The Best of Apink in San Francisco

Coming off an amazing 2015, Apink started off the new year with their first ever North American Tour.

Female K-Pop groups rarely tour the US, so it was a huge treat for fans when Pink Memory – The Apink North American Tour 2016 was announced. Produced by KPOPME, the show was a mix between a mini concert and a fan meeting event. Starting with Vancouver on January 5, they went on to perform in Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

For two hours the girls entertained the crowd with many of their hit songs and fan interactions.

Here were some of my favorite parts from the San Francisco showcase!

They kicked off the show with their recent track “Remember” and quickly followed up with another huge favorite, “Mr. Chu.” Although this was probably the first time for many fans to see  Apink live, the fan chants were on point.

Later on, they performed  “My My”,  which was a great choice as a throwback song.

San Francisco set list: “Remember”, “Mr. Chu”, “Good Morning Baby”, “Sunday Monday”, “Secret”, “A Wonderful Love”, “My My”, “U You”, “No No No”, “LUV”
Encore: “Up to the Sky”

Divided into the older Unnie Team (Chorong, Bomi, Eunji) and the younger Dongsaeng Team (Naeun, Namjoo, Hayoung), they played a game of “What’s in the box.”

It was cute seeing them try to psyche out each other, saying things like “it has teeth!” “it’s so gross,” and even moving the box to make it seem like the mystery object was alive. Out of all the members, Namjoo had the most difficult time mustering up the courage to reach inside, and screamed a lot.

The Dongsaeng Team won in San Francisco (after a rock-paper-scissors tiebreaker), but it was their only win for the whole tour as Unnie team came out victorious all the other times.

Before the showcase started, VIP meet & greet ticket holders got to meet Apink up close through a high touch and group photo session. As fans are usually accustomed to seeing them through a screen or far away on stage, seeing their beauty up close and in person is something else.

The members definitely studied as their introduction and goodbye segments were mostly in English. Naeun proved to be the best English speaker in the group as she didn’t even need a translator during the Q&A session.

The variety show star of Apink, Bomi, received a lot of love from the audience for her energy.

During the Q&A session, she was selected as the most outgoing member and also the one that is most likely to be caught eating at 3:00 in the morning.

As expected of the main vocalist, Eunji sounded amazing live. Everyone seemed to be anticipating her parts in songs, even more so for the long notes.

Even when she wasn’t’ singing, she also loved joining in on fan chants and guiding the audience to sing along.

Eunji’s trademark eye smile always seemed to light up the stage. Even during a more somber themed song like “LUV”, she continued to smile widely at the audience.

To end their showcase, Apink performed “Up to the Sky” as their encore stage. Although it was a older and lesser known song, it was a fun and energetic track to close the night. Namjoo and Chorong’s rap parts near the end of the song drew a huge reaction from the crowd.

Did you get to watch any of their North American showcases? What was your favorite part of the show?

Thank you to KPOPME for inviting us to cover the show!