Out & About #469 | GOT7 Eyes On You in Toronto

​My heart had shattered at failing to attain a hi-touch ticket for the Toronto leg of the tour, but fate clearly had other things in store for me. A week prior to the concert, my schedule was altered drastically and a North York trip had to be tackled.

I stopped by Yorkdale, given that it was in the area, and found myself wandering into Aritzia's semi-annual promotion. Jinyoung's red Adidas zip-up stared me in the eye, but at a whopping $76, it totalled more than the tour t-shirt, slogan, and shipping combined

​Uniqlo and a few other shops were swiftly browsed. Lunch was then had, and the return journey commenced.

​Air Canada Centre, which has been renamed to Scotiabank Arena since this past Canada Day, didn't pose much confusion to attendees, not that I could see anyways.
By the time I had pulled into one of the nearby lots, a lengthy lineup coiled around the inside of ACC's Gate 1 in preparation for Hi-Touch.

​I distributed fluids and non-perishable food items to the two P1 ticketholders I was acquainted with, then proceeded to observe the surrounding situation. Some parts of the venue received heavy gusts of cool air, while parts along the walls and/or near the door were downright stuffy. The scene was chaotic, earning complaints from many participants. Then again, it's PGTW, so what did you expect?

​Several fansites also took the opportunity to retail stocked slogan sets to those in the vicinity. Matchpoint, Silver Lining, and Marktouch were a few of the names I was acquainted with. Not a single Jinyoung slogan was in sight, though this was probably for the best (for me anyway). I had already received Take A Bow's slogan several days prior.
While conversing with a friend in line, an absolutely adorable Jinyoung fan was spotted in the hands of the girl behind us. It was a limited item from THE New Era! Gazing lovingly at it, I asked to snap a photo of the fan, only to be presented with a mini transparent fan and 4 x 6 in Polaroid as a gift - Forever Young had bestowed me with gifts merely for showing up!

​I excused myself as the line began to inch forward. It was time for I, an IGOT7 who was exempt from the tedious GA lineup, to treat myself to a proper sit-down dinner before the show.
Chipotle's Front Street location had earned itself quite the crowd since Youngjae's social media post from the day before. Blue Jays fans had also taken to fueling up at the American franchise pre-game.

Taco Bowls with Guacamole are my usual order. However, they tend to generate quite a bit of excess for munching on. It was brought to my attention some few months ago that Kids' Meals weren't a bad choice for those with small appetites. Consequently, a Build-Your-Own box of soft tortillas, steak bites, corn, and shredded cheese were taken to go. I, of course, opted to add a side of guacamole to complete the order.
Choices of a drink and fruit or chips also made available to me, though I found it odd that a request for fruit equated to a whole orange being tossed into the bag. Plastic cutlery didn't really seem to cut it - and I mean this in the most literal sense possible.

​I had allocated sufficient time to park, proceed with security measures, and pick up the lanyard benefit for P2 ticket holders. Unfortunately, this plan was delayed atrociousl by a series of parking mishaps, which ultimately did not enable me to enter the venue until forty past seven.

Thankfully, security was speedy and so were bathroom lines. (It should be noted that there was minimal signage and insufficient staff from SubK to ensure that all attendees were joining the right line/heading towards the correct gate. ACC staff knew little to nothing about the event details, contributing to the congestion of the area instead of relieving anxiety of the event goers.

​At 7:54 PM, I found my seat in Section 120, Row 1. The view wasn't half bad, but the section faced the stage at a somewhat awkward angle.
While I was convinced that many attendees were still scrambling inside well after the designated start time, the concert - just as according to SubK's schedule, commenced precisely at 8 PM. The few minutes prior involved the arena dimming and songs being played louder - perhaps as a sign to guests to file in quickly.

​An introduction video played first, followed by GOT7's grand entrance. They immediately fell into place to perform Hard Carry, which caught me by surprise I missed the fanchant as a girl had entered the arena late and excused herself in between all of us.
Some songs I was hearing live for the first time: skyway, OUT, Go Higher, Prove It, Hey, My Home, 니꿈꿔,  and Begging on my Knees. The setlist is blurred in my mind, but there are performances that stand out unmistakably.

​Paradise had my eyes widening in shock. I hadn't expected to hear Jinyoung's self-composed track live, and I was surely unprepared for it. From the choreography that I had watched over and over to the point of engraining every last detail in my head to the buttery vocals, it would be an understatement to say that I was overjoyed that it had been included.

Firework was another highlight of mine - no surprise. My sole regret is that Jinyoung stood on the left side of the stage for the entirety of this performance, thus I couldn't see the creator of the piece himself. The stage was raised slightly for this performance, while the boys dazzled in black-and-white suits, sans outer.

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​During opening ments, we were informed that BamBam had edited the concert opening video. Given his recent projects, I wouldn't be surprised if he puts those creative juices to movie and music video production later on.

Jinyoung's narrative, which had garnered some mild backlash in Seoul, was met with a wonderful response here. His voice was essentially ASMR!! Snippets of the animation played in between song segments, depicting the emotions of various stages in a relationship, as well as acting as an opener for the upcoming song.
Unfortunately I was unable to be fully immersed for the entirety of it as a particularly menacing lady interrupted my passion-indulging period to instruct me to "Put the camera away! Cameras aren't allowed!".
I was in no mood to argue with this impolite specimen, for I feared missing out on even more of GOT7's only Canadian show. However, I should add that, according to the Scotiabank Arena's FAQ, small point-and-shoot cameras whose lenses do not exceed 75 mm are permitted.

​The moment that truly irked me was when the lady pounced over a second time, in the midst of the Jinyoung and BamBam's unit performance, I Am The King.
Not only did I miss out on majority of the already brief performance, I was also unable to capture the beauty of FACE that followed afterwards, leaving me livid and frustrated. This incredibly bitter feeling resides within me until the end of the show. Had I not planned on seeing them in New York, the ordeal would have left me exponentially more riled up.

​The unit stages featured unexpected collaborations: JinBam is notorious for being polar opposites (minimal vs. glamorous), while JackGyeom was a clash of raspy rap and dignified dance. From my seat, 2Jae + Mark's stage were three vertical blocks of colour; it lacked the necessary illumination to see their faces clearly.

While I do try to remain as unbiased as possible, it is especially difficult to remain neutral when Jackson's solo performance was the same duration as JinBam's. Moreover, JackGyeom was entitled to a short collaboration stage following their individual parts.
In terms of enjoyment, I Am The King ranked first (unsurprisingly), while Yugyeom's solo dance fell next in line. Despite having seen him perform on multiple occasions, including his solo opening stage at KCON LA last year, the version of GOT7's maknae that we witnessed was as fluid as the Credit River and as expressive as a ahgase on an adrenaline rush. During his dance segment, he had apparently fallen to the ground with a loud thud. From my seat, this was not immediately apparent though.

​Toronto's level of knowledge in regards to the fanchants was extremely disappointing. Many were completely clueless about the name order, let alone the Korean parts of the songs. The girl beside me was one of the rare few who knew the Korean lyrics to the vast majority, but even she was unfamiliar with the complete fanchants except for the chanting of the members' names.

"Look" and "Never Ever" probably exhibited the highest levels of fan interaction via chanting, though neither was maintained until the song concluded. "Teenager" did not provoke any chanting; it felt as if I was the only one who was acquainted with this commonly performed B-side track.

​Following Jinyoung's narrative was a clip of GOT7 conversing before a table lined with food. The subtitles were made large enough to be visible by even those seated far away, though clarity of the font could have been sharpened for enhanced readability.

One particular portion of the video caught my attention:

​"I think that liking and loving someone who you don't know personally is a pure thing."

Jinyoung struck a chord in my heart.
He repeated this once more before the VCR dimmed. "Thank You" was performed just before ending ments and the encore.

​I anticipated the members to run around the stage, and possibly off the stage as well, during Thank You. But instead, they remained stationary at the main stage while singing. The lyrics to which I've listened to over three hundred times were muffled in the arena; ACC's sound quality was disastrous for slow tunes. Tissues and nasal spray had been prepared in cause of beastly bawling, but their voices were drowned out to the point where even the slightest noise could cause me to miss a beat.
Again, no one sang along to this melody. It was honestly such a disappointment.

​Towards the end of show, as they were expressing their ending remarks, Jinyoung looked seriously unwell and even ran behind stage to mutter something to a staff member. He looked increasingly ill during the encore stage, even sitting himself down on the stage and "pretending" to collapse into the arms of the dancers. In addition, he was the first of all seven to depart the stage. I could not shake his expression from my head and prayed for his speedy recovery.

​The concert concluded at 10:42 PM, with the encore stage consuming about 30 minutes.

By this point, ACC staff and security had become absolutely despicable. Not only were guests not allowed to take photos of the stage in memory of the event, even those using the bathroom afterwards were being rudely rushed out. It's as if the camera incident hadn't been enough to anger me on the special occasion.

We groggily made our way home afterwards, eventually pulling in past midnight. After a brisk cleanup, I took to bed in preparation for GOT7's departure.