2NE1 Creates Fever in Japan

2NE1 began their recent concert tour in Japan by holding concerts in Yokohama, and 12,000 audience members were full of enthusiasm.

Girl group 2NE1's debut concert tour in Japan took off smoothly. They held two concerts as a part of their concert tour entitled "NOLZA In Japan" in Yokohama, Japan on September 19 and 20, and a total of 12,000 audience members went wild while enjoying 2NE1's performances. Even though it was a rainy day, the audience heated up the concert venue. They were all standing during the whole time and singing and dancing to 2NE1's hit songs. When 2NE1 appeared on the stage to sing their debut song entitled "Fire", the huge ovation of the audience filled the venue and the place resembled a huge club.

There were green laser beams and the audience shook luminous glowsticks while dancing to the music. The audience also emulated the choreography when 2NE1 sang "I Don't Care". Group member CL perfectly occupied the stage by singing songs such as "Marvin's Room" and "Did It On Em", Sandara Park presented her attractive charms by singing the song entitled "Kiss", and Kong Min Ji presented a temperate dance while singing Tae Yang' song entitled "Look At Me". And Park Bom appeared with her own sister named Park Ko Eun, who is a cellist, and sang her solo songs "You And I" and Don't Cry" together, and their performance received an ovation. In addition, the unit group of the idol group Big Bang consisting of G-Dragon and TOP appeared as guest members.

Their charismatic performance on the stage created a more festive atmosphere. 2NE1 relieved some of the heat in the venue by singing calm songs such as "It Hurts", "Lonely", and "In the Club", and then they heated up the place again with their song "Pretty Boy". They made the audience go wild by consecutively singing their hit songs including "I Am the Best" and "Ugly". The audience sang along to the chorus of "I Am the Best", which was the Japanese version of the original song, in Korean. And when 2NE1 sang "Ugly", the place was completely rocked by the jumping and dancing of the audience. Their performance continued for two hours, and it finished with the anchor songs of "Stay Together" and "Go Away".

Most of the audience was female, and a person from their agency YG Entertainment said that 2NE1 has received favorable responses from many Japanese women because of their powerful and charismatic charms, which have hardly been seen in the Japanese music industry. An office worker from Tokyo named Sasaki (31) said, "I really like 2NE1's songs and dances. They are different from other girl groups and their fashion style looks extraordinary". 2NE1 began their concert in Yokohama to commemorate their first debut album in Japan, and 70,000 tickets for the concert tour, which was the largest number among Korean singing groups who debuted in Japan and held live concert, were completely sold out when they began selling the tickets on September 4, and it has become a hot topic of conversation. Japan's five major newspapers covered the story of 2NE1's first concert in Yokohama, which was held on September 19, as the top news of the entertainment section.

2NE1 will hold a total of six concerts beginning with two concerts in Yokohama. They will hold two concerts at Kobe's World Memorial Hall on September 24 and 25 and two more concerts at Chiba's Makuhari Messe on October 1 and 2. At the press conference held before their concert, the members of 2NE1 said, "We came to Japan to sing our songs and we want to show our appearances as we are. And we want to introduce every song of ours to the Japanese audience". 2NE1's Japanese debut album entitled "NOLZA", which is the Japanese version of their second album that was released in Korea last August, was released in Japan on September 21.