If there’s one thing TXT are going to do, it’s own literally every song they perform. Have you ever seen them cover girl group choreography on TikTok? It’s a life-changing experience, TBH. From TikToks to award shows, from their own songs to iconic covers, they can truly do it all.
We always love an excuse to rewatch our favorite TXT stages, and luckily, they gave us plenty of reasons to do so during the 2023 awards season! They absolutely slayed all their performances, including several covers, and SBS’ Inkigayo Prince Yeonjun even co-hosted the Gayo Daejeon on Christmas Day along with SHINee’s Key and IVE’s Yujin.
Time for a disclaimer! TXT has so many iconic stages that we had to set some parameters for this list somehow. So, we haven’t included Lollapalooza, any U.S. TV performances, or any self-produced performance videos like ‘Frost.’ It’s not that we don’t think you should watch those (you definitely should!); we just had to set some limitations, so we’re not here for 304 days.
Anyway, here we go, and literally, what else could we have possibly started with?
‘초대 (Invitation)’ (Originally By Um Junghwa) At 2023 Weverse Con Festival
Elegant. Regal. Life-changing. All words we would use to describe this TXT performance. ‘Invitation’ at Weverse Con was a true surprise, and we guarantee that MOA who watched the livestream are still recovering from the shock they felt when they saw those five silhouettes. TXT is so great at exploring femininity in their performances, and this stage is the epitome of that.
‘Opening Sequence,’ ‘Lonely Boy,’ And ‘Good Boy Gone Bad’ At 2022 MAMA Awards
In addition to how great their covers are, tubatu’s end-of-year stages are the stuff of legends, too. Every year, they take the season by storm, giving us performance after performance, each as unique and iconic as the last. 2022 was no different, or perhaps it was even more impressive, as TXT was simultaneously gearing up for a January comeback. Their 2022 MAMA stage was one of our faves, thanks to the jaw-dropping dance breaks and b-side ‘Lonely Boy’ getting the spotlight it deserves.
‘Replay’ (Originally By SHINee) At The 2019 KBS Song Festival
TXT’s 2019 was one of the most awarded rookie years ever. And with every award they won, they immediately proved they deserved it with their award show performances. As one of the most iconic K-Pop groups ever, SHINee isn’t an easy act to cover, but TXT was clearly up to the task with this super sweet version of SHINee’s debut ‘Replay!’
‘DNA’ (Originally By BTS) At 2022 SBS Gayo Daejeon
From SHINee to BTS, TXT knows how to pay homage to the greatest. Being the only other group to come out of BIGHIT MUSIC, TXT’s story is tightly woven with BTS’, and they’ve covered them several times. This version of ‘DNA’ has to be our absolute favorite, though, not least because of how well Beomgyu covers Taehyung’s iconic lower range.
Taehyun And Huening Kai X WONDER STAGE At 2023 MAMA Awards
Speaking of iconic vocal performances, of course, this tyunning stage had to be on this list! TXT’s maknaes are some of the best vocalists in not only 4th Gen, but all of K-Pop. This rendition of ‘Endless Rain’ alongside Yoshiki truly has us starstruck and teary-eyed. Plus, getting to enjoy the performances of BOYNEXTDOOR’s Jaehyun, RIIZE’s Anton, and ZEROBASEONE’s Yujin at the same time doesn’t hurt!
‘PUMA’ And ‘Blue Hour’ At 2020 MMAs
Now, this TXT performance is legendary for many reasons, some good, and some maybe not-so-universally-seen-as-good. TXT are great at switching their concepts up every comeback, and performing ‘PUMA’ and ‘Blue Hour’ back-to-back is the perfect example of this. Moreover, for this one, tubatu changed up the ‘Blue Hour’ dance break, giving the audience a Zumba lesson. Yes, you read that correctly. Zumba.
Our favorite thing about this stage, though, is that it introduced us to The Chaos Chapter. TXT and their team are so clever when it comes to adding in easter eggs, and they usually use end-of-year stages as an opportunity to introduce what they have coming up the next year. Having spent 2020 closing The Dream Chapter and having a brief interlude with their first minisode, they presented The Chaos Chapter in a gorgeous dance outro that finished with a giant hole being punctured through Yeonjun’s chest. And not for the last time…
Legend of K-Pop With ENHYPEN At The 2021 KBS Song Festival
We don’t know about you guys, but we will never tire of TXT’s classic K-Pop covers! They are a group you can trust to always pay respect to those who came before them whilst still putting their own stamp on every song! It doesn’t hurt that they have an encyclopedic knowledge of K-Pop (hello? HYBE X Game Caterers, anyone?), either. From ‘Candy’ to ‘Mirotic’ to ‘FIRE,’ this performance has it all. And a chance to see ENHYPEN slay, too, is a bonus!
Yeonjun X ‘3D’ (Originally By Jungkook) At 2023 SBS Gayo Daejeon
At the start of this, we mentioned that Yeonjun co-hosted SBS’ Gayo Daejeon on Christmas day, but that isn’t all he did! TXT also performed (duh), and Yeonjun collaborated with ITZY’s Yuna for a special stage. Yeonjun absolutely killed this cover of Jungkook’s ‘3D,’ and it showed a cool, suave side of the 4th Gen It Boy that MOAs love to see!
‘Sherlock’ (Originally By SHINee) At 2020 SBS Gayo Daejeon
“Sherlock’s back,” and so are TXT’s SHINee covers! From 2020, we love how sleek this version of ‘Sherlock’ is and how well it shows tubatu’s synchronization skills. Plus, TXT’s Taehyun is a bonafide Shawol, and it literally leaps out of him in this performance with how hard he goes for it in those jumps.
‘New Rules’ And ‘Run Away’ At 2019 MMAs
See what we mean about their rookie year stages?! And we weren’t kidding when we said that TXT loves to add little easter eggs to their performances, either. The use of screens in this is genuinely genius, though it meant the performance needed to be absolutely perfect and completely in sync; the slightest mistake would’ve looked catastrophic. It left rookie TXT absolutely nowhere to hide, something many more experienced idols wouldn’t dare to do. Even more than that, maknae Huening Kai had a solo at the age of seventeen.
Yeonjun X ‘Guilty’ (Originally By Taemin) At The 2024 Golden Disc Awards
Yeah, this is the third SHINee song on this list, but can you blame us? One of tubatu’s final performances from the 2023 award season was Yeonjun’s cover of Taemin’s single ‘Guilty.’ Unsurprisingly, with two of the most remarkable idols in K-Pop combining this way, the cover went majorly viral. Though he’s earlier on in his career, Yeonjun, like Taemin, is known for his explorations of gender and fashion in his performances, and ‘Guilty’ was a great opportunity for him to showcase his elegance. This stage was so different from his cover of ‘3D,’ and it was so much fun to have these performances within two weeks of each other!
So there you have it! Those were just some of the TXT performances we think should be on every K-Pop fan’s radar. We’re not forgetting the ‘Tinnitus’ dance break, Yeonjun’s ‘Shut Down,’ the ‘Come Back Home’ cover, or any other the others. We just figure, at this stage, your time is probably better spent watching them yourself, right? And then you can let us know your favorite stage over on Twitter @TheHoneyPOP! Or, if that’s not your style, we’re also on Facebook and Instagram!
Trust us, we’re the place for you if you want more TOMORROW X TOGETHER!
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