Almost three years after their last tour across the U.S., SEVENTEEN made their triumphant return to New York on September 1, 2022, with Be The Sun — and they radiated as much energy as the celestial object that gives the tour its moniker.
Despite the blasting AC inside Belmont Park’s UBS Arena (and a faulty flamethrower), the 13-member group raised the temperature inside the venue with a three-hour setlist that encompassed both tracks off their most recent releases (namely Face The Sun and Sector17) and older fan-favorite gems.
Courtesy of Pledis Entertainment
UBS Arena was one of the last stops on SEVENTEEN’s 12-stop North American tour for Be the Sun, but it was actually only the fifth time all 13 members have been on stage together. Prior to the show, members Hoshi and Joshua were absent from Washington, D.C., and Atlanta after testing positive for COVID. (Mingyu and Dino had also previously missed some stops earlier in the tour for the same reason.)
“Back and better than ever” is usually a clichéd proclamation to describe a return, but it really rang true for SEVENTEEN. From the very start, Hoshi’s infectiously boisterous energy greeted the audience — who were asked to raise their tiger signs, in honor of his de facto representative animal, about a million times. Joshua, often more hushed, wasn’t far behind and also unabashedly urged concertgoers to remember his name after his own round of chants. Before their first ments, “HOT,” “March,” and “HIT” served as the trio opener for the show, with a smooth segue into “Rock with You” and the all-English duet “2 MINUS 1,” which rounded up the first portion of the show.
Then came the customary unit stages. The performance team (Hoshi, Jun, The8, and Dino) went first, showing off their suave moves and synchronization with the slower-paced, concert version of “Moonwalker” and Your Choice’s “Wave.” Perhaps on the most aesthetically pleasing stage of the night, surrounded by shining stars and green ferns, the vocal team (Woozi, Jeonghan, Joshua, DK, and Seungkwan) followed suit with heartfelt ballads “Come To Me” and “Imperfect Love.” Then came the hip-hop unit’s turn with a complete change of pace. S.Coups, Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Vernon made the audience roar — sometimes more literally than others — with their rendition of the hyper-pop anthem “GAM3 BO1” and the rambunctious “Back It Up.”