Despite being an encore structured exactly like their world tour, TWICE‘s show was anything but the same. Performing at their first outdoor venue in Banc of California Stadium, TWICE was ready to finish their tour under a light never before seen and become the first female K-pop group to hold a stadium show in the U.S. Couple that with the gaze of a once-in-a-lifetime lunar eclipse and even a special birthday surprise, over 23,000 TWICE fans (called ONCE) were truly gifted with a last show fitting of a finale.
Opening the night dressed in pure white, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu took the stage nine members strong with their Billboard hit English song, “The Feels.” Accompanied by other high energy bops such as “Feel Special” and “Up No More,” the group lit the giant crowd ablaze, setting the tone for the rest of the concert.
To a giant sea of candy bong light sticks, the group attempted to introduce themselves, but tonight’s introductions held a truly unexpected surprise. During Dahyun’s patented “Dahyun Time,” a bit she does every time she introduces herself, fans scrambled to sing to her in anticipation of her late May birthday. “Shall we start over and do it properly?” Nayeon exclaimed before the whole stadium in unison sang Dahyun a thundering happy birthday song. Fans lovingly cheered Dahyun on as tears streamed down her face, “This must be a dream… thank you LA.”
Continuing the night, TWICE gave fans a symphony of bangers, from upbeat hits such as “Fancy” and “Scientist” to ballads such as “Cactus,” a song that even reduced Jihyo and Tzuyu to tears during their performance. Being a larger group of nine, the subunits also came out to play. Split into three special trios, each subunit showed off a different facet of TWICE. JiHyo, Sana, and Dahyun wowed the crowd with a playfully choreographed “Push and Pull”; NaMoChae (Nayeon, Momo, Chaeyoung) came with the heat in pink cowboy hats with “Hello”; and JeongMiTzu (Jeongyeon, Mina, Tzuyu) showed their sultry side with “1,3,2.” The night was truly filled with every emotion spanning the group’s six year journey.
Fan involvement is a huge part of any TWICE show and tonight was no different. From fan chants to barking, ONCE had a lot to say to their favorite girls. Special missions also allowed ONCE to show their fandom and appreciation. Interactive dances and song competitions were asked of the audience in order to fill in hearts to advance the audience to the next stage.
TWICE does a lot of things to assure that each of their concerts is a uniquely different experience and their encore is surely one of them. Now dressed casually in their tour merch, members of TWICE spin their pin-point accurate encore roulette wheel to select random songs to perform. Among fan favorites such as “TT” and “Cheer Up,” ONCE were also gifted with songs “You in My Heart” and “Say Something,” songs never before drawn throughout their whole tour. Appropriately ending the night with “Dance the Night Away,” TWICE thanked their fans for an unforgettable experience and assured them that they would be “back better than ever.”
As their last show of their tour came to an end, TWICE truly left everything they had out on the stage in a special way. Split into three parts, “III,” the over three-hour long show was truly a complete culmination of the group’s six album career. Playing off the name of their latest album, Formula of Love: O+T=<3, Jihyo, the group’s leader, explained that “I is for the love ONCE gives TWICE, II is for the love TWICE gives ONCE all coming together to equal III, the perfect love of 3,” the perfect answer to the finale of an amazing tour.