The Rose had their fans swooning at History Toronto
An hour before doors opened at HISTORY Toronto on Monday, October 24th, the line for entry had already wrapped all the way around the block. This didn’t even include the 250 or so fans on the separate VIP line! Taylor Swift? Maybe Harry Styles? Nope. Korean band, The Rose, had hit Toronto as part of their ‘Heal Together ‘World Tour and as many K-pop bands have shown, the young people of any race would be there in force. The Rose, comprised of lead singer and guitarist Kim Woo-sung, keyboardist Park Do-joon, bassist Lee Jae-hyeong, and drummer Lee Ha-joon, are not your typical K-pop act, as they are playing instruments and there is no choreographed dancing. Having recently placed their latest album Heal at number 12 on Billboard’s emerging artists chart, they are the highest placing “K-rock” band in history (although “K-rock” sounds more like an L.A. radio station’s call letters). Listening to their music, they still sound more pop than rock but semantics doesn’t change the fact that young k-whatever fans had sold out the venue.
Before the show, many fans had lightsticks with a glowing orb (called an “army bomb” originating with the BTS Army), making the venue seem very festive. There were many gifts in hand ready to be delivered, including a Canadian flag signed by many fans, stuffed animals, and (of course) roses.
With no opener, The Rose’s instrumental intro “~” from Heal elicited screams from all across the venue. When lead vocalist Woo-sung started singing “Definition of Ugly Is,” the screams somehow got even louder. Many fans were singing along to every song, making for an enormous karaoke bar. Woo-sung and keyboardist/guitarist Do-joon were the obvious extroverts of the band with Jae-hyeong and Ha-joon happy to remain outside the spotlight. However, when Jae-hyeong told the story of how the band came together and how music has changed his life, there were tears in many eyes in the audience. some of the loudest cheers were for the band’s first single “Sorry”, which they had released in 2017. The band came back after the main set for an encore of “Black Rose”, leaving their fans with lasting smiles as they exited the venue.
