As expected, IU opens a new world tour

Singer IU successfully completed her 5-month world tour.

IU powerfully kicked off the '2024 IU HEREH WORLD TOUR CONCERT' in Seoul last March, followed by Yokohama, Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Manila (Bulacan), Kuala Lumpur, London, Berlin, Bangkok, Osaka, We successfully met with fans in Newark, Atlanta, Washington, Rosemont, Oakland, and Los Angeles. Through this tour, IU met audiences in 18 cities including Asia, Europe, and the Americas, making her the first female solo artist in Korea to do so.

Not only was the site server temporarily suspended during the ticket reservation process for each city, but all tickets were sold out one after another. Kuala Lumpur attracted a lot of attention with a peak of 820,000 users and Jakarta with 630,000 people. In the case of Manila, where IU became the first Korean solo singer to enter the Philippine arena, the same event received local attention as it made headlines. Even though it was her first visit to the Americas, tickets were sold out within 10 minutes of opening, demonstrating her unrivaled global influence.

This performance also received favorable reviews from local fans. IU delighted the eyes and ears of the audience with solid live performances, overwhelming stage direction, and high-quality band performances. She chose 'Hole' as the opening song for her world tour, and not only caught everyone's attention by coming down from the lift, but also garnered attention by performing on stage with local child dancers.

In addition, singer Patti Kim, who narrated 'Shh..' during the Los Angeles performance on the 2nd, visited the scene. After finishing the song, IU expressed her sincere respect toward where Patti Kim was sitting. , At this time, I was able to feel the warm mood between the senior and junior members of the music industry.

In particular, she attracted attention by presenting things just for the audience in each city at each performance. In Yokohama and Osaka, they performed 'Beautiful Dancer', 'Voice Mail', and 'Good Day' (Japanese version) released during their past local activities, and in Taipei, they sang 'The One And Only' by local singer 'Acusefive'. It gave a heart-warming impression to the audience.

In Hong Kong, singer-songwriter Terence Lam performed 'Il Inji Gyeong', and in Manila, local band 'Sunkissed Lola' performed 'Pasilyo', surprising everyone. Then, in London, he picked up an acoustic guitar and passionately sang Corinne Bailey Rae's 'Like A Star'. In Bangkok, they also staged a cover of singer 'NONT TANONT's 'First Love'. Also, in Atlanta, he showed off his good sense by changing his song 'strawberry moon' to 'blueberry moon' using blueberries, a local specialty. New outfits were also prepared for each city, and as a representative example, in Rosemont, people wore things with the word 'rose' as the highlight and received cheers.

I could also feel IU's warm heart toward her fans. He tried to communicate as closely as possible in the local language with all the audience who came to see the performance, and repeatedly expressed his gratitude. In addition, counter-tribute items prepared in advance in Korea were presented to all. In the middle of the performance, flowers were given to the audience in 'Blueming' and coins were given to the audience in 'Coin'. Fans in each city responded warmly to IU's passionate appearance by singing along to each song in Korean, enthusiastic shouts, explosive cheering, and surprise slogan events.

At the last performance of the world tour, IU said, "I said I am very grateful today, but I can't do it enough, so I would like to thank everyone who came to support or enjoy the performance of this world tour once again, although it is not the last performance in my life. .” he said. Finally, she ended the official schedule by shouting “I did it” and exiting.

Among these, IU is known to have given a 'huge' gift to the staff after completing her world tour, attracting attention.

On the 5th, related posts with titles such as ‘IU’s gift to the staff’ are spreading around online communities. The writer said, "IU is coming to Korea after her concert in the US, and I bought business airline tickets for the staff. There will be 30 dancers in the team, and the number of people from the band's agency, performance team, and security team is the real FLEX."

The post included several Instagram stories of staff tagging IU and expressing their gratitude.

One staff member posted a photo of a portion of the plane ticket and tagged IU with the message, "Her FLEX! The staff cut it off for their hard work. Her name is." Another staff member posted a photo of herself sitting in a business class seat on an airplane with the message, "Thanks to Ji-eun (IU), I'm going to Korea comfortably." It is known that IU gave business class tickets to all over 100 staff members.

Meanwhile, IU plans to hold the 'HEREH' encore concert at Sangam World Cup Stadium on September 21st and 22nd after wrapping up her America tour. IU's entry into Sangambeol this time follows the first Korean female artist to enter Jamsil Main Stadium in 2022, and once again holds the title of 'first' in the music industry.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr