For spectacular Blackpink concert, Rogers Stadium finally gets it right — with one glitch

Hamilton Spectator

a day ago

3.5 stars (out of 4)
Rogers Stadium, Toronto, Tues., July 22, 2025
The biggest girl group on the planet just touched down in Toronto and it looks like
Rogers Stadium has finally gotten something right
— it was ready. Blackpink, one of the K-pop groups that has inspired your kid to learn Korean, brought out its legion of fans to the
city's newest and largest concert venue, located in Downsview Park
. After many
highly publicized operational gaffes
since opening a month ago, last night was different. Staff was prepped, crowds were moving, and even the performers themselves remarked from the stage that it was a beautiful night for their very first time playing Toronto.
If you want to know what it's like to do perfect crowd control with an audience of almost 50,000, you start by making them Blackpink fans or Blinks, as they are called. By the time the show started, many people had been there for hours. Any self-respecting K-pop fan understands that showing up early is being on time. This gives ample time to check out the merch and fan fashion.
Last night, Blinks wore black, pink, frills, bows and immaculate makeup. You would not mistake this crowd for any other fandom. The Ferris wheel on the grounds added to a chill, festival vibe, and I'm happy to report I didn't wait in any lines at all (I skipped the exorbitant official merchandise, which had the longest queues).
Staff, from the TTC
to the venue, worked to usher people along quickly.
Toronto has been talking about the logistical issues of this venue while Blackpink fans have talked at length about Blackpink's world tour, which launched in Seoul earlier this month. The tour is called Deadline, although it hasn't been explained why. Will this be their last? That's hard to imagine as they are at the absolute top of their game, weaving hit after hit into a tight set list built into five acts plus an encore. They do it looking like they don't even break a sweat.
Jennie, Lisa, Rosé and Jisoo began the show with three megahits in a row, starting with the fanfare of 'Kill This Love,' the slow chants of 'Pink Venom' and their trademark call-out at the top of 'How You Like That' ('Blackpink in your area!').
Fireworks began popping off from the very start of the show, with plumes of confetti exploding no less than three times. It's really lovely to watch a crowd slowly look up into the sky with delight, watching pretty bits of paper drift across a stadium. The name of the game here is spectacle, with 16 dancers, three massive screen displays and plenty of pyro.
My meter for gauging the crowd's response was how much my bleacher seats shook. Yes, Blinks can shake a stadium. Favourites included 'Like Jennie,' 'Fxck Up the World,' 'Ddu-du Ddu-du,' and 'APT,' last year's inescapable radio hit based on a Korean drinking game.
The only technical glitch came at a moment that should have been the beat drop of the entire concert. When screens lit up with the word 'Jump,' the title of their new song that producer Diplo calls their 'Blackpink rave anthem,' everyone leapt to their feet, light sticks in hand, expecting to be released into a dancing frenzy.
Instead, there was a long, awkward pause. The crowd, fairly quiet and respectful, began to chant, 'Blackpink!' Finally, the screens, clearly malfunctioning, parted as they were meant to do, and the group streamed out with their dancers. Judging by the choreographed party scene on stage, most attendees couldn't tell anything was amiss.
If there's anyone who deserves a raise from last night, it would be a nameless, enterprising K-pop fan in the marketing department at Tim Hortons. Blinks know that Rosé begins her solo miniset behind the scenes, as a camera follows her route to the stage.
At last night's show, her bandmates handed her a box of Timbits and a coffee and Rosé did her whole shtick indulging in this most Canadian coffee-and-donut combo. Nothing is casual or improvised at this level. And let's not kid ourselves that this entire spectacle isn't about sales. I saw official Blackpink in Toronto jerseys going for $190. A commercial embedded into the show? At least it was clear, obvious and cute.
In between the high-octane hits, and each member showing off her solo persona (Rosé the singer-songwriter,
Lisa the playful vixen
, Jennie the entertainer, Jisoo the sweet flower), the group stopped to chat with the crowd. This is a key element of K-pop shows and the more unplanned and natural-seeming the conversation is, the better. For fandoms that are so intensely digital, and in a world where fans are truly at the centre, K-pop acts know to take time to chat, like friends would, from the stage.
What did Blackpink want to say to Toronto?
'I heard that this is a very newly built stadium and that a bunch of people struggled to get here on time because it's such a far walk over.'
Please don't pull a
Coldplay and call this stadium 'weird,'
I thought.
'We want to thank everybody for putting in the cardio,' Rosé finished. They are infinitely charming, that's for sure.
They also pleaded with the audience multiple times to put down their phones and instead raise their hands high. It's a nice try, but this just won't happen. But now we know, Blackpink members are tired of the phones. They want more in-the-moment connection.
Over the past few years, Blackpink members have focused on solo music, sponsorships (their brand endorsements read like a list of French fashion houses and the directory at your local mall) and acting (
Lisa in 'White Lotus,'
Jennie
in 'The Idol' with The Weeknd). Given that the crowd responded to them as warmly for their solo works as they did for their Blackpink oeuvre, one has to wonder what's next?
There is time to figure it out online, Blinks. The Deadline world tour takes them to the U.S., Europe and Asia until January of next year. The world will be watching through clips online, but nothing beats being there in person, in the moment, outdoors on a perfect summer night.