Ateez kicked off its grandeur, performance-filled 2024 world tour “Towards the Light: Will to Power” in Seoul over the weekend, bringing good vibes and happiness to their fans and themselves alike.
“Atiny [Ateez’s fandom name] asked us whether we are happy, and I can now say that I’m happy with confidence. I can feel that I’m happy, and I promise to give you back the happiness [this year],” Seonghwa said during the band’s Sunday performance held at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium in southern Seoul.
“Towards the Light: Will to Power” is Ateez‘s latest world tour, following the “The Fellowship: Break the Wall” world tour that lasted from late 2022 till mid-2023. It is also the band’s first concert in Seoul in nine months. Jamsil Indoor Stadium and the surrounding area were packed with Korean and global Atiny over the weekend, representing the band’s strong presence in the overseas K-pop community. Both days of the concert, which added up to 15,000 seats total, were sold out in advance.
Indeed, even for Ateez, a boy band known for its solid performances, the three-hour-long “Towards the Light” concert featured many new and unique aspects not found in the band’s previous concerts.
The main visual attraction of the concert — apart from the eight members themselves — came down to different special stages and drama-like performances behind them, with the most eye-catching attraction at the venue being the daunting 16-meter (52-foot)-tall Eye of Sauron-esque, “Tower of Light” installed at the back of the concert hall.
[🎬] ATEEZ(에이티즈) – '미친 폼 (Crazy Form)' Official MV
— ATEEZ(에이티즈) (@ATEEZofficial) December 1, 2023
https://t.co/oWa8cRUc31
#WILL #미친폼 #Crazy_Form #ATEEZ #에이티즈 pic.twitter.com/X6YhUYSmJ4
Who Is Ateez?
ATEEZ (에이티즈) is an eight-member boy group under KQ Entertainment. They debuted on October 24, 2018 with the mini album Treasure EP.1 : All To Zero.
2018: Treasure EP.1 : All To Zero
On October 24, 2018, they debuted with the first mini album Treasure EP.1 : All To Zero.
On November 17, they revealed through V Live that their final fandom name wil be ATINY, which is a combination of the words ATEEZ and Destiny.
2019: Treasure EP.2 : Zero To One, Treasure EP.3 : One To All, Treasure EP.Fin : All To Action, and Japanese debut
ATEEZ Treasure Ep
Concept photo for Treasure EP.2 : Zero To One
On January 15, 2019, they made their first come back with the second mini album Treasure EP.2 : Zero To One. Ten days later, MyMusicTaste announced that they would be holding a world tour called The Expedition Tour, with the first five concerts being held over the span of March in the United States. On February 20, they revealed that they would also be holding 10 concerts in 10 different cities in Europe for the same tour during April.
On March 15, they held their first concert for The Expedition Tour in Los Angeles, California at the Globe Theatre. Their fifth and final concert of the US leg was at New York on March 24 at Warsaw. On April 3, they performed at the first concert of their Europe leg in London, UK at the O2 Forum Kentish Town. On April 21, they performed their 10th and final concert of the European leg in Moscow, Russia at the Izvestia Hall.
On June 5, it was announced that they would be holding two concerts in Australia as part of The Expedition Tour with the two dates being on August 9 and 11. Five days later, they released their third mini album Treasure EP.3 : One To All.
On July 24, it was reported by Billboard that ATEEZ had signed with RCA Records for their USA promotions. KQ will continue to manage them in South Korea.
On August 9 and 11, they performed at their Australian concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
On October 8, they released their first studio album Treasure EP.Fin : All To Action.
On December 4, they made their Japanese debut with the studio album Treasure EP.Extra : Shift The Map. The album consists of different remixes of previously released songs, along with two Japanese versions of “Utopia” and “Aurora”.
2020: Treasure Epilogue : Action To Answer, and Treasure EP. Map To Answer
On January 6, 2020, they released their fourth mini album Treasure Epilogue : Action To Answer.
On February 12, they made their first Japanese comeback with their first Japanese mini album Treasure EP. Map To Answer.
On July 29, they released their fifth mini album Zero : Fever Part.1.
It was announced on November 15, 2020 that Mingi would be going on hiatus from the group due to psychological anxiety problems.
On December 6, San participated in a special collaboration stage at the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards, confirming their appearance in the upcoming show Kingdom: Legendary War.
2021: Zero : Fever Part.2, Into the A to Z, Kingdom, Dreamers, Zero : Fever Part.3, Zero : Fever Epilogue, and collaborations
On February 5, 2021, KQ Entertainment announced that although Mingi is still in hiatus, he would still take part in the recording of their sixth mini album Zero : Fever Part.2. On March 1, 2021, they then released their sixth mini album Zero : Fever Part.2.
On March 24, they released their second Japanese studio album Into the A to Z.
On the tenth and final episode of Kingdom: Legendary War, which was aired on June 3, ATEEZ’s final rank was third out of the six teams.
On July 14, members Hongjoong and Yunho, credited as ATEEZ, participated in the 2021 Pepsi X Starship K-Pop Campaign by releasing the collaboration single “Taste of Korea” with Rain, MONSTA X, and Brave Girls. Four days later, 2021, it was announced that Mingi fully regained his health after 8 months of recovery and he will be returning from hiatus. On July 28, they released their first Japanese single “Dreamers”.
On August 16, they released a collaborative album with Kim Jong Kook, titled Season Songs.
On September 13, they released their seventh mini album Zero : Fever Part.3.
On October 18, they revealed a teaser photo saying that ATEEZ XR Show will be coming soon on November 14. It was further revealed that it would be an online performance that is extended by special XR stages.
On November 14, following the conclusion of the ATEEZ XR Show concert, it was announced that ATEEZ would be going on a world tour called The Fellowship : Beginning of the End in 2022. The first date will be in Seoul on January 7 with the last date planned to be in Madrid in March 1.
On December 10, they released their first repackage EP Zero : Fever Epilogue.
2022: The Fellowship : Beginning of the End, Don’t Stop, Beyond : Zero, The World EP.1 : Movement, The Fellowship : Break the Wall, Poppia, The World EP.Paradigm, Spin Off : From The Witness
On January 7 to January 9, 2022, the group performed at Seoul on their first concert of the year for the The Fellowship : Beginning of the End world tour. On the first day of the Seoul concert, on January 7, MyMusicTaste announced that the European leg of The Fellowship : Beginning of the End, which was originally scheduled from February 13 to March 1, will be postponed due to COVID-19. On January 24, UNIVERSE revealed that ATEEZ would be participating in their UNIVERSE Music project as with the release of “Don’t Stop”, which was released on January 31.
On May 25, ATEEZ released their second Japanese mini album Beyond : Zero.
On April 23, fans noticed several posters both in Hongdae, Seoul and outside the venue of ATEEZ’s concert in Madrid, Spain. The posters featured a QR code ledding to an unlisted video teasing for a comeback in July 2022. On June 28, ATEEZ posted a teaser image with a QR code on their social media accounts before immediately deleting it. The code lead to to an audio file along with the “Propaganda” teaser revealing the title of their eighth mini album, The World EP.1 : Movement, which was released on July 29.
On July 18, the group announced that they would be holding their second world tour of the year, The Fellowship : Break the Wall.
On August 11, they released “Let’s Together” OST Part. 2 for the ongoing Playlist web drama series, Mimicus.
On November 30, ATEEZ released their third Japanese mini album The World EP.Paradigm.
On December 12, QR codes were discovered in Hongdae, South Korea and outside the venue of ATEEZ’s concert in Chiba, Japan. When scanned, the QR codes lead fans to a Instagram account, and a poster teasing the upcoming release of ATEEZ’s first single album, “Spin Off : From The Witness”, on December 30.
2023: Limitless, The World EP.2 : Outlaw, Jongho’s hiatus, The World EP.Fin : Will
On February 15, 2023, they announced that they will release their second Japanese single “Limitless” on March 22.
On April 29, the Seoul Economic Daily reported that ATEEZ will be releasing an album in June. Although KQ Entertainment has not confirmed the report, fans discovered a QR code on a banner outside the venue of ATEEZ’s encore concert in Seoul on April 28, leading to a teaser poster hinting at the group’s upcoming comeback. On May 14, they posted a teaser for their ninth mini album, The World EP.2 : Outlaw, set to be released on June 16.
On August 20, KQ Entertainment announced that Jongho had returned to Korea due to experiencing extreme pain on his leg. On August 26, KQ Entertainment released an additional statement announcing that Jongho underwent surgery to receive intensive management for his existing injury. He would also be temporarily taking a break from all group and individual activities until further notice in order to focus on his rehabilitation post-surgery. On October 12, KQ Entertainment announced that member Jongho would be returning from his hiatus and that he will “avoid intense choreography” and perform on stage while sitting or standing.
On October 8, ATEEZ airdropped a teaser image to fans attending their performance at the 2023 Gangnam Festival Yeongdong-daero K-Pop Concert in Seoul, hinting at an upcoming comeback. On October 24, the group dropped the teaser for their second full-length album The World EP.Fin : Will, which was released on December 1, 2023.
2024:Towards the Light: Will to Power, Not Okay, Coachella 2024
On December 8, 2023, ATEEZ announced their plans to embark on a new world tour next year “Towards the Light : Will to Power”.
On January 12, they announced that they will release their third Japanese single “Not Okay” on February 28.
On January 17, the team behind Coachella 2024 finally dropped the line-up for this year’s fest. The organizers have prepared a special surprise for K-pop fans on April 12 and 19, ATEEZ will join the headliner. With this, ATEEZ will make history as the first Korean boy group to take the stage at Coachella, expanding their presence on the global music platform.
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