Out & About #1007 | P1Harmony [P1ustage H: UTOP1A] Tour in Toronto

My younger self would have scoffed at having to debate whether one should attend a concert or not - the answer was "obviously" yes.
But present-day me can no longer echo the strong opinion. I'm tired, derelict of rest, and burdened with far too many tasks to tackle in a humanly possible time frame. For every concert I'd choose to skip, I'd be conserving funds, relieving myself of the treacherous commute, and restoring time for completing chores and errands. And, as an added perk of declining GA shows, I'd no longer suffer from feet, shoulder, and back pain afterwards.

​I won't lie: Leading up to the day of P1Harmony's UTOP1A tour stop in Toronto, I found myself dreading yet another commute downtown, instead of anticipating with enthusiasm. The sheer existence of the event had actually escaped me entirely; had it not been for my fellow concert-goer, I would have forgotten until reviewing my list of never-ending calendar appointments.

​Just as I had planned to start preparing for the drive to the GO station, a phone call caused the process to come to a grinding halt. My attention was urgently needed to facilitate home happenings. Naturally, this delayed my departure by at least forty minutes.

Horrendous rush hour traffic posed another hurdle. With a high likelihood of missing the train, I opted to swerve into the closest plaza for an early dinner (and indoor plumbing facilities instead).

​Located within the plaza was Tim Hortons, Rexall, Dollarama, cannabis shop, and gas station. At its southeast corner was the quietest of Subway locations. I entered to find empty tables, forceful gusts of air conditioning, and just two customers requesting takeout.

​My pick would adopt a 6" Chimichurri Steak Sub utilizing a toasted Multigrain bun, melted cheese, pickled, tomatoes, black olives, and, of course, chimichurri sauce. The wrapped package would be presented to me in a matter of minutes, unsurprising given the nonexistent customer volumes.

The meal was tasty, but nothing to write home about. Rather, I was more impressed with the washroom stalls. My observations could be biased given that the staff had just finished cleaning, but spotless, queue-free stalls were a much-appreciated feature, for I knew concert venues would not offer the same.

​Crossing my way over to Clarkson, I learned of an intersection collision that had spurred chaos earlier. A tow truck was now on site. It seemed that a vehicle had attempted to turn left into oncoming traffic instead of working its way around a signalized intersection.

​My arrival at Exhibition GO was not all lonely, for fellow K-Pop fans followed closely behind.

Coca-Cola Coliseum was a brief walk from the transit stop - and covered for the most part. Much to my relief, temperatures had returned to seasonal conditions: high teens with plenty of sun and breeze. Nevertheless, my concert attire would comprise of full-length pants (for I am neither a fan of rashes nor fellow transit riders brushing against bare knees) and a fleece-lined hoodie to combat venue and GO train A/C.

​Entry into the facility was far swifter than I could have ever imagined! The entrance was fully staffed, yet not particularly menacing. After verifying my digital ticket, I was waved through security, skipping the bag check entirely. The security gate persisted with green lights, allowing me to bypass the inspection altogether. I needed not fret over my "oversized" choice of bag, nor whether I'd be given a hard time for the point-and-shoot nestled within it

Once inside, the interior felt very reminiscent of ACC, or perhaps a generic sports arena. It adopted a circular layout, with washrooms, concession booths, and entry points arranged along its internal circumference. I was immediately flung into a crowd of slow-moving concert goers. After a brief moment of confused head-bobbing, the washroom was located.

​The lineup wasn't as terrible as I envisioned, nor were the stalls are gruesome as I had pictured. That said, I was struck by the ensemble choices of my fellow audience members. At least three people were spotted donning the members' MV outfits, and at least twenty more with photocards clipped to their bags and bottoms. Harajuku-kei extravagance appeared to be the name of the game, and I likely dated myself by donning plain, comfy clothes and bearing not an inch of skin beyond my neck and hands.

On my way to the seating area, I strolled past the merch table - er, lineup, rather. The availability of on-site merchandise had not been advertised leading up to the event, thus I hadn't allocated additional time for queuing. With about 50-60 gaudily-clothed youngsters in the queue, I merely trekked past and found my seat instead.
One of my concert buddies had succeeded in finding a front row spot for our section, nixing fears of tall, wide guests blocking our view. Of course, this also meant increased susceptibility to members of security spotting my camera in hand. However, I quickly learned that security wouldn't even bat an eye, unlike ACC/Scotiabank.

​The show started at 7:30 PM sharp. The lights would dim while concert prelude clip played, and merch purchasers scurried to their seats. Remarkably, even the floor area was completely seated.

​P1Harmony announced their arrival on the main stage with flickering lights and smoke, the crowd cheering while waving their P1ECE lightsticks ecstatically. Five members emerge from the stage platform, with Intak at the centre. The stadium filled with a sea of colourful bulbs, indicating the group's staggering surge in popularity since their ROM and Rebel performances in the years prior.
These bulbs would later take on different hues depending on the song being performed and the stage light of choice. Bluetooth compatibility had evidently been incorporated into the new generation of lightsticks, making the modern-day design adaptable to syncing across venues globally. (Meanwhile, Ahgabong Ver. 2 had only been capable of embracing such attributes for domestic performances, maintaining the signature green glow overseas.)

​Street Star would be performed as their first song, followed by Emergency and Everybody Clap. During the Opening Ment, the members would introduce themselves, each presenting varying degrees of fluency in the English language.
Jongseob spoke exceptionally well, only pausing to clarify specific terminology (the English equivalent of 별자리/zodiac sign) with Keeho, but otherwise conducting all his ments in English. Theo mainly spoke in Korean, relying on the assistance of the on-site translator. Given the poor acoustics of the sports venue (and the eardrum-shattering screams of the girls behind me), it was hard to catch these translations from our place in the stadium. Soul did not utter many words, which was typical - and expected - of his character; the few perceived mixed Korean with some English. Intak, my bias and beloved Jinyoung-lookalike, made attempts to speak in English, occasionally stuttering and glancing over at Keeho for support. Needless to say, the leader was able to comfortably express himself in his native language - with sass, to boot - and utilize Korean to bridge the gap between the audience and the other members.

It was at this time that Keeho brought attention to the elephant in the room: Jiung would be unable to participate in the North American leg of the UTOP1A tour due to injury, but the performances would be carried out as planned and to the best of their abilities. This sparked a bit of concern for me, personally, for it meant that choreography formations would have needed to be altered with little to no time for familiarization.

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​Included in the setlist was an interesting mix of B-sides, and only a few recent title tracks. The oldest, and most unexpected, choice was Butterfly. Having only witnessed the performance in video format due to its release during their debut era in peak pandemic, I must admit that it was a pleasant surprise.
Their earlier songs of Siren and Scared had been omitted, as with my favourite B-sides of That'$ Money, Before The Dawn, and Yes Man.

​The show proceeded with a few more songs before the members disappeared backstage for an outfit change. In the meantime, another concert clip would play.

​The audience would be graced with five solo performances after the intermission. At the end of the concert clip, a message would appear on the screen, asking the audience to turn on their camera flashes. Theo would emerge with a guitar in hand, cooing an acoustic song unknown to me. Towards the end of the track, he'd request participation of the audience. While I would have loved to chime in, the song wasn't one with which I'd been acquainted. The same observation would be extended towards the rest of the solo performances, again confirming the generation gap between the standard P1ECE and myself.

​Intak came prepared with a powerful dance, incorporating floor elements that would contrast against his adorable, bubbly disposition. Even from afar, the dance left me speechless, my hand positioned over my mouth for majority of its duration.

It came as no surprise that the rest of the members would also choose to present their strengths: Jongseob with rap, Soul with freestyle dance, and Keeho with vocals. The Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and sword were a humourous touch though.

​Countdown to Love would fill the arena with gargantuan pink balls and streamers, and Follow Me flashing blue lights and constant jumping. The performance of Pyramid was one that I thoroughly relished, for I had missed nearly all of it at the ROM due to crowds and cameras. Fall In Love Again was another song I regarded with utmost glee, having played it on repeat for a good amount of time. Unfortunately, the younger audience seemed to enjoy BFF more.

​I had expected a few of the group's personal favourites, such as If You Call Me, Black Hole, and AYAYA. The former was excluded, while Black Hole made its way into the main set. Although AYAYA didn't constitute the main set, it did make for a splendid, water-throwing encore selection.
Interestingly, I recognized at least 90% of the tracks and was able to enjoy the show without having to re-familiarize myself with the Get to Know P1Harmony playlist beforehand.

The brilliant fuchsia UTOP1A logo would remain on the screen while stage crews reinstated the extended stage to its former, streamer-less surface. Then, without warning, the members would re-enter from different corners of the venue.

​Jongseob strolled past our section, closely guarded by three members of security. Having been fixated on the main stage, our eyes quickly darted towards the left. I extended my arm over the barrier and waved in his direction, hoping to catch his attention. He turned, locked gazes with me for a split second, then grabbed my hand! In the chaos of the moment, I was unable to record the interaction - the sly smile and glittering eyes that graced our presence. Thankfully, my concert buddy to the right succeeded in capturing the moment, though regrettably without my face.

​Other members were also spotted meandering the aisles before traversing back to the main stage through the Floor are. A second round was not conducted, and the rest of encore would continue on the extended stage only.

​The UTOP1A tour in Toronto would span two hours in total: 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, followed by Encore and Ending Ments for a final conclusion time of 10 PM. Generally speaking, the show was great, and very structured. My sole gripes would be towards the live cameras, which lagged horrifically due to low fps, and the despicable audio quality.
Unexpected were the three concert clips (intermission) and 2-4 ments. Nevertheless, the scene persisted extremely lively with cheers and bobbing lightsticks that matched each song's colour scheme. P1Harmony admitted to being able to hear fanchants clearly even through their in-ears, and promised to return for another tour in the future.

​Albeit young, the members of P1Harmony were fantastic performers and talented individuals well on their way to achieving success in the global music scene. I felt a sense of pride in observing their first stadium tour in the city, along with the compelling realization that, no matter how marvelous the new generation may be, no artist that could match up to GOT7 for me.

​We slowly exited then joined the merchandise line. Lamentably, other audience members had opted to do the same, resulting in a chaotic, claustrophobia-inducing bottleneck in the corridor. Five hours of water fasting later, I had also begun to experience lightheadedness. With no obvious end of line and no members of security to direct traffic, guests merged from thirty lanes into one. It was worth noting that Gen Z fans were notably ill-mannered, glaring instead of being courteous with regards to who joined the lineup first. Similarly, my utterance of "sorry" was met with an automatic "It's okay." when it was, in fact, not an apology but a modest request for their shift away from hand dryers for the general public. Their vibrant appearances were also learned to not be synonymous with cleanliness, for repugnant body odours were undeniable. I further questioned the appropriateness of bringing NCT lightsticks to another idol's concert, which a handful of NCTzens had done without obvious remorse.

By the time we ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶r̶e̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ neared the merchandise counter some twenty minutes later, my coveted picks of a tote bag and Intak fan had sold out. I settled for the pricier picks of a baseball cap and jersey fabric hoodie instead. While the black design did not list the tour stops, the white-and-magenta variation with the members' faces on the front would see little to no chance of wear.

​At the late hour of 10:37 PM, the bathrooms had vacated. Slowly but surely, we meandered back towards Exhibition GO for our ride home.

​I threw open the door to my humble abode just before midnight, rushing towards the kitchen for water. Fatigue settled in shortly afterwards. Clearly, aging and concerts do not go hand in hand.