For the first time ever, MCOUNTDOWN came to Europe! They chose the biggest indoor arena in Europe, which is La Défense Arena. Many great names were included in the line-up, including PSY, Taemin, NCT Dream, ATEEZ, ZeroBaseOne and many more!
We were lucky enough to be attending the event as Press. In this article we will include our experiences of the concert itself, the organisation, the venue and more.
Want to watch the whole concert yourself? MNET published all performances on their official YouTube channel! Click here to go to the full playlist. Also they will be airing the full concert in November on MNET.
Photo: Copyright MCOUNTDOWN IN FRANCE, CJ ENM
The Venue: La Défense Arena, Paris
La Défense Arena (click for website) is the largest indoor hall in Europe! It's located in the west part of Paris. The dome has a capacity of 30.000 - 40.000 people, and is one of the locations for the Olympic Games in 2024.
The venue was very well accessible with the Metro. You could choose between 2 metro stations, and from most of Paris Center it was max ~30 min transit. The stage was divided into a Main Stage and Extended Stage. On the floor were barricades to divide the different floor categories. Thirsty, or in high need of a toilet visit? On the floor and on the upper levels were also toilets and bars available to get you refreshed!
To be able to make the concert viewable for everybody, there were many screens where the camera crew captured our fave idols sharp and clear; two nex to each side of the Main Stage, and three in a box above the extended stage.
Both the sound quality and screens were very good, making it an enjoyable experience for everyone! Many fans brought lightsticks to support their favorites. In contrary to a concert where the crowd has the same color of lightsticks, because the many different artists the crowd was light up with different colors too.
Organization
MNET is a well-known media/performance company in South-Korea, presenting K-Culture worldwide with the MAMA Awards, KCON and MCOUNTDOWN. MCOUNTDOWN is a weekly stage where idols perform their newest songs, and get wins based on a jury and public voting. For the idols, winning MCOUNTDOWN is a big accomplishment and feels like their hard work is appreciated.
This time, they went to Europe for the first time. Even logistically, we have to respect what they have done: Bringing ~60 idols + back up dancers + staff + media from South Korea to France. Think about the camera equipment, make-up and outfit staff, and on-location staff to make everything possible.
They worked together With La Défense for things like security, ticket checks et cetera.
Photo: Copyright MCOUNTDOWN IN FRANCE, CJ ENM
Pre-show
Although the show was scheduled to start at 19:00, we had been informed there would be a pre-show. Apparently, this was Raiden, ready to hype the crowd up! He played remixes of famous songs. We heard Le Sserafim's "Unforgiven", NCT 127's "Kick It", IVE's "Love Dive", (G)I-DLE's "Tomboy", Aespa's "Next Level", EXO's "Growl", NCT's "Black On Black" and NCT 127's "Sticker". Raiden himself was visibly happy to be here, waving to the crowd and hyping them up throughout his show. He left the stage, but the pre-show wasn't done yet! K-Tigers entered, intrudicing themselves with various Taekwando/dance steps, and shortly after ATEEZ entered and performed "The Real". Together with K-Tigers they had an amazing energy!
The Show
Our host of the evening was ZeroBaseOne's Hanbin. He entered the stage in a light brown jacket, welcoming us to the show and giving a speech that because of the subtitles we unfortunately weren't able to fully comprehend.
ATEEZ
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First to show us a full performance was ATEEZ! Their high energy immediately lit up the stage, as they performed a version of a song debuting on the show Kingdom: "Wonderland (Symphony No.9 “From The Wonderland”). MCOUNTDOWN IN FRANCE is the first performance of youngest member Jongho after his surgery on his leg. He sang while sitting throughout the songs, but every ATINY was extremely happy to see him on stage again! We wish him a speedy recovery. After the first song they played a game called "Your Name", where they will call people from the audience who are showing their name. After that, it was time for their newest song "Bouncy", then a pre-debut song "From Home" where the members went all of the stage and were able to greet everyone. They finished with the powerful "Guerilla". The shouts from the audience during "BREAK THE WAALLL" were deafening! It truly felt like an ATEEZ concert, not just a show.
ELZ7 UP
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Before going to MCOUNTDOWN IN FRANCE, we honestly didn't know this group yet. But as it turned out, as we were listening to the groups as preparation for the concert, we did know their debut song "Cheeky"! They performed that song first. The group was formed through Queendom Puzzle and consists of members of other Kpop groups. Their experience showed in their performances too, performing "Die For You" after that.
Audience members were shook as they suddenly saw ZB1's Matthew on the stairs in the crowd! Great luck for the audience seated close to them as he and Hanbin chatted. A VCR was shown of HIP KOREA with ATEEZ.
K-TIGERS
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Taekwondo group K-Tigers returned to the stage! Their Taekwondo skills amazed the whole audience, while they performed in synchronization to various Kpop songs. They chose songs that everyone knew and happily sang along with, like "What's Your ETA", "5 Star", "Next Level", "Not Today" and more!
After the energetic performence, the audience could take a break and watch NCT Dream's charming points through the VCR.
DREAMCATCHER
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Dreamcatcher performed "Bon Voyage" as their first song. We love their sound, which isn't typically Kpop, a bit harder and very powerful! After Bon Voyage the members said hi, and continued to perform "Reason" and "Maison". The girls made sure to greet every side of the stages and were able to show their discography so well!
ZEROBASEONE
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The next group gets lifted to the extended stage. It's ZeroBaseOne, the new group formed through MNET's survival show Boys Planet. ZB1 (shortened) made a killer debut and their popularity was clear as the people cheered when they entered! The bright outfits made them look princely. Their first song "In Bloom" was accompanied by confetti, further creating a lively atmosphere. Just like ATEEZ they played an Your Name game, and after that they finished up with "Here I Am", the Boys Planet song. We will for sure follow this group!
ZB1's charming points were highlighted during the VCR, showing close-ups from a few members.
TREASURE
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A silence. A whisper: "Treasure". It's time for Treasure, the YG ent boy group, performing "Bona Bona" as their first song. Treasure is one of those groups we wish would be more actively releasing albums, but after all that time it's great to see them live for once! During their intro they sang a chorus of "Hello", and after the introductions went to move into Jikjin. The famous chorus of Jikjin resonated through the hall with the many voices from the audience singing along, which made it an amazing experience.
SHOWNU & HYUNGWON (MONSTA X)
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The two Monsta X members were patiently waiting on either side of the extended stage, awaiting to start their performance, as two members of Dreamcatcher had a short talk while standing in the audience. Finally the lights turned on, and the two idols showed their professionalism when performing "Love Me A Little", charming everyone. After the introductions they did a small performance of Monsta X's "Shoot Out" and "Love Killa". Then, to end with a grande finale, they finished with a new song: "Play Me".
DREAM STAGE
Before the event, MNET held an online competition to see whose dance skills deserve to be showed on stage! The applicants had to send in a video of them dancing to "New Kids On The Block" from ZeroBaseOne. Around 30 people went on stage, and were finally joined by ZeroBaseOne themselves. They all danced so well to the song! It must have been scary for such an audience and with the idols too, but they all did great and it was a really fun stage to watch.
NCT DREAM
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Next up was NCT Dream. We were lucky to see the members a few months ago in Paris already, and now they are back! Unfortunately Mark and Haechan couldn't join because of NCT 127's promotions of "Fact Check", but the remaining 5 members put on a great show too. First was their newest song "ISTJ", wearing bordeaux red velvet-looking suits. Then it was time for the fun up-beat song "Beatbox", and finishing with the spicy song "Hot Sauce".
TAEMIN
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It's getting later, around 21:30 now, and we have two headliners to go. First is Taemin, the SHINee member who has gained popularity as a soloist due to his androgynous style. He has this feminine vibe, while still also embracing his masculanity. Many younger idols also stayed to watch his performances, first one being "Advice". He brought many dancers with him. Then it was "Move", which he performed on the main stage. Finally he crouched down for the choreo of "Criminal". A true artist, which we hope to see for a full concert too someday!
PSY
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The legend. The myth. The man who took the first giant step to make Korea and Kpop more known to the whole world: PSY. The cheers were deafening and it was a crowd of phones trying to capture the unique moment. PSY has never performed in Europe before as far as we know, but his popularity here could not be denied! For his setlist, he first performed "That That", the song he created ft BTS' Suga. Next was "Daddy", and we can't deny that despite his age, he still got the moves! It's such a great performer and especially with the final song "Gangnam Style", the whole arena jumped along with him. We are so happy to have been able to see this live in our lifetime!
ENDING
Around 22:10 the show came to an end, and all idols came up to the stage again to say their goodbyes to everyone. A few members from ZB1 couldn't join because they weren't old enough for Korean law to be working past a certain time. We wish all of them well and we sincerely hope that there will be another MCOUNTDOWN event in Europe some day!
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