What really happened in ITZY in Manila

It’s been a week since ITZY’s 1st World Tour ‘Checkmate’ in Manila happened and we still can’t over the girls!!! I still have a lot to talk about ITZY here – Philippines really made sure that we are setting the standards high as their first stop for the Asia-leg. ITZY was welcomed by massive support coming from their fans the moment they stepped in the Philippine vicinity – they first had their Presscon at Glorietta in Makati a day before the actual concert which was really biiiiig~ the fans are literally all over the area and some of the establishments/cafe that has a view of the stage also had their own “paandar” of their own to accommodate fans that wanted to see ITZY as well.

We got the chance to attend the first day of their concert, which was held last January 14, 2023 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, we never had the chance to go to the Arena a little bit earlier to get some freebies and have some talk to some other fans as well. We went to the Arena around 6pm thinking that their will be a massive line waiting for us and we do not want to line up that much since as a very weak person I tend to get claustrophobic lining up for a long period of time, but to our surprise the process of going inside the Arena was really smooth, there were no lines so we got inside the bowl in less than 10 mins and a lot of people was already inside as well.

The moment we stepped in inside the Arena bowl, We were welcomed with fans singing loudly to ITZY’s songs, them taking photos of the stage – in which I believe there were additional screens on the side as well since i honestly don’t remember it being their before lol, I also made friends while waiting for the show to start, both of them are Yeji-biased which the same as me.

The show started with their song ‘In the Morning’ which really hyped the fans up! after 2 more songs, they had their ment’s – We was once again surprised by them!! they their ment’s on the extended stage which was really just infront of our area so I can really see them up close – they are really ethereal~ Lia started by welcoming the fans to their concert and each member gave some small talks and they also practiced some tagalog words such as “kamusta ka> “mahal ko kayo” “salamat po” and Yuna’s famous “hayy naku!”. They learned and practiced some tagalog words through their manager who stayed in the country before. I was honestly touched by their efforts in learning the local language to communicate and give much more heartfelt words to the fans,

Before they moved on to their next stage they asked all the fans to stand up and jam up with them – this is also a way to hype them up. Each one of them performed their solo stage – which was amazing! Ryujin with her Boss B*tch, Yuna with her cute but deadly performance of Maniac, Lia performed Red with her sweet and soothing voice, Chaeryong with her own version of Bloodline and lastly Yeji’s hotter than hell (which was by the way really hot that Chesca forgot to tap the record button on her video), they also performed some of their title tracks like Loco, Dalla Dalla, Icy, Not Shy and of course their recent album ‘Cheshire’ – at this point the show is coming to an end, they we’re giving their final ments already and telling us that we have a “Mission” to do for them to perform the Encore stage – and I tell you those missions were really fun!~ so there were 3 missions; the first was Dance with ITZY (this was my fave) they highlighted some fans to dance the MIDZY’s are so game!!, then followed by singing the fanchants 2X the speed (which I find really funny haha) and the last one was scream as loud as you can until the crown gets lifted (and this is where I officially lost my voice haha). The encore stage started and my tears started falling as well – I honestly the softest spot for Domino. and yes IT’S NOT DONE YET!~ before they end the show and curtains close then gave us a wild and fun final perfomance of ‘Boys like you’. And that is where the Day 1 to ITZY’s World Tour in Manila ended –

Here are some of the photos from the show – you may check out more at by.chescac on instagram