[Today’s K-pop] NCT127 to hold 3 days of concert next month

NCT 127 will meet fans in person with a three-day concert series in Seoul in December, announced label SM Entertainment on Monday.

The subunit of NCT will host “NCT 127 2nd Tour ‘NEO City: Seoul - The Link’” from Dec. 17-19, almost three years since its last concert. The live performance on the final day will also be broadcast across the world via Naver’s V Live. The group will then tour through a string of major international cities.

The nine-member act released third studio album “Sticker” in September, selling over 2.4 million copies, which combined with sales of repack “Favorite” brings the total to 3.58 million.

Meanwhile, NCT will roll out its third full album “Universe” on Dec. 14.

The band, with a score of subunits that include NCT 127 and NCT Dream, is making a full-roster comeback about 14 months after second LP “NCT 2020 Resonance.” The two-part album featured all 23 members and recorded combined sales of over 2 million copies. The “Pt. 1” LP was listed on the Billboard 200 for nine weeks, and the album was touted as “one of the biggest successes of K-pop in 2020.”

Twice to kick off international tour on Christmas eve

Twice will start its fourth international tour, starting with a three-day concert series in Seoul in December, according to label JYP Entertainment on Monday.

Under the title “Twice 4th World Tour ‘III,’” the group will perform in front of fans at a dome in southern Seoul from Dec. 24-26. In February, it will travel to Los Angeles (Feb. 16), Oakland, California (Feb. 18), Dallas (Feb. 22), Atlanta (Feb. 24) and New York (Feb. 26). If the phrase “And More” from the poster is any indication, the itinerary is likely to expand.

The band hit 16 cities across the world and put on 25 shows in its last tour and first global tour, “Twicelights,” which was almost two years ago.

In the meantime, Twice released the girl group’s third full-length album “Formula of Love: O+T=<3” on Friday. The LP sold more than 700,000 copies in preorders, the highest for the group.

Ateez to tour US, Europe next year 
 

Ateez will travel to major cities in the US and Europe at the beginning of next year, said agency KQ Entertainment on Monday.

Starting with a live concert in Seoul in January, the boy band will host its world tour, “The Fellowship: Beginning of the End,” which will first bring it in front of fans in five cities in the US -- Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles. In February, the group will head to Europe to visit fans in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw in Poland and Madrid.

The band debuted in October 2018 and its first international tour in 2019 took the group to 15 cities. They initially drew 100,000 concertgoers for another 15-city tour in 2020, but aside from the Seoul portion, that tour was put on hold indefinitely due to the pandemic.

In September, the 13-member act entered the Billboard 200 for the first time, ranking No. 42 with its seventh EP “Zero: Fever Part. 3.” On Sunday, the group held a digital concert.

BTOB to host year-end fan meet 

BTOB will greet fans for two days in a physical fan meeting event.

The group shared the news Monday with a teaser poster for the event, “Welcome to BTOB’s Home.” Along with artwork that showed a snow-covered house full of Christmas spirit -- a Christmas tree and stockings hung over a fireplace -- the poster had names of all six members including Lim Hyunsik and Yook Sungjae, who completed their compulsory military duty Sunday.

The four other bandmates put out a special album, “4U: Outside,” in August, vowing to fans that it would be the last to fill the void left by the two. One of the tracks was co-authored by Lim. Separately, Yook renewed his contract with a cosmetics company on the day he returned.

The event will be the band’s fourth official round of fan meetings, and will be held on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)