TWICE New York 2026: Three Nights at UBS Arena That Proved K-Pop Is Unstoppable

Three nights. One venue. Twenty thousand fans per show singing every word in Korean. TWICE’s THIS IS FOR World Tour hit New York City in February 2026 and turned UBS Arena into the loudest building on Long Island. This was not just a concert run. It was a statement.

TWICE performed at UBS Arena on February 18, 20, and 21, 2026 the 19th through 21st stops on a world tour that had already broken records in Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Washington D.C. New York arrived at a peak moment. The group had just filmed a Tonight Show appearance. Dahyun’s injury was the only shadow over an otherwise electric three-night stand.

Here is the full story of what happened inside UBS Arena night by night, act by act.

Why New York Mattered on This Tour

New York was the first three-night arena residency of the entire North American leg. Every other city on the tour got one or two shows. Elmont got three. That alone tells you what JYP Entertainment thought of TWICE’s New York demand.

The venue context matters too. UBS Arena opened in 2021 as one of the most modern arenas on the East Coast. Its capacity sits around 19,000 for concerts. Three nights at that capacity means roughly 57,000 fans across the full New York run a number that rivals what most artists achieve in an entire regional tour.

And crucially, this run landed the week before TWICE appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 23. The New York stand functioned as a live rehearsal for one of the biggest TV platforms in the United States.

Concert Snapshot

Dahyun’s Absence: What Fans Knew Going In

Before a single note hit the speakers, the crowd already knew. Dahyun’s ankle fracture had been confirmed by JYP Entertainment weeks earlier. She withdrew from the North American tour dates through March 7, leaving eight members to carry the New York shows.

In the room, the absence registered. Longtime ONCE fans felt it. Dahyun’s solo stage “Chess” was the gap in the setlist that nobody discussed out loud but everyone noticed.

That said, the remaining eight members left no doubt. Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu performed with the kind of focus that comes from years of touring together. You would never know the group was short a member unless you already knew.

The Stage: What Made UBS Arena Special

The THIS IS FOR World Tour runs on a 360° open-stage format meaning the stage sits in the centre of the floor and the audience wraps around it completely. No bad seats. No “back of the venue.” Everyone gets a close look.

At UBS Arena, the production added extra layers. Up to 20 dancers joined TWICE on stage during key moments. A grid of rising platforms lifted members into the air mid-song. Transparent LED cubes overhead scattered light across the entire arena. Smoke cannons and confetti bursts punctuated the high energy sections. The live band positioned in the stage structure gave the show a warmth and weight that pre-recorded tracks simply cannot replicate.

The camera operator on the floor was also part of the show. During “Strategy,” the cameraman’s movement became choreography tracking the members with precision that turned the live feed screens into a second performance layer. Regular concert goers noticed. ONCE fans screamed at the screens as if they were watching a music video shoot in real time.

The Setlist: Act by Act

The THIS IS FOR World Tour setlist runs four distinct acts across approximately 30 songs per night. New York followed the established pattern with a few city specific touches. Here is how the night unfolded:

Act I The Opening Statement

TWICE opened with the title track, “THIS IS FOR.” The song functions as a mission statement bright, defiant, and addressed directly to the fans. It set the tone for what followed.

“Strategy” came next, and the arena went up a level. By February 2026, “Strategy” had spent 17 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and passed 300 million Spotify streams. A significant portion of the UBS Arena crowd had arrived because of that song. When TWICE performed it live with the full 360° stage engagement and the CANDYBONG ∞ lightsticks synced across the arena the reaction was something else entirely.

Act I continued with “MAKE ME GO,” “SET ME FREE,” “I CAN’T STOP ME,” and “OPTIONS.” The energy never dropped. The group moved through the opening section like a machine choreography locked, vocals clean, crowd fully activated.

Act II The High-Power Middle

“MOONLIGHT SUNRISE” brought a brief change of atmosphere flowing, melodic, intimate. Then the show pivoted hard back into drive with “MARS,” “I GOT YOU,” “The Feels,” and “Gone.”

The costume change between Act II and Act III is one of the tour’s most discussed moments. Members shifted from angelic white ensembles into something harder darker colours, edgier cuts. The wardrobe shift signalled what was coming: the rock-influenced section.

“CRY FOR ME” arrived in a remix that pushed the song into new territory. “HELL IN HEAVEN” followed, and the combination of the two created the darkest stretch of the night. The crowd matched the energy completely. Then “RIGHT HAND GIRL” closed the section with a burst of controlled chaos that left the arena buzzing.

Act III Solo Stages

The solo stages are the part ONCE debate most intensely before every show. Each member performs roughly 60 to 90 seconds of their solo work. At UBS Arena, the sequence was one of the sharpest of the tour.

Nayeon opened the solo section commanding, bright, sharp. Jeongyeon followed with “Fix A Drink” in a white bedazzled cowgirl hat and chaps. The country inflected number in that specific outfit was the kind of moment that lands in K-pop fan memory for years. Momo’s dance heavy solo showcased exactly why she holds the title of best dancer in a group of exceptional dancers. Sana performed “DECAFFEINATED” playful and confident. Jihyo delivered “ATM” with a rawness that stopped the room. Mina took “STONE COLD” and turned it into ballet her classical training visible in every line of her performance. Chaeyoung brought “SHOOT” with an edge that matched her recent solo work on LIL FANTASY. Tzuyu closed the solo section with “DIVE IN” controlled, precise, stunning.

Then came “TAKEDOWN.”

The Unit Stage: TAKEDOWN Stops the Show

Jeongyeon, Jihyo, and Chaeyoung stepped to the front of the stage for the KPop Demon Hunters diss track. The song hit differently in New York than almost anywhere else on the tour.

A significant number of fans at UBS Arena had arrived through the Demon Hunters path drawn in by the Netflix film, by “Strategy,” by the Huntr/x connection. They wore Huntr/x merch. They knew the choreography from fan-cam breakdowns online. When TAKEDOWN started, those new converts and the decade long ONCE fans roared together for the first time in the night.

That moment two fan bases overlapping in a shared reaction was arguably the most culturally significant thing to happen inside UBS Arena across all three nights.

Act IV The Throwback Closer

The final act belongs to TWICE’s catalogue of undeniable hits. “FANCY,” “What Is Love?,” “YES or YES,” “Dance the Night Away,” and “SCIENTIST” landed one after another. These are songs that fans have listened to for years in some cases, for the better part of a decade.

Hearing them performed live, by the women who made them, inside a sold-out arena, produces an emotional weight that is genuinely hard to describe if you have not experienced it. Members who debuted as teenagers on a survival show performed those early era songs as fully-formed global artists. The growth is right there, visible in every movement.

“LIKEY” closed the main set. The encore varied night to night on February 18, the audience got “Signal.” Different songs closed Nights 2 and 3. TWICE routinely rotate the encore to reward fans who attend multiple shows.

Jihyo at Centre Stage

Across all three nights, Jihyo was the member who consistently pulled focus. As TWICE’s leader and main vocalist, she owns the stage in a way that few performers of any genre can match. Her voice hit every note with precision. Her stage presence the smile, the eye contact with the crowd, the physical control of every gesture set a standard that even veteran concertgoers noticed.

Her solo performance of “ATM” was the quietest moment of the night and also the most powerful. The arena dropped its volume to hear her, which is one of the highest compliments a crowd can give a performer.

The Tonight Show Effect

Five days after the final UBS Arena show, TWICE performed “Strategy” live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 23, 2026. The appearance marked their third time on the program following performances in 2021 and 2023.

The timing was deliberate. The New York arena run built the live performance muscles. The Tonight Show performance reached a national audience of millions who had never seen TWICE live. By the time “Strategy” finished on Fallon’s stage, the group had reached two completely different audiences in the same week the 57,000 who filled UBS Arena and the millions watching late-night television.

That dual reach is what separates 2026 TWICE from where the group stood even three years earlier.

The Two Types of Fan in the Building

Something specific happened inside UBS Arena across the three nights that deserves its own section.

The crowd contained two clearly identifiable groups. The first: longtime ONCE, many of whom had followed TWICE since before the group even debuted. They carried CANDYBONG ∞ lightsticks not for sale at the venue, per custom synchronised to the official light show. They knew the deep cuts. They cheered for Jeongyeon’s “Fix A Drink” cowboy hat before it appeared.

The second group arrived through KPop Demon Hunters. Some wore Huntr/x merchandise. Some arrived in Saja Boys cosplay. For them, TWICE was the real-life version of something they had experienced through an animated Netflix film. They came in curious and left converted.

Both groups sang every word of “Strategy” at the top of their lungs. The moment those two fan bases merged into one crowd sound that was the night working exactly as K pop’s global expansion is supposed to work.

What’s Next: The Tour Continues

After New York, the THIS IS FOR World Tour continued south and east. Philadelphia followed on February 24, then Atlanta on February 27. The North American leg ran through Austin in April before the group moved to Taipei in March and then Europe  Paris, Berlin, London, and beyond.

The full tour covers 43 global regions and 78 shows the largest world tour TWICE has ever mounted. New York was three nights out of 78. And it still felt enormous.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many nights did TWICE perform at UBS Arena in New York?

TWICE performed three consecutive nights at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York February 18, 20, and 21, 2026.

Was Dahyun at the TWICE New York shows?

No. Dahyun sat out the New York shows due to a fractured ankle. Eight members Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu performed all three nights.

What songs did TWICE perform in New York?

TWICE opened with “THIS IS FOR” and played hits including “Strategy,” “I Can’t Stop Me,” “The Feels,” “Cry For Me,” “TAKEDOWN,” “Fancy,” and “What Is Love?” among 30+ songs per night. See the full THIS IS FOR setlist breakdown for the complete song list.

Did TWICE appear on The Tonight Show during the New York run?

Yes. TWICE performed “Strategy” live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 23, 2026 the Monday immediately after their final UBS Arena date.

Where is UBS Arena located?

UBS Arena sits in Elmont, New York adjacent to Belmont Park racetrack on Long Island, roughly 30 minutes by car or LIRR train from Midtown Manhattan.