Midway through SEVENTEEN’s history-making Be the Sun World Tour encore show (17 December 2022) in Manila’s outskirts, Mingyu pointed at the Philippine Stadium right across the Philippine Arena. “I want to go there,” he said (거기에 가고 싶어요) – not like an offhand comment; more like a glaring advance notice.

Some of us were incredulous, to be honest, unable to imagine how exactly they could even top what we had. Though for sure, we didn’t take it as a bluff.

“I think it would be great if we meet again next time on a bigger stage,” S.Coups also suggested back then. But it wasn’t as if he was just simply in the know about it, like the way he’d already hinted at that arena concert months before. With steely determination, he said, “We’ll be back with a more awesome stage than Be the Sun.” (또 다음엔, 더 큰 무대에서 만날 수 있다면 좋을 거 같아요. <Be the Sun>보다 더 멋있는 무대로 찾아뵙도록 하겠습니다.)

SEVENTEEN dare to dream at history-making Philippine Arena show: ‘We'll come back with a bigger, better stage next time’ – gig report

SEVENTEEN are notoriously unstoppable. They are unfazed by limits. Even nine years since their debut and at the height of their career, they also still have the doggedness and burning ambition of the rookies they once were. They reach a summit and then set their eyes on the next one to leap toward – just look at their recent blockbuster hits and Daesang streak.

“Once they set their minds to something, there’s no more discussion – they focus completely with a single mind towards a common goal,” SEVENTEEN’s performance director Yoon Hye Lim (윤혜림) once told Weverse Magazine in 2022. (일단 하기로 결정했으면 더 이상 왈가왈부하지 않고 집중해서 빠르게 그 목표를 달성하려는 마인드가 보편화돼 있죠.)

Now, here we are a little more than a year later, CARATs from here and all corners of the globe packing Bulacan’s Philippine Stadium to the rafters, as the juggernaut ‘Super’ act plays the sprawling venue’s first headlining show for 2 days straight (We attended day 2, 14/1). A promise is a promise.

No SEVENTEEN show is ever the same. Each tour is always bigger than the last – monumental spectacles that always scale up and up – just as Vernon’s ‘Fire’ bars proclaim: “We’ve been touring domes now / Haven’t you heard it now? / Stadium tours, now.” And each stop or date always has its own character and surprises.

Without exaggeration, nothing can ever prepare you for FOLLOW, especially its opening set, not even if you’re familiar with the setlist or have seen the concert elsewhere. Up-close, it’s a mind-blowing show of force.

Backed by scenes that take you through stars and galaxies beyond our own, and a full phalanx of dancers (Teams SAME and AURA), ‘손오공’ (Super), ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘박수’ (CLAP) got the show off the ground to – quite literally (see: Woozi) – astronomical heights.

As they revisited onstage ‘울고 싶지 않아’ (Don’t Wanna Cry) and ‘고맙다’ (THANKS), already potent, emotive pieces on their own, we witnessed the riveting poetry of their choreography, where grace isn’t found only in sinuous gestures but in the brief, rhythmic pauses, too. Bookended by these two tracks, ‘F*ck My Life’ soothed the world-weary among us, as if its coarse but defiant language lifted our burdens.

Everyone held their breath throughout the time-honoured unit stages, as SEVENTEEN’s three teams took us on a ride – from tenderness, to sensuality, to pure swagger.

The vocal team opened their act with ‘먼지’ (Dust), whose buoyant synthpop sound belied its undertow of heartache, and then serenaded everyone on a rotating centerstage riser with the hopeful ‘바람개비’ (Pinwheel).

The 5-member team, already missing Jeonghan for this whole tour leg to recover from his ankle surgery, also had their beloved Seungkwan sit out half of the Day 1 show, not being in his best condition then. By the next day, however, “Bootamin” was miraculously back to his chipper, hilarious self, energised by everyone’s love and support – as well as their happiest wishes for his birthday (16/1). “Thank you so much for worrying about me (걱정해주셔서 너무 감사드리고요),” he said in his opening ment for Day 2, and even as he expressed his regret, the crowd lovingly assured him, “괜찮아” – it’s okay.

“Yesterday, I couldn’t make it until the end, so today, I’m really going to do my best like my moves are going to tear up the stage,” he added. (어제 끝까지 못한 만큼, 오늘 정말 이 안무 불싸지르도록 열심히 하겠습니다.)

Hoshi, Jun, The8 and Dino were, as usual, such a magnetic presence onstage. While all suited up at first to reprise the Performance Team’s Going Seventeen cut ‘HIGHLIGHT’, they later held everyone utterly spellbound by their sultry FML track ‘I Don’t Understand But I Luv U’.

While performing just as a trio this time, with leader S.Coups in injury rehabilitation, Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Vernon proved themselves to be forces to reckon with. Pulling up in a monster truck, the Hip-Hop Unit demolished naysayers with ‘Back It Up,’ a brutal sledgehammer of a track, before firing everyone up and burning up the stage red-hot with the high-octane tune ‘Fire’.

Past the show’s halfway mark, the members finally opened the gates to “FOLLOW Festival.” The exuberant, rainbow-coloured event – with blooming flowers, horns-a-blaring and confetti aplenty – showed good ol’ SEVENTEEN (lovingly called “Freshteen” by some CARATs) at its finest through a string of upbeat numbers: ‘HOME;RUN’, ‘Left & Right’, ‘BEAUTIFUL’, and the big finale, ‘음악의 신’ (God of Music).

​​With ‘FOLLOW to Seoul,’ SEVENTEEN aim to be your ‘best concert of 2023’ – gig report

As expected from the Philippine crowd, they danced and sang their hearts out, their melodious shouts of “kung chi pak chi” (쿵 치, 팍 치) ringing out loud and clear, even far and wide from the stadium grounds all the way through the fields. It's the sort of inextinguishable and infectious energy that time and time again had the members raving. “Philippine CARATs go cuh-razyyy,” in Vernon’s words. Hoshi, himself a hyperenergetic fellow, echoed this: “Really now, as always – Manila, your energy for these past 2 days has been no joke.” (정말, 마닐라 역시 이틀 연속 에너지가 장난이 아닙니다.)

“We’ve been at this since the opening with no rest,” Seungkwan remarked at one point on the second and last date of the Bulacan stop, which prompted DK to respond, “We can’t rest, can we? With CARATs in front of us, how can we rest? ([승관] 오프닝부터 쉴 수 없이 달려왔습니다. [도겸] 쉴 수가 없었죠? 캐럿들이 앞에 있는데 어떻게 쉴 수가 있겠습니까?)

“We actually came here to give you guys energy,” said the astonished vice-vice leader Joshua, echoing his own comment from not a very long time ago. “In return, you guys gave so much more energy back.”

As the main part of the show winded down, SEVENTEEN wrapped the crowd in a warm embrace, singing for them love letters they had penned for their precious CARATs: ‘April shower’ and ‘어른 아이’ (Kidult). The crowd, which had been overflowing with energy for most of the night, had to hush down for a bit to soak it all in.

After ‘Anyone’, ‘Good to Me’, some setlist outtakes (with an appearance from Pi Cheolin) and the blistering (official) closer ‘HOT’, the boys were not planning to part with the crowd just yet. For their usual encore set, they finally took their famous carts for a spin in the Philippines, circling around the stadium and drawing close to fans – from the floor to the bleachers – to serenade them with ‘지금 널 찾아가고 있어’ (Run to you), ‘같이 가요’ (Together), and ‘소용돌이’ (To you).

It took a while – although certainly not without a hitch, and in spite of it – but the stadium tour stop in the Philippines finally happened. It was the fulfilment of an oath a year in the making, and as expected, throngs of CARATs rallied and came through again, continuing to make an impression on the members themselves.

“When we came to the Philippines around our early debut days, I remember it was raining hard and even if it was a small theatre, the seats weren’t full,” Seungkwan said, recounting the group’s humble beginnings once more. “Really, it’s so amazing that now, a lot of you came to see us like this. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for loving and supporting us from afar.” (데뷔 초반 때 필리핀에 공연하러 왔을 때, 그날 비가 많이 와서 그때 작은 공연장이였는데도 불구하고 관객이 다 안 찼던 기억이 나거든요. 진짜, 어느새 이렇게 많은 분들이 저희를 보러 와주는 게 너무 신기하고요.)

“I still can’t believe that this big stadium is full,” said Mingyu, the member who raised the brilliant idea at their 2022 concert, now seeing his vision become reality. “We’ll come back often,” he added. (아직도 이 큰 경기장이 꽉 채워져 있는 게 믿기지 않아요. 자주 올게요.)

CARATs weren’t ready to let go, even as the members haven’t even played ‘HIT’ and the obligatory Never-ending ‘아주 Nice’ to send off the fans in a way that only SEVENTEEN can.

“Walang uuwi,” Filipino CARATs shouted just like the last time, confounding the members with such a foreign turn of phrase. (No one’s going home / 아무도 집에 돌아가지 않겠어요.) Dino’s comeback was clever and profound. “We’re never going because... (저희는 절대 가지 않을 거예요. 왜냐하면...)” he paused, before singing a familiar refrain: “‘Cause I'm your home.”

[17'S]
캐럿이 가는 길엔 어디든 세븐틴이 서 있을게요💎
또 만나요 캐럿들👋💖#SEVENTEEN #세븐틴#SVT_TOUR_FOLLOW#FOLLOW_TO_BULACAN pic.twitter.com/ZM3RhiZ9zK

— 세븐틴(SEVENTEEN) (@pledis_17) January 14, 2024

“Thank you once again for sticking with us throughout all this, from the start until the end,” The8 said. “As we are now, having CARATs by our side just like this is enough, and I hope it will be like this for a longer time.” (정말 시작할 때부터 지금까지... 이 과정을 함께 걸어와줘서 한 번 더 감사합니다. 지금 이대로도 캐럿들... 이대로 옆에 있는 것도 너무 충분하고 앞으로 더 오래오래 갔으면 좋겠습니다.)

“Namiss namin kayong lahat. Mahal namin kayo. Kita-kits,” Woozi said in impeccable Filipino, as he and Wonwoo left a promise for CARATs here to hold on to: “Babalik kami para sa inyo.” (We’ve missed all of you. We love you. We’ll see you and we’ll be back for you soon.)

“Until the next time we meet, hopefully you guys are healthy, happy, and are still thinking about us,” added Joshua, also promising: “Because we’ll be thinking of you.”

“If there’s a chance, I’d like to come back again,” said Dino. “And the CARATs here right now, you all better be there.” (기회가 된다면 다시 꼭 오고 싶네요. 그때, 여기 있는 캐럿들 한 명도 빠짐 없이 다 와야해요.)