Seventeen commences stadium tour in Japan, announces latest sub-unit

Boy band Seventeen kicked off its first stadium tour in Japan, rocking the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka on Saturday and Sunday for some 110,000 fans across the weekend.

Boy band Seventeen performs at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Japan. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT, HYBE JAPAN]

Boy band Seventeen kicked off its first stadium tour in Japan, rocking the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka on Saturday and Sunday for some 110,000 fans across the weekend.

The concerts were part of its encore tour, "Follow Again," which began at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium in March.

Seventeen performed 28 songs for three and a half hours, including its hit tracks "Super" (2023), "Clap" (2017), "God of Music" (2023) and "Left & Right" (2020), alongside its recently released song "Maestro."

The band also performed special songs for its Japanese fans, including "Ima -Even if the world ends tomorrow-" (2022), the lead track of the band's Japanese best-of album, "Always Yours," and the Japanese versions of "Rock with you" (2021) and "HOME;RUN" (2020), according to its agency, Pledis Entertainment.

Boy band Seventeen's performance team performs at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Japan. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT, HYBE JAPAN]

Boy band Seventeen's hip-hop team perform at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Japan. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT, HYBE JAPAN]

Boy band Seventeen's vocal team performs at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Japan. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT, HYBE JAPAN]

Each of Seventeen's three distinct units — hip-hop, performance and vocal teams — had its own unit performance, showcasing each unit's abilities and unique identities, its agency said.

"We never dreamed of holding a stadium concert in our life," the members said during the concert, according to its agency. "We still can't believe that we're here, standing on this stage. Thank you for giving us the courage to step forward and to dream big."

"Seventeen's journey begins now," the members said.

The concert on Saturday was broadcast live through theaters in Japan, and the Sunday concert was streamed live online for global fans to enjoy the performance.

Seventeen's "'Follow' the City" project also returned ahead of the concerts, offering fans various events such as photo zones and collecting digital stamps to enjoy using the band's intellectual property (IP).

"The City" project is a promotional event that HYBE organizes for its artists in the cities where they perform during their tours.

The band is slated to perform at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama on May 25 and 26, one of the biggest performance venues in Japan that can hold up to 70,000 concertgoers. Seventeen will be the second K-pop boy band to play at Nissan Stadium, following boy band TVXQ in 2013.

Boy band Seventeen at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Japan. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT, HYBE JAPAN]

Seventeen announced the launch of a new unit on Monday, consisting of members Jeonghan and Wonwoo.

The new unit is set to release its first single, "This Man," on June 17. Preorders began Monday at 11 a.m.

Seventeen has been launching various sub-units since its debut.

Wonwoo and Mingyu formed a unit and dropped the digital single "Bittersweet (Feat. Lee Hi)" in May 2021, which topped the iTunes songs chart in nine countries and regions, according to its agency.

Special unit BSS, consisting of members Seungkwan, DK and Hoshi, released its first single, "Fighting," featuring rapper Lee Young-ji, in February last year. The song gained major popularity, topping various music shows on eight occasions.

Seventeen is a 13-member boy band that debuted under Pledis Entertainment in 2015. It recently dropped its best-hits album, "17 is Right Here," with lead track "Maestro" on April 29.

To find out more about Seventeen, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]