By Kwak Yeon-soo
Minutes before Enhypen took the stage on January 26, the Galaxy Arena in Macau already resounded with the roars and ecstatic cheers of thousands of Engenes, as the group’s dedicated fans are known.
The three sold-out shows held over the weekend drew a total of 32,000 fans from the city and overseas. The Macau concert was part of the K-pop boy band’s Fate world tour, which kicked off in Seoul in July 2023 and has continued in Japan, the US, Taiwan and Singapore.
Fan Tingting, a 27 year-old fan from Shanghai, attended Friday’s show with a friend.
“They [Enhypen] are so energetic and handsome. I fell in love with a song called ‘Fever’ (released in March, 2021) and I have liked their music since then. I hope they come to Macau again and release songs in Chinese,” she said.
Fan Fan, another 27-year-old fan, from Nanjing, dressed up as a female character from Dark Moon, a webtoon based on Enhypen and their music videos, to come to the concert.
K-pop fans object to Enhypen’s ‘Bite Me’ dancers with fleet of protest trucks
K-pop fans object to Enhypen’s ‘Bite Me’ dancers with fleet of protest trucks
“I first saw Enhypen members in a reality competition show called I-Land in 2020, but fell in love with the group in April last year when they released ‘Bite Me’. I like how they interact with fans directly and regularly,” she said.
The opening night of Enhypen’s three-day gig began with the powerful “Drunk-Dazed,” a song from the group’s second mini album, Border: Carnival. Seven members – Jungwon, Jake, Jay, Sunghoon, Heeseung, Sunoo and Ni-ki – appeared onstage dressed in sharp, solid white outfits against a backdrop inspired by a medieval castle.
“We always do our best when performing in each city, but our fans in Macau will be able to see how much Enhypen have grown after touring for quite some time,” Sunghoon said.
Jake said: “I think the happiest moment for us when performing onstage is when Engenes sing along to our songs and cheer loudly.”
The band continued, singing “Let Me In”, “Flicker”, “Fever”, “Future Perfect” and “Blessed-Cursed” against the backdrop of a melting ice heart catching fire. Then they changed into casual clothes and sang hip-hop-infused songs like “Attention, please!”, “ParadoXXX Invasion” and “Tamed-Dashed”.
The second half of the concert included performances by band sub-units. Jay, Jake, Sunghoon and Sunoo sang “TFW (That Feeling When)”, with Jay playing the acoustic guitar. Jungwon, Heeseung and Ni-ki sang “Just a Little Bit”, with Heeseung showing off his piano skills.
Returning to the full septet, they mesmerised the crowd with cute, catchy songs like “10 Months”, “Polaroid Love”, “One and Only”, as well as electro house tracks “Shout Out” and “Go Big or Go Home”.
Some of the highlights of the show were when Enhypen members showed cute interactions with Pikachu while singing “One and Only” and Jay sang the Cantonese cover version of a Japanese song, “First Love” by Murashita Kozo.
The build-up to the concert’s finale began with “Chaconne”, “Bills”, “Criminal Love”, Bite Me” and “Sweet Venom” to demonstrate the members’ sexy and tough masculinity. For encores, they delivered two more songs, “One In A Billion” and “Karma”, to end the nearly three-hour concert.
Enhypen promised to show their musical evolution in 2024. “We will try to show more maturity as artists next time we’re in Macau, so please stay tuned. We love you,” Jay said.
“I think the Fate world tour was a turning point for us. We have learned a lot in the past six months and now feel like we’ve grown professionally. The encore concerts in Seoul will be a bit different from the current one. We’re going to add a few more performances, so please look forward to them,” Jungwon said.
Enhypen will perform in the Philippines on February 3, at New Clark City Stadium, and hold two encore concerts at the KSPO Dome, in Seoul, on February 24 and 25.
