Hot off of the news of the whole group renewing their contracts, KARD has announced their latest world tour, Wild Kard 2022. With COVID restrictions loosening up, we’re seeing several groups taking to the road and touring again. For the North American leg, 11 stops were announced, including their visit to the San Jose Civic on August 24th, 2022.
Prior to the show, the event staff was able to manage the crowds. There was hardly a wait to go through security. There was a merch stand just outside of the main hall doors. There were even ushers to help you find your seat. Closer to the show, some members teased their appearance by waving their arms and legs outside of the curtain. When 7:30pm hit, the lights dimmed and the show was ready to begin.
Silhouettes of all 4 members, BM, J.Seph, Somin, and Jiwoo walked out onto the stage to a roaring crowd. They opened up with some early classics with the likes of “Oh NaNa”, “Don’t Recall”, and “Hola Hola” to name a few. This first set was filled with their brighter songs. Closer to the end of this section, the songs got a little more mature and dark with the likes of “Bomb Bomb” and “Dumb Litty.” This section covered the gamut, from chill vibes to hype.
The next set gave members a bit of a breather with solo and unit stages. BM kicked things off with two of his solo releases. The songs were hyped and had the bass booming. This started the warning that the first few rows will get wet with the stage side water bottles. Jiwoo followed up with a cover of Chris Brown’s “Take You Down.” The mood was set with a backlighting. It helped slow things down and added variety to the setlist. Somin and J.Seph brought back the bright vibes with their cover of “Bam Bam.” It was fun to see how diverse these units were.
The full group came back to the stage to perform some the b-sides from their latest album, “Re:”. “Break Down” slowed things down with its rnb vibes. It made it feel like we were in a lounge. “Whip!” started things back up with its party vibe. To get the crowd’s energy up, they held their cheering contest. Using a sound meter, the crowd was tasked with yelling as loud as they could. With San Jose being the second stop, they only had one place to top, Seattle. The first stop clocked in at 128.3 db. After a couple of attempts, San Jose barely edged out the competition with 128.4 db.
With the show rounding down, they performed energizing songs like “Go Baby” and “Gunshot.” Before we knew it, it was already time to say goodbye. The members all said their thanks and ended the show with their latest title, “Ring the Alarm.”
After a bit of a break in the dark, the screen played a VCR, followed by a little prank, which involved a cheer contest again. When the members came back out, laced in concert merch, the encore was a go. With songs like “Good Love”, “Ride on the Wind”, and “Dumb Litty”, the crowd was treated to a few classics. Water flinging was back, along with some friendly fire, a funny site to see. After taking pictures with the audience, the group said their final goodbyes.
With three years since their last tour through the states, it’s great to see Kard and other acts taking to the road and having concerts again. We can’t wait to see them visit again.
