Exclusive: Red Velvet Steals Fans' Hearts—And Seulgi's Wig Gets Snatched—During Final Stop Of U.S.

Exclusive: Red Velvet Steals Fans' Hearts—And Seulgi's Wig Gets Snatched—During Final Stop Of U.S. "REDMARE" Tour

Exclusive
Feb 19, 2019
by E Cha

Last night, Red Velvet wrapped up their very first concert tour of the United States with an exhilarating night of spectacular and colorful performances!

On February 17 local time, Red Velvet brought their unique blend of talent and charm to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, the final stop of the U.S. leg of their “REDMARE” tour. The girl group put on a dazzling, sold-out show that featured a fun fantasy element—the entire concert was designed around the theme of an amusement park, with the Red Velvet members exploring a different area of the park for each segment of the show.

Excitement levels were high even before Red Velvet appeared on stage, and the crowd went absolutely wild when the idols kicked things off with their smash hits “Russian Roulette” and “Power Up.” At one point, the entire concert hall seemed to be singing along to the irresistibly catchy chorus of “Power Up.”

After taking a moment to introduce themselves individually in English, the Red Velvet members playfully invited the audience to join them on a special adventure, with Yeri asking, “Since we’ve never been to a theme park with you guys, let’s explore together and make good memories, okay?”

Red Velvet then heated things up with a powerful remix of “My Second Date,” with each of the five members starring in her own solo dance break.

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All five members of the group seemed to be having a blast on stage—and they appeared to gain even more and more energy from the crowd as the night went on, playfully interacting with both each other and their fans throughout the show.

In one particularly adorable interaction, Red Velvet noticed a fan who had attended their concert in LA after recognizing his distinctive “whoo-whoo-whoo” cheer, with Joy remarking, “I’m really happy to hear the same ‘whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo’ sound that I heard in LA again here in Newark for our final concert in the United States!” All five members of the group went on to imitate the cheer throughout the rest of the night, eventually leading the rest of the audience to join in as well.

For the next segment of the concert, Red Velvet appeared in colorful animal costumes for an adorable safari-themed rendition of fan-favorites “Mr. E” and “Zoo.”

https://twitter.com/perfectvIvt/status/1097516566831353856

Although the audience began singing along from the very first bars of the group’s debut song “Happiness,” one of the most awe-inspiring moments of the night happened during Wendy’s iconic bridge, with the crowd erupting in screams as she showed off her powerhouse vocals.

Later on in the night, the idols transformed into theme-park parade princesses, appearing in frilly, fluorescent dresses that resembled brightly-colored confections.

While taking a break to chat with their fans, the Red Velvet members mentioned that they were excited to be holding a solo concert in the New York area for the very first time. Joy melted the crowd with her smile as she asked sweetly, “We really looked forward to being in Newark, so can we hear you guys cheer one more time?” Irene also charmed the audience by happily declaring, “I’m having lots of fun, because I’m here with all of you guys.”

The idols went on talk about what they wanted to do in New York City, with Wendy commenting, “I really want to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge and go shopping in SoHo. And I also want to go see the Empire State Building.” Yeri proudly shared, “I went to Grand Central Terminal yesterday.”

Seulgi revealed, “I want to go jogging in Central Park. My dream is to wake up and go jogging with my dog first thing in the morning.” To the delight of her fans, she then proceeded to adorably act out her New York fantasy.

At that point, Joy noticed that a fan had brought along a handmade replica of Rêve, the troublemaking robot that serves as a mascot for the group’s “REDMARE” concert. After Joy excitedly borrowed the replica from the fan to show it off on stage, Seulgi amused the audience by immediately putting it on her head.

Red Velvet then pointed out that Seulgi had designed Rêve herself, while Yeri had named the character. Seulgi said that she had come up with the idea for a broken robot because she thought it would go well with their “REDMARE” concert, and Yeri explained that she had named the robot “Rêve” after the French word for dream.

Seulgi also humbly told the fan who had created the replica, “I think what you created is much better than my drawing.”

Joy added, “Rêve dances with us in the back [on screen] and appears here and there in the [amusement] park. I think he’s having a great time.” She then cracked up the audience by playfully holding a hand up to her ear and asking the replica, “Are you having a great time? Oh, okay.”

After Red Velvet showcased their vocal talents and some gorgeous harmonizing during their ballad “Moonlight Melody,” the concert took a chilling turn. The moment that a video of the five members entering a haunted house began playing on screen, the crowd burst into cheers of anticipation. As the previously sunny, cheerful vibe of the show suddenly turned dark, several concertgoers started murmuring excitedly, “It’s time for ‘Bad Boy.'”

Sure enough, the next song up was Red Velvet’s English version of “Bad Boy,” which they premiered in Newark last year at KCON 2018 NY.

However, since the opening bars of the English and Korean versions sound exactly the same, there was an amusing moment in which the fans sang Irene’s legendary “Who dat, who dat, who dat boy” before realizing that she was singing the English version, which begins with the line “Who dat, who dat, who dat is” instead.

Red Velvet also sang the English version of their latest hit “RBB (Really Bad Boy),” mentioning that they had never performed the song in English live before their U.S. tour.

One of the most unexpectedly memorable moments of the night took place at the very end of the concert, during the group’s last official song. In the midst of performing “Rookie,” Seulgi’s clip-in hair extension fell off, and she ended up having to remove it and toss it to the front of the stage. For the rest of the song, the other members—particularly Irene and Yeri—couldn’t stop cracking up, and Irene eventually picked up the extension and moved it elsewhere.

When Red Velvet returned for the encore, the fans surprised them with a special event in which they held up banners bearing lyrics from “Somethin Kinda Crazy,” one of the songs from their very first mini album “Ice Cream Cake.”

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Joy lamented that the concert was already over, commenting sadly, “Time always goes so fast.” Seulgi chimed in, “I think that because of all of your cheers, we had such a great time. Thank you.”

Each of the members then took a moment to share her thoughts as they wrapped up their first tour of the United States.

“Today is the final concert of our U.S. tour,” said Joy. “We started in LA, then went to Dallas, Miami, Chicago, before coming all the way to Newark. When I think about the fact that this is our last concert in the United States, I feel a little down. In a way, this tour was a huge challenge and an extremely meaningful time for us, so thank you for spending that incredibly meaningful time together with us. I truly think that it’s thanks to all of you that I was able to successfully wrap up our first U.S. tour.”

She added, “I hope that this is just the start and that we see each other often in the future.”

Wendy chimed in, “We started off from LA, and now we’re here. I can’t believe today is the last day of our U.S. tour. Time went by really fast. And thank you for making my last day of the U.S. tour amazing. Tonight, especially, you guys look like stars with all these light [sticks], filling up this whole space. It’s beautiful. I really don’t think I can forget this day, ever.”

“Thank you for coming all the way here, and thank you for always loving us and supporting us,” she continued. “And [starting] from this U.S. tour, I hope that we have more chances to meet.”

Yeri shared, “I took lots of pictures of the Newark streets in the morning. It’s the last stop of our U.S. tour, and all of our precious memories are running through my mind. I’m so glad to have met everyone, all you guys. I will come back soon to see you, all my friends, again. I promise. I love you, Newark! Thank you, guys!”

Seulgi jokingly asked, “First of all, everyone, were you surprised earlier, when my hairpiece fell off during ‘Rookie’? I was surprised too, because it had never happened to me before.” She added with a laugh, “I should have attached it more securely.”

She went on to mention that she had come down with a cold, explaining regretfully that she had hoped to get better in time for the concert. “But what’s really amazing is that even though I had lost my voice just an hour ago, when I stand before all of you on stage, my voice suddenly reappears,” said Seulgi. “I think that I’m really gaining strength from all of you.”

“Today is the end of our U.S. tour, and I really think I’ll never be able to forget it,” she continued. “I love you, and thank you! See you again!”

Finally, Irene remarked, “Today is the final stop [of our U.S. tour], and as sad as I am, I was also truly filled with joy [throughout our tour].”

At that point, Joy gestured to herself and hilariously interjected, “Yeah… I’m Joy.”

Yeri then made the crowd swoon by showing off her caring side—the idol stepped forward to hand a bottle of water to an audience member who was coughing, then apologized to Irene for interrupting her remarks. Irene also asked the fan, “Are you okay?”

After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Irene continued, “Tonight was the sixth concert [of our U.S. tour], and I really think I learned a lot. Being so close to all of you at our concerts, I think I really learned to enjoy myself on stage. Singing together with all of our fans who are here tonight, dancing and grooving to the rhythm together with you, it’s all so, so much fun.”

“I think I learned a lot through getting closer to you and having fun together, which makes me really happy,” she went on. “Thank you so much to all the fans who had a great time together with us tonight here in Newark. Thank you!”

Red Velvet ended the concert with a splash of summer, heating up the cold winter night with their hit song “Red Flavor” amidst the cheers of the enthusiastic crowd. For the song’s final line, Wendy changed the lyrics to “What I like most is you, ReVeluv [Red Velvet’s official fan club name]“—a sweet ending to a delectable night.

https://twitter.com/ilyjong/status/1097318373279576065

Special thanks to SubKulture Entertainment for inviting us out to the show!

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