The “million album seller” K-Pop boy group ENHYPEN kicked off the U.S. leg of their world tour ‘FATE PLUS’ at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California on Wednesday, April 24. As a follow-up to their successfully concluded 2nd world tour ‘FATE’, the enhanced ‘FATE PLUS’ tour began with three sold-out shows in Seoul and will visit five total U.S. cities, including Anaheim.
ENHYPEN is BELIFT LAB’s first boy group in which members JUNGWON, HEESEUNG, JAY, JAKE, SUNGHOON, SUNOO, and NI-KI were selected by the global public through the survival program “I-Land.” Since their November 2020 debut, ENHYPEN has reached numerous milestones such as having three Billboard 200 Top 10 albums and over 9.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
ENGENEs — ENHYPEN’s fans — gathered in the 18,000-capacity Honda Center excited to see their return with new performances from their latest fifth extended play ORANGE BLOOD, released in November 2023. The opening VCR featured ENHYPEN in a dramatic, regal setting but with a bloody twist. One by one, members revealed themselves on stage with various props like a red envelope, a bow and arrow, and a rose. They then gathered as a complete group on risers, facing the audience together. The boys looked like elegant princes in their bedazzled white and navy suits and officially started the night with an entrancing performance of “Drunk-Dazed.” After a powerful dance break, the members continued the energy in “Blockbuster” with ENGENEs chanting along to the highlight part “Are you ready?”
The members each brightly greeted the crowd in English and expressed their wishes that by the end of the night, ENGENEs and ENHYPEN’s connection would grow even stronger.
For the next section of the night, ENHYPEN told a story of the progression of love through the symbol of a beating heart on the LED screen. They performed two tracks from their debut extended play BORDER: DAY ONE— the flirty, fun “Let Me In (20 CUBE)” and “Flicker” synced with a blue, calmly beating heart. They then assumed the iconic opening pose for “FEVER” now with a deep red heart that became increasingly fiery. As the first song of the night from their latest EP, ORANGE MONSTER, “Still Monster” received enormous cheers from ENGENEs and concluded the tragic love story with a hardened and blackened heart, wrapped in thorns.
After a brief VCR with flashing images evoking a dystopian sci-fi vibe, the members returned in sleek white and metallic silver windbreakers for the hip-hop tracks “Future Perfect (Pass the Mic)” and “Blessed-Cursed.”
The next VCR featured the boys in an enchanted garden with angel statues that progressively get tainted with blood—turning fantasy into horror. All of a sudden, a loud “Attention!” rang through the stadium. The screen lifted to reveal the boys in rebellious school outfits on risers with hand-held mics for “Attention, please!”. At the climax of the song, JAY strapped on an electric guitar for a quick solo before charismatically chucking it away. After the energetic “ParadoXXX Invasion,” the boys playfully used bench platforms for the fun, upbeat “Tamed-Dashed” and HEESEUNG punted a football into the crowd.
Immediately after the performance, HEESEUNG checked to see which lucky fan caught his football to tell them to keep that gift forever. For the fans who didn’t catch HEESEUNG’s football, JUNGWON gave the gift of a cheek heart from JAKE. The members inspected the crowd for official ENHYPEN light sticks and tested the crowd with call-and-response chants.
JUNGWON, HEESEUNG, and NI-KI stayed to talk with fans while the rest of the members went to prepare for the next stage. The trio remarked that the night’s energy was better than it was a year and a half ago at this same arena. JUNGWON and NI-KI hyped up JAY’s upcoming special performance and HEESEUNG’s surprise that is meant to make ENGENEs cry. HEESEUNG led the crowd in some a cappella song requests where JUNGWON teased ENGENEs for choosing “Orange Flower” which has a lot of Korean lyrics.
JAY, SUNGHOON, SUNOO and JAKE returned in dandy, preppy school uniforms, sitting on risers surrounded by lush plants. JAY’s prepared surprise in “TFW (That Feeling When)” was revealed to be his acoustic guitar skills that further complemented his members’ sweet vocals. The spotlight then illuminated HEESEUNG as he delicately played a piano prelude for “Just A Little Bit” while accompanied by JUNGWON and NI-KI’s dreamy vocals. All the members joined in for the second half of “Just A Little Bit” and then for the funky, cutesy “10 Months.”
ENHYPEN treated fans to a more upbeat, bouncy version of “Polaroid Love” that the members sang as they went into the crowd to greet fans up close. In their collaboration song “One and Only” with Pokémon, they brought on six guest stars to the stage. The adorable, squishy Pikachus and members showcased amazing chemistry and synchronized footwork. After safely sending off their yellow friends, the boys were raised up on the platforms for all fans to see them better for the epic anthem “SHOUT OUT.”
JAY, SUNGHOON, SUNOO, and JAKE stayed on stage to talk more with ENGENEs followed by JAKE’s special cover of the song “I Don’t Think I’m Okay” by Bazzi. After some discreet spoilers, the four members swapped spots with JUNGWON, HEESEUNG, and NI-KI who chatted about theme parks and tacos. All members returned and announced that today’s special random dance guest was JAY because his birthday was on April 20. The members surprised JAY with a birthday cake (and jokingly pretended to throw the cake at him) as ENGENEs joined in to sing him happy birthday. JAY tried to give the entire cake away to fans but a panicked staff ran out just in time to stop him and safely retrieve the cake.
To conclude the youthful, upbeat part of the night, ENHYPEN performed the electronic “Go Big or Go Home,” complete with fans’ loud chants of the members’ names, and then were lifted down into the stage.
Fully transitioning to their dark, vampire concept, the next VCR showed ENHYPEN surrounded by skeletons in a graveyard and then submerged in water with blood spreading through the water.
A single, dim spotlight fell on NI-KI as he captured the entire arena with his fierce yet sensual dance solo. All the members, dressed in suave black suits accented with red splashes, came back together for “Chaconne” and then the fan-favorite song “Bills.” Following the passionate “CRIMINAL LOVE,” the boys retreated to risers opulently decorated with candles for the first half of “One In A Billion” and then descended the second half to display their explosive dance skills. JUNGWON led fans to demand an encore of the last part in “One In A Billion” and HEESEUNG obliged and showed off his live vocal skills as he sang his signature ending part multiple times for the members to be the ending fairy.
It was time to say goodbye as we reached the end of the night. Although it was sad, the members felt the connection with ENGENEs grew stronger and will continue to become stronger because it is their fate. Tying back to the theme of the night, the boys performed the dramatic introduction track “Fate” to lead into the most highly anticipated song of the night, “Bite Me” for the grand finale.
In the final VCR, the members were no longer in the dark, ominous chamber and were now able to freely run around an empty amusement park amongst blooming flowers to the tune of “Mortal,” the introduction track of the ORANGE BLOOD album. Now donning their tour merchandise and holding hand held mics, ENHYPEN returned for “Sweet Venom (English Ver.).” They excitedly ran around the stage, interacting with fans for “Orange Flower (You Complete Me)” and HEESEUNG ended the song by doing his last part a cappella.
Each member took turns to deliver their final ments where highlights included HEESEUNG promising to bring back new songs he was working on, JUNGWON sharing his English learning journey (with the help of Duolingo), and his determination to do his ments all in English next time, and JAKE wishing fans to be happy and offering encouragement to get through the struggles. NI-KI then accurately called out fans to go eat after the concert as they rewatch the numerous concert videos on their phones.
JAKE thoroughly shocked fans when he kicked off the final stages with a reverberating “Anaheim, make some fucking noise!” for the cheeky song “Karma.”
The ENHYPEN members expressed it would be a shame to end it here so they treated fans to an additional performance of “Future Perfect (Pass the Mic).” For the actual final goodbye, they received various Mickey Mouse ears and Disneyland merchandise and lingered on stage before finally disappearing behind the screen.
ENHYPEN’s triumphant return to Honda Center after a year and a half with their upgraded performances and visuals made for an unforgettable night for ENGENEs. With each tour, the members have strengthened ENHYPENs and ENGENEs’ connection, demonstrating their intertwined fates. If you weren’t able to catch the Anaheim show, join ENGENEs across the U.S. waiting to see their favorite idols in the remaining four ‘FATE PLUS’ stops.
I am 80 1/2 yrs old and love Enhypen and their talent and dedication and hard work. I am heartbroken because there was no way I was able to see them in California at the Honda Center. What a wonderful write up about their show. I would really like to meet them, express my admiration to them. This comment is all I can do for now. We are all the same age only the body is older.