JUST B Captures the Hearts of Attendees at Otakon 2023

Photo by Khanh Tran

Back for its 30th year anniversary, Otakon once again returned to the nation’s capital for its massive scale convention and concert series. Last year we highlighted some of the fun and unique features this convention offered for K-Pop fans, and this year is no different. While last year featured the likes of PIXY, AleXa, and Rolling Quartz, in terms of K-Pop this year, the featured artist was JUST B. Much like the previous year, Otakon offered some exclusive access to the members of JUST B via a dance workshop, meet and greet, and a Q&A session with the band. In addition, they performed a full set of 11 songs on Sunday for the convention concert.

Photos by Khanh Tran

Closing out the convention with their show, five members of JUST B were greeted by crowds of excited fans. Maknae Sangwoo was missing from the lineup, as he remained in Korea to recover from an injury. As the lights dimmed and fans exploded out in screams, the boys came out with track “Get Away” from their first mini-album. The heavy rock-infused track served to pump up the crowd as they moved into the next track “DAMAGE,” their debut track produced by B.A.P leader Bang Yongguk. The boys would then take a break to greet the crowd after successfully pumping everyone up with their opening. 

The electric energy continued as they immediately jumped into “RE=LOAD” before moving into “Try.” For those unfamiliar with JUST B, this was a great introduction to the group and it definitely got the crowd hyped for their performance. On top of having high energy in all these songs, the choreography was strong and intricate, and by their first ment, jackets of the boys had been discarded in favor of the t-shirts underneath. You could tell how hard they worked to perform when they finally took a break, chugging down water. 

After some interactions with the crowd, they jumped into “ME=(NANEUN)” and followed with “Cherry On Top,” shifting the energy from strong and driving to a softer feeling. Next came “DOMINO,” concluding the segment with a powerful feeling. Much of the music JUST B featured in their set was designed for hyping up the crowd, and even for someone as myself that was not as familiar with their discography, I found it to be very impressive.

After another ment, the boys would then slow it down with “Night Stroll” and “Camellia.” The two soft and sweet songs showed a very different side to JUST B in comparison to the previous high-energy tracks and were a nice change of pace. In their ending ment, Doyeom remarked that he wrote “Camellia” for his ONLY B, melting the hearts of fans in the audience.

Photos by Roxanne Wilson

As it came time to wrap the show up, the boys performed “DASH!” and “Make It New,” finishing off with a bang just as they had started. With cheers from the crowd demanding an encore, they returned to the stage to once again perform “Make It New,” but this time without choreography and replacing it with fan interactions.

As the only featured K-Pop artist at the convention, it really gave a chance for JUST B to shine on their own in a full-length concert. It was nice to see them perform so many of their tracks rather than just three or four, so it really gave us a good taste of what JUST B is capable of. I can confidently say that as the show ended on Sunday, many people walked out of that venue as new fans of the group.