If you've never seen ATEEZ live, grant yourself the experience when they embark on another tour this year.

Leader Hongjoong made this surprise announcement at the end of their second-day concert in Los Angele at The Forum in Inglewood, their final stop of the world tour, ‘The Fellowship: Beginning of the End,’  in the U.S. Whether you should hesitate or not about seeing ATEEZ live has already been answered by the successful turnout of this tour.

It’s been two years since ATEEZ last announced their U.S.-bound trip when the COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously put an all-stop to in-person concerts, let alone a world tour. Once ATEEZ and ATINY were able to gather round, however, the transmission of their synergy at the venue was unstoppable. While ATINY cheered with their light sticks, the ATEEZ members poured their hearts out, singing completely live from start to finish.

With a consistent set list throughout the tour, the show opened with “Wonderland (Symphony No. 9),” a remixed piece from their mind-blowing ‘Kingdom’ performance. The boys then led the fans into a metaphoric journey onboard their ship with “Pirate King” and “Say My Name.” The talk sessions in-between marked the precious friendship ATEEZ shared with ATINY, who wished for Jongho’s speedy recovery from his recent ankle injury. 

Every time the boys transitioned back into their performances, the audience was immediately absorbed in ATEEZ’s exclusive world of pirates and mysterious legends. ATEEZ is well-known to provide immersive experiences for fans through their jaw-dropping stage presence and facial expressions. But all words aside, these boys certainly knew how to put on a theatrical performance. 

With songs like “Treasure,” “Precious,” and “Utopia,” the triple LED screens and the vivid lighting heightened their aura so much that the entire space felt cinematic. The dream-like sequences well-suited to their concepts for “Inception,” “Dejavu,” and “Take Me Home,” were also extremely smart to play back-to-back with remixed instrumentals and special props.

The setlist was organized logically and smoothly for the sake of the narrative and the atmosphere. A segment of their VCRs followed the journey of ATEEZ and 'HALA-TEEZ' (their alter ego personas), and their talk sessions made each moment memorable. Because they were in LA, the boys mentioned how “hot” everything was in the city, and Yunho and Seonghwa also briefly sang and danced to the soundtrack from ‘La La Land’!

Hongjoong couldn’t help but stir the crowd by taking off his jacket and putting it back on, all while joking with the ATINYs—“Don’t like sexy too much!” But what could stop ATINY? In some of the later talk sessions, Yeosang flexed his muscles, and San danced the choreography from Seventeen's "Very Nice." Moreover, the members never failed to bring up KBS’s ‘Imitation,’ with Sparkling’s “Diamond” becoming somewhat of an inside joke between ATEEZ and ATINY.

After the boys finished performing “Desire,” the members went backstage to change from their semi-formal creamy white outfits to dark and unrestrained casual looks. From blue jeans and suspenders to leather pants and tightly-fitted tank tops, their clothes accompanied the legendary performances for “Answer” and “I’m The One,” followed by a series of their hop-hop oriented numbers like “Good Lil Boy,” “The Leaders,” “THANXX,” and “To the Beat.” After their penultimate talk session, the members brought out more screams from the crowd as Mingi stormed the stage flaunting his abs for “Rocky” like a true fighter.

As the show came closer to the end, member Jongho, unfortunately, could not be seen on stage due to health reasons. However, Hongjoong communicated to ATINY that Jongho should feel the gratitude by transferring his emotions to his fans backstage, while all the other members gave their heartfelt words in person.

As one can imagine, the last talk session was the most moving. Wooyoung talked about how it was all thanks to ATINY for a “normal kid from a normal family” like him to be able to dance in front of such a big crowd. Member Seonghwa also relayed an intimate story as he reflected on his trainee days, recounting how he used to have “low self-esteem” and “could not bear looking in the mirror.”

All that’s changed now, of course, but the members of ATEEZ truly expressed their sincere humility and gratitude towards ATINY. It was also memorable that the members decided to use Korean for this segment, as they all wished to authentically deliver their feelings on the very last day of the tour in the U.S. 

Yunho also mentioned how it “feels like only yesterday” that the boys were in LA to train as KQ Fellaz. The group added that the current KQ Fellaz were also watching at the venue, and Hongjoong expressed that he would like to one day perform with their little Fellaz “brothers” at the same concert. 

For their final performance, Jongho returned to the stage, and the group sang “Star 1117” and “Turbulence” together. Following the former, the boys thanked the audience for singing along in Korean, because they knew “how difficult it would be to learn a new language,” especially after experiencing English-learning themselves. The moment was quite moving for everyone, as the boys became teary-eyed during the talk.

As an afterthought, three words came to mind for ATEEZ: powerful, theatrical, and overwhelming. As for the third word, the main reason came from the boys’ uncontainable passion on stage, as their energy drifted across the venue well after each performance. The echoes and the layered instrumentals for their songs alone were worth it to see ATEEZ live, but what was most gratifying and unforgettable was their incredible live singing; each member had the power and the vocal range to belt out their lines without any breaks. In fact, their voices resonated so loudly that it felt as if the microphones could not handle their spirit.

The tour came to an end, but neither the boys nor the audience could believe that time has flown so quickly. Not only were fans present in the audience this day but so were KQ Fellaz and another junior group, BLITZERS, who watched their performances and greeted them backstage to express their admiration.

As one of the most compelling frontrunners of 4^th-generation K-Pop, the boys will be back later this year in 2022. Unless external circumstances should inevitably put a halt to their plans, ATEEZ will push through more challenges and greet their international ATINY again soon.

Photos: Stan Leigh