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GOT7's 'Eyes On You' tour in Los Angeles vs. Mexico City: a comparison
August 31, 2018 /0 Comments/in Events /by Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum
by Tam Huynh
Now that the waters have settled and we've collected ourselves, let's talk about GOT7's Eyes On You tour shall we? Fellow KultScene writer Tam Huynh and I were fortunate enough to attend more than one stop this time around (although she did the entire North American tour, but that's a story for another day. In the meantime, check out when she hit up all the U.S. stops on the Turbulence tour), so we got a good understanding about how shows differ from city to city, and even country to country.
The Eyes On You tour began all the way back in July in Toronto and ran through Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and wrapped up in Mexico City on the 13th. This tour marked a series of firsts for GOT7. To name just a few, their first arena tour in North America; first K-pop group to play Barclays Center in New York and Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, which was also their first time in the country; and first JYP Entertainment group to hold an arena show in Los Angeles. It was truly a monumental tour for the guys, and I'm glad I got to witness some of it.
Though the journey began in Toronto, Tam and I linked up in LA and Mexico City. For Turbulence, I also did two stops (Miami and Los Angeles), but this time around, I wanted to experience a foreign fandom. I mean, we've all been there; all of our baby bird hearts have broken a little bit after realizing that the U.S. doesn't get the same concerts that GOT7 puts on in Korea or even Thailand. And though this wasn't exactly a show in Asia, I still wanted to see the differences between Mexican and USA ahgases, especially since I had already experienced a few K-pop shows in Mexico City.
Just as a disclosure: I'm Mexican, so I wholly understand the culture and the people. I also live in Los Angeles and have attended every GOT7 show in the city. In other words, I know what I'm talking about.
But anyway, you read the title; you read my four paragraph-long ramblings. So which stop was better? Let's examine.
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The Members' Spirits
Los Angeles didn't open the tour, Toronto did, but the boys had been in the city a few days prior to the show for interviews and whatnot. Though the performances didn't lack energy, they did comment about having jet lag, which caused small, blink-and-you'll-miss-it mistakes. The members also commented that they were nervous. Maybe it was due to Mr. J. Y. Park himself was in attendance or all the industry people who were also checking out the show. But during their speaking moments, most of the guys — especially Mark— seemed more shy than usual and didn't resort to their usual antics. For this tour, they all tried their best to speak the most English –especially Jinyoung, who should already have a B. A. in English for all I'm concerned.
Mexico City was a whole different story. It was the last night of the North American leg before they hit up South America. As aforementioned, this was GOT7's first time in the country, so most of the members gave their all for their Mexican ahgases. The fact that their first visit was at an arena seemed to also energize their moods and want to give an above average performance —which they did! Though most notably to yours truly, Jaebum —who had been all smiles all tour, especially in Los Angeles— seemed to had toned it down, especially on his overexaggerated rendition of the "Stop, Stop It" choreography. Maybe he was tired? Who knows! But the overall performances seemed tighter than in LA. "Paradise" was way more synchronized in Mexico than in LA, for example.
Also, as someone who has only seen the group in the U.S., it was odd to see them speak only in Korean and not in English. Since the members have a better flow with each other speaking in Korean, the talking moments felt a bit more genuine and as if you were watching them on their YouTube shows. Jinyoung spoke way longer and his message to fans seemed deeper since he was able to say it Korean and have a translator relay the message in Spanish. However, they all said a few phrases in Spanish, like Bam Bam saying "Me encanta el ambiente el día de hoy" (I'm loving the mood today), and Jackson having an inexplicable inside joke with himself with the nickname "Pepe."
Yes, I know that the setlist was the same throughout the entire tour. However, in Los Angeles, after jamming their souls away during the encore songs "Look (remix)," "Fly (remix)," and "Go Higher," a few of the boys huddled up and decided they were doing one more song since it was a special night —much to Jinyoung's dismay, who was already a step away from exiting the stage. JB and Bam Bam playfully asked the audience what we wanted to hear and then said they'd do "Just Right," which wasn't included in the original setlist. The boys took this song to continue their usual shenanigans on stage with their dancers and the fans. The choreography was nowhere in sight.
The rest of the tour unfortunately didn't include a bonus track, including Mexico City.
Being only the third K-pop act to perform ever here, GOT7 played the historic venue The Forum in Los Angeles. In the last few years, it underwent a renovation which resulted in the venue being state of the art. I don't think GOT7 has ever sounded as good as they did here —even when they did KCON LA 2017 at the Staples Center. The sound and acoustics of the arena did the members' justice.
Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, however, is notoriously known as the "plaza de los rebotes," or the rebound plaza, meaning the sound bounces off the venue's unique architecture unflatteringly. During their speaking moments, it was hard to hear them, or the translator, since the cheering drowned their voices quite easily.
Fan Energy
I've been to a lot of K-pop concerts throughout the years and have gotten to experience seeing lots of different fandoms react to their faves. But I don't think I've ever experienced the same energy like in Mexico City. It was utter insanity. Fans in Los Angeles are loud, sure, and they cheer for their faves. But Mexican fans, whew, I'd be surprised if they didn't rupture their vocal chords. Sure, I blamed the venue's acoustics for the less than perfect sound, but the fans screams and squeals were so loud at times, that that's the only thing you heard. This, of course, came in handy on "Look" and "Never Ever" when it came down to the fan chants. GOT7's names echoed and bounced off the entire arena in one big roar each time. And I think the members' noticed, for they were all smiles throughout the entire show.
Los Angeles is always an amazing show given it's Mark hometown, and the adopted one of the rest of the members. Fans here (me included), I think, are way more chill. We dance throughout the entire songs, both in sync with the choreography or just vibing with them. Sure screams are loud and the boys feel the love, but I have to say Mexico was next level in terms of passion. Maybe it was due to it being the first time seeing them in person, whereas LA gets them at least once a year. Nevertheless, while different, the love for GOT7 was not only visible, but palpable.
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Though the LA and Mexico City stops had the same show on paper, they were both very different experiences. For me personally in terms of which I enjoyed the most or unbiasedly thought was a better performance varied depending on the different points I went through in the piece. Was a tween fan screaming her lungs out behind me? Did Jaebum stick his tongue out enough? Did Bam Bam come out with new memes to recreate? Did I feel the bass in my eardrums?
After taking into account each stop's highlights, I've come to a conclusion. On comparing the concerts I experience in Los Angeles and in Mexico City, interacting with fans of different cultures and backgrounds, and seeing the boys behave differently depending on the country they were in, my conclusion is that they were both amazing shows!
I know, I know. You may think I'm cheating, but I'm not. I may have been annoyed half of the time in Mexico over the fans' screams, but once I put it into perspective and realized that this was the first time they were seeing their bias group, I understood them. Same goes with LA. The boys weren't as easygoing and turnt like in, say, New York, but it had to be weighing on them heavily just how monumental this particular show was for their careers and even as representatives of JYP.
The Eyes On You tour wasn't perfect, but it was sure as hell a good time. The boys got to highlight the songs that they got to write and/or produce and they put on a show worthy of an internationally renowned pop act. This tour proved that GOT7 is only getting started and that we can only expect bigger and greater things from them.
Check out the rest of the pictures:
Did you attend any of the stops on GOT7's Eyes On You tour? Let us know your experience and thoughts in the comment section below. Be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.
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