pop lies

Another show where I did not know the group well, but had a good time even if I was not converted to stan-dom.

We had soundcheck with our tickets so we got to see the group perform a few songs and have a little banter. Ten and Yangyang had a yaoi moment where Ten intently brushed hair from Yangyang's face - congratulations to them!

The show itself was fun. Although the layout was all flat, no elevation to the seats, we had a good view of the thrust stage and everyone exercised sensible phone etiquette (phones at eye height). The VCRs were all very gothic, with dark magic and vampires and moody lighting in a mansion. Overall I enjoyed the show more than I expected - they are an entertaining group and for me their songs were more enjoyable live than on record. I do like Ten a lot, but Xiaojun was also quite a stand out as a performer.

The ments were mostly in Mandarin, which I cannot understand, with some Cantonese from Xiaojun and Hendery, of which I could understand some but not all. They also showed a preview of their Winter album after the show, cue much excitement from fans.

It was quite interesting observing HK fan etiquette with freebies. They would really only give you a freebie if they were sure you liked that member. So tullycat, with her Ten PC prominently displayed on her bag, got given lots of Ten freebies - whereas I got nothing until I hung my Kun soundcheck pc from my bag, at which point I started getting Kun freebies!

Unsurprisingly for a Hong Kong show, there were very few visibly Western fans. Also interesting, there are no bag size restrictions so many fans had MASSIVE bags stuffed with plushies (both fanmade and official), pcs, slogans, etc.

( setlist )

This was a showcase as part of an event called K Culture Planet, run by the Korean Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), a Korean government initiative. Tickets were free, but limited, with about 2000 people in attendance. More on that later.

Carriageworks Bay 17 is entirely flat, no elevation at all. With the floor divided into 3 sections, and everyone holding their phones up, it wasn't a great view in section B where I was standing. There was a massive screen, but alas it only showed the performers for part of each song - the visual effects and backgrounds were cool but I would rather see them dancing! Still, for a free show, can't complain too much I guess.

After an introduction from the President of KOCCA and a brief sizzle reel, ONF took the stage first. This was their first visit to Australia so I was very glad to see them and hope they can come back for a full show. Their brief half hour set was good, but you KNOW they have so many more bangers. The setlist included Beautiful Beautiful, The Stranger, Bye My Monster, Ugly Dance and a couple others whose titles escape me.

They were charming. Wyatt especially was appreciated loudly when he flexed, unbuttoned his vest, and finally discarded it. He was also the quasi-MC, speaking the most in English. Seungjun was a cutie who talked a lot, Yuto a cutie who talked little. Changyun is always cute and so handsome and I guess he is my bias lol. MK can really sing and Hyojin is so handsome.

Then there was a break of about 15 minutes where they just showed k-content ads. Gotta get that sponsor money!

NMIXX came on to huge screams. The cheers for ONF were good but definitely this was an NMIXX crowd, with them riding high on their Blue Valentine success. When Lily asked if this was anyone's first time with NMIXX a lot of people said yes which surprised me, because they played the Hordern a few months ago in a much bigger show!

Great setlist: they played Blue Valentine, Spinning on It, Dice, Love is So Lonely, Dash, Know About Me, and Love Me Like. I could see even less than I could during ONF, but I can confirm all of them are very beautiful, Lily is a delight, Haewon is my cutie, and Bae's current styling is just chef's kiss perfect.

Both groups were compelled to mention the K Culture Planet thing. "I hope you enjoyed the K Culture exhibition!" And in ONF's case, when they took the audience photo, ONF said "ONF" and we had to say "K Culture Planet". I refrained lol.

So let me explain the K Culture Planet thing. KOCCA set up this very basic exhibition the week preceding the show where you could go get promoted at (for various k-things - beauty, drama, fashion, etc) and then spin a wheel to win free tickets to the concert. To me it seemed very massively underadvertised and underattended.

It just seems crazy to me you would fly out NMIXX for one night and ONF right before their comeback to this tiny showcase. If KOCCA was really serious about promoting Korean culture, note that NMIXX played a show to 5000 a few months ago and Twice played to over 20,000 people the weekend before - you cannot tell me this tiny event preaching to the converted moved the needle at all in comparison to those huge platforms. I benefited, so I'm not mad about it, it just really seemed more of an excuse for KOCCA to justify their budget!

It can be so interesting seeing a group that you don't know that well. Sometimes, it's enough to tip you over into being a fan - in fact I fell into kpop as a fandom through seeing two groups I didn't know well at all - but I think with longer exposure, and having seen so many groups, I am less likely to be concert pilled these days.

That happened to be the case for this show, which I thought was a good show with solid VCRs and performance, but did not convert me.

As performers I think Chenle was my concert bias, he got so many great vocal parts and he had good stage presence. Jeno is designated sexy member and great performer, with handsome loser energy (he reminded me of Juyeon and Mingyu). Jaemin seemed like the mood maker to me and I think I can finally recognise him!

I saw numerous ships which I later found out were mostly non-governmental which was also interesting in itself. I'm sure the mahae shippers saw what they wanted to see, but as an outsider I thought it was barely present!

( setlist )

May 2025

ablume - Echo
Really glad these girls are debuting again and getting another chance. This is cute!

MEOVV - Drop Top
Continues their catgirl theme. I am enjoying their career so far a lot.

Yuta - Twisted Paradise
This reminded me of DPR Ian and My Chemical Romance, in the best way.

Irene and Seulgi - Tilt
This didn't quite live up to the level I was hoping for, based on the teaser photos, but the song is pretty good.


June 2025

Primrose - Cinema
Listening to this I was just like "this is pure kpop". Filmed in Finland!

Ateez - Lemon Drop
They look damp.

ARTMS - Icarus
Been a while since I saw a long cinema-type MV! I don't think every artist should start releasing 14 minute art films but it was nice to see this one, it's weird in a good way.

XLOV - 1 & Only
Really cool visuals.

fromis_9 - Like You Better
Summery! Just super happy for them.

Wonho - Better Than Me
Beautiful throwback to the 00s. Could definitely be an NSYNC b-side.

Ampers&one - Kick Start
Had to include this because they went FULL catboy.

ifeye - Nerdy
Loved the dreamy pop vibes.

VVS - Tea
It's a 5 girl assassin squad! Action movie level violence.

BEAST (Highlight) - Chains
Cool to see them back and this is a solid song.

MEOVV - Hands Up
Their solid run of tracks continues.

Astro - Moon
Astro with various friends of Moonbin... This is not my type of song but given the context, I did start crying while watching this. So.

I fell behind early this year and have been struggling to catch up ever since so. Here's a bunch of links.

( so many MVs )

This show, like previous ones at the Metro, had a decent turnout but was not sold out, with the back section curtained off. But there were enough fans to create a nice buzz. The guys standing near us, who I was worried would be industry people attending 'ironically', turned out to be fans who knew the words!

The show was so much fun. It was marred by some technical issues, which I'll get into, but my overall impression is so positive. Billlie are really good performers - dance line so magnetic, vocal line so talented - and they have such a great catalogue of songs.

I knew Moon Sua and Tsuki, of course, but the member who caught my eye the most in this show was Siyoon. She has 'born for the stage' written all over her, she seemed like she was having the best time in the world, and I loved her flirty energy.

Their rapport with the crowd grew over the course of the show, starting out feeling quite rehearsed in their ments and getting more spontaneous at the end. The group had a lot of fun with the "Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi" back and forth, later changing it to "Billlie Billlie Billlie, oi oi oi" to their delight and the audience's.

At one point Tsuki asked the crowd to shout out their wishes. One audience member asked for an air kiss, which was cute. Another asked them to perform Ring x Ring, as it was one of their favourite songs, so all the members sang a verse acapella - I loved this, because Ring x Ring is one of my favourite songs too!

For the unit stages, Haram and Suhyeon covered If I ain’t got you and really showed off their vocals. Then the other members came back for a couple of dance covers of Anti-fragile and Armaggedon, and they killed that too.

There were a few technical issues. There were awkwardly long pauses between songs, as though the sound desk hadn't cued the next track correctly. At one point there was even a 10 minute intermission, no VCRs, so random. They had no outfit changes, but took long breaks to switch mics, which also seems like something other shows handle more deftly.

After the break, they played a long VCR which featured Remembrance Candy dance mafia (all members dance and wear headphones, but one member is hearing a different song, spot that one member) - followed by the live stage of Remembrance Candy, so we heard it 3x in a row essentially, which was not ideal.

I also thought in the songs without choreo, they could have moved around the stage more. Most of the time they just stood in their official standing order (helpful for me as someone learning their names, but not interesting to look at). Only once did they move around the stage during the song - and the crowd loved it!

Still, I had a really good time and I hope they come back.



( setlist )