Asia’s Top-Selling Girl Group TWICE Light Up Newark With Confident Concert Performance: Review
TWICE’s powerful impact as Asia’s top-selling girl group was evident when the group hit Newark, New Jersey on Sunday (July 21), where member Dahyun accurately described a crowd of 15,000 as “lit.”
Beyond their chart-topping hits and signature dance moves, the K-pop chart-toppers revealed themselves as confident and multifaceted on stage at the Prudential Center during the second stop of their North American headline tour.
TWICELIGHTS in Newark spoiled the audience with two and a half hours of bright, colorful audio-visual concepts on all ends of the spectrum, highlighting each member’s strengths while ONCE, their fans, joyfully waved their Candy Bong Z light sticks, singing and dancing along the whole time.
Kicking off the show with a dominating performance of B-side track “Stuck In My Head,” TWICE served gothic-chic edge on a rock-themed stage that flowed seamlessly into an electric guitar-blended rendition of their first chart-topper, “Cheer Up.”
Enthusiastically greeting the crowd in English, members Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were embraced excitedly by fans two years after making their last appearance at The Rock in 2017 for KCON NY.
Despite the physical absence of member Mina, who's currently on break to address health issues related to anxiety, the eight ladies' performances acknowledged Mina's parts with a backtrack and choreography blocks to emphasize their bond as a nine-girl group.
Fans did their part, showing support with loud cheers whenever the absent member’s face appeared on screen. At one point, the audience switched the colors of their light sticks to mint green, Mina's signature color, to pay tribute to the youngest Japanese member during the performance of their ballad “After Moon.” As the eight ladies belted out their respective lines in long white dresses, an overwhelming amount of empathy and love filled the arena as leader Jihyo began shedding tears.
To lighten the mood, the show took a 180 degree turn when the group stopped midway through their “Heart Shaker” performance only to come back moments later wearing sultry red outfits for a remix to their 2017 single.
The red stage foreshadowed the group’s first unit stage where Sana, Dahyun and Tzuyu covered Beyonce’s sexy single “Dance for You.” Dancing machine Momo partnered up with Jihyo for a dynamic performance of Taemin’s “Goodbye.” Ending the special stages, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and unit leader Chaeyoung joined for their much awaited cover of Lady Gaga’s LGBTQ+ pride anthem, “Born This Way”.
Later, the ladies reunited in their Fancy outfits inside a half-opened crystal to perform hits “Likey,” “What Is Love?,” “Like OOH-AHH,” “TT” and “Fancy,” before returning to the stage for an encore, during which they closed the evening with “Signal,” “Knock Knock” and fan-dedicated track “Stuck.”
After the group bid farewell, the audience was left buzzing after witnessing TWICE not only as South Korea’s talented, heart-capturing national girl group, but ultimately nine unique individuals who inspire and uplift a generation of K-pop fans with their twinkling messages of love, support and friendship.