On September 2, 2024, tripleS announced they were embarking on their second world tour. This announcement excited me, as I am a tripleS fan, and seeing them live is something I missed when their LOVElution and EVOLution teams toured.
When the second leg of the tour in North America was revealed on their social media, I didn’t expect to see any Canadian dates. Canada always falls in the “and more” category of concert promotions. Color me not so surprised when I saw they were heading to Montreal and Toronto in February, smack in the dead of winter. So, while it’s great they were coming to the great white north, it was a lousy time weather-wise on the East Coast.
Rather than freeze my ass off in the middle of winter in my home nation, I chose to travel to the U.S. again, with stops in New York (I know it’s cold there too, but not as cold), Houston or Los Angeles as my best options.
When tickets dropped, I didn’t know how much of a dog fight I would be in for. The best New York and Los Angeles seats were gone within seconds or went into Platinum pricing almost immediately. I knew I wouldn’t get close seats in those cities, so I switched to Houston.
The Houston venue was the House of Blues, which has about the same capacity as the Showbox SoDo in Seattle. So I could get close enough to the stage since the seats there were not selling out as quickly. It took nearly an hour of waiting for a prime seat to appear at a regular price. But I managed to snag a second-row seat on the right side of the stage. With my ticket secured, the next thing to take care of was getting VIP.
The VIP situation was similar to what I had to do for Purple Kiss last year, where I bought a separate package to get it. And, of course, the add-ons of photo ops with the members of tripleS were additional costs on top of the VIP package, which was a prerequisite. There was no avoiding it.
Of course, getting those photo ops was an ordeal in itself. For some reason, Seoyeon was not open to any stop except Orlando. I got every other member I wanted to take a picture with except for her. It wasn’t until a day after the photo ops opened up that I could get two with Seoyeon.
Once all the pre-concert costs were covered, getting to Houston was simply a waiting game.
On concert day, I arrived at the venue shortly after 2:30, and a line was already forming. It wasn’t as huge as some in the tripleS Discord exaggerated; I was in the middle and could easily see the staff setting up the check-in table and security barriers. I could also see the merch booth straight on. The line started getting more prominent behind me as the check-in time of 3 PM started to get closer.
The check-in process was simple: Show your government ID, and they will cross-reference you on their list. You get a lanyard, a wristband, and a signed poster, and part one is done. In part two, again show your ID and get your photo-op tickets. I double-checked my photo op tickets to see that they were all there. The check-in person missed my two Seoyeon tickets, and I had to double back to get them.
Lastly, I bought merchandise. I had a list on my phone, so I showed it to the person at the booth for a more efficient buying process. The vinyl was unavailable for early merchandise purchase at the Houston stop as it was still being signed. So, instead of returning to the hotel to rest, I cycled back into the line to ensure I could get one of the 100 copies they had on site.
Spending another couple of hours in line was tedious, and there was nothing much to do. People came around and offered freebies and such—par for the course at a K-pop show. I mostly chatted with my peeps on Discord or Line and listened to others discuss various topics.
It’s funny hearing that some fans found it difficult to memorize all 24 members of tripleS. I come from the world of Hello! Project and AKB48, so if you’re deep into their systems, you must remember at least 50+ members. A hard line of 24 is pretty easy in comparison.
As 6 PM rolled around, the anxious masses were let into the building, and many made their way directly to the merchandise. I did the same and procured the limited signed vinyl I was after. While the signed poster was nice, every VIP has that. The vinyl was the more valuable grab because of the scarcity.
After that, I was off to my seat in the second row. The seating was like the connected chairs at Banc of California stadium but much more closer together and somewhat cramped because of the smaller space. But whatever, I had a great view of the stage. I felt bad for the people on the very far end of the rows. Their views seemed less than ideal but still better than what would be considered a “limited view” at bigger venues.
tripleS Come True World Tour 2025: House of Blues Houston February 11 Set List
- New Look
- 24
- MENT 1 OPENING MENT
- Atmosphere
- Girls’ Capitalism
- Non Scale
- Door
- MENT 2 UNIT MENT
- Just Do It
- Inner Dance
- MENT 3 UNIT MENT
- Cherry Talk
- Touch
- MENT 4 UNIT MENT
- Generation
- Rolex
- Rising
- MENT5 AND ANOTHER CHALLENGE
- Untitled
- ####
- MENT6 SING-ALONG TEST
- Invincible
- Choom
- MENT 7 ENDING MENT+PHOTO TIME
- Girls Never Die
- Hit The Floor
- Colorful (Encore)
The set list for Houston remained unchanged from previous stops. There was a good mix of title tracks and album cuts/b-sides that would please both casual followers and hardcore WAV equally. The more obvious crowd-pleasers were songs like Girls’ Capitalism, Generation, and Rising, which all have catchy instrumentals, hooks, and choreography.
The less obvious ones were Non Scale, ###, and Girls Never Die. Seeing these songs performed live is a different ball game than watching a YouTube video, so I can see how they can get the sweating masses all riled up. The real head-scratcher was Girls Never Die since that is a chill track compared to pure tripleS performance songs like Hit The Floor or Just Do It. But it had more than a few people around me losing their minds.
My highlights were Door, Just Do It, Generation, and Rolex. Door was the song I was looking forward to the most because I wanted to hear Dahyun do her vocal gymnastics live.
Given the size of venues that tripleS were booked in, there was no way all 24 would fit on stage. The group of members that performed were a split squad of eight consisting of:
- Seoyeon
- Nakyoung
- Dahyun
- Nien
- Joobin
- Hayeon
- Sullin
- Seoah
While my biases (Yooyeon and Soomin) were not part of this touring unit, I still liked other members. This was also a good opportunity to see if anyone about whom I was on the fence could change my mind after seeing them in person.
The member who surprised me the most was Sullin. It’s safe to say she has been one of the most improved. She was awful dance-wise at first, and now she’s much better. I don’t know about vocally since I haven’t seen her get the opportunity to become a complete vocal diva yet. She’s also quite easy on the eyes. Thai princess, indeed.
While this combination of eight members seems random, they showed a lot of tight teamwork, living up to the idea of tripleS as a decentralized group where any member can step into any role. The members that caught my eye the most were Nien and Hayeon. Whether it was a stage or an MC segment, they were always in my field of view. I was very fortunate to be where I was because of that.
The concert went nonstop for around 2 hours. (I wasn’t looking at my watch timing the entire thing to the second) There was no significant dip in energy between sets for costume changes, and the pacing of everything was spot on. You had just enough time to catch your breath during the VTRs before the next stages started to bring the hype level back up again. Even the MC segments, while short, were entertaining.
The best part of the MC segments was the Texas crowd trying to explain Buccees to the members. They looked so confused, trying to understand what the people were saying.
I had planned to take a few photos and videos during the show, but the reality hit hard immediately. My window for framing equal shots of members unobstructed was small. I couldn’t get anyone not in the center or directly to the right.
As the night progressed, I put my phone into burst mode and prayed for the best until I eventually gave up and enjoyed the show with my eyes and ears, as the good Lord intended. That ended up being the best thing, as members gave a lot of fan service to the side of the stage I was seated at, and it was better to wave at them without having a phone in front of my face.
As a first-time attendee to a tripleS concert, I wasn’t sure what to expect, as only a third of the group was present. Seeing them live was more than I hoped, and having only eight members on the stage didn’t matter. It was a shame that their encore was only one song, but since there were extracurricular activities planned for after the show, it makes sense they didn’t add a few extra songs.
Speaking of extracurriculars, I will briefly describe the Houston experience. Once the show ended and the general admission people left, VIPs were herded outside and separated into those with hi-touch only and those with hi-touch and photo-op. Hi-touch was the first event, and once the line started moving, it moved. This wasn’t as rushed as my (G)I-DLE in Seattle experience, so the staff wasn’t yelling, “Move it!” and such. There was enough time to properly get to each member and say a few words before moving on.
This hi-touch was an actual flesh-to-flesh hi-five. The members were not wearing medical gloves and there were no plexiglass walls. I was allowed to be in the same breathing space as the tripleS members without any precautionary barriers. So, was it a speed run? Yes. And those who come from an environment of basement idols may find this not worth the admission price. But this is how K-pop rolls.
When the hi-touch finished, the staff set up the photo ops, which also took some time. While waiting, the staff gave the rules of engagement to all participants: leave your stuff on the designated tables, no props, and, most importantly, no touching. Well, there went the heart pose or anything that would be fingertip to fingertip. While disappointing, this was pretty lax compared to the rules for the two shot I took with Patrick Stewart at the Calgary Expo. Please don’t speak to him, don’t look at him, look at the camera, smile, and GTFO.
My first batch of photo ops came right away. I had Dahyun, Nakyoung, Nien, and Seoyeon. Having experienced this type of thing with AKB48 photo events, I wasn’t nervous. I was more concerned about what poses I could do with the limitations in place. I used my experience to milk as much time with the members as possible. Unlike with Japanese idols, there aren’t people with stopwatches timing you and forcefully pushing you out of the photo area when your 10 seconds are up.
The first batch of photos went well. However, I have an issue with the staff’s photo skills. I felt like some had never used an iPhone or taken a picture with the back camera before. The angles and focal lengths varied in each of my photographs, and I noted what I would have to edit in Lightroom to make the photo presentable.
The second round of photos went by even faster since I only had Hayeon. Again, I tried to milk my time within reason and leave without incident. Of course, the angle and focal length of the final photo were less than ideal but still good enough for post-processing.
After seeing the members I selected in person, I expected Nakyoung and Nien to tower over me. But they were only a few inches taller. All members are as pretty as you see them on screen when you see them up close.
That ended my tripleS concert experience. I returned to my hotel with a post-concert high. I had to leave early in the morning for my flight home, but I had a hard time getting to sleep after the show. Eventually, I passed out a few hours after returning to my hotel.
If tripleS returns with another concert tour within the U.S. and Canada I will be there.
