peerless success and the tension that lies in bringing hyperlocal culture to a global scale – are the driving forces behind Rema’s impressively daring and unequivocally infectious sophomore LP, Heis.
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Bearing a title that simultaneously calls to his Instagram handle (@heisrema), the Greek word for the number “one,” and the simplest proclamation of being, Heis finds Rema staunchly on the defensive. Gone are the sugary slow-wine tempos of Rave & Roses; here, Rema conjures up soundscapes – courtesy of an all-star production team that includes Producer X, Take a Daytrip and longtime collaborator London – that thrive in the darkness. Pounding, frenetic drums open the album, ultimately becoming the record’s anchor. Occasionally a tinny synth or a particularly piercing string arrangement will cut through the wall of sound, but the rollicking, militant drums are the dominant source of energy on Heis. And it makes sense: The drum – with all of its history and percussiveness – is the instrument the best symbolizes the Rema of Heis.
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Across the LP, Rema reclaims the “Satanist” narrative by doubling-down on the sounds and voice changes that first garnered those accusations. When he warps his voice into an obsidian baritone on “Ozeba” (“Emi ati awon guys e mi italawo, e mi itolowo/ Italawa, itolowo, ita, itolow, eh-eh”), it’s somehow both bone-chilling and tongue-in-cheek. He refuses to let go of his hometown’s history and culture despite being a global superstar; it’s an emphasis on regionality that mirrors similar conversations has across Black American music this year, from Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” “Everyone is chasing something that the whole world can enjoy… we’re listening to the voices of the world too much,” he said in a recent Apple Music interview. “We gotta listen to the voices back home to keep our roots. Our roots [are] very important.”
But the Rema of Heis also has an unmistakable chip on his shoulder. As hip-hop grappled with the standing of its Big 3 (Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J. Cole) this spring, Rema uses Heis to demand a spot in the conversation as it relates to Afrobeats. He’s already expressed his desire to expand the existing Afrobeats Big 3 (commonly understood to consist of Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid) to a “Big 4,” and now he spends most of Heis demanding the No. 1 spot.
“March Am” opens the record with Rema’s trademark sinister laugh ushering in a high-octane drum pattern that soundtracks his bellicose calls to keep pushing forward. One of the most effective album openers of the year, “March Am” immediately establishes pidgin English as the album’s dominant tongue. “17, I dey dagbo, I dey crack code/ Now the prince of Afro,” he snarls in the first verse, before sing-chanting the “I dey march am” chorus against some stirring background strings. Taking notes from the painstaking worldbuilding of Playboi Carti, Rema’s vision of Afrorave is completely contingent on the blistering, unfettered energy that comes from people collectively giving their bodies over to the power of music. Heis begs to be experienced in a live setting; it’s as if Rema conceived the live version of each song before he even set foot in the studio. It’s dark and raucous and distinctly liberating; at long last, Rema has brought to life the “Afrorave” style that he’s long heralded, despite an initial lack of sonic identifiers.
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The only instrument as effective as the drums on Heis is Rema’s voice. Across the LP, the singer dives into the depths of his range, spending ample time in his icy baritone. Not only do his different vocal registers evoke different characters in his narrative — of recentering yourself after stepping into a new era of life — they also reveal Rema’s artistic maturation. Each shift in vocal delivery adds new textures to the 2010s Afrobeats-nodding instrumentation; instead of simply delivering lyrics, he morphs into his own instrument and weaves himself into every chord.
Pre-release singles “Hehehe” and “Benin Boys” (with Shallipopi) play even better in the context of the full album. The former finds Rema temporarily playing to the villain role to mock his haters, while the latter reads as a celebration of Benin culture from two homegrown stars, who seek to uplift and protect it from those who ignorantly demonize it. Sandwiched between those two tracks is “Yayo,” perhaps the record’s most accessible song – and the one Rave & Roses fans will likely find most appealing, with its catchy melody and grind culture-affirming lyrics (“Money yakpa for my bank oh/ How to make money is all I know”)
At just under half an hour, Heis never overstays its welcome, but that doesn’t mean Rema completely avoids repeating himself. While having a chip on your shoulder can bolster your assertiveness, it often gives way to defensiveness on the album’s back half – and that’s where its cracks start to show. The title track – which features a Swahili chorus that basically lauds Rema as the hottest thing to ever touch Planet Earth – feels particularly excessive because he’s already covered the same lyrical ground elsewhere on the album. There’s also “Villain,” the album’s penultimate track, in which he croons, “I dey hustle since people dey laugh me/ The way I dey run my things, I do it differently, now dem dey copy me.” But by track 10, these sentiments feel stale, if not overbearing.
In its entirety, Heis is a captivating album; one that inspires countless listens because of how its intricate production reveals new elements with each encounter. With the album’s closer, “Now I Know,” Rema wraps everything up quite cleanly, offering new perspectives to the darkness that subsumes the record with one soulful ballad. “I dey move like Messi when he dey for Barcelo/ E get as God go bless person, dem go talk say na devil oh,” he opens the second verse, before proclaiming “And now I know who dey for me/ All thosе I trust turned enemiеs” in the chorus.
After dousing himself in an amalgamation of edgy aesthetics to further cement his Afrorave style, Rema, in a way, becomes human again on this album closer. His plaintive tone reflects the maturation he’s undergone in the past two years, while also calling back to the timbre he most often used on his debut LP. He’s still the same Rema, but he’s demanding a different level of respect – not just because of his superstar status, but because of his steadfast commitment to uplifting his culture and bringing it along with him at any cost.
If you fell in love with Rema off the strength of his sweet crossover pop moments, his latest album probably isn’t for you. But if you’re willing to be led down a journey of self-discovery and style formation, Heis is the map for that odyssey.
The Detroit rapper and Kansas City producer make the midwest proud with this project.
Heart’s upcoming dates in Europe have been scrapped, to enable singer Ann Wilson time to recover from a medical procedure. The Rock Hall-inducted band has wiped the European leg of their Royal Flush tour, which was scheduled to kick off June 20 and run through July 12 and include several festival spots. “We regret to […]
In early April, country star Maren Morris released her children’s book Addie Ant Goes on an Adventure, in collaboration with former schoolteacher Karina Argow. According to the interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, they have known each other for about 11 years. This long-lasting friendship evolved into a collaborative partnership. Explore Explore See latest videos, […]
Anyone who’s read Mariah Carey‘s bestselling 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” will know that the singer has often described her life as a “rollercoaster.” It’s a term that came up again Saturday (April 13) on the second night of Carey’s “The Celebration of Mimi” residency in Las Vegas, though unlike her at-times tumultuous career, this was one ride that you never wanted to end.
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Taking place at Dolby Live inside the Park MGM Hotel, the 16-date residency is billed as a celebration in advance of the upcoming 20th anniversary of Carey’s critically-acclaimed album, The Emancipation of Mimi, though the festive affair felt more like a career-spanning retrospective of hits.
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Indeed, after a brief voiceover intro that referenced her “rollercoaster” life, Carey descended upon the stage to open with “Vision of Love,” her Billboard No. 1 debut single from 1990. What followed was a nostalgic journey through some of Carey’s biggest hits, each in chronological order of when they were released, and many accompanied by a story or quip about how the song came to be.
Introducing “Dreamlover,” Carey reminisced about rehearsing with Aretha Franklin at 1998’s Divas Live concert, where Franklin remarked that she “loved” the song, and playfully suggested that the two perform the track instead of their scheduled duet instead. While the Divas Live setlist went ahead as scheduled — sans “Dreamlover” — Carey said she couldn’t believe the song got the Queen of Soul’s approval. “I was like ‘Oh my god,’” Carey squeaked in mock surprise on stage. “Ms Franklin was talking to me!“
Backed by a four-piece band, eight dancers and three background vocalists (including Trey Lorenz who duets with Carey on “I’ll Be There”), the songs are interspersed with old interview clips from each album cycle and motivational quotes on screen narrated by Carey herself.
Because the concert went through Carey’s catalog in chronological order, crowd-pleaser “Hero” was performed early on in the show rather than as her usual encore. But the revised setlist offered other surprises as well, like Carey’s memorable cover of Badfinger’s “Without You,” which the singer typically only performs internationally, and “Looking In,” the poignant Daydream album closer that Carey last performed in 2013.
The loudest cheers were saved for the Butterfly era, which Carey has called her “favorite” and “most personal” album. Perched on a pink and lavender couch elevated high above the stage, the singer ran through a medley of the album’s R&B cuts, including “Babydoll,” “Breakdown” and “The Roof,” which Carey recently remade for her MasterClass course. After an uptempo mashup of “Honey” and “Heartbreaker” (from the Rainbow album) it was time for the main event.
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When The Emancipation of Mimi was released in 2005, critics hailed it as Carey’s “comeback album,” following muted reactions to 2002’s Charmbracelet, and her movie soundtrack Glitter, which was released on September 11 (neither of those albums were performed at the residency, though Carey’s dancers break out some moves during a Glitter/Charmbracelet interlude that serves as a set change). Mimi though, was an immediate hit with fans, spawning two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, while sending Carey across a world tour that took her as far as Tunisia and Japan.
Here in Vegas, the album was showcased in all its glory, with Carey rising from the stage in a glamorous gold gown to the refrains of “I Wish You Knew,” an old-school soul ballad with a spoken-word bridge that’s a favorite among the singer’s lambily. That was followed by a one-two punch of “It’s Like That” and “Say Something,” which kept the already buoyant crowd on its feet.
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Though Mimi was released in 2005, the songs sounded just as fresh and relevant as they did (almost) 20 years ago. Case in point: Carey opened “Shake It Off” with an interpolation of Bryson Tiller’s “Don’t,” which samples the track in its second verse. Carey has said she wanted to create something “timeless” with The Emancipation of Mimi, and the residency proves she has more than succeeded.
Though Carey is known for sprinkling some “diva” moments into her shows, she largely eschews the antics this time around in favor of letting the music speak for itself. The singer has been known to be wheeled or carried off-stage by dancers, but this time she walks(!) in heels(!) by herself(!) in between costume changes (of which there were five on the night). Carey walking herself backstage is a small detail of course, but in a way, it perfectly incapsulates the feeling of the show.
While Carey has performed in Vegas before, she has never sounded or looked better. And while other artists of her caliber would rest on familiar songs or arrangements, Carey continues to push herself with musical director Daniel Moore, to offer deep cuts for the fans, while reinventing her hits in new and novel ways.
And then there’s the walking thing.
Closing the show in a nude mesh Swarovski gown, Carey capped the triumphant night with The Emancipation of Mimi’s signature songs, “We Belong Together” and “Fly Like a Bird,” before the curtains began to slowly close on the star-lit stage. Standing solo before the sold-out crowd, the superstar waved farewell, then picked up her dress and shuffled her stilettos offstage, unaccompanied — and unfazed.
If The Emancipation of Mimi was about freeing Carey from her past, the “Celebration of Mimi” residency is about seeing her legacy forward. No one has ever doubted the singer and songwriter’s talent, but two decades removed from her landmark album, Mariah Carey is proving that she can still do it all on her own — and on her own terms — high heels and all.
As a leader in a new generation of K-pop acts, IVE‘s Show What I Have world tour boasted a wholly appropriate name for which the girl group delivered an electric, emotional finale to its U.S. leg in Newark.
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For the sold-out crowd at the massive Prudential Center arena, IVE brought their hit singles — which includes eight entries on the Billboard Global 200 to date — b-side tracks and cover performances to life via heavily conceptual staging for each of the 24 setlist songs interwoven with frequent commentary from the group and video interludes.
Highlights of the night included the theatrical umbrella routine recalling “Singing in the Rain” for “Mine” and the haunting visuals accompanying horror-themed stages for “Hypnosis” and “My Satisfaction.” While IVE’s signature flowy choreography spotlighted in deep cuts like “Blue Blood” and “Heroine,” the crowd’s fervent chanting during hits “Love Dive” and “Kitsch” underscored the fervor and dedication of IVE’s fans — affectionately known as DIVE — even when making their New Jersey debut.
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As a special treat for fans, the IVE members split into duos and solo performances to pay homage to diverse artists, with covers ranging from Ariana Grande to Indonesian singer-songwriter NIKI and English crooner Richard Sanderson. While the inclusion of covers by Spice Girls (Rei and Gaeul performed “Wannabe”) and IVE’s new Columbia Records label mate Little Mix (where Yujin and Leeseo duetted on “Woman Like Me”) were astute in aligning themselves as the next global girl group, the performances acted more of a reminder that IVE has already carved out a distinct identity and color as the prom queens of K-pop and isn’t so easily able to adopt other personas in the pop sphere.
But beyond the polished performances and elaborate stage production, the IVE members’ raw emotions might have left the strongest impression during Show What I Have.
Early into the show, IVE leader An Yujin became visibly emotional and cried while singing their fan-dedicated power ballad, “Shine With Me.” After the crowd cheered her through the performance and the group checked in with her, the 20-year-old assured everyone she was fine and laughed while pointing the blame to the track’s lyrics written by Jang Wonyoung — followed by an adorable apology from Wonyoung.
The heartfelt sincerity returned at the show’s end when the sextet gave their final messages to the crowd.
“Even though our languages are different, just seeing how you guys are so focused on our songs, connecting and enjoying with us, is really cool,” Gaeul pointed out. “I couldn’t imagine all these seats filled up like this. I’m really touched.” Liz added that IVE is now “more than just family; we are not able to separate from each other.”
In a moment rarely seen among top K-pop performers, Yujin sincerely opened up about regaining her self-esteem thanks to the tour and her group.
“Recently, I kind of lost my confidence,” the star, with six years in the industry, shared through voice cracks and tears with Leeseo holding her hand. “I thought, ‘Maybe I cannot do it?’ before I came here. But the first day in L.A., I got so much energy and love from DIVEs there that I’m getting more confident. I promised a lot to myself before I came here. I can’t say exactly what I promised but I think I did it all — I did everything I promised to myself… it was really precious time.” Capped off by Yujin’s heartfelt thanks and promise to return, Liz quickly led the girls into a group hug on stage, encapsulating IVE’s essence of the night in gratitude towards fans and one another.
As the concert closed with the massive finale track of their debut English single, “All Night,” IVE left the crowd with an indelibly upbeat mark by unexpectedly singing the song’s refrain an additional seven times — begging the sound team to “please” play it one more after six — before officially exiting. With today’s announcement of their new EP, IVE SWITCH, out at the end of April, the promise of future performances and shared moments confirms that this is hardly a farewell but a preview of more for them to show ahead.
Read on for exclusive photos from IVE’s Show What I Have concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, as well as reflections from the tour at its conclusion for Billboard readers.
IVE
Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
IVE
Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
JANG WONYOUNG: “Despite not having officially debuted in the U.S before our world tour, I came with half excitement and half worry whether big venues like The Forum, where famous overseas artists have performed, would be filled. But starting from L.A., seeing the venue packed with DIVE enjoying our songs and dances gave me such great energy. It felt like we were able to finish the U.S tour well with strength all the way to our last stop.”
GAEUL: “It was so much fun to be able to perform in front of our DIVE here in the U.S., their energy was great. They were so loud — it gave us so much inspiration. We are so thankful for all the love and support from our fans.”
LIZ: “I was so happy to visit cities I’ve never been to before. One of my favorite moments besides seeing all our DIVE in America was meeting Anne Hathaway at the Atlanta Hawks game. It was our first basketball game and we loved it!”
LEESEO: “It feels wonderful to perform on stage in front of our U.S. DIVE, to try many delicious foods in the U.S, and to create precious memories with my sisters!”
REI: “The members and I made so many amazing memories on the U.S. leg of our tour. It is truly something we will never forget.”
AN YUJIN: “I’m so happy that I got to meet so many DIVEs through our world tour. I can’t wait to come back to the U.S. for Lollapalooza. It’s an honor to be able to perform there as our first U.S. festival – we will come back with a stage that could surprise you!”
IVE
Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment