TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Triumphant, Headlining Return to Lollapalooza

A year after TXT’s career-defining performance at Lollapalooza, the group returns as headliners. Roger Ho

Last year TOMORROW X TOGETHER performed for the first time at Chicago’s iconic Lollapalooza festival. In a Weverse livestream days before the festival, the members admitted how nervous they were that no one in the audience would know who they were. “Please come,” Taehyun pleaded on the stream. But the group’s fandom, known as Moas (Moments of Alwaysness), showed up in force, and to the group’s shock, they became the runaway stars of the festival.

This year, TXT returned to Lollapalooza as headliners, fresh off their Billboard number 1 mini-album “The Name Series: TEMPTATION'' and its massive lead single “Sugar Rush Ride”. Soobin, Yeonjun, Taehyun, Beomgyu and Huenning Kai brought high energy and the most endearing, positive set you could see at Lollapalooza. They are the first K-Pop group to headline Lolla, and still only one of a few K-Pop acts to be included in a major music festival.

While last year’s performance reworked some of TXT’s biggest songs into rock anthems and allowed the guys to show that they can be more than idols. But this year, the group leaned harder into their K-Pop roots. The show was more colorful, featured more choreography, and several costume changes. 

Roger Ho

“We are so excited to be performing at Lollapalooza here on the Bud Light stage,” Soobin, the group’s leader with a gorgeous falsetto, said in their introductions. “And we’re very happy to see so many old and new friends here.”

The group opened with the 2020 hit “0X1= LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)”, a song that embraced emo aesthetics and set TXT apart from many contemporary K-Pop groups. Taehyun’s growl in the chorus has come to define the song, and as an opener, those raw qualities lit up the stage.

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of TXT’s show was how the group again reworked well-known parts of their discography. “Good Boy Gone Bad” received a massive dance break that highlighted Yeonjun’s athleticism and skill as a dancer. “Can’t You See Me?” a b-side from early 2020 received an updated mastering. “Blue Hour”, a fan favorite, received a huge response from Moas when the group included their famous extended dance break – with added cowboy hats. The group even made room for an unreleased song that all of the members wrote named “Blue Spring”, which sounds like it could nestle perfectly into their soft Japanese discography, after an introduction by Yeonjun for the audience to sing the word “flowers” at designated times. 

The group also had a special guest, Coi Leroy, who joined them onstage to perform “Happy Fools” from their new album, and a cover of “Players”. “I had to come support my friends,” Leroy said gleefully as she hugged the members. 

New additions to the group’s tour setlist were also added to their Lolla performance, including the wildly popular - and viral - song “Cat and Dog”. The reason? Because K-Pop fans love to bark and “Cat and Dog” includes lots of barking, which Yeonjun encouraged throughout the night. “New Rules”, a song that I was disappointed wasn’t included in TXT’s 2022 tour, was here too, with some of the most challenging choreography you will see any K-Pop group perform. 

Roger Ho

While performances like “New Rules” demonstrate that TXT members are some of the most talented dancers in K-Pop, where they really shine is with their frank emotional openness. No group in this genre has better exemplified emo themes like TXT, and to legions of young fans who are beginning to experience first love, heartbreak and youth angst, their music – plus the boys’ wry sense of humor – is a source of comfort. Tracks like “LO$ER=LO♡ER“, with a clever “L” choreography handsign, made it okay for fans to be nerds or losers because, well, all of TXT is, too. Wishlist”, a b-side from the “Blue Hour” EP I was so happy to see included here, also perfecly displays how charming the group can be. “Time’s up/ Give me your wish list,” the group sang cheerily from the Lolla stage, “Tell me your birthday wish.” 

“Anti-romantic”, the track that Moas sang back so loudly to the group last year that Soobin gushed, “Wow” during the chorus, also proved how deeply meaningful the relationship between Moas and TXT is. During the chorus, again, the audience sang so loudly and passionately that the members looked moved. 

Roger Ho

Looking around at the fans during and after the show, I saw how much these songs resonated with Moas. This is a group that has created space to feel all of the messy, complicated feelings of growing up and youth. TXT have made it okay to be weird, to have only one or two close friends, to feel like no one understands you. These are normal emotions that many groups have covered, but so rarely has a group been allowed to express themselves like this in K-Pop, and that makes TXT important. Groundbreaking, even.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER’S headlining set at Lolla meant that the festival had no shortage of activities for Moas. They were the only group to have a dedicated merch tent by their headlining stage, a place where fans congregated to pass out photocards and exchange freebies. 

Outside of Grant Park, too, Moas had several opportunities to engage with TXT-related activities. Hybe, the group’s label, opened a pop-up shop that sold festival-exclusive merchandise within walking distance of festival grounds. Fans could purchase albums with special photocards, shirts and even Lucky Draw cards. (The cards sold out within hours, and the majority of the merch was to a bare minimum by Sunday.) Fans, too, worked hard to create their own experiences to commemorate the weekend by hosting cupsleeve events, a fixture in K-Pop fandoms where stans meet up at boba tea shops to exchange freebies, buy merchandise from vendors, and receive commemorative boba tea cupsleeves.  

Roger Ho

“This night has been a dream come true,” Yeonjun said near the end of their perofrmance. “Last year,” he said earlier in the night, “was one of the best moments of my life.” The importance of TXT’s set did not seem lost on the group or to anyone watching. That a group from South Korea, whose almost entire discography is in Korean, can headline a major American music festival – and bring thousands of fans just to see them — is a true accomplishment. 

As the group closed out with “Do It Like This”, their latest English-language release that is a collaboration between them and the Jonas Brothers, Taehyun announced that this would be their first time to perform the song. “It would be awesome if they made it to perform it with us, but there’s always next time,” he added. But the Jo Bros were barely missed: TXT covered their parts with ease and the song sounds like their own. 

But the real treat was their final performance of “Sugar Rush Ride”, the buoyant and euphoric lead single from “TEMPTATION”. The choreography is some of their most dynamic, and as the fireworks set off around the Bud Light stage, the atmosphere felt magical. 

Today as the festival ends, Moas will return to their hometowns and normal lives. The cupsleeves and merchandise bought from a weekend of K-Pop events will be packed up. Friends who met up for the weekend will say goodbye to each other, then share photos and videos about their favorite moments. A few fans will receive last minute photocard freebies on a train or o their way out of town. But for 90 minutes on Saturday night, TOMORROW X TOGETHER reminded us that our most meaningful moments are experienced here, together, just as their group name would suggest.

All photos in this editorial are credited to Roger Ho.