Concert Review: BOYNEXTDOOR in Pompano Beach Reminds Us What K-pop is All About

When I set out for Pompano Beach on Halloween weekend, I was sure there was nothing BOYNEXTDOOR × About group BOYNEXTDOOR BOYNEXTDOOR is a six-member South Korean boy group under KOZ Entertainment. The group consists of SUNGHO, RIWOO, JAEHYUN, TAESAN, LEEHAN, and WOONHAK. They officially debuted on May 30, 2023. The group's name reflects the idea of approachable "boys next door," with music centered on relatable stories, everyday experiences, and the emotions of youth. Their official fandom name is ONEDOOR. Tap again to view profile → Close could do that would surprise me. As a fan since their debut in 2023, I considered myself an expert on the massive stage presence and explosive energy that this six-member 5th generation group brings to every one of their performances. Even when they were fresh onto the K-pop scene, they were off to the races with incredible speed–sharp, synchronized, and polished in everything they presented, while maintaining an irresistible sense of humor and warmth that made them feel more like old friends than rising pop stars. The group, which consists of Jaehyun × Artist bio JAEHYUN Real name: Myung Jae HyunPosition: LeaderNationality: South KoreanBirthday: 2003-12-04Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea JAEHYUN is the leader of BOYNEXTDOOR. JAEHYUN is energetic, expressive, affectionate, and highly committed to BOYNEXTDOOR. He is particularly detail-oriented when it comes to his career and performances. In everyday life, however, he has described himself as much more absent-minded—sleeping late, losing things, breaking things accidentally, and not always keeping his room organized. Tap again to view profile → Close , Sungho × Artist bio SUNGHO Real name: Park Sung HoPosition: Main VocalistNationality: South KoreanBirthday: 2003-09-04Birthplace: South Korea SUNGHO is the main vocalist of BOYNEXTDOOR. SUNGHO is energetic, organized, rational, and caring. He often helps maintain the group's energy and supports the members behind the scenes. Although he has said he can appear cold or chic at first, he describes himself as naturally bright and active. He is also highly organized and has taken leadership roles since his school years. Tap again to view profile → Close , Riwoo × Artist bio RIWOO Real name: Lee Sang HyukPosition: Main DancerNationality: South KoreanBirthday: 2003-10-22Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea RIWOO is the main dancer of BOYNEXTDOOR. RIWOO is quiet, shy, introverted, calm, and observant. He has said that he does not usually approach people first and used to speak only when necessary. Around the BOYNEXTDOOR members, however, he becomes more talkative and playful. The members often describe him as calm and good at assessing situations. Tap again to view profile → Close , Leehan × Artist bio LEEHAN Real name: Kim Dong HyunNationality: South KoreanBirthday: 2004-10-20Birthplace: Busan, South Korea LEEHAN is a member of BOYNEXTDOOR. LEEHAN is calm, considerate, creative, warm, and a good listener. He enjoys listening to people's concerns and comforting them, which has led him to take on a counselor-like role among the members. He can initially appear quiet but becomes comfortable and expressive around people he trusts. Tap again to view profile → Close , Taesan × Artist bio TAESAN Real name: Han Dong MinNationality: South KoreanBirthday: 2004-08-10Birthplace: Gwangju, South Korea TAESAN is a member of BOYNEXTDOOR. TAESAN is thoughtful, creative, independent, rational, and confident in his own opinions. He tends to be more introverted and can be shy around people he does not know well. The members have highlighted his creativity and his tendency to look at situations from an efficient and practical perspective. Tap again to view profile → Close , and Woonhak × Artist bio WOONHAK Real name: Kim Woon HakPosition: MaknaeNationality: South KoreanBirthday: 2006-11-29Birthplace: Suwon, South Korea WOONHAK is the youngest member of BOYNEXTDOOR. WOONHAK is energetic, cheerful, affectionate, emotionally perceptive, and playful. As BOYNEXTDOOR's youngest member, he naturally receives plenty of attention from the older members, but they have also described him as surprisingly mature, considerate, and emotionally intelligent. Tap again to view profile → Close , has built themselves a diverse and joyful discography that they refuse to limit to any one sound or genre–an impressive endeavor for any band, and even more so for one with just three years of experience under their belts. Stepping into the concert venue for the second show in their KOCK ON: Vol. 2 U.S. leg, I was prepared for the high-energy, genre-defying show that I’d seen clips of online. I was less prepared to be completely blown away by how the members dominated the stage and lit up the crowd with the ease of K-pop groups twice × About group TWICE TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. Tap again to view profile → Close their age. The nearly three-hour concert was a stark reminder of what K-pop shows are about: the joy and connection sparked by quality music and performance. 

On the morning of BOYNEXTDOOR’s sold-out show, South Florida was covered in massive swaths of rain and thunderstorms that refused to let up. Until showtime, that is, when the skies miraculously cleared for the 3,000 fans–known as ONEDOOR–who gathered at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater and packed the full house. Despite doing my best to avoid too many spoilers, I had some idea of what to expect. KNOCK ON: Vol. 1 took place across Asia in 2024 and 2025, and the first stop on the U.S. stretch of this tour kicked off just two days earlier in Dallas, Texas. When the lights dimmed, the crowd roared, and the members appeared on stage one by one to deliver their lines in “06070”, the opening number from their latest album, HOME. As far as concert entrances go, this was one for the books. Where many groups often choose to appear as a unit, it was an unexpected change of pace to let each member have their own moment to be received by the audience, then up the tension by disappearing backstage until it was time to reappear as a group. This was the moment I felt sure that despite the pared-down stage that is often a trademark of early tours and smaller venues with less room for fancy technical setups, we were in for something special.

The group wasted no time amping up the energy following the opening number, launching into their 2026 release “Viral” and the 2023 song from their second EP, “But Sometimes”. Then, they took a break to acknowledge that the Pompano Beach concert fell on the anniversary of their fanbase’s name reveal, and even serenaded the crowd with a “Happy Birthday” rendition for the occasion. It was a heartfelt moment that served as testament to the members’ relationship with their fans, which started out as a small and intimate group and has grown into numbers that are selling out venues around the world. In just a few short years, they have earned themselves the dedication and engagement that was clear to see in the audience on November 1st. There was not a moment of the concert lacking a connection between the members on stage and the crowd below. In fact, there were times when it felt more like being an active participant in the show rather than merely a spectator. The smaller venue and close proximity to the stage meant that there were moments the members could converse with their fans, making the experience feel lighthearted and casual. Like the moment when Myung Jaehyun, the 22-year-old rapper and group leader, paused to ask about the intense weather and Florida heat. “Are you all sweating? I’m dying,” he joked, sending laughter through the amphitheater. Or when 23-year-old vocalist and main dancer Riwoo goaded the crowd of 3,000 fans into a karaoke session featuring Justin Bieber’s 2010 hit “Baby”. There were countless moments that reminded the audience that these star-power performers making their U.S. tour debut were the same aptly named “boys next door” that we’d fallen for through the screen over the years. These moments were made even more special by the fact that a vast majority of the audience was seeing them live for the first time, and we were all surely given unforgettable memories and performances. 

The mid-point of the concert was when the group’s skillset as crowd energizers really started to shine–beware of setlist spoilers ahead! They set a pedal-to-the-metal pace with a back to back run of “Hollywood Action”, “Earth, Wind & Fire”, “ANIMAL”, and “Ddok Ddok Ddok”, followed up with hardly any breathing room by their debut track “One and Only”, “JAM!”, “Bathroom”, and “Dangerous”. Anyone familiar with their discography–and if you aren’t, do yourself a favor and give them a listen–knows that these songs’ choreographies are intense on their own. But mixed for the live stage and performed with hardly a moment’s pause, they were electrifying. After experiencing many seasoned K-pop acts live, I could say with confidence that BOYNEXTDOOR’s performance ranked easily amongst the most dynamic and empowering to watch. And while a Florida concert crowd is notoriously loud, BOYNEXTDOOR in particular had their 3,000-strong audience singing their songs back to them in near-perfect synchrony, in what hopefully felt like a full-circle moment for the six members after three years of endless hard work.

But this concert was not just about energy–it was a setlist thoughtfully designed to showcase the versatility of their discography. From the soft pop of “So let’s go see the stars” to the emotional ballad “Forever You”, the group commanded the quieter moments just as masterfully as the loud ones. The songs put on display the members' impeccable live vocal abilities, which were dialed up to the max for their Florida audience. Looking back, I can’t think of a single sour note from any one of the members. Their mics were on, spirits high, and the audience enamored. It is a rare group that can get everyone in the crowd jumping in one moment, and listening in awed silence the next, and BOYNEXTDOOR seems to have cracked the code just a few brief years into what will undoubtedly be a long and successful career.

Perhaps one of the most anticipated segments of any K-pop concert is the encore. For BOYNEXTDOOR’s Pompano Beach concert, this turned into a celebration between artist and fans. Earlier in the show, leader Jaehyun joked that the louder the crowd cheered, the more songs they would do–and the crowd delivered. After the standard four-song encore set (including a surprise acapella singalong to “Serenade” from their debut EP) the band came out again. And again. In total, Pompano Beach received a total of four extra songs including “Upside Down”, “I Feel Good”, “ADIOS!”, and a second performance of “ANIMAL” that was, somehow, met with an even wilder crowd response than the first. This ending is what elevated the show from memorable to unforgettable. There was seemingly no plan set in stone for extra songs, or an extended runtime for the concert. It was simply built on the excitement the members had spent the past two hours cultivating with their fans, and the fans’ desire to not let the moment end. Unexpected things like this are what make live shows worth it–they’re the reason fans of all kinds of music attend multiple tour stops and even follow bands across cities. A good artist knows how to put on a show. A great artist knows how to make each one unique–even after some rain. And for BOYNEXTDOOR, who are arguably among the leaders of the new K-pop generation, this skill is more important than ever.

Longtime fans of K-pop often say that the industry suffers from a tendency to become stagnant. With the intense lean into current trends, it is easy to become a cog in an ever-growing machine. But performers like BOYNEXTDOOR remind us that K-pop is a genuine art form. When you have standout artists like these, who are integral in the process of writing, producing, and even choreographing their own numbers, the genre blends music with performance to create a dynamic, theatrical experience that can withstand the test of time. A show like the one they put on at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater is a reminder of the best of this art form. After the concert finally ended, I paused on my way out to chat with some of the venue staff. More than one of them told me how much they’d enjoyed seeing the group, and though it was their first time seeing a K-pop concert (and for one security guard, his first time hearing Korean music at all) that they hoped BOYNEXTDOOR would be back in the future. Although, it is hard to say if they’ll get their wish–if the members and their sold-out stops have made one thing crystal clear on the U.S. leg of their tour so far, it’s that next time, they’re ready to command the crowds in much bigger venues, bringing joy to even more fans across the globe.