K-pop girl group Twice’s sell-out shows in Los Angeles shows how girl groups can hold successful world tours beyond Asia
- K-pop girl groups have faced an uphill battle when it comes to touring internationally, but Twice are showing how it’s done
- The group’s two recent sell-out shows at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles finished a tour that saw them perform to hundreds of thousands of fans
Twice’s recent two-night concert in the US proves that K-pop girl groups can hold a sell-out solo stadium show in America just like the boys.
On May 14 and 15, the nine-member team performed for over 20,000 fans each night at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles on the country’s west coast.
While all-male K-pop groups have in recent years become mainstays on the US touring circuit, girl groups and female soloists do not appear as frequently, if at all. Marketing, promoting, releases – all are (generally) harder to come by, even as K-pop becomes an integral part of the American zeitgeist.
K-pop girl groups have faced an uphill battle when it comes to touring internationally, with only a handful ever holding world tours, let alone any selling out major arenas or stadiums.
In the US, girl groups in general (K-pop or otherwise) have had a rough time. The last notable Stateside girl group was Fifth Harmony, active between 2012-2018, so acts from overseas – whether K-pop groups or others, like British hitmakers Little Mix – stand even less of a chance to stake their claim in the world’s biggest music industry.
In 2019, high-profile tours from the likes of Blackpink, Twice and Red Velvet seemed an indication that things were about to change, but the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to that. Now that in-person tours are making a return, groups including Brave Girls, (G)I-dle and Dreamcatcher have announced world tours that include dates in the US.
