KPOP.FLEX didn’t just take over Deutsche Bank Park Stadium, but the whole city of Frankfurt on a very warm weekend in the middle of May—with around 70,000 tickets sold and people attending from all over the continent over the two days.

While roaming around Frankfurt the Friday before the festival, we were already running into and having casual chats with fans from all around the world in literally every corner of the city, already receiving some freebies (such as fan-made photocards and keyrings) from the creative, passionate, and generous fans who prepared personalized gifts for all multi-stans attending. Since travel is fairly easy and accessible within Europe, Frankfurt doesn’t only mean Germany, but most of the continent. The interest and fans’ enthusiasm definitely surprised the organizers, calling for several last-minute changes (like adding a second day, for starters) which inevitably brought some glitches into the system (NCT Dream reference definitely intended). But despite all of that, KPOP.FLEX brought a never-before-seen event for us, and most likely put Europe back on the K-Pop map. (Which we hope will have more companies include European cities in their world tour announcements.)

IVE, ENHYPEN, AB6IX, MAMAMOO, (G)I-DLE, NCT Dream, EXO's Kai, Dreamcatcher, and MONSTA X (ONEUS, unfortunately, had to withdraw from the event last minute due to COVID-19)... May 14-15 was definitely a memorable weekend for European K-Pop fans, but it was also a big step for the artists. KPOP.FLEX marked the first-ever overseas performance for several of them, while for others it was also the first time returning to such a grand stage with a major live audience ever since the pandemic started.

Bringing together such a powerful lineup and the greatest number of K-Pop fans, KPOP.FLEX became the biggest event of its kind in Europe. It can’t really be compared to a usual music festival like Coachella in the US or Sziget Festival in Europe—but it also shouldn’t be. To put it into perspective, it felt like one of the year-end award shows where some of the most popular artists attend and give a little taste of who they are as performers, with idols also playing their MC roles and interacting with the audience between stages, video messages from actress Jung Hoyeon, TXT, Stray Kids, DKZ and more, along with special acts. MAMAMOO’s Solar and AB6IX’s Daehwi brought back a nostalgic, yet somehow still very refreshing, moment with the most beautiful version of Frozen’s “Let It Go,” and (G)-IDLE covering Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself” on the first night; while Dreamcatcher pumped up the crowd by doing a powerful rock version of BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love” on the second day.

Before the concerts, the local Korea Tourism Organization also held the 2022 Korea Festival to introduce more Korean culture to European K-Pop fans through a hanbok fashion show, traditional music performances, and giving the fans the chance to try the best Korean food. During the day we also had a chance to gather information on some Korean cities—and they definitely ended up on our next travel itinerary—, enjoy some b-boying, and even participate in Squid Game-inspired games and random play dance. Now without further ado, let’s see our recap of each performer in order of their stage appearances:

IVE

Debuted only half a year ago, this was IVE’s first-ever overseas performance, and first-ever time standing in front of this many people. To level up the challenge, they were also responsible for opening the first night. The power rookies showed that they were more than up for it, starting the festival off strong, and making the whole stadium their own crowd. The girl group opened with their recent title track “Love Dive,” followed up by the B-side of the same mini-album, “Royal.” Last, but definitely not least, we had the first TikTok moment of the night with their upbeat performance of their viral debut song “Eleven.” After changing up their outfits (and attitudes without the nerves of the first night), they did the same set on the second day—which probably isn’t that surprising since that’s literally ¾ of their discography. But if someone in the crowd hasn’t had their eyes on Starship Entertainment’s new girl group, the girls definitely showed them what they’ve been missing out on.

ENHYPEN

KPOP.FLEX also marked the first-ever overseas performance of ENHYPEN, and although they only performed on the first night, international fans are certainly more than ready to meet Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki again (hopefully really soon?). The group kicked off their performance with an OT7 version of Jungwon and Ni-ki’s MIX & MAX “Bleeding Darkness” choreography with two of their most popular tracks from last year, “Drunk-Dazed” and “FEVER.” ENHYPEN is undoubtedly some of the most charismatic performers of their generations, and seeing them live just makes this statement stronger. Their energy on stage fired up the whole audience. Halfway through their set, they included a little interactive segment where we were able to see members’ infamous aegyo in person (Sunoo stans, are we okay?), heard a bit of Heeseung’s version of “Off My Face” by Justin Bieber, and although there was no time for a full stage of “Polaroid Love,” they did give us an a capella snippet of their sweet track. It almost felt like my TikTok FYP came to life suddenly and instead of scrolling, I just had to keep moving my eyes to see the fans enjoying the viral hit. Following these interactions, ENHYPEN closed their set with two more powerful performances of “Tamed-Dashed” and “Blessed-Cursed.”

AB6IX

The two days of AB6IX felt like two different concerts, and I’m not complaining. I started off the festival being less familiar with this group, but that being said, they instantly pulled me in—just in time for their comeback on May 18. Looking at K-Pop Twitter, I certainly wasn’t the only one and it also feels like the right time to give a shoutout to ABNEW, AB6IX’s fandom, for being so kind hearted, giving the warmest welcome to new international fans on social media. On both days I was impressed by their charismatic and colorful stages, they are overall great performers; and by mixing up their setlist, they gave new listeners like me more chances to get to know them. Both Saturday and Sunday, they started with a vlog on the big screens, showing their arrival in Germany, pointing out the stadium from the plane. On the first night the BRANDNEW MUSIC group performed “Close,” “Breathe,” “Cherry” (which instantly turned Woojin into my cherry on top for the weekend), and “Do You Remember.” On the second night “Close” and “Do You Remember” were accompanied by “1, 2, 3,” and instead of a fourth song, they got a little interaction in with the audience, teaching us popular K-Pop dances, “Kick It” by NCT 127, “DDU-DU DDU-DU” by BLACKPINK and of course “Permission to Dance” by BTS.

MAMAMOO

We’ll take any OT4 MAMAMOO moments, especially if it means seeing them live two nights in a row. As the only vocal group of the festival, the quartet definitely sang their hearts out, enjoying every moment on stage, interacting with fans and each other as much as possible. It’s not easy to pick only a few songs from their discography, but they put together two very fun performances. On Saturday we saw “AYA,” “gogobebe,” “HIP,” and “mumumumuch.” While on Sunday, right before rushing off stage, they opened the concert by performing a similar setlist, switching only “mumumumuch” to a throwback hit, “Um Oh Ah Yeah.”

(G)-IDLE

Next up is Cube Entertainment’s girl group bringing their “Tomboy” attitude to the stage. Their presence definitely energized the crowd, not letting anyone get tired around the middle of the show. Starting with a VCR dance tutorial to their most recent viral title song, (G)-IDLE instantly fired up the audience on both days, followed by their debut track “LATATA.” This already felt like a full-circle moment, but the girls made sure to give their all by performing two more fan-favorites, “Oh my God” and “My Bag.” It’s not easy to cover several years of discography with four songs, but they did a really great job at bringing variety from their different eras.

NCT Dream

As Mark and Haechan were getting ready for the Japanese leg of NCT 127’s tour, they were not able to join Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung in Frankfurt, but the five members made sure to fill up the void with their exceptional performance. On Saturday the whole stadium lit up green with thousands of people waving their NCT lightsticks in the air, making it really sentimental to look around in the crowd during NCT Dream’s first-ever European show. The stage was heated from the moment they stepped on stage performing “Hot Sauce” from their first full-length album. I was wrong to only expect some of the most recent songs from them as they continued with “Ridin’,” a hit from their 2020 Reload EP, prior to moving on to “Hello Future.” Before finishing their set, 5DREAM also had a chance to play with the audience a bit, acting out different concepts of being cute, tough, and sensual, not to mention Jisung proposing to 44,000 people—yes, that actually happened—before closing their performance with their current title track “Glitch Mode.” As a European NCTzen, I’m glad we were finally able to show our love to the boys by singing and dancing along with them in person. We could definitely take this “situation” on “repetition” so let’s “Scratch that, bring it back.”

KAI

Although KAI is definitely not new to big stages, or even international audiences, this Saturday and Sunday marked his first concerts outside of Korea as a soloist, taking on the center position for the whole festival. Starting off alluring but sweet, he opened his stage with “Peaches” and “Vanilla,” followed by “To Be Honest,” all from his second mini-album, before completely setting the stage on fire and heating up the audience with his solo debut track “Mmmh(음).” His sweet giggles, comments, and interactions with fans between the sensual performances let Kim Jongin shine equally next KAI’s energy.

Dreamcatcher

Although Dreamcatcher only performed on the second day, it was pretty easy to spot their fans both days, waving their unique lightstick in the crowds and showing off their iconic outfit choices for the festival. The performance kicked off with their most recent, apocalyptic title “MAISON” filled with strong messages about our world. Followed by probably one of their most renewed songs, “BEcause.” After that, no pun intended, I actually screamed when “Scream” came up as their last song. As a new InSomnia (Dreamcatcher’s fandom name), I just recently started exploring more of Dreamcatcher’s discography, and this certainly stood out at first listen. The septet’s performance captivated the audience, making everyone move along to the intense music, taking over the stadium completely. Although they only attended one day of the festival, they made sure to make their moment unforgettable. Not to mention that their “Kill This Love” cover was something we didn’t know we needed. Europe is now certainly ready for Dreamcatcher Company to drop European dates for their upcoming Apocalypse: Save Us tour.

MONSTA X

The moment European Monbebes were waiting for, accompanied by cheers louder than I’ve ever heard. Known for their powerful and strong presence, MONSTA X’s stage still started off and ended quite sentimentally on Sunday. Before stepping on stage, we were presented a short video honoring the group’s seventh anniversary, which happened the day before their performance. The five members then came out to start a party with their newest title track “Love,” followed by the pretty location-appropriate “Autobahn” co-written by I.M (Autobahn is the highway system throughout Germany.) They continued with a powerful performance of yet another 2021 title track “Gambler” before getting a bit more sentimental once again with “사랑한다,” which definitely put my non-waterproof mascara in danger. Between the tracks, MONSTA X also had some fun with the audience and we got to see Joohoney’s “kuku-kaka” in person, Hyungwon’s sexy version of IVE’s “Love Dive” choreo, and even heard a snippet of Kihyun’s solo debut track “Voyager.”

Next Up: Online Streaming, and Two More Events in 2023

If you couldn’t attend KPOP.FLEX this past weekend, or want to relive the moment, you can buy tickets for the May 29 online streaming of a 90-minute televised version of the show. Besides that, who else is excited to find out the lineups for the 2023 festivals in both Frankfurt and London?

Edited by Omani

KPOP.FLEX is Putting Europe Back on the K-Pop Map

IVE