Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon, collectively known as Day6, finally returned to Australia to tour for the first time since 2019, as part of their highly anticipated DAY6 3RD WORLD TOUR <FOREVER YOUNG>. With a venue upgrade to John Cain Arena due to demand, Day6’s concert made for their biggest show yet in Melbourne.
Generation of patrons collectively assembled at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena to see their favourite K-Pop band. For some, it was their first time seeing Day6 live. For others, it’s been a reunion 5 years and 5 months in the making.
I had the pleasure of seeing Day6 for the first time back in April 2018 at their debut Australian concert for their 1st World Tour ‘Youth’ at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre. Day6 quickly returned the following year in November 2019 for their 2nd World Tour ‘Gravity’ at Melbourne’s Festival Hall. Given Melbourne’s special relationship with Day6 (especially considering we were the first city outside of South Korea to have a Day6 concert during their first world tour), it was only natural for the Korean band to make the progression to an arena venue, marking their 2025 Melbourne concert as Day6’s first ever arena show in Australia.
Upon entering the venue, there were fan banners that were easily distinguishable, neatly in a pile on tables at John Cain Arena’s entrances. These were available for patrons to take along with them and hold up at certain points of the show. MyDay (fandom name) kindly gave away fan support gifts from cute Day6 animal themed stickers to cleverly created Day6 member Pokémon cards, even detailing what their elements would be (I received two with Young K being ‘water’ and Wonpil being ‘electric’). As I headed to my designated door, I was surprised to still be given fan support gifts, something I thought had already been depleted by the sheer amount of keen VIP patrons in the venue alone.
The energy in the room was palpable, with some excited audience members having different versions of Day6’s official Light Band, proudly worn on their wrists. The screens in the venue had black backing and white text that stated, “DAY6” and the tour title “FOREVER YOUNG” on display, with a shifting infinity sign around it. Although the pre-show visuals were minimal, that didn’t stop excited patrons from taking photos of and with the stage in the background.
When it was time for the concert to begin, the venue lights lit up and ‘Welcome to the Show’ was played, which inspired many to sing along in anticipation of Day6’s arrival. As soon as each Day6 member took to the stage and met with their instruments, the John Cain Arena venue filled with pure joy from seeing and hearing Day6 on stage and live in Melbourne again.
Kickstarting with ‘Best Part’, ‘Better Better’, ‘Healer’ and ‘Time of Our Life’ before Day6 affectionately addressed their audience with, “Did you miss us? We missed you”. The moment the first note began, Melbourne patrons were up on their feet, animatedly dancing and singing along to Day6’s music. Day6 acknowledged the energy in the room, with Young K stating, “It’s only the beginning of the show and it’s already feeling like a climax.”
The lively Melbourne audience continued to dance and sing to their hearts content throughout the concert and happily clapped, waved their phone lights around, or sung back to the Day6 members, both instinctively and on command. Despite their over 30-song setlist (including self-requested snippets of ‘I Like You’, ‘When You Love Someone’, ‘Somehow’ and ‘Sweet Chaos’), Day6’s enthusiasm and power, as well as their audience’s spirit was thoroughly consistent throughout the 3-hour concert.
Each member had the chance to shine to and showcase their talents, personalities and humour. From a fly wanting to be part of the band and be queried, “Did the fly buy tickets to the show?”, to learning the Aussie way to pronounce ‘no’ as “NAUR” thanks to fellow JYP Entertainment colleague and friend Chris/Bang Chan, one of the Australian members of Stray Kids. Day6 warmly delivered the good vibes, confetti showers, great vocals and excellent music in spades.
It felt magical when ‘You Were Beautiful’, ‘I Loved You’, ‘Letting Go’ and ‘Congratulations’ transformed the Melbourne audience into one big and wonderful K-Pop choir to Day6’s iconic power ballads. If you weren’t already up and dancing, you were during Day6’s heavier high-octane section to ‘How Can I Say’, ‘I Wait’, ‘Love Me or Leave Me’ and an extended version of ‘Shoot Me’, the latter’s fanchants and lyrics being super fun to cheer along to, even acapella.
Day6’s gorgeous vocals were particularly evident during the aforementioned ‘Letting Go’ and their stunning harmonies were on full display during ‘Monster’, wowing Melbourne fans. I was overjoyed to hear ‘Zombie’ for the first time live, a song that Day6 never got to promote together during its initial release and (including its English version) turned into a 2020 anthem. Whilst MyDay were thrilled to hear new track ‘Melt Down’ from Day6’s most recent 2024 EP, Band Aid.
Before the encore, there was a karaoke session over several songs and a fan submitted video that, when played, surprised Day6 and made everyone in arena very emotional. The video, which was sweetly edited, congratulated Day6 on their journey thus far and shared of Day6’s impact in their lives, including one MyDay who confessed that she chose to learn to play the drums because of Day6.
In reaction to the love, energy and dedication from their Melbourne audience, Day6 leader Sungjin was so impressed, he stated, “Languages are quite difficult, but I don’t know how you sing along so well”. Wonpil thanked long-time fans who have been “waiting for so long” and those who were seeing them for the first time. Young K commented, “This memory is going to help us go on”, admitting that this shared concert experience in Melbourne is something that they’ll cherish. Finally, Dowoon sweetly mentioned, “From the beginning it’s been insane. This energy – wow”, adding “I’m very happy because of you guys. I love you so much. Let’s see each other soon”. The Korean foursome each mentioned that they would be back sooner than later, and it won’t take another 5 years and 5 months. Let’s hope that they keep their promise.
To conclude the evening, Melbourne MyDay were gifted with the fan theme song ‘My Day’, followed by ‘First Time’, ‘Welcome to the Show’, and the concert was bookended by the first live song that they started with – ‘Best Part’.
It’s hard to pick a highlight of Day6’s 2025 Melbourne concert when everything was delivered with so much joy, passion and precision. After all, one does not simply have only one favourite Day6 song! Day6 genuinely looked happy to be playing in Melbourne again and this happiness resonated with everyone lucky enough to have been there. Despite now being a wonderfully impressive K-Pop quartet, Day6 mentioned that we were also part of the show and band, especially when we heartfully sung in unison, particularly evident when ‘Welcome to the Show’ beautifully ended with just our voices.
Day6’s Melbourne 2025 concert and their 3RD WORLD TOUR <FOREVER YOUNG> is honestly their best one yet. John Cain Arena was overflowing with happiness, and I must confess, my face hurt from smiling so much! Day6 have cemented themselves as Australia’s favourite K-Pop band and I’m certain that I’m not alone in keenly awaiting Day6’s return to our shores, with a hopeful Australian arena tour in the not-too-distant future.
Day6 performed on Wednesday the 9th of April at John Cain Arena in Melbourne as part of their DAY6 3RD WORLD TOUR <FOREVER YOUNG>, proudly presented by JYP Entertainment and Live Nation Australia. The Melbourne concert was the final Australian show. Day6 will next head to Auckland, New Zealand’s Spark Arena on Saturday the 12th of April.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://www.livenation.com.au/day6-tickets-adp1238598
https://day6.jype.com
https://www.instagram.com/DAY6kilogram
https://www.youtube.com/DAY6Official
Photography by Ian Laidlaw, supplied by JYP Entertainment.
