ghost 9 SHOW REVIEW
If you ever have the chance to see Ghost9 in concert, go. We had the opportunity to see them on their “The New Midnight” Showkase tour here in Chicago, and they did not disappoint. We made sure to go in with no expectations so as to not taint the experience in any way, and we were pleasantly surprised.
For those unfamiliar with Ghost9, here’s a quick rundown. They’re a seven member group (consisting originally of nine members) that debuted in 2020 with their mini album “Pre Episode 1: Door”. The current members are: Son Junhyung, Choi Junseong, Lee Kangsung, Prince, Lee Woojin, Lee Shin, and Lee Jinwoo. Their discography as a whole is quite diverse– most of it is “EDM but not EDM” (as described by member Prince), but they have a few fun signature boyband pop and R&B influenced tracks in there as well. Fans of Answer-era ATEEZ and Stray Kids would absolutely LOVE Ghost9.
Ghost9 are wonderful performers. Even with their energetic choreographies, they were able to maintain impressively stable vocals. As if breathing, Leader Junhyung continually hit high notes left and right with extreme vocal clarity. Our favorite songs to see live were Ruckus and Monday to Sunday. One of our favorite aspects of the show was their way of engaging with Ghosties, their fans. About halfway through the show, they brought out the “Wish Board”: a poster board crowded with sticky notes of “wishes” written by fans. Someone’s sticky note asked if pineapple belonged on pizza (which elicited a comically mixed bag of reactions from the boys). Another Ghostie asked if they could do the “Kendrick walk”, which the members quickly obliged to and one even gave a “say Drake!” into his mic, fully committing to the bit. Funny enough, Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl appearance became a recurring topic throughout the concert (the boys are noted Kendrick fans).
The highlight of the “Wish Board” segment was when they brought a fan up onstage for a dance battle. It was the fan’s birthday, and she had written “a dance battle with Kangsung” as her sticky note wish. The members chose her sticky note, and invited her onstage for her dance battle. Kangsung immediately recognized her, and was quick to inform the audience that the birthday girl has done several Ghost9 dance covers. She came up onstage and absolutely killed it– she danced to Kangsung’s part in “X-Ray” ( which I’d like to point out was the song Junhyung has singled out as the one that is hardest to perform) with Kangsung himself. It was a really touching moment to witness! Later on in the night, Junseong sang “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” in honor of her birthday (some serious Wattpad stuff going on here).
Speaking of Junseong, he and Junhyung were the only two members that had solo stages. The former sang Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe and immediately transformed the whole Distro Music Hall into what I swear could have been an early 2010s club night. The energy was insane; everyone was dancing and singing along. Junhyung performed “Red CHevy”, a song he released on Soundcloud under the pseudonym Rea1ity, igniting the crowd with his dance moves and angelic voice.
The only complaint I have about this concert is that I wish we got to see solo stages from every member, or at least a little solo performance as the opening to a song (a la Kokoro from Psychic Fever before Paradise or NCT 127’s Jungwoo with his little dance to Lipstick during The Link Tour). It would’ve been really cool to see what every member is capable of when they have the stage all to themselves. But alas, I understand that might not have been possible due to time constraints, the members themselves not wanting to, etc. As I mentioned, that is quite literally my only complaint. Cherry Notes had a great time, and got to discover new music along the way (Monday to Sunday is going platinum in this household).
Oh— and one last thing: stay tuned for our exclusive interview with Ghost9 coming soon!
All photos by Sol Delgadillo.
