It has been over 2 years ITZY last toured the states with their showcase tour, “ITZY? ITZY!” With a pandemic in the rearview, they are back with their first official world tour, “Checkmate.” Los Angeles is the first stop of the North American leg of their tour. The YouTube Theater is the venue that housed their opening show on October 26th, 2022.
Prior to the show, there were several booths for patrons to visit around the venue. In the courtyard, there were food trucks, drink trucks, and a big stand for concert merch. There were also stalls inside of the actual theater, if you should choose. I believe there was also a lounge to get special drinks. The overall atmosphere is unique for a concert venue. Once 7:30PM hit, the show was ready to begin.
Large LED screens filled the stage. With an intro VCR playing and fog starting to fill the stage, the audience was ready for the group. Splitting right down the middle, the screens separated, revealing the full group. Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna emerged posing along large chess pieces, playing to the theme of their latest album and corresponding tour. The group took to the stage for the first set.
With songs like, “Mafia in the Morning”, “Sorry Not Sorry”, and “Shoot!”, ITZY definitely started out with a bang. After brief introductions, they immediately started with the next set. The energy remained high with songs like, “What I Want” and “365”.
Without taking a break, Ryujin treated the audience to the first solo stage. Accompanied by her dancers, Ryujin commanded the stage with her cover of Doja Cat’s, “Boss Bitch”.
The rest of the group rejoined on stage for songs like, “Cherry”, “Freefall”, “#Twenty”, and their title track, “Icy”. This set was a nice mixture of genres. Before long, we were greeted with a pair of solo stages. Yuna rolled onto the stage with her bicycle to liven up the mood with her cover of Conan Gray’s, “Maniac”. Lia then took the stage to show why she’s the group’s main vocalist with her cover of Taylor Swift’s, “Red”.
The next set included a handful of title songs including, “Wannabe”, “Dalla Dalla”, and “Sneakers”. Before long, it was time for the last pair of solo stages. Chaeryeong surprised everyone with a surprise use of a live camera as she showed off her dance skills to Ariana Grande’s, “Bloodline”. Yeji then turned the show into a rock concert with her cover of Dua Lipa’s, “Hotter Than Hell”. This stage helped transition to the next set.
Keeping with the rock theme, they showed the music video for “Boys Like You”, most likely to give them a chance to change for the next set. They then performed the stage version, which turned out to be the first time they performed it, given that it was just recently released. They followed with “Nobody Like You” to round out the genre.
Before we knew it, it was already time for the last set. Going out with a bang, they performed “Loco”, which then transitioned smoothly into a rearranged version of “Not Shy”. A remixed chorus led into a bit of a rock version of the rest of the song.
It isn’t a JYP Entertainment concert without heavily involving the audience in encore missions. Cameras were brought out to put Midzy on the spot to show off their cover dances of ITZY’s catalog. The next segment involved singing the fan chants at 2x speed. Finally, to get the energy back up, a scream meter was shown on the screen to bring up the noise.
With the encore starting, the girls were revealed wearing their white angel outfits from “Boys Like You”, just in time for Halloween. They slowed it down with songs like “Domino” and “Midzy” as presents for their fans. After giving their thanks one by one, it was time for the very last stretch. “IT’z Summer” and “Be in Love” brought the show to an end.
Even though there was a lockdown since their showcase tour, ITZY came out strong with their first official concert tour. There weren’t any intricate stage props, just high energy performances. We’re definitely looking forward to their next outing.