When you’re called the “golden maknae”—the golden youngest member—of the biggest pop group in the world, you don’t need an elaborate stage to shine. Your sheer talent is enough to mesmerize your audience and have them in the palm of your hands.
Jeon Jungkook, the youngest member of global juggernaut, BTS, gave yet another formidable performance in “Golden Live On Stage,” his first full concert where he showcased his solo debut album titled Golden.
Nearly 3,000 lucky ARMYs who won seats for the concert via a Weverse raffle surrounded JK as he performed on the hexagonal stage (the shape was his idea, he proudly said) at the Jangchung Gymnasium yesterday, November 21, while hundreds of thousands more ARMY watched the livestream on Weverse, which miraculously did not crash.
JK opened the show with Standing Next To You, his Michael Jackson-inspired groovy song that dictated the pace and energy of the two-hour show. He followed it up with Yes or No, Somebody, Closer to You, and 3D.
Like his hyungs on their respective solo journeys, JK proved how strong and engaging he was as an artist and a performer. He has the innate ability to draw his audience into every song he sings. You’ll share his heartache in Too Sad To Dance and Hate You. You’re as giddy as he is when he devotes himself to his beloved in 3D and Seven.
The exceptional lighting direction, the choreographies, the hydraulic stairs that served as the only prop in the nearly two-hour concert were all that JK needed in his performance. His concert outfit was all black, except for that nice brown jacket, and basic—something that JK would wear to the airport.
Of course, no solo concert of a Tannie is complete without another BTS member in the audience.
When JK, as he wrapped up his ending, said there was someone watching the show whom he cherishes and loves so much, and who was more eloquent than he, everybody knew right away he was talking about Namjoon. So there was Namjoon, in the upper seats, beaming with pride for his youngest brother—and teasing him to show more skin in the future.
JK countered that Namjoon has also been showing some skin lately. Yes, showing skin has been BTS’ Chapter 2.
JK’s was yet another Tannie concert that proved how BTS have mastered the art of making every show an intimate gathering between them and ARMY
JK’s was yet another Tannie concert that proved how BTS have mastered the art of making every show an intimate gathering between them and ARMY.
When JK couldn’t understand a thing ARMY were saying (perhaps because of the venue’s acoustics), he held his finger to his mouth and asked for just one (among the 2,800?) to say what they wanted to tell him.
I couldn’t agree more with ARMYs who said that the concert was an in-person version of JK’s Weverse lives. I saw a post on X (formerly Twitter) that said JK was finally able to do a live without bothering his neighbors with his late night noraebangs. Haha!
And this rascal—without any warning—showed a video of himself shirtless exercising on an elliptical machine, shirtless lying on the floor post-exercise with just a white towel covering his chest, of himself taking a shower, stepping out of the shower, and towel drying his hair—his defined arm muscles and sleeve tattoo displayed in all their glory.
Oh, these scenes were part of his G.C.F. in Budapest, I forgot to say. This G.C.F., which stands for Golden Closet Films, JK’s travel videos, made me forget a lot of things. He hadn’t done one in a while, and he shocked us with his latest, uhm, offering where he recorded the days he spent in the Hungarian capital to shoot the music video for Standing Next to You.
The ARMYs in the concert venue were our strongest soldiers. Imagine seeing JK in the flesh, onstage, after watching all this on the screen.
Levity aside, Golden and the G.C.F. in Budapest were proof that JK has indeed grown up. He is unafraid to tackle the very real and very human themes of love, devotion, heartache, and intimacy in his music. He unabashedly shows skin, a lot of it. JK, after all, is already 26 years old and about to serve in the military.
Army : “you are my life”
Jungkook : “I’m your life, you really are my life”
Find me a better idol fan relationship, I’ll wait.pic.twitter.com/766eqo9GKf— KiKi⁷ 🪷 (@seokjinah070) November 20, 2023
Allow me to paraphrase JK in his interviews about Golden. His solo debut tackles the whole range of emotions someone feels when falling in love. His songs do not have to be autobiographical, he said. Love, after all, is a universal feeling. Everyone who has fallen in love can find a song in Golden which they can relate to. For example, don’t you just hate it when you cannot hate someone even if they have hurt you so bad?
I always loved reading the signs that fans bring to the concert to send their messages to the boys because they’re so witty, creative, and well-thought out. Our reliable ARMY translator, Christa @ryuminating, was able to capture some of the wonderful fan signs.
But when this portion comes up at a BTS concert, I also feel a little melancholic because it’s the signal that the show will soon be coming to an end. The sadness squeezed my heart a little tighter when we all heard JK sing acapella, “So show me, I’ll show you…” then the camera panned from the fan signs to him as he started walking to the stage and held his hand out to ARMYs.
He brought his six brothers to his concert by singing Magic Shop, their second fan song dedicated to ARMYs. I cannot help but think that Magic Shop was JK’s way of telling us that his enlistment would be happening soon, and he’s asking us to stay in the Magic Shop until they come for us in 2025.
Now, seriously:
where have you seen a concert like this, that the artist stops, sits down on the stage, takes his in-ear and just TALKS to the audience and shares his heart and listens to theirs for this amount of time, unscripted and HONEST???? pic.twitter.com/oM3ZTN3ght— JRJOT7 (@LetsBeGoodHuman) November 20, 2023
JK wrapped up his concert with Still With You, BTS’ special song for ARMY from their seventh anniversary in 2020. The song, performed by JK, is a promise that nothing can ever make BTS forget ARMY, even with the passing of time: “When I meet you again, I’ll look into your eyes and tell you, ‘I’ve missed you.'”
JK in ‘Still With You’
‘Golden Live On Stage’ setlist:
Standing Next To You
Yes or No
Somebody Closer to You
3D
G.C.F. in Budapest
Hate You
Shotglass of Tears
Too Sad To Dance
Please Don’t Change
Seven
Magic Shop
Still With You
