This weekend a ton of European K-pop fans traveled to Frankfurt, Germany to enjoy Kpop Flex. The two day festival promised plenty of big names like Kai, NCT Dream, Enhypen, MONSTA X, (G)-Idle, Mamamoo and many more.
We were lucky enough to snag tickets for Day 2, to see some of our favorites perform and to meet other K-pop fans. Through social media we saw that plenty of fans of not only Europe, but also many other continents flew in to enjoy the festival.
The concert took place at the Deutsche Bank Arena and sold more than 80.000 tickets. The hype was very much real as the organizers promised five hours of entertainment.
There were also stands to promote Korean culture and food, there was also a random K-pop dance circle and various other games.
Line-Up
Mamamoo started the show with a lot of charisma. Fans went wild and we saw lots of Moomoos proudly waving their absolutely adorable lightstick. The girls all looked amazing in their outfits. Solar with the pink outfit was a personal favorite.
They started off with ‘Aya’. The track got everyone hyped up! They went on to perform ‘Hip’, ‘Gogobebe’ and ‘Um Oh Ah Yeh’. We were absolutely thrilled they sang ‘Um Oh Ah Yeh’. It was so much fun to hear all the fans sing along.
EXO’s Kai, also one of the line-up artists, came to host and engage with the crowd. He introduced the following artist: IVE.
IVE was the youngest group to perform. The rookies debuted in December 2021 but have already had massive hits with ‘Lovedive’ and ‘Eleven’. We’re super excited to follow the group from up-close as they continue their musical career.
They performed ‘Lovedive’, ‘Royal’ and ‘Eleven’. They did an incredible job. This was their first time in Germany but we definitely hope they come back!
After that the stage went to the girls from Dreamcatcher. The lightsticks are absolutely amazing. There were some fans who had stacked them on top to create a massive staff. I’m sure it made them happy.
They performed their most recent comeback ‘Maison’ which gave them their first Music Bank win! After that they gave us a fantastic show with ‘BEcause’ and ‘Scream’. The crowds went absolutely wild. It was unbelievably fun and Dreamcatcher really connected with fans. It was awesome.
The IVE members Gaeul and Yujin hosted to interact with fans and introduce the next group.
AB6IX took over the stage with their hit singles ‘Close’ and ‘1,2,3’. The members had a dance challenge prepared for us.
They taught us some sweet moves to NCT 127’s ‘Kick It’, BlackPink’s ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’ and BTS’ ‘Permission To Dance’. It was a really cute moment and a fun way to interact with the audience.
Their closing track was ‘Do You Remember’.
(G)I-dle has been hitting it out of the park with their releases. They blessed us with their performance of ‘Tomboy’, ‘Latata’, ‘Oh My God’ and the massive TikTok hit ‘My Bag’.
The amount of power the girls put behind their moves was incredible. The entire audience was screaming along and the energy was beyond amazing. They announced their American tour a couple of days ago, we hope to see them back in Europe soon!
Gaeul and Yujin came back to host again and keep the energy up.
The Dreamcatcher members came back to the stage to perform a cover of the single ‘Kill This Love’ by BlackPink. They gave this single a rock remix and did a fantastic job. They all looked amazing in their suits.
Next up
MONSTA X came in and started with their new title track ‘Love’ from their most recent comeback ‘Shape of Love’. It is an absolute bop and fans went wild.
The next song was ‘Autobahn’. Apparently a fan had mentioned it to IM during a fancall. It was such a great moment! I’m sure German fans appreciated it a lot.
The MONSTA X members played a game with the audience that was all about which member would fit which of the following concepts: tough guy, sensual guy and sweet guy. A big chunk of this was not really visible for the audience in the back sections as the big screens suddenly started showing audience members instead of the MONSTA X members. It was a confusing moment.
After that they performed the two singles ‘Gambler’ and ‘Love You’. I’m so happy they performed ‘Love You’. I mentioned in my review of the album that this would be such a fantastic end-of-concert moment. I’m glad I was proven to be correct.
Daehwi and Donghyun from AB6IX come to host this time. They prepared fans for the last performance of the evening.
Kai came on stage and, despite looking exhausted, delivered a great show. He performed the song ‘Peaches’, which is still stuck in my head today. Then he also played ‘Vanilla’, ‘To be honest’ and ‘Mmmh’.
Kai brought other dancers and created a full spectacle including fire cannons and great dance moves.
Overall
The performances were great. However fans feel a bit deceived as the promo had promised 5 hours of performances and all the artists only performed for a bit over 2 hours. The artists all got 15 to 20 minutes and for fans flying in from abroad, that didn’t feel great.
The schedule was only posted on Kpop Flex’s official Instagram a day ahead of time. On Sunday we didn’t receive a schedule until 3PM, with the performances starting at 4PM. Some fans didn’t even make it on time as the day before fans had posted online that their show only started two hours before the closing time.
The weekend was extraordinarily hot, with temperatures on Sunday reaching nearly 30 degrees. There was a lot of confusion about the free water refills and endless queues for free food.
The organization overall could and should be improved for the following year. They have already released Save The Dates for Kpop Flex 2023 with weekend passes ranging around 142 to 629 euro for the full weekend.
Let us know if you went to the concert in the comments below, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Will you be going to the festival next year?