Disclaimer: I’m writing this article to share my own experience about Oneus’ concert in Paris on the 12th of November, 2023 and I am not trying to speak on anyone else’s behalf. If you’d like to see some concert footage you can check out my instagram account @ swanbaekjo (PS: I don’t know why the screen at the back of the stage came out glitching on my phone, all my videos ended up being ruined by it but yeah…).
My relationship with Oneus before the concert
Oneus debuted in early 2019 and, believe me or not, I also had this feeling about them just like I had with Ateez, that they were going to be successful. I didn’t like Valkyrie (their debut song) nor Twilight (their first comeback), but they captured my heart with “LIT”. After “LIT” was released I had this on and off relationship with them, but I always had them on my radar and watched quite a few variety content from them (knowing that I don’t even watch variety content from my ultimate groups). There was only one song from I would always search for on my playlist: Life is beautiful. I really cannot count the number of times this song healed my soul, especially with that line going “Hey, you don’t always have to know what you want”. So, when I saw that they were coming to Paris in November, in a very intimate venue (by that I mean it’s small enough to be able to see the members performing even if you’re seated in the back), and with tickets selling at 51 euros, I didn’t think twice and bought a ticket.
I honestly had 0 expectations. I knew there were going to be songs I didn’t know but I had this “I’m going to have fun” mindset. I decided to go on my own for the first time (the venue wasn’t too far nor too big for me to be afraid) and didn’t regret it at all because everyone was so sweet. If you ever feel like going to X concert will make you extremely happy but you’re hesitating because nobody wants to come with you, just go on your own. Kpop fans are usually extremely welcoming, warm and caring.
The big day
Meeting the fanbase and ToMoons
November 12th was a casual rainy Sunday in Paris. There was this park not too far from the venue called “Parc Monceau” where the fanbase had planned to stay from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm so fans could sign the french flag, leave a kind message on the guest book, and grab some goodies (freebies, banners, etc.). I went there around 12:00 pm and met some ToMoons on the way with whom I chatted a little bit. I was welcomed by the people from the fanbase who were so kind and sweet. I signed the flag, grabbed a banner and some freebies, spoke with some fans and left. I stayed for around half an hour and it just felt so nice hearing everyone’s special story with Oneus. It reminded me why I love Kpop (and music in general) so much, because it brings people together.
I want to give a big round of applause to the fanbase for their hard work. The banner design was just amazing, the guestbook was customized in such an ethereal way with the colours of “La Dolce Vita”, the numbering system went smoothly (according to fans), and all the gifts were successfully handed to the RBW staff (according to the fanbase official twitter account). They really contributed in making this experience the best it could be.
Pre-concert
Because I had a regular seated ticket, I arrived around 7:15 pm. I thought about buying some merch at the venue but I quickly changed my mind when I saw the length of the queue. Then I climbed the stairs up to the first balcony to join my seat and that’s when I realised that small concerts were also great, because you don’t have to pay more than 100 euros just to see a moving point. There were some empty seats around me so my neighbours and be decided to move a bit closer to the edge of the balcony right before the concert started.
The crowd was singing along to Oneus songs and when the lights turned off we all started shouting the iconic “popolopopopopo” and tapping our feet on the ground. The mood was CRAZY even before the members came on stage, people were so hyped up and I began to feel excited.
The setlist
? = I didn’t know the song before the concert
- Baila Conmigo
- Erase Me
- Ment 1
- Simulation (?)
- Full Moon (?)
- Ment 2
- Valkyrie
- VCR 1
- Intro : Window (?)
- Luna
- Lit
- Ment 3
- We will rock you / Shape of my heart (?)
- A song written easily
- Ment 4
- TECHNICAL PROBLEM, taking song requests from fans while waiting: Same Scent, Kiseki (?), To be or not to be, Now, 808 (?), White Night (?), Incomplete (?), I.P.U.
- Unforgettable
- Stupid Love
- Airplane
- Skydivin’
- VCR 2
- Come back home
- Twilight
- Ment 5
- Lion Heart (?)
- Ment 6
- Epilogue (?)
- Halley’s Comet
- Bring it on
- No Diggity
- VCR 3
- Black Mirror
- Shut up crazy hot (some kind of nightclub remix)
- Last Song
I think the concert was supposed to last around two hours and a half but with the technical issue the concert lasted around three hours.
General impression & comments
Disclaimer: The upcoming videos were taken by me the day of the concert. Please DO NOT RE USE THEM OR RE UPLOAD THEM. I don’t know what caused the glitching of the screen in the back of the stage, but it surely came from my phone since it was not flickering like this in real time. I unfortunately couldn’t fix it but I hope you stil can enjoy it.
First of all, I was impressed by how professional the members are. They made things look easy and natural, they were performing and having fun at the same times, they weren’t just executing moves and singing songs. They were having a great time and so we were too. I was too far to notice it but I realized afterwards that Xion’s arm was still hurting him (he was wearing a cast not long ago) and that Leedo’s shoulder was hurting as well (he put a patch and stretched a few times). Despite that their energy was always at 200%. I do hope that they rest after the tour’s over because they clearly need and deserve it. In addition, the members knew how to take care of their audience. During the first ment, Oenus asked their fans to do an “X” sign with their arms in case someone was feeling unwell in the pit. Thanks to that, when people in the pit started feeling unwell, the members would notice it immediately and ask everyone to take a step back to let security through and to let some air circulate.
Second of all, the concert was simple but effective. There was a screen at the back of the stage that was showing effects & VCRs (pre-recorded videos) as well as backup dancers who joined Oneus on stage for a couple of performances. Frankly, that’s all what we needed to enjoy this concert to the fullest. The members knew how to fill the space on their own.
This brings us to the third point: the interactions with the crowd and between the members themselves were just amazing. My seat was on the 1st floor (the stage being on the “ground floor”) yet it still felt like the boys were looking at us up there. During the talking portions they would always hype us up asking how we were feeling and waving at us. I tried not to stay too much on my phone and really appreciated the concert. Shout out to the boy who screamed “LEEDO” so many times, apparently he got noticed! There was even a “baby” ToMoon in the crowd (a little girl who was approximately 6 years old I’d say) with her mother holding her in her arms, and the members exclaimed “Oh we have a baby ToMoon in the crowd”. That moment was very cute.
Halfway through the concert a technical issue occurred, that’s when things got “better” in the sense that this portion was not planned at all, the boys were improvising and just being themselves with us, they were laughing in a time when a lot of people would be stressed as hell (maybe they were stressed but they just didn’t show it). They started taking song requests from the fans and I really wanted them to perform “Life is beautiful” so I shouted as loud as I could, unsuccessfully. They still performed amazing songs tho, some of which I didn’t know and was happy to discover:
The crowd was hot, and when I say hot I mean BOILING HOT! We were always tapping our feet on the ground, shaking the entire venue and galvanising our boys. There’s this “popolopopopopo” fan chant that French people always do (inspired by “Seven Nation Army”, I think they also use it during football games), and Keonhee had this genius idea to remix it:
Finally, there was this mutual respect between the crowd and the artists. When you’re in a big crowd (example: Mcountdown in France, there was around 30K people), it’s hard to contain everyone’s excitement and you’ll always find people screaming all the time. At Oneus’ concert we were approximately three thousand people, and when the boys were talking people just waited for the translator to finish before answering with cheers. I really appreciated the respectful atmosphere and I’m sure everyone else did. I even heard from fans who got the group picture with Oneus that the members climbed to the upper floors to get to fans with disabilities.
There was only three negative points I want to highlight. First, the translator. I’m sorry but this person translated everything into “are you feeling hot tonight?” when the members were clearly not saying that. I remember one moment when a member (it was either Keonhee or Hwanwoong) was talking, he had clearly finished his sentence and the translator spoke as if he still had something to say, so the member went “huh?”. I understand that sometimes the members speak fast but it’s your job to at least convey the same meaning even if you don’t use the exact same words. I do speak a little bit Korean so I managed to understand some words but the translator could’ve done a better job. Second, the air in the venue was extremely heavy, I even asked myself if there was air coming in from somewhere because I really felt a pressure at the very end and even started to feel tired. So if I started feeling unwell I cannot imagine how the people in the pit, who were standing from 2:00pm if not earlier, felt. No wonder there were so many people who fainted. Finally, some people came to the concert exclusively to record the entire thing on their phone. Thank god the concert was not sold out otherwise they would be taking someone else’s opportunity to see a group they really love just to be on their phones all the time.
My favourite performances
All the performances were good, there was not a “bad performance” out there because the members were truly giving their all. However, there are some performances that stood out to me.
First up, LIT. I truly believe that this song is their best title track because it incorporates traditional korean elements like the “ursoo” or “nilliya” words in the lyrics and even the dance:
Then, we have Come Back Home. This song is, in my opinion, very underrated. Maybe it’s because it came out during Road To Kingdom and not enough people watched it? I don’t know, but it had everything to be a huge hit.
When I listened to No Diggity for the first time I remember imagining how it would sound and look like live, well … I went nuts and just started screaming for nothing at this point.
Finally, we have Black Mirror. I wondered if they were going to do the “drop your knees to the floor” move at the end and spoiler, they did (the MJ pose at the end hello).
Special mention to the Airplane performance and the cuteness overload at 0:32.
The aftermath
This concert was my fourth Kpop concert and I have come to the conclusion that I’ll always feel empty afterwards. Being at a concert makes me feel full, time stops and I just enjoy the moment whether I’m with a friend or on my own. This feeling of “oh my god they’re real and we’re creating memories together” is extraordinary. This time it took me 48 hours to come back to my reality and honestly the return to reality was not as harsh as I thought it’d be. To this day the hardest “return to reality” was after Ateez’s concert in march, but it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy Oneus’ concert as much (also Ateez was my first Kpop concert after the pandemic). I think I’m just getting used to it.
Going to this concert alone helped me enjoying it in a different way. I think I was more focused on what was happening rather than chatting with my friend next to me (I still chatted with my seat neighbours but it’s different), and I just felt more connected with myself and them. What I’m saying might not ring a bell if you never went to a concert on your own, but once you try it you’ll see that it’s not bad to have a moment for yourself.
Thank you Oneus for this unforgettable night, thank you ToMoons for the warm welcome (our boys deserved it so much), thank you the fanbase for the wonderful projects, thank you RBW staff, technicians, managers and everyone for the concert organisation. I’m going to remember this concert for a long long time 💙 Until next time (because there will be a next time), Paris will be waiting for you 🇫🇷
Kpop and Co. 
Pingback: Kpop ranking: November 2023 | Kpop and Co.