XG is a seven-member Japanese girl group under the avex-affiliated label XGALX. Since their debut in 2022, they have steadily built a loyal fan base inside and outside of Asia with their brand of R&B, Hip-Hop, Pop and Dance Music.
On May 18, 2024, they embarked on their first world tour, “The First Howl,” starting in their native Japan at Osaka-jo Hall. The Asian leg of their tour took them to Yokohama, Bangkok, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila, and Taipei.
The North American leg of their tour takes them through the USA during October, with stops in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Grand Prairie, Sugar Land, Atlanta, New York, and Chicago. The show I attended was the second stop on the tour in Los Angeles at the Peacock Theater.
Like every concert, getting tickets to this show was challenging. But signing up for the XG fan club gave me a tiny advantage in accessing the fanclub presale. Any advantage is better than none when buying tickets to events now.
Yet it was still a battle to procure a seat. As soon as I logged into AXS, blue dots came and went instantly. Eventually, I found a VIP ticket in the lower left orchestra section. I only knew what level of VIP I got once my payment receipt was emailed. I had an Xtraordinary X ticket, which got me sound check and send-off access.
I landed in Los Angeles the night before the concert, and after checking in, I walked from my hotel to the venue. It took less than 5 minutes, so there was no need to rush out on concert day to join the frenzy of XG fans and line up for stuff.
On concert day, I arrived at the Peacock Theater an hour before the VIP queue started. The VIP processing was quick, and I got my lanyard and wristband without issues. After that, I went to the merch area to see what was available. Besides the light stick, there were:
- Member-branded light stick straps and parts
- Alphaz light stick parts
- Member-branded Tamagotchis and an Alphaz-only version
- White tour sports towel and a black Alphaz-only version
- Wolf Tail Charm
- XG branded compact mirror
- XG branded credit card keychain
- XG branded sliding credit card case
- Tie-dye socks, T-shirt and Hoodie
- Crew neck T-shirt
- Packing Cubes (regular and vacuum seal versions)
- Passport cover
XG is the first artist I have encountered who sells practical merchandise for everyday use. I haven’t seen anyone else selling compacts, packing cubes, travel bags, and passport holders during my concert travels. I decided to get what was of most value to me: the light stick, additional light stick parts, white sports towel, passport cover, and shopper bag. I would have also added a T-shirt, but they were not tour-specific and only came in Japanese sizes.
However, I had to wait another two hours before the merch booth officially opened to complete the purchase. I killed my time at a sports bar called the Yard House until it was time to get in line for goods. Just after 3 PM, the goods line started flowing, and I quickly got everything on my list and went back to drop my bag of merch at my hotel and freshen up a bit.
The lineup for the sound check was scheduled for 4:30 PM, so I left my hotel around 4:15 and arrived in time to get in the back of the queue. Security screening started a little after 5, and the VIPs entered the venue.
The Peacock Theater is a nice place. I was surprised to see the pit area was all seated. From the pictures of the seat map, I would have thought the seats would be removed, and all the people in that section would have been standing only. I was wrong in that assumption.
If I had known the pit was seated, I would have tried harder to get a seat in that area. I’ll note this if there is another event I want to attend in the Peacock Theater in the future. My seat was two rows back from the pit area, so I had a great view of the stage and had nothing to complain about. I felt fortunate to be in the building and my seat.
Shortly after 6 PM, the soundcheck started. For the LA show, they performed LEFT RIGHT, had a short chat with the crowd and left. A one-song sound check felt like getting short-changed compared to others I attended in the past.
But it was what it was and I got to see XG in real life before the pleabs of general admission were let into the building. So I’ll take that as a win. Afterwards, there was plenty of time before the 8 PM main event to get food, use the restroom, take a power nap, or do whatever.
When the show started, XG came in hot with a four-song set that began with SHOOTING STAR (Rock Version), followed by GRL GVNG, WOKE UP, and Tippy Toes. This set was a great start to the concert. I was looking forward to seeing WOKE UP live and was not disappointed.
When the members walked off after their four-song burner, XG’s producer took to the stage to perform a mini DJ set. This small performance was a way to stall for time to give the XG members time to prepare for their solos. In my opinion, it broke the flow established by the opening set. I was getting bored until Cocona popped up on stage, spitting fire and getting the hype level back up.
Regarding the rappers, I enjoyed Cocona and Jurin’s solos the most. The former, in particular, has an infectious, swaggy aura around her when she’s on stage dropping bars, and she was getting a lot of love from the LA crowd. But it was Jurin who I paid attention to more when she was up there alone.
I liked everything the vocalists did, but Hinata and Chisa stood out the most. I’m not a big Taylor Swift fan, but I know her songs, and Hinata did a great job covering You Belong With Me.
What was most intriguing was Chisa’s choice of a cover song. You have to have a lot of skill and some giant cajones to sing something from Whitney Houston, and as soon as I heard the song’s opening notes, I was excited to listen to her go complete diva.
And she delivered on her take of I Have Nothing, big time. However, I wasn’t expecting this to become a duet. While I enjoyed Chisa’s beautiful tones, it was offset by the loud and off-key girl behind me singing along to the song. She at least knew her limits and didn’t go for the glory notes. But damn, way to ruin a moment, girl.
Lastly, the vocal line’s cover of Destiny’s Child’s Say My Name. It was the best part of this section of the concert. Thankfully, there was no extra fourth member in the audience behind me singing loudly during this part of the show so I was able to enjoy this cover fully without the drowning cat sounds distracting me.
Once XG got to HESONOO, it was banger after banger after banger for the rest of the night. The energy built gradually from the slower introductory tracks; once TGIF hit, it was party on. This is where XG dropped all the high-tempo hits to get the crowd all riled up. It was a fantastic way to end before the encore.
The build-up to the encore consisted of a video of wolves barking at the moon. A few people around me did their best wolf impressions until their throats started giving out, and they started sounding like they should be put down instead. It was funny stuff. After some time, XG returned to the stage to perform NEW DANCE and then did a repeat performance of LEFT RIGHT to end the concert.
Those of us with Xtraordinary X wristbands remained seated while everyone else left the building. When there was sufficient room, staff filed everyone in a single line in the lobby for the send-off event. The way the staff instructed it sounded like a hi-wave rather than the typical send-off where the artist walks past the barricaded fans. Anyone who has been to a recent KCON knows precisely how this event works. But for the uninitiated, you walk single file past the members of XG; you wave, say hi, cry, or whatever in front of them while being ushered to the exit in an orderly fashion.
I don’t have anything significant to report from this after-show event. It went by quickly, and since wristband holders couldn’t record or take pictures, it was just a nice way to get the boot out of the building with only mental pictures to take home as a memory. I did my best to slow down the line for my gain as much as possible, taking lessons learned from previous idol events to heart.
Although I had fun, I believe this concert wasn’t perfect. There were minor production hiccups, like lighting cues. The set-up delay between songs was also a bit long, but that’s nitpicking, and it didn’t adversely affect anything at all. As mentioned earlier, the only real downsides were the one-song sound check and the DJ set. The big positive of XG’s 2.5-hour concert is that it includes many songs, mainly because time-stalling MC segments were not a significant part of the show.
Overall, the XG concert experience is worth checking out, and I recommend getting a ticket to one of their upcoming shows if you can.
XG “The First Howl” World Tour in LA Set List
- SHOOTING STAR (Rock Version)
- GRL GVNG
- WOKE UP
- DJ SIMON JAKOPS mini-set
- Surround Sound (Cocona solo – JID cover)
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Cocona solo – Jay-Z cover)
- Down Bad (Maya solo – Dreamville cover)
- Million Cash (Maya solo – Connor Price cover)
- I Won (Harvey solo – Ty Dolla $ign cover)
- BIG MAD (Harvey solo – Ktlyn cover)
- SAOKO (Jurin solo – ROSALIA cover)
- Still Hot (Jurin solo – Nic D & Connor Price cover)
- Trampoline (Rap Line – David Guetta cover)
- Trip (Juria solo – Ella Mai cover)
- I Have Nothing (Chisa solo – Whitney Houston cover)
- Say My Name (Vocal Line – Destiny’s Child cover)
- LEFT RIGHT (Remix Version)
- Just Stand Up! (Artists Stand Up to Cancer cover)
- HESONOO
- X-GENE
- TGIF
- MASCARA
- SOMETHING AIN’T RIGHT
- PUPPET SHOW
- NEW DANCE (Encore)
- LEFT RIGHT (Encore)
