When I first discovered Tomorrow X Together, I nearly wrote them off completely.

I became aware of the group pretty quickly, as I’d been an ARMY for four months and they were the first boy group to debut under Big Hit Entertainment since BTS. However, my first impression of the group was that I simply wasn’t in their target demographic. Their concept was incredibly young, as were the members. Eldest member Yeonjun was nineteen in 2019, and maknae Hueningkai was just sixteen. As a twenty-three-year-old sophomore in college who’d cut their teeth at punk shows and rock festivals, it all felt a bit too immature for me. I’d wish them the best, they were the baby brother group of BTS after all, but I figured their soft focused boyish visuals just weren’t for me. 

A little less than a week after I saw those teasers, they debuted on March 4, 2019…and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

While I was dead-on concerning their concept, Tomorrow X Together’s debut song “Crown” had instant classic appeal. The choreography was creative, intricate and told a story about five boys helping each other navigate the challenges of growing up. Beyond all that, they all had an infectious energy and joy I realized I’d been missing in my playlists. Feeling protective of them in a parasocial big sibling kind of way only helped, especially after Beomgyu, the boy with chestnut-colored hair, became my bias. Put simply, they effortlessly carved a place in my heart whether I wanted them to or not.

I caught their Star in US showcase in Chicago on May 12, 2019, just a little over two months after debut, and was blown further away. It was the morning after BTS’s first night in Chicago for their Love Yourself tour, which I’d attended with a couple of friends. We were sitting in a McDonald’s preparing to go home before finals when. by some dumb luck, I found out TXT was playing The Vic Theater that night. By an even bigger miracle, I convinced my friends to go with me.

By the date of their showcase, they’d only released their debut mini-album The Dream Chapter: Star. It was a five-song EP and these talented boys had an hour time slot to fill. Among performances of songs including “Blue Orangeade”, debut track “Crown” and the English version of “Cat and Dog”, they gave the audience a chance to get to know them with a game of Truth or Dare Jenga. Fans didn’t even have a dedicated fandom name yet, and we wouldn’t until TXT fans were dubbed “MOA”, or “Moments of Alwaysness”, on August 22, 2019. That didn’t matter, especially with the professional-level performance the group put on. They weren’t just “good for rookies”. They were good – PERIOD.

On July 7, 2022 I saw them for the second time for their first-ever world tour, ACT: LOVESICK. From the moment I stepped into Rosemont Theatre, I couldn’t stop the sense of pride washing over me. Rosemont Theatre has a capacity of 4,400 people, 3,000 more than The Vic, and they’d released five albums since I’d seen them last. The difference three years can make for a group was truly something to behold, and you can check out a full recap of that show here.

On June 5, I made my way to Allstate Arena for my third Tomorrow X Together concert. The journey on public transportation, followed by a ten-minute walk with other fans, felt like a pilgrimage. I’d missed their second world tour, ACT: Sweet Mirage in 2023, so I was dead set on attending their third. This also happened to be my first concert since attending Riot Fest in September 2023. Neither hell nor high water could have stopped me from seeing my boys.

Their show opened with the title track “Deja Vu” off their latest mini-album minisode 3: tomorrow. I was floored by the song’s release on April 1 and, seeing it live, that feeling only solidified. Its production is spare, dominated by trap snares and lush synths, putting TXT’s performance front and center. Not only does “Deja Vu” continue the group’s lore with lyrical references to their debut track and “Platform and 3/4 (Run Away)”, but the song also boasts some of the most mature lines of their career. A particular lyric I still haven’t gotten over is “under the veil of light/I’ll hug you tight/who’s shining like a bride”. Not only is that an excellent line that works just as well in English as it does in Korean, but it plainly illustrates the depth of their commitment to each other. Their connection isn’t romantic, but the promises they made to each other are treated with the severity of wedding vows. Tomorrow X Together’s work has hardly, if ever, been shallow, but this is easily their best and most profound title track to date.

The rest of the setlist had a healthy dose of title tracks, including “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)”, “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)”, “LO$ER=LO♡ER” and “Chasing That Feeling”, but there were also some beloved b-sides included for good measure. “Ghosting”, “Devil by the Window” and “Tinnitus (Wanna Be a Rock)” were particular highlights.

One of my favorite performances of the night was a traditional Korean version of “Sugar Rush Ride”. While I would have been beyond happy to see the song in its original form, I felt beyond blessed to see such a unique and clearly special interpretation. It breathed new life into an already refreshing track, particularly the way they worked fans into the choreography. The use of more traditional instrumentation also made the transition into “Farewell Neverland” absolutely seamless.

The unit performances showcased TXT’s range by acting like two sides of the same coin. Soobin and Yeonjun, wearing coordinated black leather pants, teamed up for “The Killa (I Belong to You)”. Easily the most explicitly sexual song in their discography, “The Killa” displayed their chemistry as performers with perfectly mirrored movements almost evocative of a tango. Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai kept things more subdued for “Quarter Life”. Stood atop a set reminiscent of a train station wearing oversized t-shirts and baggy jeans, the focus was placed squarely on their camaraderie and connection with the audience.

While TXT has long earned its place in the conversation of fourth-gen leaders, alongside powerhouse groups like Stray Kids and ATEEZ, it’s clear they were born to be rock stars. An entire section of their concert consisted of hard rock arrangements of “Puma” and “Good Boy Gone Bad”, with the centerpiece being the hardcore-inspired track “Growing Pain”. From the second I heard that song, I knew it was a game-changer for TXT, but nothing could have prepared me to see it performed live. They’d done rock plenty of times, but never in a way that felt so genuinely raw as if openly bleeding. Yeonjun was the first to hold a baseball bat that got passed around the entire group, and he used it to smash seemingly anything in his vicinity that wasn’t his bandmates. If that isn’t some genuine rage or angst he’s working out onstage, he’s nothing if not a convincing actor. 

After the adrenaline-spiking rock interlude, TXT slowed things down a bit with “Dreamer”, a sultry ballad featuring Soobin’s beautiful falsetto, and the melancholic “Deep Down”. The official set ended with “I’ll See You There Tomorrow”, minisode 3‘s opening track.

The lullaby-esque “Magic Island” opened the encore, followed by the fist-pumping “Miracle” and their Tik Tok-viral hit “Happily Ever After”. Yet, to my delight, the concert concluded with the English version of their fan-favorite track “Cat and Dog.” The second single off their debut album, “Cat and Dog” has become something of a meme among MOA. Back at the 2022 Rosemont show, it wasn’t even on the setlist. This made for an even more delightfully surreal moment when the theatre erupted in the closing refrain during a talk break: “LET’S PLAY FOREVER – I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR DOG”, followed by three rounds of barking. In that arena, especially after Taehyun admitted he loved it was MOA barks, the crowd hadn’t merely maintained the high energy of the show – it was at its peak.

While they had beyond proved themselves as performers years prior, it still seemed as though they felt that had something to prove. This concert showed me that was no longer the case, and likely hadn’t been at the previous tour. Over those three hours, it really felt as though I was watching them come into their own as men.

The American leg of Tomorrow X Together’s ACT: PROMISE World Tour concluded on June 8 in Washington, D.C. As they began the Asian leg of the tour at Tokyo Dome in Japan, I couldn’t help but reflect on the journey I’ve taken with these five young men. I find myself both grateful and incredibly lucky to have supported them for the past five years, and I can’t wait to see what the next five years will hold.

Tickets for Tomorrow X Together’s HYPERFOCUS VR CONCERT go on sale July 17. With over two weeks spent in Chicago alone, I’m sure I’ll find a way to see them again.