TFW: You Fly Eight Hours To See Suga’s D Day Tour Live
Suga’s D-Day is the first solo tour for a BTS member. After watching his Singapore show (three times!) last weekend, I can safely say that Suga more than holds his own as a solo performer.
For the past 10 years, Min Yoongi (aka Suga aka Agust D) has been performing as part of a group, BTS — one of seven. Like his bandmates, he’s certainly had his moments to shine, whether in his solo stages during concerts or his parts in their group songs. But performing a whole show alone? That’s an entirely different prospect. Thankfully, it hasn’t appeared to phase Yoongi, who takes the stage on his first solo tour, D-Day, with a comfort and confidence that speaks to his years of experience, and his genius as a musician and performer.
The D-Day tour — the first solo tour for any BTS member — began in the US in April before heading to Indonesia in May and Japan, Thailand and Singapore in June. It’ll finish up in Yoongi’s home country Korea next weekend, but Singapore was the last stop on the international leg, and I was lucky enough to attend all three shows at Singapore Indoor Stadium this past weekend.
I’ve been on the receiving end of some bombastic side-eye at the fact I not only traveled to another country for a concert but attended three nights of the same show, and I honestly just feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t understand why the incredible concert experience was not just worth the plane trip, but a repeat viewing.
While the show might be the same night after night, the experience of it differs dramatically. On night one I lost my mind (and my voice) screaming at just about everything and honestly barely absorbed a thing (but, like, in a good, out-of-body way). Night two I was able to relax into it and calmly(ish) enjoy the show. Night three, conscious it was the last one, I went all out (minus screaming, due to the aforementioned lost voice) and just had the MOST FUN — helped along by the fact that the rest of the audience and Yoongi himself also seemed to be vibrating on a higher frequency for the big finale.
It was also awesome to experience the show from three different viewpoints — close-up, side-on and front-on, allowing different parts to stand out to me on different nights — whether that be the way Yoongi owned the stage, the energy of the audience and the beauty of the synced-up light sticks, or the overall production and attention to detail.
The show itself is remarkable. Stepping away from the three-hour K-Pop choreographed extravaganza he usually does with BTS, Yoongi is often on stage alone — or sometimes with some back-up dancers — but the space never feels empty or too big for him. He owns his place there, his charisma filling up the stage, as he rocks out, hip-thrusts, tosses his hair back, screams, growls, raps, sings, plays instruments, gets cheeky with the audience, and shares both thoughtful words and inside jokes. Min Yoongi is a man of many talents, and they’re all on display here.
The setlist is impeccably crafted for the energy to ebb and flow, opening with the intense line-up of ‘Haegeum’, ‘Daechwita’, ‘Agust D’, and ‘Give it To Me’ before mellowing to an acoustic ‘Trivia: Seesaw’ (played on a Bangtan-signed guitar by Yoongi himself) followed by ‘SDL’, ‘People’, ‘People Pt 2’ and ‘Moonlight’. The first part of the show closes with the heat turned up once again — figuratively and literally — thanks to a searing rendition of ‘Burn It’.
The second part of the show opens with the dark ‘Interlude: Shadow’ before launching into a breathtaking rap medley featuring ‘Cypher Pt 3’, ‘Cypher Pt 4’, ‘Ugh!’, ‘Ddaeng’, and ‘HUH?’. Yoongi then slows things down again with his piano and own version of ‘Life Goes On’ as well as the beautiful ‘Snooze’, before ramping up the intensity with ‘Polar Night’ and then closing with a rock star-raw performance of ‘Amygdala’. The encore is short but explosive, featuring the optimistic ‘D-Day’ and the darker ‘Intro: Nevermind’ and ‘The Last’ — with a fun interlude in between in which Yoongi thanks his band, backup dancers, and finally the audience.
The shifts in intensity happen at just the right moments and throughout it all, Yoongi plays the audience like a true virtuoso — pulling exactly the right energy from the crowd to fit each segment, and taking us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. The staging is dynamic and interesting, and the effects and lighting enhance the whole experience. Yoongi moves through it all and pulls it off with ease.
Aside from being blown away by Yoongi himself, what really struck me across the three nights of D-Day was how masterful the storytelling was. Like his music, the concert was an exploration of the many sides of Min Yoongi/Suga/Agust D, in all their light and shade. The opening VCR shows a motorcycle crash that echoes the real-life incident Yoongi had before he debuted, which had a significant impact on him and his career. In the video, he lies unconscious on the road, while on stage the real Yoongi is carried out by a group of hooded figures and lay down, as though he’s been brought directly out from the screen and his trauma. Later, another VCR highlights his different personas and the way they keep clashing with each other on an endless loop in his memories. It’s full of angst and conflict, and warns of the dangers of being stuck in the past.
At the end of the main show (before the encore), Yoongi lies down on the stage again, eyes closed, before being carried off, bringing the show full circle. It gives the impression the entire concert is a journey into Yoongi’s unconscious mind — his own psyche. And in a way, it is. On the D-Day Tour, Yoongi raps and sings about his past, present, and future; his deepest fears, hardest moments, and greatest hopes, reconciling the different parts of himself and stripping everything back until he stands for the encore just as himself, Min Yoongi — not Suga, or Agust D. This time, he walks off stage tall and proud, without the need to even glance back.
‘Angel Pt 2’ by JVKE, Jimin of BTS, Charlie Puth, Muni Long: The follow-up to ‘Angel Pt 1’ off the Fast X soundtrack removes two problematic rappers and brings Charlie Puth on board instead for a smooth vocal track that’s addictive to listen to.
‘Firework’ by &TEAM: &TEAM are technically a J-Pop group but they also do Korean versions of some of their music (including ‘Firework’) and are part of Korean company HYBE, with a shared fictional universe with label-mates ENHYPEN (&TEAM are the wolves to ENHYPEN’s vampires, it’s all very Twilight). ‘Firework’ is the title track off their second mini album First Howling : WE, and the music video is an aesthetically pleasing entry into their DARK MOON: THE GREY CITY story.
‘Bouncy (K-Hot Chilli Peppers)’ by ATEEZ: The title track off ATEEZ’s mini album The World Ep. 2: Outlaw is a cacophonous and distinctive earworm with a super fun and cinematic music video which sees the members dress up as different kinds of outlaws and perform addictive choreography.
‘Broken Melodies’ by NCT Dream: NCT Dream show off their vocal skills with sweet harmonies in this pretty pre-release track ahead of the release of their album ISTJ on July 17. It’s a promising taste of what’s to come!
While I was in Singapore, BLACKPINK were in Australia! The megastar girl group first performed in Aussie member Rosé’s hometown of Melbourne on June 10 and 11 before heading to Sydney last weekend. While I didn’t get to see them in concert myself, I did spend a considerable amount of time scrolling videos on TikTok, and Aussie Blinks seemed to love the show — “it was the best concert experience of my life” one fan who had VIP tickets shared. Everyone was especially happy to see Jennie back on stage with Rosé, Jisoo, and Lisa after an illness in Melbourne, and she even performed the iconic Coachella dance break for her solo ‘You and Me’.
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I asked Junkee’s Editor-in-Chief Alice Griffin, who attended one of the Sydney shows, what she thought: “I couldn’t believe it. BLACKPINK was in my area, finally, last Friday night. It was my first time seeing these four live, and they served. I spent the evening vibing to hit after hit, and kicking myself for not buying an official fan light stick. Next time…”
Thankfully, BLACKPINK did promise they’d be back, with Lisa even calling Australia her “second home”, so here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long for another tour.
With love,
Jenna
I am SO glad you had such a fun time! I agree that you can never get tired of seeing the same concert over and over again. it just makes you want to see SUGA MORE! I know a lot of people poked fun of Suga's exit after the encore thinking it was abrupt. I actually found it powerful. He seemed so sure of who he is as a person with all his worries behind him. I just loved the story he told through the entire setlist. He's amazing.