Making headlines as one of the few girl groups to do so in recent years, Red Velvet embarked on their first U.S. tour this month with stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, and Chicago before wrapping up with their last stop in Newark. The Kraze was lucky enough to attend the final stop of the REDMARE tour in Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center and it’s safe to say the night was the epitome of pure “happiness.”

Spreading the “Summer Magic”

The show opened to deafening screams with 2016’s “Russian Roulette,” following a summery, theme-park-inspired VCR that ultimately split the concert into five separate segments. After introductions, the girls flowed right into their 2018 summer anthem “Power Up,” which kept ReVeluvs’ adrenaline pumping as they sang the chorus word for word. Following this was a remix of “My Second Date,” wherein each member got to show off her solo dance moves before going into some of their catchiest recent B-sides, “Mosquito” and “Look.

Things took a literal wild turn with the next VCR that showed the girls dressed as animals being followed by hunters. Donned in sparkly dresses and animal ears of every kind, the girls came back to the stage with “Mr. E,” “Zoo,” debut single “Happiness,” and “Hit That Drum” as they filled the theater with enough energy to put an actual jungle to shame. High points of this segment included powerhouse vocalist Wendy’s iconic belting in “Happiness” which left concert-goers in goosebumps.

The next segment took things on a more cutesy route after a VCR filled with Alice-in-Wonderland-esque elements including Irene shrinking and enlarging her members. Emerging in brightly-colored, frilly dresses, the girls continued on with a short version of “Lucky Girl” before performing “Bad Dracula,” “All Right,” and “Blue Lemonade.” After a brief break where Seulgi discovered and fawned over a fanmade Reve the Robot (the tour’s mascot) mask, the girls busted out their own lightsticks and sang along with the crowd to “About Love” before slowing things down with their ballad “Moonlight Melody.” This portion of the concert also featured the girls throwing balls into the audience which was particularly endearing when Seulgi tried about a dozen times to throw one into the side balcony.

ReVeluvs were left shaking in suspense with the next VCR—a haunted-house-themed clip that was an obvious lead-in to some of Red Velvet’s darker discography, “Bad Boy,” “Peek-a-boo,” and their most recent “RBB (Really Bad Boy).” In addition to being some of their most well-known tracks, this particular part of the concert especially wowed the audience as Red Velvet performed the English versions of both “Bad Boy” and “RBB (Really Bad Boy).” There have been very few, if any, such well-done English versions of songs, so to see Red Velvet perform them so confidently was beyond impressive.

After ending the main portion of the concert with 2017’s “Rookie” and a final VCR, the girls returned to the stage with an encore of “Day 1” before going into their final comments for the evening. As Joy had been unable to attend their 2017 Chicago fanmeet due to scheduling conflicts, her return to the U.S. had been long-awaited. In her final speech, she expressed how physically hard it is to be an idol and that quite often she doesn’t feel “good enough.” As someone who is a big fan of Red Velvet, this personally made me tear up, especially considering Joy’s never-ending upbeat personality on and off the stage. Although it sounded as though she was holding back tears, Joy went on to say that her fans telling her she is “enough” warms her heart and is what keeps her going. Equally as touching was when Yeri—though not being the fluent English speaker in the group—prepared her entire ending ment in English, despite having the option of a translator. Her fun-loving personality, unparalleled sass, and eagerness to communicate with fans serves as the perfect way to describe the tone of the whole concert. Once the members were done sharing their feelings, they wrapped up the performance with their final song, “Red Flavor,” the perfect, fun ending for a fun night.

A Concert Filled With Joy

Overall, this was one of the most exciting and just downright happy concerts I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending. Last year’s fanmeet had its bumps (through no fault of Red Velvet), so while I do admit that I had some reservations, I’m glad to say SubKulture Entertainment delivered on this tour. From start to finish, the theater was filled with such high energy that my only honest complaint is that the venue felt too small for Red Velvet’s whopping stage presence. As all of the members expressed interest in returning stateside in the future, I can only hope that the next tour finds them in even bigger and better venues. As Irene said in her ending ment through the translator, this concert “filled her with so much joy” (to which Joy, of course, reacted hilariously) and whether I’m looking at it through the lens of a writer or a ReVeluv, I’d have to say she hit the nail on the head.