[Concert Review] DKB’s Dark Strange Tour Breaks the Stage in San Jose

byKpopWise -November 03, 2024

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Photo Cr. Megan Kan // KpopWise

On October 19th, 2024, Korean Boy Group DKB visited San Jose, California to perform at Montgomery Theater for their North American Dark Strange Tour, a 10 city tour that took place in Jersey City, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Bayamon, Dallas, Mexico City, San Jose, Tuscan, and Los Angeles! The band visited Asia and Europe earlier this year for their tour as well.

The band consists of members D1, Echan, Heechan, Junseo, GK, Yuku, Lune, and Harry June. Known for their signature RnB and hip hop music, the band is no stranger to writing and producing their own music as well as choreographing their own dances.

DKB released their latest EP album, Urban Ride, on July 17th this year. The title song Flirting X has a stylish music video with a rock alternative concept with the members playing instruments as a rock band. This is something definitely new as a genre and concept for the band that was refreshing and fun for fans to see. Member and leader Echan participated in writing lyrics with members D1, GK, and JS for the song Flirting X as well as writing a track called “Lets Dance” .Member GK also contributed to writing “Traveler” in the EP as well. The album itself has a very early 2000’s musical genre style to it as well with their signature RnB hip hop sound that sets the band apart from your typical kpop boy group.

The band visited San Jose two years ago in 2022 for their first Meet & Live US Tour and have been quite busy since then. They released 3 mini albums and competed on the singing competition show “Peak Time” on JTBC ranking 4th place out of 23 team contestants into the finale.

When the show opened, BB (their fandom) were welcomed with a high tension opening song “What the Hell”, a title song from their previous album “HIP” that had fans putting their hands up in the air and cheering in excitement. They also performed Taekwondo, a dance heavy hip hop song from their latest album “Urban Ride” as well as Ghost Ridah, another song from their previous album that was a high energy performance. Right in the beginning, DKB opened the show with high energy songs that showcased their teamwork along with their impressive choreography and charisma on stage as performers.

The show was diversely planned out from their setlist and showcased newer songs that hadn't been performed since they came out after their last tour in America. However, they also sang older songs their fans love and special solos and unit performances prepared by the members that highlighted their passion for dancing, singing, or rapping. If you aren’t familiar with DKB, their signature strength is their self choreographed dancing.

Older songs such as “Youth”, “Go up” and “Fondue” were heard for the first time by American fans to their delight and had the crowd in awe watching the light hearted pop song and rap performance.

Member Heechan did a dance solo to “Watch me burn” by Michele Morrone that showcased his charismatic side and Junseo performed a solo of Keisha Cole’s “Love” that made fans swoon over his vocal color. Members Heechan, GK, and Echan also covered NCT U’s “Misfit” , a rap heavy hip hop song that fired up the crowd with hype reactions and cheers. Members D1, Harry June, Yuku and Junseo covered “Teacher” by pop boyband PRETTYMUCH which had fans singing and dancing along. Fans were also treated to dance covers for popular songs such as Straykids “chk chk boom” and “Baggy jeans” by NCT U.

During the talking break between songs, member D1 asked, “Is there a song you’ve heard so far that is really special to you?”

BB were shouting their favorite song and in a moment of silence, someone shouted “Water”, to which the band just performed a choreographed dance cover of Tyla’s “Water” to which fans reacted loudly. Definitely a noticeable sign of just how much fans love DKB’s dancing and self choreography as a team. A stage prepared just for their 2024 tour.

Other highly notable performances were newer songs not yet seen by American fans that came out after the first tour two years ago. Songs such as Flirting X, More than 100 reasons, I need love, and a new english version of “Hello Goodbye (Rollercoaster), just to name a few.

One of the more apparent highlights of the night was fans doing the fan chant for the “I need love” stage. If you’re not familiar with what a fan chant is, something made popular in South Korea, it's something the band creates for their song that fans can chant to during their performance. I couldn’t help but notice one of the member’s surprised reaction to the American crowd doing the fan chant to their I need love stage.

After the performance, member D1 said, “We just performed ‘I need love’ for the first time for you, how was it?” fans cheered loudly in reply. He also added, “I noticed the fan chant you guys learned for the song and was surprised and happy.”

Finally, the night ended with an encore performance of Coco Colada (a song from survival show peak time the band performed) and Real Love, their own song, to which fans loved with a more fun and carefree heartfelt note.