International hit group KARD returned after a successful Korean debut to continue their Wild Kard tour from earlier in the year, hitting U.S. cities Minneapolis, Washington D.C., New York, Miami, and San Francisco via U.S. promoter SubKulture Entertainment. The Kraze had the opportunity to attend the show in Washington D.C. Keep reading for full event coverage!

Stellar Performances

The fanmeet was a mix of original tracks and cover songs, with the group performing every track off of their recent debut album Hola Hola. They began their performance with two of their hits “Don’t Recall” (the Hidden Version) and “Oh NaNa” before continuing with introductions and jumping into the first round of fan engagements.

The bulk of the performances occurred half-way through the show, starting with a cover of “The Monster” by Eminem featuring Rihanna. BM and J. Seph had a truly lit sub-unit performance immediately after, hyping up the crowd with their intense rapping skills. An emotional VCR played during a costume change that had footage of the members in their trainee days discussing debut and success, pulling at the heartstrings of fans. The full group returned to perform my personal favorite track off the album, “I Can’t Stop,” which was followed by Somin and Jiwoo’s sub-unit performance: a cover of Bruno Mars’ “Versace on the Floor.” The segment ended with a cover of Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side” and, finally, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind” before diving into the next round of fan engagements.

KARD closed up their setlist with performances of “Rumor” and official debut song “Hola Hola.” No concert would be complete without an encore set, and the group returned in new outfits to perform the original version of “Don’t Recall” along with final album track “Living Good” before taking their leave for the evening.

Fan Engagements Galore

Q&A Session

The first of the fan engagements KARD took part in was a Q&A session with questions prepared beforehand for the members. Each member selected one question randomly from the box provided.

J. SEPH

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: Reviewing performances, watching TV, and playing soccer.

JIWOO

Q: What are your goals for the year?
A: After debuting, our goal is to successfully end the year.

SOMIN

Q: Who is the clumsiest member of the group?
A: The members all voted unanimously for Somin herself, with BM even getting up to playfully reenact her issue with tripping. Jiwoo chimed in to point out that J. Seph had his own clumsy streak, often being the one to get food stains on his shirt. Hilariously, he even had a stain on his outfit at that moment, and pointed it out to the crowd, eliciting a chorus of laughter at the confirmation of Jiwoo’s claim. In the end, the MC declared both Somin and J. Seph the clumsiest members (check out our video of the entire exchange above!).

BM

Q: Who spends the most time in front of the mirror?
A: He initially avoided answering this question until maknae Jiwoo called him out and informed the crowd that he would often stand in front of the mirror and make comments about how good-looking he was (savage maknae was indeed on full display!). BM quickly explained that it wasn’t out of cockiness, but in an attempt to build up his self-confidence.

Dice Game

Four lucky fans were selected before the show to participate in the dice game, matched respectively with a member of KARD. The game had six different outcomes that participants could get from their selected member:

1 - Serenaded by one member
2 - Selfie with one member
3 - Wake-up call recording
4 - Photo with KARD members
5 - Signed poster and a hug
6 - Signed album

BM’s fan rolled first and landed on a five, which got her an all-member signed poster right on the spot, as well as a group hug (so sweet!). Somin’s fan came second and hit a six, earning an Hola Hola album signed by the group right in front of his eyes. J. Seph’s fan was third, and much to her own delight, she rolled a one. The distress was very apparent on J. Seph’s face (to my complete and total amusement), and the MC explained that he had had to do the same thing at the previous show in Minneapolis. It took all of two seconds of singing for the boy to break down out of nervousness, with Somin running up to comfort him. Eventually, he declared he was okay and successfully completed the activity, collapsing onto the floor in a fit of giggles. Last but not least, Jiwoo’s partner rolled a three, winning a wake-up call recorded on his phone by her. The nervous maknae sang “Oh NaNa” three times before finishing with “wake up, [fan’s name].” The crowd went wild as she fell to the floor in embarrassment, like J. Seph had just a few minutes earlier.

As far as fanmeets go, KARD was definitely on the higher end of the list in terms of quality. The fan engagement events were well organized (including the P1 fansign that took place before the show), and everything ran smoothly throughout the entire fanmeet. There were very few, if any, moments when the crowd was not entertained either by the group itself or by a VCR used at times when the members needed to make costume changes. KARD also put on an amazing show, with the singing prowess of both Somin and Jiwoo clearly on display in organic unity, and the energy from all four members never ran out, even throughout the show’s encore. All in all, SubK and KARD have earned themselves an enthusiastic 10 out of 10 for the event!