New Evolution Global Tour was the second

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

by South Korean girl group

2NE1 2NE1 (, ) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. The group consists of Park Bom, Bom, CL (rapper), CL, Sandara Park, Dara, and Minzy. Known for their Experimental music, musical experimentation, fashion, and stage pre ...

. It saw shows in 15 shows across 7 countries in Asia and North America spanning from July to December 2012. The tour marked the first world tour by a Korean girl group, while its show at the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multipurpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, United States. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), the New York Sirens of the Pro ...

in Newark marked the first time a Korean artist held a solo arena concert in the United States. The tour received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, who praised the production, the group's energy, and performance. It attracted approximately 180,000 attendees in total. YG Entertainment released a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

DVD of the Seoul concerts in December 2012, followed by a Japanese version of the Yokohama concerts in March 2013.

Background

The New Evolution Global Tour was officially announced on June 13, 2012 through the YG Family website. Marking the first world tour by a Korean girl group, the announcement revealed that the group would hold concerts throughout Asia, North America and Europe. The tour kicked off at the Olympics Gymnastics Stadium in Seoul on July 28 and 29, following the group's " I Love You" promotions. The tour was originally set to conclude on December 8 in Kuala Lumpur, however the concert was cancelled due to unresolved technical issues and ended instead on December 1 at the

Singapore Indoor Stadium The Singapore Indoor Stadium, known exonymously as the Indoor Stadium, is an indoor arena located in Kallang, Singapore. It is within walking distance of the Singapore National Stadium, and collectively form a part of the wider Singapore S ...

Production

Three-time winner of the

MTV Video Music Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

for Best Choreography, Travis Payne, served as the main director for production and choreography, along with Divinity Roxx (who previously worked on Beyonce's world tour) and Michael Cotten (who worked on production design for the Olympic Games). Beatrice Chia-Richmond served as the creative director and concert organizer. The stages were transformed into a theme park, a club, a sporting arena, and a fantasy world which incorporated use of giant inflatable props, conveyor belts, and a video wall—where it simulated a rollercoaster ride during CL and Minzy's performance of "Please Don't Go". The tour costumes were designed by long-time fashion collaborator

Jeremy Scott Jeremy Scott (born August 8, 1975) is an American fashion designer. He is the sole owner of his namesake label, and from October 2013 to March 2023 was the creative director of the fashion house Moschino. Since launching his brand in Paris in 19 ...

Critical reception

The tour received positive reviews from music critics.

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, Caramanica received his bachelor's degree ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' ranked the concert at the Prudential Center in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

number two in their list of the best concerts of the year, deeming 2012 "the year K-pop arrived" in the form of arena shows into the United States. Reviewing the same concert, Jeff Benjamin of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' remarked that "This important show is the latest in a series of happenings that have allowed 2NE1 to emerge as one of the leaders (if not ''the'' leader) of the K-pop movement in America." Writing for ''

The Korea Times ''The Korea Times'' () is a daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the ''Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language, Korean-language daily. It is the oldest active daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. ...

'', Kwaak Je-yup praised the group's vocals, energy, and choreography, and commented that the production of the concert was "consistently excellent". SSTV stated that tour were some of the best concerts among any girl group, while

Newsis Newsis News Agency () or Newsis is a privately owned news agency in South Korea. Prior to the launch of Newsis, the Yonhap News Agency Yonhap News Agency (; ) is a major news agency in South Korea. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap pr ...

commented the tour was reminiscent of a summer rock festival and "the performance was more complete than anything else". ''My Daily'' wrote that the tour "raised the quality of domestic concerts to a new level".

Commercial performance

2NE1 became the first K-pop group to be listed on the ''Billboard'' Boxscore list, placing at number 29 with their Los Angeles concert with a total of $653,716 in revenue. In Taipei, the show grossed NT$28.9 million ($1 million) in revenue.

Set list

Main set # "I Am the Best" # "Fire" # "Clap Your Hands" # "I Don't Care" (Reggae Mix Ver.) # "Don't Stop the Music" # Club DJ (CL solo) # "Don't Cry" and "You & I" (Bom solo) # "Follow Me" # "Please Don't Go" (CL & Minzy) # "Pretty Boy" # Dance (Minzy Solo) # "Kiss" (Dara Solo) # "It Hurts" # "Lonely" # "In the Club" # "Stay Together" # "I Love You" # "Ugly" # "Let's Go Party" # "Scream" # "Hate You" # "Go Away" # "Can't Nobody" Encore # "I Don't Care" # "I Am the Best (Remix)"

Shows

Cancelled shows

Personnel

* Artist: CL, Minzy,

Dara Dara is a given name in several languages. Dara, Daraa, or DARA may also refer to: Geography Africa * Dar'a, region in northern Ethiopia * Dara (woreda), region in southern Ethiopia Asia * Dara (Mesopotamia), an archeological site in Mard ...

, Bom * Tour organizer:

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and conce ...

, Running Into The Sun (Singapore) * Music director/bassist: Divinity Roxx * Keyboardist: DANiiVORY * Engineer: Eric Racy * Drummer: Gabriel "Manuals" Wallace * Guitarist: Sharon Aguilar * Creative director: Beatrice Chia Richmond * Production: Travis Payne, Divinity Roxx, Michael Cotten * Tour guest performers :

Will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...

(Los Angeles only)

Broadcast and recordings

''2012 2NE1 Global Tour: New Evolution (Live in Seoul)'' is the second

of South Korean

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

. The album was released on December 4, 2012, by

. The live album sold 10,613 copies in South Korea, while in Japan, it sold 6,000 copies. The album was recorded during the group's first world tour ''New Evolution'' during their

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

dates on July 28 and 29 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena.

Track listing

References

External links

2NE1 official site
{{2NE1 2012 concert tours 2NE1 Concert tours of Japan Concert tours of Singapore Concert tours of South Korea Concert tours of Taiwan Concert tours of the United States