(Warning: This is a very long, photo-heavy post!)
THE DAY HAS COME. BTS WORLD TOUR ARIRANG HAS FINALLY ARRIVED IN TORONTO.
First of all, merch. There are people that waited hours and hours for merch yesterday and today. (If you watched the local news yesterday, you'll know that ARMYs started lining up for merch at 2:00AM for the public merch sale.) But my friend Iris got the VIP soundcheck package for Day 1, which means she got access to VIP shopping, which means a separate merch booth just for VIP ticket holders. And she got there at 8:00AM, so not only did she get all the merch items we wanted, but she only had to wait in line for 30 minutes. (Almost all items have a limit of one per person for this tour, but I wanted the items that she didn't want and vice versa, so it worked out perfectly for us.) Thus, thanks to her, I didn't have to line-up for merch at all for this tour. It's like karma finally paid me back for having had to wait dozens of hours for merch at all their previous tours. (Yes, I will treat Iris to lunch, don't worry.)
Without having merch to worry about, I decided to get to Rogers Stadium around 4:00PM because I wanted to stop at ARMY ZONE first and didn't know what the line-ups would be like. Toronto is, so far, the only stop in North America on the ARIRANG Tour that got an ARMY ZONE — it's basically a booth set-up for ARMY Membership holders to get a free gift. (FYI, our gift was a set of exclusive photo cards with TORONTO printed on the back.) Of course, I didn't have to get there nearly as early as I did because there was no line-up at all by the time I got to the ARMY ZONE booths. Went straight to a staff member, showed my concert ticket and my membership card, and got my pack of photo cards within 2 minutes. (Turns out, the line-ups are typically at opening time with virtually no-line ups later in the day.) Of course, I still had to wait for soundcheck to be over at 6:00PM to meet with Iris. Which meant I had 1.5 hours to kill. (In order to preserve my phone battery, I literally vaped and people-watched for over an hour. Even I am impressed with myself.)
The weather started off pretty great — warm and sunny. Over the next hour, there was a little drizzle here and there, but nothing crazy. Rain was in the forecast for today, so I had brought two waterproof ponchos with me and put one on just in case. By the time 5:30PM rolled around and I went to line-up to get into the stadium, it started raining. By the time I got through bag check and ticket scan and walked into the stadium's fan area to meet with Iris, it was pouring. Thank god I already had my poncho on because I would've been soaked within a couple minutes. Of course, by 7:00PM, the thunderstorm started. Lightning streaked across the sky, a weather delay warning was put up on the big screens, and the people that were already seated in the metal grandstands were asked to head outside of the stadium for safety.
By 7:30PM, with the delay warning still in effect, the security was allowing those of us with floor seats to go into the stadium. So Iris and I — who had seats in different sections — went off into our own section entrances. By 7:50PM, even though it was still pouring rain, the venue made the announcement that the concert will go on as planned. I gotta say, it really speaks to the dedication of BTS and their staff to continue with the concert. I mean, I know that cancelling a concert results in a plethora of losses — for BTS, their company, and their fans — but honestly, artists have cancelled concerts for much less. And man, I am so glad the concert went on, because torrential downpour or not, it was FUCKING INCREDIBLE.
ACT I: Setlist
- Hooligan
- Aliens
- Run BTS
- They Don't Know 'Bout Us
- Like Animals
- FAKE LOVE
- SWIM
- Merry Go Round
Act II: Set List
- 2.0
- NORMAL
- Not Today
- MIC Drop
- FYA/FIRE Medley
- Body to Body
- IDOL
Encore: Set List
- Come Over
- Butter
- Dynamite
- DJ Spin That (Toronto Day 1): Outro: Wings
- DJ Spin That (Toronto Day 1): DOPE
- Please
- Into the Sun
We've seen them perform in rain before, but never like this. BTS gave it their all in a fucking TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR, which honestly made the experience all the more memorable. I wasn't sure how I was going to like the 360 stage but it honestly gave everyone in the stadium equally amazing views. I didn't think there was a particular side that they favoured — they even changed the choreography so they would be facing all four directions throughout a song — and all members made sure to spend time all around the stage and on all four ramps. Plus, RM in a Maple Leafs jersey, V in a Canada hat, and the rest of them with Canada patches sewn on their shirts made their Canadian visit a little more special. They acknowledged, more than once and by more than one member, that they know we've been waiting nearly ten years for their return and they're so happy to be back. While there has been criticism of HYBE continually treating their Canadian fans as less than their US counterparts, tonight was proof that they love us and love being here.
I can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow.
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