Last year, I had the opportunity to attend SF9’s US Tour. It was their first US tour since COVID. I had previously listened to SF9 a lot — I loved their song “O Sole Mio”, “Good Guy”, and “RPM”. I found that SF9 had a lot of catchy songs and I found myself listening to them often as a causal listener. When they announced their US Tour, I was immediately interested. However, their tour stops were too far away and too expensive so I decided I wasn’t going to attend. But then they announced that they were having a sale on tickets! So I started contemplating and wondering if I should attend the concert again. I ended up buying VIP tickets (not on sale) last minute and drove out of state to catch a show that was on the weekend.
It ended up being one of the best concerts I have ever attended. I think what contributed to the concert being such a great one was:
- The concert was super organized. It could have been the stop, as each stop had different volunteers and are ran slightly different depending on the venue, staff, volunteers, etc. But I had a super great experience. Everything was ran smoothly and explained to us really well! Check out my previous post to read the full concert experience.
- The setlist was amazing! I didn’t realize how many SF9 songs I knew until I was attending the concert and was jamming to almost every single song on the list! It was an amazing experience!
- SF9 was experienced… and funny! They were so natural on stage. They did skits, made jokes, and MC’d their concert so so so well! And they were super talented. Each person had their own talent and specialization but when they came on stage to perform, they balanced each other out really well! I found myself watching
- Inseong when he sung (he has such a stable and clear voice),
- Jaeyoon when he sung (he had such a beautiful and delegate voice),
- Youngbin when he danced and rapped (He was so consistent and put in so much effort in each and every song. He also had a very unique higher pitch rap!),
- Hwiyoung when he rapped and danced. (Hwiyoung immediately took everyone’s attention when he was center stage. He had a way of drawing the attention to him.),
- Chani when he rapped and danced. (Chani has such a unique lower tone voice!)
I think what made the concert so good was the setlist. SF9 could have gone so many ways with the setlist. However, as a casual listener, I thought it was one of the best setlist I have ever seen. They played a lot of their popular older songs like “Good guy”, “O Sole Mio”, “Enough (예뻐지지 마),”etc. They had solo stages where each member (except for Chani) performed a solo song. I really loved Youngbin’s solo song “Someday” and Hwiyoung’s cover of Sombr’s “Back to Friends”. Then they played other hit songs like “Trauma”, “Tear Drop”, and “WARARU”, and ended with happy songs like “Round And Round(돌고 돌아)”, “MAMMA MIA“, and “My Fantasia”.
The entire performance was perfect and each segment was so well prepared and done. Each segment encapsulated songs that had a different feeling. I think SF9 really knew and understood their audience when planning the stages for this tour. They hadn’t done much promotions in the US and knew a lot of new fans were coming to the concerts. So they played a lot of their popular title track songs. And they were able to really showcase their talent and musical style through those songs.
It wasn’t just the stages that were good. The commentary segments helped the artists and fans get closer to each other. Fans were able to interact with the artists as they asked questions to the crowd. And fans could see the individual member’s personality through their commentary and interactions. Inseong brought out laughter as he showcased his humor on stage. He made jokes like telling fans to sell their house and joked about Not going home and staying in the venue with fans. They asked fans what their favorite SF9 songs were and made the crowd laughed when they said, “I know, I know. You like sexy songs.” The members also tried incorporating Chani after the solo stages. As he didn’t perform a solo stage, the members asked Chani whom he thought the best performance was for the night. He said he thought Youngbin performed the best tonight because Youngbin’s performance made him dance back stage. And Hwiyoung brought laughter as he started barking with fans during one of their commentary segments.
The concert was so so so fun! I found myself falling in love with and seeing songs in a different light. Before, I really liked “O Sole Mio” and “Good Guy” because the songs were super catchy. But after the concert, I found myself drawn to other songs like “Tear Drop”, “Trauma”, and “비보라 (BIBORA)”. The performances really influenced it. The lighting, seeing the songs performed live, really changed how I saw the songs. And I really found myself loving their upbeat songs! I never heard of them before this concert so I was so happy to have found fun songs like “Round and Round” and “My Fantasia”.
After the concert, I went from being a casual listener to becoming their fan. I started to listen to their songs more often. Especially their newer songs that I found from this concert. I started listening to their full albums—not just their hit songs. And I started to buy their physical albums! This was something I had never done before!
This experience made me realized how important a good concert setlist was. And it made me more conscious of the artists’ setlist every time I attend a concert. I started asking questions like,
- What is the purpose of this concert?
- Did they understand their audience?
- How was the setlist set up? The segments?
- Did the setlist flow well?
- How did I feel after seeing a concert?