REVIEW: ATEEZ highlights the hip-hop in K-pop at Oakland tour opener

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022. Steve Carlson/STAFF.

OAKLAND — On the heels of two arena shows in Seoul, South Korea, K-pop up-and-comers ATEEZ kicked off the North American portion of their second arena tour of 2022 at Oakland Arena on Saturday, giving Bay Area fans a glimpse of the octet’s hard-hitting sound.

Unlike recent K-pop acts who’ve played the venue, like Seventeen and Stray Kids, ATEEZ’s persona lay mostly in the rap realm. While most of the group had opportunities to show off their abilities, rapper Song Min-gi shined brightest with his heavy, gravel-edged baritone. Mingi, as he’s known to fans, had a rapping voice that might fit right in the horror-core genre. And when he was delivering his lines, people took notice.

The current trek, named The Fellowship: Break the Wall tour, will take the band through about 10 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Most of those markets, like Oakland, are new to the band—at least in terms of arenas. Prior to pandemic lockdowns, the largest rooms ATEEZ played in the U.S. were much smaller clubs. While the Oakland show wasn’t a sellout, thousands of fans still made a statement by arriving early and immediately crowded around the group’s stage and a catwalk to a large second stage in the middle of the arena floor.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

The mood of the show was a joyous one. The group—which includes singers and rappers Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Wooyoung and Jongho—made no mention of South Korea’s Oct. 29 crowd surge tragedy, where 156 people died and more were injured. The group had donated 100 million won (about $71,000) to relief efforts, however.

The concert began with a surprise guest opener: trainee group KQ Fellaz 2 (think of them as a minor league team for ATEEZs management company, KQ Entertainment). This group of 10 members delivered a quick-hitting two-song set with emphatic choreography.  The first song, “Geek,” was rap-centric. The second song featured Southeast Asian and even Bollywood sounds, but was equally bass-heavy. If this was a rock concert, attendees would likely have shrugged off an unknown opening act. But the fans in the building went wild for KQ Fellaz 2.

Luckily, it wasn’t more than 10 minutes before the evening’s headliners took the stage. ATEEZ itself is a relatively new group, having debuted in 2018.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

Judging by this performance, the group is still figuring some things out about its music and performance. But it offered a stylistic buffet of the hard-hitting rap as well as EDM bangers and some songs that were influenced either by R&B, pop or even reggaeton.

A lot of the rap-led songs came early in the set as ATEEZ opened with the foreboding “New World” as well as bangers “Answer” and “Sector 1.” The music followed a suspenseful intro where about 10 of the group’s dancers entered wearing all black, their heads hooded and faces masked. The octet, also covered in black and hooded, appeared between them, raised on a lift. Everyone then made the walk to the stage in the middle of the floor and back to the main stage, where the ATEEZ members were raised on three platforms covered in LED screens.

It wasn’t all rapping. On “Answer,” the various vocalists mixed in power pop (which made this song stand out even more) and powerful balladry. By the third song, the black robes were off and the group was clad in black outfits with sparkly accents.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

Then came the introductions; the first of several breaks where the show stalled. ATEEZ gets bonus points for not relying on a translator until the end of the show, but the members often talked over one another, making the conversations harder to follow.

Other highlights included “HALA HALA,” with smooth vocals by Jongho and others. It ended with a dance breakdown and the group feigning exhaustion, collapsing to the stage floor, before a video intermission about finding hope in despair, relying on each other, reuniting after lockdowns and about the group’s individual life goals. If anything held the thematic center of the show together, it was this message about overcoming obstacles.

At this point, ATEEZ transitioned mostly to poppier, dance-oriented songs, such as “Dazzling Light,” with Seonghwa and Wooyoung ringing in the high notes. R&B ballad “Mist” also stood out among the harder-edged material with it’s lighter touches and modulated vocals. ATEEZ paired up motivational-sounding numbers “Sunrise” and “My Way,” as well as tropical sounding “Illusion” and “Wave.” Of the latter pair, the first featured some fun animated visuals of palm trees and volcanic mountains, and the second colorful rainbow lighting. Even the following “Win,” performed on a faux pirate ship, featured a samba-inflected melody, even if it was a banger.

The group saved some of its biggest party songs for the end with the likes of the hyperactive “Say My Name,” on which the octet demonstrated its best mix of singing, rapping and dancing at the same time; “ROCKY;” tempo-changing “Wonderland” and industrial-sounding “Cyberpunk,” which included vocals that followed a descending scale and a choreographed chair dance after which all eight members where glistening with sweat. By this point, several costume changes in, the group was dressed in black tactical gear. It got the loudest shrieks of the night.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

ATEEZ performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Nov. 5, 2022.

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter. Follow photographer Steve Carlson at Instagram.com/SteveCarlsonSF and Twitter.com/SteveCarlsonSF.