During Haseul’s solo parts in the 2024 ARTMS Moonshot World Tour, she mentioned how surprisingly cold San Francisco was. The crowd looked at her in confusion, including myself, because we all thought it was actually hotter than usual. She was taken aback by the audience reaction as well, saying that she only packed short sleeved clothing.
This was a cute moment that stuck out to me, simply because I was in San Francisco on a business trip, and the last time I was in the area was 2021. It was cold back then, so I did the opposite thing Haseul did, and packed long sleeve clothes, only to just sweat through them due to the city’s hotter weather that week. Still, ARTMS managed to keep the crowd cool with a mix of somber and exciting songs.
The group opened with “Birth,” opting for a more dramatic start than something explosive. The tone continued with “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Distress.” Throughout the set, the girls were enveloped in dark and purple colors from the screen behind them, flashing clips of clocks, space, and stars. It really helped immerse the audience with the spacey vibe and matched the girls’ jet black attire. The show got a bit more intense with “Flower Rhythm” and then cooled down a bit with the eccentric “Butterfly Effect.”
After the first five songs, the group started doing their solos and sub-units. Haseul sang her digital singles, the jazzy “Plastic Candy” and “Let Me In”, and it was between those two songs was when she spoke about San Francisco’s weather. Following her came Heejin who opened with a cover of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend,” rocking a guitar as well. She also sang her own digital single, “Algorithm”, and overall brought a much more upbeat kind of energy than what the concert had so far.
Then, Kim Lip, Choerry, and Jinsoul of Odd Eye Circle carried the energy from Heejin’s performances with “Je Ne Sais Quoi” and “Air Force One.”
After those two songs, ARTMS formed back together to perform a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” as well as a few songs from their days as LOONA, including as “Stylish” and “Satellite.”
ARTMS then closed the show with their own songs, such as “Candy Crush,” “Unf/Air,” “Air,” and “Sparkle.” Of course, the group had to end on their most popular song, “Virtual Angel.”
Really, the only criticism I had of this show was that ARTMS came out for an encore, but only performed a cover of “So What.” The girls actually came out with cute casual outfits, complete with white skirts and black t-shirts, but all that effort for just one song? I suppose I can’t really complain because the rest of the show leading up to it was solid.
For a smaller group, ARTMS is fortunate to have LOONA songs to fall back on in case they needed to pad out the setlist a bit, but the solo and sub-unit groups were also quite enjoyable as well. I never got the chance to go see a show when LOONA was still together, but I’m glad I was able to see them as ARTMS.
