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| McCayla McClard for KpopWise |
TAN (To All Nations) kicked off their first US tour in Atlanta on April 2, 2023 with a special concert for SODA during their TAN ASIA FESTIVAL. Fans were treated to a festival themed event at the Atlanta Coliseum with food vendors, Kpop shopping, Kpop cover dancers, musicians, and of course our main event, the 7 talented members of TAN. This project group formed from MBC survival show, Extreme Debut: Wild Idol, consisting of Changsun, Jooan, Jaejun, Sunghyuk, Hyunyeop, Taehoon, and Jiseong, recently celebrated their one year anniversary debut with TAN 1st Anniversary Special Album [ESSEGE]. What better way to celebrate this milestone than with a tour for their USA SODA (TAN’s fandom name)?
| McCayla McClard for KpopWise |
Their performance started strong with the group’s latest title track “Fix You” to the excitement of the crowd. It truly showcased their sharp dance moves and synchronization, as well as vocal chops and harmonization. This writer had a hard time not screaming along with other SODA.
Next up on the setlist was the ever-so-catchy and debut song “Du Du Du.” I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t get this song off repeat in my head, especially the opening part:
“Du-du, du-du-du-du-du-du, du, du-du
Baseline”
What was missed by me personally for this song was the umbrella used as part of their choreography as seen on live shows in Korea and their music video. TAN, please bring back the umbrella! It is such a cool prop and I would love to see this in person one day.
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| McCayla McClard for KpopWise |
After two strong dance songs, the members were able to woo the crowd with their sweetness in “My Heart”, no doubt capturing the hearts of people that were new to TAN and affirming the love of their established fans. After performing “Beautiful Lie”, the boys each picked and answered questions from SODA through a “Ask TAN” board, before half of the members did an outfit change in preparation of special unit stages. We were left with Changsun, Jaejun and Jiseong entertaining us with cuteness with things like a dance cover of NewJeans' “Hype Boy.”
Jooan, Sunghyuk, Hyunyeop and Taehoon’s unit song, “Dream of You”, although not the winner of the competition between the two units for song placement in the anniversary album, was no less equally impressive as the winning song “Would You” by Changsun, Jaejun and Jiseong. Both performances were of course echoed with cheers before SODA were serenaded with ballad song, “It’s You”. Fanlights and arms were waving in unison to the melodic song and showed that this project group has not only dance performance skills, but vocal talent to boot.
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| McCayla McClard for KpopWise |
Another part of the interactive show had each member making a phone call to a lucky SODA in attendance, before embracing the fan and giving them a signed album and gift from the event sponsors. Were you one of the lucky winners for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? (Not jealous)
Fan favorites “Walking on the Moon” and “Louder” energized the crowd and this time I caught myself bopping to the beats along with SODA. Encore performances of “Adorable” and “Diving to the Top” rounded out the night, and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. I don’t think this will be a goodbye for too long though! With such strong well-roundedness, we definitely see a bright future for them.
Did you enjoy the festival and concert as much as we did? Be sure to follow TAN as they head to Fresno and Sacramento for their next stops on their first (and hopefully many) USA tour.
By: Jessica Wu
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Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with TAN coming soon! In the meantime check out our gallery of the concert performances below!