XG 1st WORLD TOUR “The first Howl" at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco

Japanese girl group XG (short for Xtraordinary Girls) has been booked and busy during their first world tour. Kicking off the American leg with “The first HOWL” Landing at Las Vegas, the septet made their way to their third stop at San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium on October 8th. Performing at the venue for two nights, XG took to the stage in front of a sold-out audience. After an extended introduction video, JURIN, CHISA, HINATA, HARVEY, JURIA, MAYA and COCONA burst onstage in futuristic-looking chrome outfits.

Keeping fans on their “Tippy Toes,” the seven women started off with a rock version of their first mini-album's title track, SHOOTING STAR. It was clear that no expense had been spared for the concert’s stage production, as laser light shows and pyrotechnics were in abundance behind them. Continuing the high energy from GRL GVNG, the hip-hop and R&B-inspired group ran headfirst into the rap-heavy track WOKE UP.

Like their high-quality sets, XGALX made sure the members were “drip, drippin” in extravagant custom, colorful costumes. Their concert stylists and designers have taken them a step up from the usual pop group attire, with the seven members wearing outfits that were moving art pieces.

Since XG’s discography is still growing, half the concert was dedicated to solo stages for each of the group's members, with each one playing to a mix of their strengths: dancing, rapping and singing. Before that part of the set began, JAKOPS (SIMON), the CEO and Executive of XGALX, took to the stage for a special DJ set. Once the group went backstage for an outfit change, he dedicated his stage to showcasing their growth as musicians. As a champion for XG and their creative endeavors, JAKOPS (SIMON) hyped the crowd up as VCR footage of the group’s trainee days played in the background.

He then passed the baton to COCONA. The main rapper of the group seemed set on showing off a side of herself ALPHAZ (XG's fans) have never seen before. In a decadent display of her lyrical flow, the young rapper performed a condensed version of JID’s Surround Sound and Jay Z’s Dirt Off Your Shoulder. Not losing to her band mate, MAYA threw her hat in the ring with Dreamville’s Down Bad and Connor Price’s Million Cash. HARVEY and JURIN also gave their all during their stages and joined together with COCONA and MAYA for their collaboration rap line cover of David Guetta’s Trampoline.

“ALPHAZ, I know you can go louder,” teased JURIN. “Let me hear you scream!”

Switching from rapping to singing, JURIA, CHISA and HINATA delivered heartfelt and powerful vocals during their portion of the set. JURIA established the emotional atmosphere with her cover of Mariah Carey’s rendition of Badfinger’s Without You. HINATA sang Taylor Swift’s crowd-pleasing pop track You Belong With Me, while CHISA showed off her vocal riffs in Keyshia Cole’s Love. Of course, they had to end their stage with a showstopping cover of Destiny Child’s Say My Name.



After a brief break accompanied with VCR footage, the seven members returned, donning heavy leather trench coats during their vocal set. Together, they sang a remix of LEFT RIGHT, WINTER WITHOUT YOU and a moving cover of the power ballad Just Stand Up! They finally took a moment to pause and talk to the ALPHAZ then, but half of the group had to immediately run backstage for another outfit change. While the remaining four took turns interacting with the audience, they took acapella and rap line requests from each other and stunned the crowd, proving that their mics were on. When CHISA, JURIA and HARVEY came back, they high-fived the members to switch places with them.

Closing out the set list with dance-heavy songs, their impressive, colorful costumes glowed under the black light as they moved in formation for HESONOO and X-GENE. The synchronized movements coupled with their interconnected ending pose solidified their strong ties to each other and their fans. Without breaking a sweat, they performed hard-hitting choreography back-to-back during TGIF, MASCARA, SOMETHING AIN’T RIGHT and PUPPET SHOW. Coupling the visual spectacle of their outfits with high quality stage production, XG ended the set with a bang.

Needless to say, the show wasn’t complete without an encore. Coming back onstage, they showed off a relaxed version of NEW DANCE in their concert shirts. Before their final song, the members went around the stage to find willing participants to take part in their dance challenges on camera.

“You guys give us a lot of energy, and we want to give energy back to you,” said CHISA.

Alongside the ALPHAZ, JURIN prepared everyone to do their HESONOO cheer together. Rounding off their last track, the seven members gave one last LEFT RIGHT performance in preparation for their final send off to the ALPHAZ.



XG's second mini-album, AWE, was just released on November 8th. Links to download and stream the release on various music platforms are available here. 

Set list

01. SHOOTING STAR (rock version)
02. GRL GVNG
03. WOKE UP
04. Tippy Toes
05. Surround Sound - COCONA solo
06. Dirt Off Your Shoulder - COCONA solo
07. Down Bad - MAYAsolo
08. Million Cash - MAYA solo
09. I Won - HARVEY solo
10. BIG MAD - HARVEY solo
11. SAOKO - JURIN solo
12. Still Hot - JURIN solo
13. Trampoline – JURIN, HARVEY, MAYA, COCONA
14. Without You – JURIA solo
15. You Belong With Me - HINARA solo
16. Love - CHISA solo
17. Say My Name – CHISA, HINATA, JURIA
18. LEFT RIGHT (remix)
19. WINTER WITHOUT YOU
20. Just Stand Up!
21. HESONOO
22. X-GENE
23. TGIF
24. MASCARA
25. SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT
26. PUPPET SHOW

Encore

01. NEW DANCE
02. LEFT RIGHT