Review: 8TURN Turn Up the Heat With High-Energy Stages on 'TRACE' Tour

It was New York City’s turn on October 20 when K-pop octet 8TURN opened the U.S. leg of their TRACE tour at Racket NYC. Fresh off an appearance at the 82WORLD festival in Los Angeles and following the European leg of the TRACE tour, 8TURN are having their moment, and rightfully so. The members, Jae Yun, Myung Ho, Min Ho, Yoon Sung, Hae Min, Kyung Min, Yun Gyu, and Seung Heon, clearly have a passion for what they do and know how to harness that energy and talent for the stage.

Each city on the tour was confirmed via presale on the app Kooky, who served as the official promoter for 8TURN’s TRACE tour. After the presale was conducted, New York City was chosen as one of the lucky cities who got to host the group.

Speaking to the members of 8TURN before the show, they commented on how this tour differed from their previous tour, noting that the energy is much higher.

“Compared to last year, this time I would say that we prepared a setlist that is so much more energetic,” said Yoon Sung. “Last year when we came, we saw that all the fans just really had a great time and they just had a lot of fun energy. So this time we really wanted to take that energy and take it up a notch.”

Safe to say that the mission was accomplished! 8TURN’s setlist spanned over two hours, with nonstop high-energy performances including newer songs like their latest singles “BESAME” and “Stagefright” as well as older fan favorites, like “TIC TAC.”

“BESAME” is a song written by Jae Yun, and he shyly told the audience that it was written about the group’s fans, known as TURNING. The group has released a string of singles recently, and Jae Yun told the media before the show that he hopes they can release a full album soon. 

The setlist continued with more of the group’s signature dynamic stages, including “Electric Heart” and “LEGGO”, among others. The group's sharp choreography highlighted the members' ability to work together seamlessly. In contrast to the intensity of their upbeat songs, slower tracks like ‘Close to Me’ and ‘Heartache’ showcased their smooth vocals.

The only break in the marathon performance came when the members spun a wheel to take on tasks, like dance challenges and aegyo. The members had a chance to show off their unique charms, and their fans in the audience ate it up, chanting for their favorite members to complete the tasks.

Throughout the show, three members performed solo intro and outro stages, including Jae Yun, Yun Gyu, and Myung Ho, who each had a chance to shine in a short dance that was suited to each member’s unique style.

8TURN also prepared unit stages, covering iconic K-pop songs like CORTIS’ “FaSHioN” and BIGBANG’s “BANG BANG BANG.” Following the unit performances, the group reunited on stage for a fun cover of “BOUNCY” by ATEEZ, a song that was voted on for the group to cover by the fans who participated in the presale to lock in the U.S. tour dates.

8TURN has a goal in mind: to continue captivating audiences while gaining new fans and showing off their passion for performing.

“I really want the audience to be able to look at our performances and not just enjoy it, but know that we are artists that truly enjoy performing and putting on stages as well,” Seung Heon told us before the show. “Even as we're preparing the setlist, that is something that I've always kept in mind.”

“I really hope that they can all watch us and think, ‘Oh, I want to see them again,’” said Hae Min.

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