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Why are labels underestimating 4th gen? After TXT, Itzy get 'rookie' venues for 1st world tour

Itzy's largest venue only has 8k seats despite having topped Billboard for their best-selling albums in the US

After a couple of weeks of silence, Itzy fans knew that something was in the works for the girl group. Even though Itzy’s last comeback was in 2021, the girls have been pretty active, appearing on variety shows, concerts, getting brand deals, fashion events and the likes. And so Midzys (Itzy’s fandom) felt it was about time for a comeback announcement. But on June 2, Itzy went one step further as they announced their next mini-album as well as their first-ever world tour – ‘Checkmate’.

Midzy Twitter was in chaos as fans made broke memes and prayed for a tour stop in their city. Itzy will first release the mini-album ‘Checkmate’ on July 15. They will then kick off their first world tour with a concert in Seoul on August 6. The American leg of their tour begins in October with eight stops. It begins in Los Angeles on October 26. However, the venues of the fourth-gen girl group were less than satisfactory as they were extremely small. Fans couldn’t help but compare it to TXT’s, who similarly had been given small venues for their first world tour as well.

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Itzy get theatres for their world tour venues

Itzy will be performing at theatre-size venues like the YouTube Theatre in LA, Amazon Federal Theatre in Phoenix, Smart Financial Centre in Houston, Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Rosemont Theatre in Chicago, MGM Music Hall in Boston and Hulu Theatre in New York. Their biggest venue is the Toyota Pavilion in Dallas which has an 8k seating capacity. Otherwise, the average capacity is 5k. Similarly, TXT who is labelmates to BTS and under HYBE, one of the Big 4 K-pop labels just like Itzy, has their largest venue at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium with only 8.5k seats.

In the meanwhile, their peers, Ateez and even Itzy’s labelmate Stray Kids are hosting their second world tours at huge stadiums and arenas like Prudential Centre, United Centre, Oakland Arena, Wembley, Mercedes-Benz Arena and Accor with an average of 20k seats. With Itzy being one of the leading fourth-gen groups and under JYPE - a Big 4 label that can afford to book huge venues for their groups like TWICE and Stray Kids - fans were confused as to why Itzy’s world tour was underestimated.

‘Itzy is one of the biggest gg’

The demand was pretty evident as fans trended Itzy and showed their displeasure at the tiny venues that are only booked by rookie groups. One fan tweeted, “Hybe 🤝 jype failing to recognize txt & itzy's growth by giving them the same venue capacity as their showcase tours.” Another Midzy posted, “They deserve so much better, I would a 100% support them if they left jyp tbh. GIVE WHAT ITZY DESERVES.” One fan commented, “Jype underestimating itzy by giving them a theater venue, itzy is one of the biggest gg and it’s their first world tour how does that sound right.”

Another pointed out, “It is so insulting and offending to @ITZYofficial. They had their US Showcase with almost the same venue capacity during their rookie years. Almost 2 years have passed and @jypnation couldn't even get a bigger venues for ITZY, to think that their fanbase have expanded since then?” One hoped, “Like someone said, it's already booked or it won't change anymore, but I hope they will hear us, so in the future (or if they will add more countries), they will make some changes and give itzy a bigger venue.” Another multi-fan added, “Txt and itzy being two of the biggest groups in their generation but being paid dust by their own companies by belittling their capabilities to sold out a mich bigger venue for their concerts …”

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