Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
10/04/23
Korean indie-rock sensation, The Rose, kicked off their highly anticipated “Dawn To Dusk” tour at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California. The tour celebrates the release of their second full-length album, DUAL, released in late September, just before the start of the tour. Only a couple of days before the tour started, their album charted for the first time on the Billboard 200 chart at #83. That, on top of playing a venue over three times the size of their previous show in the city less than a year ago, meant that The Rose’s return to the Bay Area was nothing short of a triumph.
The show commenced with a vibrant energy as the venue’s lights dimmed and the stage was shrouded in a sea of fog and deep purple hues as the band took their positions onstage. The anticipation was palpable, and the moment The Rose members took their positions with only their shadows in the fog indicating their presence, the crowd erupted in ecstatic cheers. The start was electrifying – still shrouded in blue light and heavy fog, strobing lights, and a visual of blue electricity on the screen behind them, the band launched into an explosive start-of-show-style, mostly-instrumental-except-one-line arrangement of “Eclipse” from DUAL. The four members, lead vocalist and guitarist Woosung, vocal, keyboardist, and guitarist Dojoon, bassist Jaehyeong, and drummer Hajoon, perfectly executed the long build-up that drew the crowd in and got everyone on their feet.
After a moment with the stage entirely dark, the stage lit up again as Woosung sang the opening lines of “Eclipse,” accidentally acapella. Of course, Woosung’s beautiful vocals immediately captivated the audience, but the piano sound was off and he broke the mood as he humorously replaced half of the second line of the song’s voice-and-piano-only intro to ask where the piano was. Dojoon, who was on the piano, very professionally switched over and played the rest of the song on the acoustic guitar. The show continued smoothly and Woosung continued to ad-lib, not only about faulty instruments, but also gushing about how happy he was to be here, changing lyrics to mention San Francisco, and so on.
Throughout the night, The Rose showcased their versatility, effortlessly transitioning between lovely ballads and energetic anthems. While the fans’ voices beautifully accompanied Woosung and Dojoon’s during the quieter songs like “You’re Beautiful,” songs like the boy-band-esque anthem “Back To Me” had the fans yelling out the lyrics and rocking out on the floor. Halfway through the set, Woosung and Dojoon took a break while Jaehyeong and Hajoon, who normally do backing vocals, got a chance to showcase their vocals by performing “I.L.Y.” from their 2018 E.P., Void, much to the fans’ delight. Despite navigating through their discography full of songs with different energy levels, the show flowed well and the energy in the crowd was impeccable.
Not only did The Rose play DUAL in its entirety, they also play most of their first album, HEAL, as well as the heavy-hitters and fan-favorites from earlier releases. Their iconic debut single, “Sorry,” elicited pure ecstasy from the crowd and their most-streamed song, “She’s In The Rain,” had everyone singing along. After sharing the news about their album charting on the Billboard 200 and sincerely thanking their fans, Woosung introduced “Sour” from HEAL by spinning the “My heart’s so sour without you” lyric in the chorus, singing, “My heart would be forever sour without all of our Black Roses” (Black Roses being their fanbase’s collective name). The auditorium, which swelled with mutual love between the band and the crowd during “Sour,” quickly turned into a whole party as the second to last song of the night played. DUAL introduced an electronic music element to their sound, and “Cosmo.”
As the night drew to a close, The Rose concluded their set with the DUAL title track, “Wonder,” a song with an arousing intro that transitions to a rock anthem, leaving the audience with a sense of euphoria and longing for more as the band left the stage and the stage went dark. After a few moments, they returned to the stage with the “Wonder” instrumental playing through the speaker and with roses in hand, tossing them to the fans in the crowd – a nice touch to the end of the concert experience. The Rose’s performance at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium was an unforgettable experience, and it left fans eagerly anticipating the next time they would see them again.
The “Dawn To Dusk” tour will stop in 18 cities in North America with more countries to be announced – the journey from dawn to dusk with The Rose is an experience you don’t want to miss!
