BLACKPINK Join ROSÉ for Rare Full-Group Version of ‘APT.’ in Toronto

BLACKPINK came to Rogers Stadium for the first of two nights on the Toronto leg of their Deadline World Tour on Tuesday night.

As hard as it is to believe now that Toronto is one of North America’s top concert markets, it was the superstar K-pop girl group’s first time playing in the city. BLACKPINK has been in the area, playing in nearby Hamilton in 2019 and 2022, but they made sure to make this first proper Toronto date count.

Unlike Coldplay, who made headlines for their less-than-stellar comments about the new venue earlier this month, BLACKPINK mostly had good things to say. Though she did mention that the venue was hard to get to, BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ called the stadium “beautiful” and said she was pleasantly surprised at the weather. She said the view from the stage was “like a painting,” with the clear sky above and the vast 50,000-strong crowd lit up with their signature glowing pink light sticks. (Many fans shelled out $80 or more for them at the limited-edition merch pop-up at Yorkdale mall or elsewhere.) The multigenerational audience was ear-piercingly loud, cheering, dancing and singing along — in English and Korean — for nearly the whole show.

It seemed to have put the four members of BLACKPINK in a good mood. At the end of the concert, the singers converged onstage for their encore. After a small set of songs, Jennie turned to her bandmates and suggested they play “APT.” ROSÉ had already played that Bruno Mars collab in her earlier solo set (every member got one), but Jennie wanted to play it too. “It seems fun, and I miss it every time,” she said.

So, they did it again, for the first time as a group. All four members smiled and bopped while doing the signature hand dance inspired by a Korean drinking game. At one point, the three members held up a mic to Jisoo, who didn’t know the lyrics but laughed it off. It was a rare moment of spontaneity for a stadium pop show.

Though it never topped the charts in the U.S., “APT.” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and stayed there for seven weeks, so it made sense to play it twice in Canada. But between their burgeoning solo careers and their group projects, there are plenty of BLACKPINK hits to fill a 28-song set.

The night was split up into five acts, with interstitial videos of the four girls in cowboy hats on a road trip. Three of the acts were full-group sets, complete with backup dancers and plenty of fireworks (the benefits of an outdoor venue). The other two were split between solo sets — first Jisoo and LISA, then Jennie and ROSÉ. Though they’re one of the signature current K-pop groups, they’re starting to build big profiles individually across the globe. ROSÉ is a chart-topping hit artist, Jennie played Coachella this year, Jisoo’s profile is growing, and LISA was a cast regular on the latest season of the hit HBO show The White Lotus (and she was also Billboard’s first global cover star last year).

That gave the concert a natural flow, with something to latch onto during every set. They played well off the audience too, at one point leading a lightstick wave throughout the stadium while LISA ran laps around the massive stage. Later, the screens fixated on audience members during a dance challenge to some of BLACKPINK’s biggest hits. Fans played along well — though, as Coldplay recently learned, such stunts can be risky.

The other biggest hit of the night seemed to be BLACKPINK’s “Jump,” the band’s newest single that is currently leading the Billboard Global 200. With its references to classic pop girl group forebears, the Spice Girls, and a catchy dance-along beat drop break, it’s an easy crowdpleaser. Like “APT.,” they played it twice throughout the night. But this one was planned.

This article was originally published by Billboard Canada

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