[TORONTO] BTS and ARMY Take on Toronto Downpour With 'Crazier Energy' and Win

TORONTO — BTS brought its "ARIRANG" World Tour to Rogers Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 22, marking the group's long-awaited return to the Toronto area after years away. But before the seven members could reunite with Canadian ARMY, heavy rain and thunderstorms threatened to make fans wait just a little longer.

Long before showtime, it was easy to tell where the crowd was headed. About a 15-minute walk from the nearest station, flashes of purple began appearing until the road leading toward the stadium were filled with fans carrying ARMY Bombs and dressed in BTS shirts. Around the ARMY Zone and merchandise area, fans took photos for one another and exchanged handmade keychains, photocards, bracelets and stickers. The crowd also spanned generations, from longtime ARMY to young children proudly holding signs that read "First BTS concert!"

The festival-like mood changed as the sky darkened and heavy rain began falling. Thunder could soon be heard around the venue, prompting fans in the grandstands to seek shelter. BTS' planned 2020 "Map of the Soul" Toronto dates had already been canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and as 7:30 p.m. passed with fans still unable to get to their seats, questions about whether another long-awaited Toronto concert would be called off began circulating through the crowd.

Fortunately, this time Toronto got its concert. BTS took the stage at around 8:25 p.m., roughly 25 minutes behind schedule. As soon as the opening notes of "Hooligan" rang out, fans shot to their feet and began jumping hard enough to send rows of chairs rattling beneath them. After spending the previous hour watching the sky, the rain suddenly seemed to matter much less.

"You guys look good in the rain," RM told the crowd. Jimin called the night "worth the wait," while Suga asked fans how long they had been waiting.

RM then turned the weather into a challenge. "If the rain tries to stop us, we need to beat them with crazier energy," he said. Almost as if the weather had been listening, the rain began to ease soon afterward.

From there, what had threatened to derail the concert became part of what made it memorable. During "SWIM," dancers swept massive sheets of fabric across the stage to form rolling waves, a visual that felt particularly fitting after the downpour. The chilly weather also gave the show's frequent bursts of fire an unintended benefit, with the heat offering brief relief whenever it reached the seats.

Toronto's energy hardly dropped with the rain. Whenever one of the seven members appeared in close-up on the giant screens, screams immediately broke out, sometimes before he had even done anything. Jung Kook eventually pointed it out himself.

"You're not letting the place cool down. We haven't even made it halfway through the show yet," he told fans.

J-Hope was equally impressed. "I really feel your love tonight, so I going to give it back and more," he said.

Although the production and setlist largely followed previous stops on the "ARIRANG" tour, Toronto's response to BTS' older music stood out. "Mic Drop" triggered one of the loudest reactions of the concert, while "Not Today" and "Fire" had large sections of the stadium jumping along. The energy carried into "Body to Body" and "IDOL," with much of the audience barely sitting down between songs.

After "IDOL," attention briefly shifted from BTS to the fans as messages appeared on the stadium screens. One simply read, "Welcome to Toronto," while another offered a Canadian play on words: "Having the time of our leaves." The cameras also captured the range of generations in attendance, including several young fans proudly announcing that it was their first BTS concert.

The members returned the local affection after an outfit change. V showed up wearing a hat featuring the Canadian flag, while RM appeared in Canada-themed clothing, both drawing immediate cheers.

Some of the night's loudest screams, however, were still to come. Following "Dynamite," J-Hope teased that something "real special" was next before the tour's rotating surprise-song segment.

"You guys are so good, might have to bring you to the next tour," V joked.

The first surprise song was "Outro: Wings," with the crowd quickly taking over its familiar "spread my wings" refrain. Then came "Dope."

From its opening seconds, the 2015 track sent Rogers Stadium into another frenzy. Fans who had already spent much of the night on their feet were once again jumping and shouting along. The reaction reinforced a pattern that had become increasingly obvious throughout the concert: the further BTS reached into its older catalog, the louder Toronto seemed to get.

For fans who had waited years for the group to return, that response felt particularly fitting. Some of the night's biggest reactions came from songs that had accompanied ARMY through the long gap between BTS' Canadian appearances.

As the concert moved toward its end, the rain returned. This time, there was little concern about it stopping anything. Instead, the members repeatedly told fans to be careful on their way home, with V saying that although BTS enjoyed performing in the rain, he worried about the audience catching a cold.

Suga also acknowledged how long it had been since BTS and its Canadian fans had seen each other. "It's been a really long time since we've seen each other, right?" he said. "As expected, Toronto lived up to our expectations."

Toronto's first night ultimately became defined by something no tour production could have planned. Hours earlier, fans had stood beneath dark skies wondering whether years of waiting might end with another canceled show. By the time BTS left the stage, those same fans were soaked, still standing and still singing.

RM had told them early in the night that if the rain tried to stop them, they would have to answer with "crazier energy." Toronto took him at his word.