By Kya Brogdon | 8 November, 2023
The Orpheum Theatre - Los Angeles, CA. (November 1st, 2023)
@xikers_official via Twitter
Just over seven months since their debut into the K-Pop world, powerful rookie group xikers has not only successfully opened shows for their company-mates ATEEZ and rocked the house at KCON LA 2023, but they have now completed their first U.S. tour: TRICKY HOUSE: The First Encounter. This tour brought nine of the members (we miss you, Junghoon!) to six different cities across the countries and introduced the xikers name to the U.S. scene.
I was fortunate enough to see them open for ATEEZ in November of last year, since then I’ve been an avid follower of xikers’ (then called KQ Fellaz 2) journey and eagerly awaited their official debut earlier this year. With an incredibly powerful debut and an equally strong first comeback, I was again blown away by their stage presence when I saw them at KCON LA in August.
Almost a year to the day since I saw them for the first time, I was able to make it out for their second to last show of the tour in Los Angeles. With xikers being a newer group, and this their first tour, there isn’t a lot of official merch out for them as a group yet - this led to an influx in self-designed clothing with the xikers’ logo or song lyrics. One of my favorite parts of K-Pop shows is seeing all of the fashion choices fans make,
and I definitely saw more self-created outfits at xikers than I’ve seen at other shows this year. We waited in line for just a few hours, chatting with fans and getting freebies, (including some official album photocards!) we then grabbed tour shirts and made our way to our seats. Once we could see the stage, we were greeted by a life-size version of the xikers’ mascot “Tricky”. With xikers’ discography playing through the speakers as we ticked closer and closer to seven o’clock, the anticipation was heavy in the air.
Opening the show with their forever iconic debut song “TRICKY HOUSE” into their b-side “Doorbell Ringing,” xikers made sure bring us right into their world and capture each person's attention with their incredible performance style and insanely sharp synchronization. My seats were in the balcony section, but the theater was small enough that it definitely didn’t feel that far away. In my opinion, it was the perfect view to be able to see the choreography as a whole, which is my favorite part of the live performance aspect of K-Pop shows. Their changes in formation were so clean and natural, each member had multiple chances to shine throughout each song and their energy never lowered even when they weren’t front and center.
After greeting the crowd and introducing themselves, the members launched into their next collection of energetic songs; “Oh My Gosh,” “Koong,” and “XIKEY.” It’s hard to choose a favorite song, but after listening to “Oh My Gosh” and “XIKEY” on their debut day I knew these songs would be absolutely amazing in a live setting, and I was not disappointed. I especially loved seeing “Oh My Gosh,” since that’s a b-side that wasn’t promoted when the album dropped and therefore the choreography was new. They then played a new music video for their song “Run” while the boys changed outfits, and hearing all of the fans sing along to this song about running alongside of xikers as we all chase our dreams was so emotional. It really brought that sense of community to the concert that I love being able to experience, we're all here showing our love and admiration for the same group people who inspire us, and that's something truly so special.
The next set of stages were cover songs, ranging from the members recreating an iconic pre-debut video as they dance to “Iffy” by Chris Brown, as well as a duo performance from members Junmin and Hunter done to “Die For You” by The Weeknd. After breaking into sub-unit teams, the members took turns doing cover dances to various K-Pop songs like “BOUNCY” by ATEEZ and “Super” by SEVENTEEN for boy groups, and “Queencard” by (G)I-DLE and “Hype Boy” by NewJeans for girl groups.
All too soon, the night came to an end as the xikers boys transitioned back to their own songs, rounding out the show with stellar performances of “Skater,” and “DO or DIE,” and the encore songs: “Sunny Side,” “HOMEBOY,” and “ROCKSTAR.” Despite this being the end of the set, their energy never wavered, even after hours of intense dancing. Their excitement for being on stage was obvious throughout the entire night, the passion and love for performing palpable even from the very last row in the venue. Member Sumin stuck out to me the most in that regard, I don’t think he had anything but a smile on his face for the entire night. When they weren’t dancing to parts of the choreography, the members were giving attention to those on the mezzanine and balcony areas, sending hearts and waves and grooving along with the crowd.
As they said their goodbyes, the members promised to be back with more music and performances soon. They spent some time reading the different signs throughout the venue, as well as making sure each and every part of the audience felt their love with hearts and waves and even some games of rock paper scissors. Regardless of the fact that they are still considered rookies in the K-Pop realm, (rookie years are your first two years of activity) or the fact that they aren’t even a full year into their careers yet - xikers are seasoned performers who know how to captivate audiences and own their stages.
Congrats on your incredible debut U.S. tour, xikers! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.
@xikers_official via Twitter
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