On June 28, 2025, London’s O2 Arena was absolutely shook by SMTOWN LIVE 2025 [THE CULTURE, THE FUTURE]—a K-pop festival like no other, and honestly, it was a whole vibe. This event was a massive celebration for SM Entertainment’s 30th anniversary, and get this: it was also the first K-pop festival to ever hit up The O2.
We’re talking 14 artists, from the OG K-pop legends to the next-gen rookies, all on one stage. It was seriously giving everything! If you’re new to the game, SMTOWN LIVE, SM’s label-wide concert series, actually started way back in 2008. The first time they ventured to Europe was in 2011 for two Paris shows.
Fast forward to 2025, they kicked things off with two sold-out concerts in Seoul in January. Then, SMTOWN LIVE 2025 also took over Mexico City on May 9th and Los Angeles on May 11th. And now, after 14 years, SMTOWN LIVE has officially returned to Europe! You know we’ve been waiting! After that little intro, let’s dive into the night! This show will always be one of my personal favourites! The talent was out of this world!
The show lasted almost 4 hours, giving enough time for each artist to showcase their incredible skills, although time totally flies when you’re having a good time! I could have watched another 3 hours of them performing, ngl! While waiting for the show to start, I was blown away by the fans’ love. It was so nice to see so many different lightsticks, with all sorts of colours—super unique and heartwarming. After a few minutes, a video played with all the SM artists; it was the perfect intro for the show.
The show kicked off with the OGs themselves, the super talented TVXQ!, performing “Rising Sun (순수).” What a better way to start the show—to show all the kids who run this place! TVXQ! are iconic, and they paved the way for all the artists nowadays. I’m still obsessed with their song “Hug” (which RIIZE recently covered, so you might be familiar with it). It was then the turn of SMTR25 (with 9 members), who covered “으르렁 (Growl)” (EXO Cover). I was blown away by their talent. I’ll be honest, it was the first time seeing them, and I was very impressed! Excellent dancers!
Next up were the rookies, Hearts2Hearts, the latest girl group from SM. They performed “The Chase” and “Butterflies.” Absolutely amazed by their talent and energy on stage, especially for a rookie group. So poised and flawless.
Then it was our beloved British group dearALICE! What great energy on stage! They performed “Ariana” and their latest single, “Save Us!” They then took a moment to thank the fans and share their excitement to be “at home” at The O2! Definitely a milestone for them, and I was so happy to see them on stage genuinely enjoying that moment!
After that, it was the turn of RIIZE… how can I even begin to describe this stage?! This was my second time seeing this group; I was lucky enough to attend and review Music Bank in Madrid last year, and I was blown away by their talent, especially as a rookie group! This time, they did not disappoint! What a force to be reckoned with! They performed “Boom Boom Bass” and “잉걸 (Ember to Solar).” They then talked to the fans to thank them and they shared their excitement to be in London. They even mentioned wanting to visit Tower Bridge and try English food like sausage rolls—and to be honest, they really got it right! Who doesn’t love a good sausage roll?!
It was now the turn of the ICONIC and SENSATIONAL aespa! This officially marked my third time seeing them—one at Music Bank Madrid and one a few months ago in London for their world tour. And maybe I’m a little biased, but this time around, they were even better than ever! They kicked off with the ICONIC “Whisplash” followed by one of their earlier hits, “Next Level.” While wrapping up their set, they said they were excited to be back in London for the second time this year, and we were so happy to see the fans again!
It was now time for another ICONIC girl group! Red Velvet, who performed “Bad Boy,” which made fans go WILD. They took a moment after the first song to thank the fans and mentioned they’ll be back soon with a new vibe and a new album! They then performed a cover of “Run Devil Run” from Girls’ Generation. What an iconic track! Absolutely loved their interpretation of that wonderful song! And speaking of GIRLS’ GENERATION, HYO made her appearance with “Retro Romance”—another OG from the industry! I got to know K-pop because of GIRLS’ GENERATION (and Big Bang) back in the days, around 2010/2012, so seeing her perform was a full-circle moment for me! And she showed the kids how it’s done. Flawless dance skills and a voice so on point. She was so happy to be part of the 30th anniversary here in London. It’s been a long time since she’d been to London, but she was so happy to hear the fans cheering for her. It was very heartwarming!
It was time for another rookie group from the NCT family! The super sweet NCT WISH, who performed “WISH,” which had great energy and vocals! They introduced themselves and were so excited to be in London—it’s their first time, and they felt a great welcome from the fans. They said they felt more relaxed and happy after the first song, as they were very nervous. They also mentioned that they visited Tower Bridge and tried fish and chips. You can’t get more British than that! And it was an extra special day because it was Riku’s birthday, and all the members with the fans sang “Happy Birthday” to him! The second song was even better than the first one; you could definitely see they relaxed and delivered a great performance for “Steady.”
It was the turn of their brothers, NCT DREAM, who performed “When I’m with You” and “Smoothie.” Amazing stage presence! This was my third time seeing them live in London; you might have seen my previous reviews or content about those shows. They also mentioned that they’ll have a comeback very soon! So make sure to stick around, I’ll be looking forward to it! The NCT family moment continued with WayV taking the stage! First time seeing them live, and I was so happy! I was really looking forward to seeing them, especially TEN—his last two albums’ releases have been on repeat since they came out. They performed “Give Me That (Korean Ver.)” and “FREQUENCY (Korean Ver.),” and I’ll be honest with you, those were the songs I wanted to see live! They killed this stage, no other words to describe it. They took a moment to say hi to the fans, even those online, speaking and greeting them in Chinese and Thai. What a very thoughtful thing to do! They also gave a little hint for a comeback very soon—we’ll wait for that!
Last but DEFINITELY not least from the NCT family, NCT 127 and… o… m… g… What a moment! Finally, I saw one of my favourite groups ever perform some of my favourite songs! Still to this day, I have their songs in my playlist while working out. The guys performed so well, and you could sense their excitement and passion. They performed “삐그덕 (Walk)” and “Fact Check (불가사의; 不可思議).”
That also made me think, it has been so long since a comeback, and we need it! So looking forward to what they can bring next!
It can’t be an SM show without another OG, the extra talented EXO family! SUHO of EXO performed “점선면 (1 to 3).” He had great energy on stage and great live presence. Following SUHO, CHANYEOL of EXO performed “Hasta La Vista,” followed by KAI of EXO who performed his latest hit “Wait On Me.” This felt like the trilogy of K-pop.
Together with EXO, there’s another group that made a significant impact on the whole K-pop world: I’m talking about SHINee. It was time for the king himself to take over the stage! MINHO from SHINee performed “CALL BACK” and “Something About U.” He then took a moment to thank the fans and share his happiness to be in London, and he even promised to be back with his members—we’re holding you to your word, MINHO! He said that he practiced English for this moment on stage. He was genuinely so happy to be in London. He’s a bit of an Arsenal fan, and London has a special place in his heart. I could see that his words were very genuine because since he landed in the UK, he’s been very active on social media, sharing lots of stories on Instagram, especially about his (together with other SM’s artists) morning runs in London. I can imagine him waking up early and knocking on people’s doors asking them to go on a run with him! And to be fair, who would tell him no?!
We then had a special set with HYO ft. YANGYANG from WayV & GISELLE from aespa, who delivered a sensational “Dessert”—another song I loveeeee so much! The surprises weren’t over yet! EXO (SUHO, CHANYEOL, and KAI) made a surprise performance and performed “투지 (鬪志, Git It Up!)” (Originally by H.O.T.), which was insanely good! But I am a little upset that we didn’t have a medley of EXO songs; give us 4 minutes with some of their hits! They then talked about how nice it was to be on stage, and they promised to be back this year—guys, we’re taking your words!
TVXQ! was back on stage with a special performance of “Psycho” from Red Velvet, in their own style. Amazing! They took a moment to talk and thank the fans and shared that this was their first time performing in London. They thanked the fans for the support over the years. SMRT25 was back on stage as a unit of 11 members this time to perform an SM 30th Tribute Performance, a mash-up of different songs. So refreshing and talented. H2H hit the stage again with STYLE, followed by NCT WISH with “Poppop” and RIIZE who performed their latest title track, “Fly Up”—absolutely outstanding!
aespa made a second appearance with the iconic “Supernova”—we couldn’t miss this banger, luckily they did it! NCT were back too! NCT DREAM performed the hit “Hot Sauce,” followed by WayV’s “Love Talk”! Red Velvet then performed the iconic “Red Flavor,” another track that couldn’t be missed from their repertoire. NCT 127 were back too with the amazing “Kick It”! I’m still buzzing from seeing this performed live; the energy was palpable! And TVXQ! closed the show with the iconic “주문-MIROTIC”—a full-circle moment! They opened the show and closed it! Again, they showed how talented they are! We also had a very special encore with all the SMTOWN artists performing “빛 (Hope from KWANGYA).”
And just like that, the show was over! I’m still over the moon by this amazing performance! All the artists really shined through in each set. The highlights for me were WayV, KAI, MINHO, and NCT 127 because it was the first time seeing them live, and I could not have asked for a better moment. All the artists delivered an amazing performance, showcasing that SM is still a top player in the industry, representing artists who are extremely talented and genuinely loving what they do!
All Photos Credit: SM Entertainment
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