The ‘Be The Sun’ Tour by SEVENTEEN Was The Collective Concert Experience We’d Been Waiting For Since COVID.

Concerts will resume in earnest in 2022 after being halted for several years due to a global pandemic; however, SEVENTEEN’s upcoming tour may be the first to successfully recreate the unique sense of community that makes attending a concert so memorable.

The final night of the Be the Sun tour, held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, demonstrated how audiences can reconnect with one another through technology, production, and, of course, the members of the K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN.

The most visible contributor to the welcoming atmosphere was the official SEVENTEEN lightsticks, a must-have merchandise item for any K-pop fan that instantly identifies you as a core member of your fandom. The lightsticks for SEVENTEEN, like those of many K-pop artists, can be controlled by a phone app via Bluetooth and can shine and flash in a rainbow of different colours.

During the performance, the artist team uses the app to make all of the sticks in the venue flash and glow in time to the music. “Carat Bongs,” named after the band’s fan Carats, made the audience feel more involved in the performance by flashing red and yellow during the pyrotechnic opening numbers “HOT” and “March,” as well as white and pink during the band members’ chats.

The production of the tour seemed to set the tone by showcasing the various groups of people who came out to see SEVENTEEN. The various signs that viewers had ample time to take in and register as the cameras panned around the audience to highlight attendees on the arena’s jumbotrons are unmistakable. Along with international flags and identity-focused ones like the QTPOC Pride Flag, fans created posters with messages like “Mexicans love SEVENTEEN,” “They/Thems for Hoshi,” “Biracial Bisexuals for Vernon,” and “Latinas for Dokyeom.”

Providing a platform for these communities and groups allowed the band to show their support for equal rights in a subtle way, despite the fact that K-pop is rarely overtly political.

The Be the Sun tour’s North American leg concluded in Newark, allowing all 13 members of SEVENTEEN to return home together.

Despite the fact that four members of the band were diagnosed with COVID-19 and had to miss concert dates (as well as an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel), it was clear that all of them needed to be present for the night’s closing performance.

“We’re so excited to be back as 13 for you guys tonight,” Joshua told the crowd early on, and he and the rest of the band continued to express their excitement for playing as a full band for the first time in a long time.

Given their recent conversation with Billboard about the “difficulty” of securing contracts for all 13 members of SEVENTEEN to continue as SEVENTEEN, it’s clear that the members of the boy band understand the importance of supporting one another and working together.

This was reflected in the group’s most recent concert experience, which felt especially meaningful after more than two and a half years of COVID concerns.

Get The Latest Updates From The World Of Music, Movies, TV, Culture, And Fashion In Musical States Magazine. Please Follow Us On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, And Linkedin To Receive Instantaneous Updates.