The Warfield (San Francisco, CA)
01/23/23
Leaving fans with absolutely no time to prepare themselves, Park Jun-won, who also goes by Harry and is known by his stage name pH-1, burst onto The Warfield stage in San Francisco, California to kick off his highly anticipated world tour. To be clear: fans have waited over six years for a tour and have had plenty of time to prepare. But Harry, deciding everyone (including himself) had waited long enough, took the stage immediately after fellow rapper Ted Park warmed the crowd up with a short 20-minute opening set, barely giving the crowd a chance to catch their breath. The tour, appropriately named “About Damn Time,” is the first solo world tour the Korean-American rapper is embarking on since releasing his debut single back in 2016.
The tour follows the September 2022 release of pH-1’s second studio album, BUT FOR NOW LEAVE ME ALONE. It not only celebrates the new record, but is also a celebration of finally bringing his music to fans outside of South Korea! The excitement and significance of the first show of his first world tour was not at all lost on the concert-goers. While Harry brought absolutely everything building up over the last six years to the stage, the crowd packed into the room reciprocated with the best energy. The setlist was 27 songs long, featuring 7 of the 13 tracks on BUT FOR NOW LEAVE ME ALONE. The rest of the setlist was filled with tracks from his 2019 album, HALO, 2020 mixtape, X, compilation albums from his record label, H1GHR MUSIC, tracks from his time on Show Me The Money, and various singles. Opening with the aptly named “MEET AND GREET” from X, the crowd had the entire room shaking within seconds of the start of the show.
Harry pulls influence from various genres and eras of music and collaborates with many artists and producers, but has a distinctive melodic rapping style while focusing on storytelling to create a diverse yet cohesive body of work. This was showcased during the concert, and the energy in the room ebbed and flowed to match the hype, groovy, and/or chill vibes of each song. The mix of English and Korean in his songs wasn’t a deterrent at all, with the crowd singing every word in fan-favorite “Homebody” and shouting the catchy chorus of “MR. BAD.” Harry took the show to the next level with all the ways he interacted with the crowd – from taking polaroid selfies onstage to give to three fans as a memento from the show, grabbing fans’ phones to take videos from his point of view, and constantly talking to the crowd.
The first night of the tour was indeed special – so much pent up anticipation was finally released all at once in a whirlwind of energy over the course of just over an hour. Referring back to the name of the tour, every time Harry said “WE HERE,” the crowd would shout back, “ABOUT DAMN TIME!” – and they definitely meant it.
