Lollapalooza first took place over 20 years ago in 1991, staging Jane’s Addiction’s farewell tour (although the group has reunited over the years: the most recent reunion was cancelled in 2024 when Farrell assaulted Navarro during a concert in Boston towards the end of the year). Originally a touring event that kicked off in Chicago, in 2010 the festival became a yearly event, which would eventually take place across four cities: Chicago, Santiago (2011), São Paulo (2012), and Berlin (2014), laying the foundations for its current form.

On Saturday, 12 July, IVE lit up the Telekom Main Stage ahead of Justin Timberlake’s headlining set, making history as the first female K-pop act to perform at the festival, though not the first K-pop group to grace the main stage. This landmark achievement belongs to SEVENTEEN, who last year were the first K-Pop group to headline Berlin.  K-pop has become ubiquitous at Lollapalooza: at the end of this month, super group TWICE, alongside newer ones including Boy Next Door, KickFlip, and Katseye, are scheduled to appear at the Chicago festival. And not forgetting that j-hope previously headlined Chicago in 2022, before his mandatory military enlistment. 

Coming off the back of the hugely successful HOPE ON THE STAGE TOUR which wrapped up last month with two sold out dates in Goyang, South Korea (13-14 June 2025), and three single releases “Sweet Dreams” (feat. Miguel); “MONA LISA” and most recently “Killin’ it girl”(feat. GoRilla), j-hope’s hotly anticipated Berlin stage did not disappoint.

During the performance, j-hope drew on his own and BTS’s back catalogue to produce a scintillating spectacle that kept the audience, both in person and online, engaged throughout. The set started with songs from his first “official” solo album, Jack In The Box (2022) alongside more recent tracks from Hope on the Street Vol. 1 (2024), before beautifully slipping into his sexy era, as marked by his “Helen of Troy” tripartite: “Killin’ It Girl”; “Mona Lisa” and “Sweet Dreams”, much to the crowd’s delight. He followed this up with solo versions of three of BTS’s much-loved hits: “Mic Drop”,  “Dynamite”, and “Butter” before finishing this section with “Outro: Ego” from Map of the Soul 7 (2020). The subsequent performance of “Daydream” from Hope World, his 2018 mixtape, functioned as a salutary reminder of the breadth and depth of the star’s work. The energy ramped up with an adrenaline-filled performance of “Chicken Noodle Soup,” which ended the set. The welcomed encore included “Equal Sign” and “Neuron” providing a circular moment from beginning to end. 

For an hour and a half, through a finely crafted 23-track setlist, j-hope demonstrated his professionalism through carefully choreographed and constructed performances, which created a participatory narrative that drew the audience in, only letting them go at the very end. Dressed simply in baggy jeans held up with a sparkly MONA LISA belt and a cropped silk shirt, wearing a bedazzled custom HOPE WORLD necklace by Alex Moss for VERDY,  j-hope was the epitome of cool, effortless charm. Despite the explosive performances, the star’s energy levels never wavered.

The set made it clear, j-hope’s stage presence and passion are on another level. He effortlessly pulled off solo and group tracks; the transition from his recent singles to three of BTS’s most popular songs was seamless. Even without his group members, j-hope lit up the stage with his bright and passionate energy. Fans, many of whom had been waiting since early morning, cheered loudly and even sang along to Becky G’s Spanish verse in “CNS,” which clearly made him smile. One of the most touching moments came during “Sweet Dreams,” when international ARMYs held up purple paper hearts as a heartfelt show of love through their Purple Heart Project. They did this again for “Equal Sign”; however, it was much darker, which made it more difficult to see the fluttering hearts in the evening breeze, but the emotions stayed, even after the music and fireworks were gone.

Despite the limitations of the festival stage and set-up, the design was spectacular throughout: the shadowy projection of the jack-in-the-box during the opening part was used to emphasise the star’s plurality, the light of j-hope tempered by barely hidden darkness articulating the peculiar tension that comes with superstardom. During “CNS”, the backdrop was a jackpot machine, cycling through a variety of cars, bringing elements of the music video to the stage. This wasn’t just a collection of greatest hits; it was a journey through j-hope’s creative world, offering a full-on audio-visual experience into his world. It was also a celebration of one of K-pop’s most talented performers. The night was superb, confirming j-hope’s status as a superstar and making every ticket feel like a golden ticket.

As an integral part of BTS, j-hope is a triple threat; he can rap, sing, and dance, which is the exception rather than the rule in South Korea and elsewhere. Whether performing as a member of the world’s biggest boy group or as a solo artist, j-hope is a powerful star whose musical growth has been mind-blowing and whose future remains wide open.

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Written by Dr Colette Balmain

Feature image courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC

_{View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to films, music, and the arts, with a strong focus on the Asian entertainment industry. With rich content already available to our readers, we aim to expand our reach and grow alongside our audience by delving deeper into emerging platforms such as K-pop and Asian music more broadly. At the same time, we remain committed to exploring the vibrant and ever-evolving global landscape of film, music, and the arts, celebrating the immense talent and creativity that define these industries worldwide.}