Review: KATSEYE had Charlotte screaming. But was the show worth all that noise?
Before KATSEYE even appeared onstage at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center on Tuesday night, the screaming had begun.
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Not because the lights had gone down. Not because one of the members had stepped into view. But simply because their “Wildworld Tour’s” video screens were playing the group’s music videos — recordings of songs that the audience was about to hear performed live.
Fans sang along, waved their glowing lightsticks and, remarkably, applauded when the videos ended.
That tells you something about KATSEYE, the hugely popular global girl group assembled through a collaboration between South Korea’s HYBE and American record label Geffen: For its fans, simply being in the same building as the group is an event. Even when the group isn’t on stage yet.
And when the four members performing on this tour finally appeared at 8:20 p.m., amid a blast of multicolored confetti and the opening strains of “Hootie Frutti,” the screams became nearly deafening.
Then they barely let up for the next 97 minutes.
KATSEYE is a fascinating pop phenomenon, a group built using the rigorous training and precision of K-pop, marketed to a global audience, and capable of filling an American basketball arena despite having released just three EPs and no full-length album. Two of its six members — Sophia Laforteza and Manon Bannerman — are currently on hiatus.
That left Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel and Yoonchae Jeung to carry a 19-song show that demanded extraordinary stamina, with relentless choreography executed in everything from chunky platform boots to precarious-looking silver heels.
The spectacle rarely paused long enough to catch its breath.
Ten backup dancers appeared and disappeared throughout the evening. Three sets of costumes took them from colorful futurism to softer silver-blue looks to chaotic, barely coordinated streetwear.
Daniela emerged as the most magnetic personality, combining an outgoing warmth with explosive, unapologetically sensual dancing. During a long prelude to the night’s sixth song, Latin-tinged R&B pop track “Gabriela,” she welcomed a young girl in a red dress onstage (and name, apparently, really was Gabriela), danced alongside her, then presented her with a rose and a hug. Minutes later, during a particularly athletic solo, a male dancer repeatedly lifted and inverted the thong-wearing Daniela before she dropped into a split and gave it a few decidedly adult bounces.
It was an almost startling juxtaposition: adorable big-sister bonding one moment, provocative nightclub choreography the next.
Lara, meanwhile, delivered one of the night’s strongest vocal moments about two-thirds of the way through the set, during “Unloveu,” while seated at an upright piano with “RAJ” emblazoned across its back in enormous letters. She belted the heartbreak ballad impressively; then hydraulics lifted the piano roughly 10 feet into the air while a wind machine sent her hair flying.
Apparently, at a KATSEYE concert, even the ballads aren’t allowed to stay grounded.
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The vocals were more complicated during the dance-heavy numbers. Prerecorded backing tracks were conspicuous, particularly when the choreography reached its most punishing intensity. But the slower songs offered convincing evidence that these women can sing. The production simply seemed more interested in showcasing their athleticism during the uptempo material.
Sound quality was another weakness, with the mix often frustratingly muddy. Even the between-song banter was sometimes difficult to understand.
Not that anyone seemed to care. Every time a member said, well, pretty much anything, the audience squealed as though she’d announced she’d found the cure for cancer.
That devotion reached its most intimate — and, depending on where you were sitting and how big a fan you are, potentially most envy-inducing — expression during “Time Lapse.” As they sang, the members descended into the floor section (after Yoonchae deadpanned a warning: “Don’t throw stuff on the stage and don’t touch us inappropriately”) to sign merchandise, pose for selfies, hug fans and make goofy faces for the cameras. Several admirers dissolved into tears.
For those lucky enough to be within arm’s reach, it was surely the thrill of a lifetime. For everyone else, particularly fans in the upper deck, it was an extended opportunity to watch other people have the thrill of a lifetime.
There was something similarly peculiar about the prerecorded video interludes. Although she wasn’t on stage with the four members performing, Sophia appeared in a video depicting the women posing for mug shots … and the audience screamed for her just as enthusiastically as it did for the others.
In KATSEYE’s world, apparently, physical presence is optional. Emotional attachment isn’t.
The show also walked an intriguing line between kid-friendly fandom and decidedly adult material. Many of the fans appeared to be elementary-school-age girls accompanied by parents. Yet the choreography could be overtly sexual, “Bel Air” ended with a mock throat-slitting, and the finale — the noisy and deliberately obnoxious “Gnarly” — included repeated declarations of “I’m the s—.” (Parents more familiar with the clean version might have raised an eyebrow.)
But I suspect those aren’t the things KATSEYE’s fans will remember about what they were part of Tuesday night.
No, what I suspect they’ll remember is the confetti, the choreography, the glowing lightsticks and, above all, the unholy sound of thousands of people screaming at the tops of their lungs.
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Whether KATSEYE truly earned those screams is almost beside the point.
1. “Hootie Frutti”
2. “Internet Girl”
3. “That Way”
4. “Touch”
5. “Mean Girls”
6. “Gabriela”
7. “PINKY UP”
8. “Animal”
9. “Tonight I Might”
10. “I’m Pretty”
11. “Time Lapse”
12. “Gameboy”
13. “Unloveu”
14. “My Way”
15. “Bel Air”
16. “M.I.A”
17. “Debut”
18. “ICONIC BY MISTAKE”
19. “Gnarly”
