On June 24, 2018, the second and final day of KCON NY 2018 was a success! Despite the intense heat, fans lined up and were just as eager as the day before. The “Star Live” talks packed and featured a lineup of EXID, fromis_9, Golden Child, NCT 127, and Wanna One. A hot lineup for a hot day.
There was a noticeably younger crowd compared to the day before, but the hype was just as strong. First up was Danny Lim, the MC for the pre-show which featured a dance cover by the winning group Haru from KCON NY’s Cover Star K 2018 contest. They danced to hit songs “Be Natural” and “Look” by Red Velvet. Lucky, randomly chosen fans received signed towels by Pentagon and Stray Kids, joining the lucky fans from Day 1!
Golden Child, one of Woollim Entertainment’s newest boy groups that debuted in 2017 took the stage next! Fans immediately jumped up in excitement as a member from the boy group immediately showed off his surprisingly strong dance moves to an energetic intro song. Cool RGB effects played on the screens as their logo flashed. The rest of the members eventually joined in on the dancing intro and then transitioned into a cute school boy theme as they perform “It’s U.” School flags and sports related items flashed on the screens as the boys instantly changed into cute, bubbly personalities. As “It’s U” finished,. the group introduced themselves; they stated that their group name comes from the idea that every 100 years, a golden child, or special child, is born and that they hope to lead the K-Pop industry in the future. As part of their introductions, a few members showed off their talents. One danced to “This is America,” while another sang “Havana.” Others showed off their cuteness or “aegyo.” It was truly an adorable sight! Golden Child finished their part of the show with “Talk,” “Damdadi,” and “Crush.”
The theme for the show was “Love, Passion, and Darkness.” EXID’s LE came on stage, playing into the darkness theme by singing “Velvet.” Her dark and sexy red stage awed the crowd. Following was NCT 127’s Taeyong, Mark, and Jaehyun performing “Whiplash” causing the crowd to scream since NCT wasn’t expected until the end. Following NCT was the super adorable group from_is9. They opened with a cute video introducing each member and then jumped right into their performance of “DKDK.” During their introductions, they showcased some of their talents by dancing to the Wonder Girls classic “Tell Me,” singing a Red Velvet song, “Cheer Up” by Twice, and “Gee” by SNSD. They announced that two weeks prior to their concert they released their second album called ‘To. Day.’ With supportive cheers from the audience, the members continued with their next few songs “22nd Century Girls” and “To Heart.”
The second part of the theme “Love” was shown through a collab stage between Golden Child’s Joochan and fromis_9’s Jiwon who sang “Hawaiian Couple.” EXID garnered screams and cheers from the entire center as they opened with a roller disco ‘80s theme before transitioning to their song “Lady.” When the beginning of the next song “DDD” began to play, fans went absolutely crazy and instantly stood up. Immediately after was “Night Rather than Day” followed by a performance one of their most popular hits, “Up & Down.” The sexy and powerful group stated that all the songs they chose for the evening dealt with love in order to fit the KCON NY 2018 theme!
One of the most awaited performances on the night appeared next, NCT 127! Strobe lights flashed on Taeyong as he showed off his choreographed intro for the group. It was quite amusing to see such a strong introduction shift to such a soft and sweet song “Touch.” “Touch” featured very smooth vocals and moves – all of the lower section concert goers could be seen standing up and dancing along.
The group then introduced themselves and explained how the numbers in their group name is Seoul’s longitude. Messages sent in by fans were answered; some fans asked members to do “aegyo” in their native languages, to sing sweet serenades, and pose handsomely. The audience fell more and more in love with the group, which didn’t seem possible! The group then played a photo time game with the audience where they would dance and fans would have to imitate the dance as they appeared on screen with their favorite idols! “Fire Truck,”one of their most popular songs, was the next song up and featured a powerful red stage that hyped the center. The performance was heavily synchronized with members lifting each other and jumping over one another with ease. It was surprising to see the groups range of song themes going from bubbly, to sexy, to intense with ease. The next songs were “Limitless,” “0 Mile,” and ending with the ever popular “Cherry Bomb.” Fans showed their love for the boy group by chanting and dancing along.
The final and most awaited group of the night, Wanna One, was next! The ever popular but temporary boy group has seen intense popularity since their debut after being on Produce 101 season 2. Three of the members entered the stage, dressed in formal attire, to perform the song “Kangaroo” and did cute things such as jumping on each other’s backs and spinning. Next up was the song “11,” which showed off a sexier vibe. “Hourglass” was up followed by “Forever and a Day.” These four songs were done to show off each units talents and they sure did. The members then all gathered on stage and introduced themselves through a Q&A where they’d act like kangaroos and reenact scenes from popular movies such as Terminator. Up next was the chill song “Beautiful,” which featured a lot of bromance and fanservice, as well as the song “Light!” And their final song was their debut song “Energetic” which made everyone in the center stand up and sing along energetically. The group gave it their all.
The night ended with a final goodbye and bows from all the performing groups, Golden Child, from_is9, EXID, NCT 127, and Wanna One. KCON NY 2018 was a concert that will never be forgotten!