Ephney Tsai Completing the U.S. leg of their tour in Los Angeles once again, Oneus performed at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 4th. Named to represent their desire to meet and perform for as many of their fans, known as ToMoons, as possible, the Reach For Us tour took the group to larger venues than their previous Blood Moon tour, signifying the group’s growing popularity.
While the 2022 tour revolved around a theme and highlighted Oneus’ signature traditional Korean outfits, this year’s tour was centered more around the relationship between the group and their fans. “The [tour] title Reach For Us came from the “Intro : EDEN” song from the MALUS album, and it expresses our wish to go to many different countries to reach our fans there,” explained Keonhee, emphasizing the purpose of the tour. Preparing for the tour with this in mind, the group built a setlist that consisted of some of the group’s favorite songs to perform. Xion chose both “Stupid Love” and “Skydivin'” as his top picks, mentioning how that part of their show was a fun time to communicate and interact with ToMoons. For similar reasons, Hwanwoong named title track “No Diggity” as his favorite to perform. “Last tour, [this song] was a powerful song to show our perfect choreography and best performance on stage, but this time, it’s more like a chance to communicate with our fans,” he elaborated. Keeping things sentimental, Seoho named “Youth” as his pick, specifying that the message in the lyrics is one he hopes to relay to ToMoons. Leedo pinpointed “Luna” as his favorite performance. “This song really shows Oneus’ color, with the traditional Korean beauty in the song. It’s what we do best,” the rapper confidently said. For Keonhee, his favorite song to perform even had a special story from the Los Angeles show: “When we were performing ‘Incomplete’ in LA, there was a section of people in front of us, and it felt like I was deeply connected with them during that moment, and we made a special bond.”
Wanting to add more to their performances, the members dedicated the last song of the evening to walking around both the top and bottom floors of the venue, greeting everyone up close and personally. Something of this nature was only possible with the mutual respect between Oneus and ToMoons, as fans unanimously kept their promise to stay seated the entire time, even as their favorite members approached to shake their hands. The group even prepared several special stages, starting with all five members performing a vocal and dance cover of BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom,” creating a unique version of the song highlighted by Leedo’s deep voice and Seoho’s flawless high notes. Their girl group cover led into a sultry dance cover of Justin Timberlake’s “SEXYBACK” by Hwanwoong, Leedo, and Seoho, and their synchronized choreography led into one final cover performance, which was a Top Gun Maverick medley dance by all five members. Not relying solely on covers to give something special to fans, Oneus also performed the English version of their song “Life is Beautiful,” striving to connect with their international fans and express their hearts in a way that would be easier to understand. Not wanting the night and U.S. leg of the tour to end so quickly, the five members even performed an extra song during the encore to spend an extra few minutes with ToMoons.
Oneus performed all of their most popular title songs, including their latest track “Same Scent,” “Black Mirror,” and “To Be or Not To Be,” and all of these songs featured strong, acrobatic choreography and stable vocals. Even then, the highlight performance of the evening was undoubtedly “Skydivin’.” Offering a completely different genre from the aforementioned title tracks, “Skydivin'” felt much more carefree, as the members danced around the stage and let loose while performing the song. Everyone in the crowd was jumping along to the beat, shaking off the weight of the work week, as the song lifted everyone’s spirits and conveyed the group’s hopes for the future with their fans through the relatable lyrics. Just as Xion mentioned, the connection between Oneus and ToMoons felt strongest during this song, with everyone sharing the same emotions as they sang and danced together.
Performances aside, the group also continuously expressed their gratitude and happiness throughout the night, pausing to talk between every few songs. Even with so many of these talking segments, the group’s words were still sincere, even down to the final segment. Speaking earnestly, Hwanwoong mentioned losing his breath towards the end of their song “Lit” because of how beautiful the fans sounded as he heard them through his in-ear monitors. He mentioned how special that moment was because it was something only a performing artist could experience.
Even though the show wasn’t as “fancy” as their Blood Moon tour, with simpler outfits and no overarching storyline woven into the VCRs, the show was excellent for an entirely different reason. Having already proved they can put on a high quality production show, Oneus offered fans a more intimate and candid look at their music and performance with this concert. With a handpicked setlist that carried all of their unspoken words and wishes to their fans, ToMoons were left with their hearts full of love as the night ended.
Click on the photo below to see all our photos from the concert on Facebook!
