Infinite brings ‘One Great Step’ to a close

After a promising debut in 2010 with the group’s first EP “First Invasion,” the seven members of K-pop group Infinite have finally completed the group’s first world tour, venturing to 14 countries and 21 cities for 31 live concert performances.

Since launching the first leg of the concert tour in August with two shows in Seoul in front 15,000 fans, members Sung-gyu, Ho-ya, Dong-woo, L, Woo-hyun, Sung-yeol and Sung-jong have been performing all across Asia, Europe, the U.S. and even making a stop in the Middle East over the past five months.

Infinite’s first world tour titled “One Great Step” ― stopping off in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, the U.S., England, France and the United Arab Emirates ― was quite a feat for the young idol stars who, after only a few years in the industry and in the band’s first-ever world tour, ventured to many locations outside of Asia.

Although a number of top-notch K-pop stars as of late are including several non-Asia locations as part of their world tours, many big-name acts such as 2NE1 and Super Junior only included one or two stops outside of Asia in their first worldwide concert tours. However, on Infinite’s recent tour, the group held small concerts in a number of locations in the U.S. ― the first time the group had ever performed a solo show in the States ― including New York, Los Angeles and San Jose in California, and Washington, D.C. Infinite also held performances in London, Paris and Dubai.

“In just one leg of the tour, they performed in four different locations in the U.S. and two nations in Europe, and the K-pop fans there gave them such a huge welcoming,” said a representative of Woollim Entertainment. “Concert tickets were sold out. … It was all just more than we expected.”

Although still a relatively new group in the K-pop scene, in only three years the band has managed to garner one of the largest fan bases in K-pop.

“One Great Step” attracted around 150,000 Infinite fans from around the globe and was quite the success story from the get-go. In the tour’s first two concerts in Seoul on Aug. 9 and 10, fans bombarded the Interpark online ticket vendor, causing the server to crash almost immediately. Once the site was back up and running, tickets sold out for both shows at Olympic Park in Seoul. 

Infinite then went on to perform in front of thousands worldwide before finally wrapping up the tour with a finale concert at the Sheikh Rashid Hall in Dubai last week.

Officials of Infinite’s talent agency Woollim Entertainment have also announced that the members are preparing for an upcoming album commemorating the completion of the group’s tour and return to Korea.

Before embarking on their world tour, the members of Infinite released their latest EP album “Destiny” on July 16. The four-track album topped the Gaon Weekly Album Chart, the Gaon Week Domestic Album Chart and the Gaon Monthly Album Chart. The album’s lead track “Destiny” also ranked No. 3 on the K-pop Billboard Hot 100 chart.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)