On their first visit to the Philippines, NCT Dream received the warmest welcome and loudest cheers from their Filipino fans.
Five members of NCT Dream—Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung—graced the stage of the 2019 K-pop Friendship Concert in Manila last Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena. One member, Haechan, had to sit out of group activities temporarily as he recovers from a fractured tibia (shinbone).
NCT Dream is one of the subunits of SM Entertainment’s rising boy act NCT, composed only of the youngest members of the group who are in their teens.
During the press conference a few hours before the concert, the Dream members expressed gratitude and honor for being part of the celebration of the 70 years of friendship between the Philippines and South Korea. Since it’s their first visit in the country, too, the members said they were excited to meet their lovely Filipino Czennies (short for NCTzens, NCT’s fandom name) for the first time.
“We usually perform cute and fun songs, but we also want to show sexy performances,” said Jeno when asked about the group’s plans for 2019.
As the last performers of the concert, NCT Dream further heightened the energy of the crowd with their debut song “Chewing Gum.”
The boys did a short introduction and greetings to their fans after their first song before performing their second song for the night, “Go.”
Fan chants got even louder during their second song and by the time Dream moved to their third song, “My First and Last,” Filipino fans were already singing along with the group.
The enthusiastic cheers of the fans as they waved their lime lightsticks (NCT’s fandom color) seemed to have made the boys even happier. In their last message before their final song, the Dream members have expressed awe again that many people came for them and promised to come back often to the Philippines. Chenle asked if he would see everyone again when they come back and the crowd loudly replied “yes!”
READ: NCT Dream, Noir and April perform to celebrate Philippine-Korea friendship
NCT Dream ended the concert with their performance of “We Go Up,” a song that talks about growing up and moving forward to the next stage, leaving their Filipino fans not just with fond memories of seeing their great performances that night but also anticipation of how the team will showcase their growth in the near future.
A part of what makes NCT Dream endearing to their fans was watching them grow up from being awkward, playful youngsters to charismatic, powerful performers. Since NCT Dream is a nonpermanent unit that has a graduation process and with four of their current members turning adults this year, there is that excitement in anticipating how the Dream members will make their last year in the subunit memorable. And with the talent, confidence and strong stage presence they’ve showcased during the K-pop Friendship Concert, fans can confidently say they are here for a great ride with NCT Dream in 2019.
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