Girl group Katseye are missing two members, but their tour still dazzles

Girl group Katseye are missing two members, but their tour still dazzles

Only two-thirds of the girl band made it to London, but fans seemed thrilled nonetheless (L-R: Megan, Yoonchae, Lara and Daniela)

They may have been down two members, but Katseye still got a hero’s welcome as they staged their first full concert in the UK.

Even before the performance started, the crowd was screaming as the band played their music videos on the O2 Arena’s giant screens, and the volume hardly let up for the next three hours.

It showed that Katseye have become pop’s biggest property — they are currently the most-streamed act on YouTube UK — even though singers Manon Bannerman and Sophia Laforteza are on health-related hiatus.

The stage did seem a little bare without them, but the rest of the group worked hard to cover the missing space, firing up the audience with a run of bass-heavy pop anthems and spectacular dance breaks.

“Are you happy to see us?” asked the band’s youngest member, Yoonchae Jeong, as though the answer was not already clear from the moment they emerged in a burst of laser lights and kicked off with the Brazilian funk workout Hootie Frutti.

“I think you guys are our loudest crowd ever, literally,” Megan Skiendiel said in amazement.

“This crowd is unbelievable,” Lara Raj added.

The concert was only the second stop on the band’s Wildworld tour, but fans already knew every move from social media.

There was even a cheer of relief when Daniela Avanzini made it through a complicated lift in the Gabriella dance routine. On opening night, her dance partner dropped her.

Daniela recovered from her stage fall in Dublin without any injuries.

That kind of devotion — and attention — has come fast for Katseye.

The Los Angeles-based multinational girl group was only formed in 2023 as part of the online reality competition The Debut: Dream Academy.

The contest was created by Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind acts such as BTS and Le Sserafim, and the US record label Geffen, home to Olivia Rodrigo and the Rolling Stones. Out of the 120,000 people who first applied, only six advanced.

Trained in the demanding K-Pop system, they had a breakthrough year in 2025, first with the hyperactive electro-skronk of Gnarly, then with its follow-up, a slinky ballad called Gabriela that showcased Daniella’s Cuban-Venezuelan roots.

In London, the crowd was notably young: the queue for pick and mix was longer than the one for the bar.

When Megan asked, “Whose first concert is this?” the room exploded with screams.

The group’s first world tour is set to continue until the end of the year.

All through the show, fans waved lightsticks, copied Katseye’s dance routines and, in some cases, suddenly burst into tears.

Many concertgoers also wore bindis, inspired by Lara, who has proudly woven her Asian heritage into her look.

One person even arrived dressed as a courgette, a nod to Internet Girl’s bizarre-but-nearly-working refrain, “Eat zucchini”.

The atmosphere was contagious. And if you looked closely, the parents seemed to be enjoying themselves just as much as the children.

Even Spice Girl Melanie C is a fan, having hosted a Q&A with the band during their first UK visit last October.

“They’re incredible girls,” she told the BBC earlier this summer. “They’ve got great music, they’ve got a great work ethic, and they’re really beautiful, you know?

“Obviously, they’ve had a little drama, as happens with all bands, but they work so goddamn hard.”

Sophia Laforteza, officially the band’s leader, said she needed to step away from the group’s punishing schedule

The drama started in February, when Manon announced she was taking a hiatus from the band to “focus on her health and wellbeing”.

That followed the Swiss-Ghanaian singer telling BBC News the band had faced racism and death threats; fans also pointed to Katseye’s punishing schedule, arguing they were being overworked.

In April, she posted a message to fans saying she was having “positive conversations” with Katseye’s management, but not before removing references to the band from her Instagram biography.

Then, only months after Manon stepped back, Sophia announced she was also taking a hiatus to protect her “mental health and wellness”.

“You can’t pour from an empty cup,” she wrote on social media. “It’s important to care for yourself.”

The group were nominated for best new artist at the 2026 Grammys (L-R): Yoonchae, Megan, Lara, Manon, Sophia and Daniella

Although Sophia had been expected to return for the European leg of the Wildworld tour, that has proved impossible.

Her mother reassured fans that the absence is only temporary.

“Don’t worry, this is for her own good,” she told ABS-CBN News

“This is what I love about her management. They realise when the girls are tired.

“It’s a good thing that she is resting so that she’s stronger when she comes back.”

It is not unusual for K-Pop band members to take a break when the mental or physical strain of the job becomes too much.

Lia from the girl group Itzy took more than a year away from work to seek treatment for “extreme levels of anxiety” in 2023-24; while Moka, a singer from Katseye’s labelmates Illit, is currently on an extended hiatus, also for anxiety.

In line with K-Pop tradition, Katseye honoured Sophia’s place in the band during Tuesday’s show, keeping her pre-recorded vocals on songs such as Mean Girls and Pinky Up.

Manon’s lyrics, however, were sung by other members of the band — presumably because her hiatus came before production and rehearsals.

After the tour opened in Dublin on Tuesday, Katseye were accused of miming throughout their set.

But from what I could tell on Thursday, the members’ microphones were live all night, with a backing track reinforcing their vocals at key moments.

On slower songs like Tonight I Might and My Way, they proved fully capable as live performers.

Meanwhile, Lara’s vocals on the solo showcase unloveu, proudly introduced as “the first Katseye song written by a member of Katseye”, blended power and emotion in a way that suggested the band has potential beyond the ear-candy pop that has become their trademark.

Katseye will play a second night in London, before heading to Manchester and then to Europe

Other highlights included Daniela’s death-defying dance break, complete with aerial splits, leading into Gabriella; and Megan’s technotronic shakedown at the end of Pinky Up.

For Yoonchae, the show’s peak was Time Lapse, where she got to sing in her native Korean while moving through the crowd. (“Keep your hands to yourselves and don’t throw any gifts on the stage for our safety,” warned Lara, slightly spoiling the mood).

The concert finished on a forceful note, with Iconic By Mistake — the band’s defiant answer to an online hate campaign — and an extended run-through of Gnarly, complete with a leather-studded rock remix.

Overall, it was a strikingly confident and self-assured performance from a band that could easily have been weakened by personnel problems.

“This is not a goodbye,” promised Yooncahe as Katseye waved goodbye. “We’ll come back.”