On their second to last stop in their first U.S. showcase tour via SubKulture Entertainment, ITZY delighted MIDZYs of the mid Atlantic by stopping by Warner Theater, a luxury that many DC fans aren’t often given. DC is a city that is often overlooked by K-Pop concert promoters, so it was nice to have a hometown event after a fairly long drought. 

With less than a year on the K-Pop scene, it wasn’t clear what exactly could be expected from the rookie group’s showcase. Despite that, MIDZYs filled the theater and bubbled with excitement before the show started, with the group even actively singing the fanchant for “ICY” before the girls came out. With an introductory video being played just a few minutes after the clock struck 8pm, fans roared in excitement and anticipation for the quintet to come out. Feeding off the energy of the crowd, the girls kicked off the showcase with “ICY” and “IT’z Summer,” following with introductions and the Q+A portion of the show. 

Select MIDZY had the opportunity to ask questions to ITZY, but the most memorable one was probably the question of which girl group the girls wanted to collaborate with. Leader Yeji selected former I.O.I member Chungha and when asked her favorite song, she replied with “Gotta Go” before performing some of the choreography. Lia chose TWICE and sang a portion of her favorite song, “Dance The Night Away.” Third in line, Ryujin, declared she wanted to perform with Sunmi and performed a portion of “Gashina” to a highly enthusiastic crowd. Member Chaeryeong chose Red Velvet and performed some of the “Peek-A-Boo” choreography and finally maknae Yuna also chose TWICE, though instead performed a bit of popular track “Likey.”

The next fan segment that followed was something brand new that as far as I know hasn’t been used in any other show. Three K-Pop songs would be played at the same time and the members had to guess all of the songs correctly, along with the artist, to get a point. If the sound of three K-Pop songs playing together wasn’t chaotic enough, the personalities of the ITZY members were thrown in, leading to what I could even consider mayhem. Though I use that word, I don’t mean it in a negative way, because it was very entertaining and endearing. Ryujin’s competitive streak definitely came out as she often came to MIDZY in the front row asking for help and ultimately ended up winning the game because of it. But the true highlights may have been Chaeryeong and Yuna, both of whom exuded an excessive amount of cuteness and energy. There were a number of occasions where I couldn’t even decipher what was being said because the members were yelling over each other, but it was still somehow incredibly endearing.

Despite their extra antics, Yuna and Chaeryeong both ended the game with zero points, and thus had to endure the punishment. For this game, they each had to put on headbands (Chaeryeong chose bunny ears, Yuna chose a giant yellow bow) and perform the lullaby “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (though an EDM version of it) as cutely as possible. The punishment was definitely fitting for the two youngest and there’s no doubt that they nailed it. 

The girls returned to performances then, with surprise cover dances of TWICE’s “TT” and GOT7’s “Hard Carry.” Speaking from my perspective, I was particularly blown away by their “Hard Carry” performance, since I didn’t see it coming and I was quite impressed how well they handled the sharp and intense choreography. 

The final game came after that, a roulette spin that landed on live missions, which involved ITZY performing “ICY” while being given missions in the middle of it, including but not limited to tickling Ryujin, kissing Yeji on the cheek, model poses and a face tower. My favorite part was watching the girls chase Ryujin around to tickle her while she desperately attempted to get away. Cute and also extremely relatable, Ryujin. 

The girls then performed “Cherry” before giving their final ment and taking the commemorative photo with the crowd. Each member expressed their sincerest gratitude for the opportunity to perform. Lia worked as the main speaker for the group since she’s fluent in English, but all of the others tried very hard to communicate in English as well. I particularly noticed Ryujin working very hard to string together full sentences, and even though she misplaced a few words or pronounced something incorrectly, I found it incredibly endearing that she was trying so hard not to default to Korean.

After sharing their thoughts the quintet ended the night with performances of “Want It?” and “Dalla Dalla,” the latter giving MIDZY a chance to showcase their fanchant game once again (and it was quite impressive, to say the least). 

Going into the show, I wouldn’t say I was the biggest fan of ITZY, simply a casual listener of their music. But still, I found the experience to see them perform live very rewarding, and with the additional games that allowed their personalities to shine through, I found myself truly understanding why this girl group has accomplished so much just in their first year on the K-Pop scene. We rarely get girl groups coming over state side, so that was also a wonderful opportunity! I hope to see more of this and more of them in the future. In conclusion, stan ITZY.