Two sold-out shows at Rogers Arena held on January 9 and 10, 2026 marked the biggest K-Pop concerts in the history of the west coast metropolis. And it involved a group coming full circle triumphantly after filming one of its music videos there nearly nine years earlier.
Known as the nation’s girl group in South Korea, nine-member Twice, which formed through a televised reality contest in 2016, enjoyed a meteoric rise to superstardom shortly thereafter, chalking up a string of awards and hit releases. The music video of one of its chart toppers, “Likey”, was filmed entirely at locations around metropolitan Vancouver, and was featured on CTV News. The video has since amassed over 650 million views.
Twice had previously performed in Canada, but only to the lone locale of Hamilton. Nine years after “Likey”, the group added Vancouver as well as Montréal to its This Is For Tour promoting its latest works. Originally the group had planned a single show in Vancouver, but it sold out in minutes, and a second gig was added. Other K-Pop giants like Blackpink and BTS have not hooked Vancouver into their tours, but with the overwhelming response Vancouver showed towards Twice, that may change in the future.
What follows is the experience of one “Once” (collective term for fans of Twice) who attended one of Twice’s Vancouver concerts.
Brian’s Story
Brian, whose favourite K-Pop artist is Twice, was ecstatic the group was coming to his hometown of Vancouver. There was one problem: he didn’t know anyone else who was a fan and had reservations about attending a concert alone. He worked with about 50 staff including some Korean-Canadians and wondered if anyone from work would be attending. He asked the resident social butterfly who said that she overheard Anna talking about the Twice concert. Brian saw Anna working alone at a computer and approached her.
“Anna? Are you a Once?”
Anna took a moment to process the question. Her whole face then suddenly lit up with surprised delight. “You know about that?! … Are you?”
“Yes,” returned Brian.
Anna told Brian that she had succeeded in purchasing a ticket and asked if he was going. He explained to her his predicament.
“Look, I am going by myself. I don’t care,” she uttered boldly with obvious frustration. Brian got the feeling that nothing was going to stop her from seeing Twice. She told him that all the tickets were sold out except for some VIP seats running over $800.
Brian returned to his desk and told some of his other colleagues what had transpired. They listed several advantages of going to concerts by oneself. By this time, Brian somewhat regretted not getting a ticket earlier. He didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a VIP seat.
A few days later, good news came his way. Twice had added a second show. He bought a $320 ticket for a decent seat. Back at work, Brian told Anna he got a ticket to the second show. She said she was attending the second concert as well, and began gushing about how big an inspiration Twice member Jihyo was to her.
On the day of the second show, January 10, 2026, Brian hopped on Vancouver’s SkyTrain and headed for the Stadium/Chinatown station and from there walked across the street to Rogers Arena. There were lineups as far as the eye could see. He eventually got in and made his way to his seat. After an hour, the arena was packed.
What was to follow was an event that would change Brian’s life.
The first thing that hit him was the nifty set design, including what was described as a “unique 360-degree in-the-round stage”: three large stages connected by runways, enabling the members to visit and face different sections of the audience as a group or scattering as three subgroups.
As is usual in K-pop, a number of fans were holding up Twice light sticks. Brian knew that each K-Pop group had their own custom-designed light stick.
The arena lights dimmed.
An array of lighting effects heralded the show.
And then Twice appeared, and all hell broke loose.
The girls danced their hearts out with spectacular choreographed sets, sang to perfection, and an off-stage band of world-class musicians delivered. The ground shaking bass sent through Brian vibrations of euphoria.
The atmosphere was additionally electrified by ceaseless cheering from the crowd. Unlike concerts Brian had been to in the past wherein fans saved their applause for the close of each song, this audience cheered nonstop throughout, like they were watching a hockey star engaged in an endless breakaway. And they danced. And Brian danced too.
After a number of songs, the Twice members introduced themselves one by one, to deafening screams from the crowd.
Brian couldn’t get over the perfect pacing of the proceedings. There was never a lull, never a dull moment. The Twice engine had unparalleled horsepower. Things moved along at a snappy pace but never felt rushed. The girls carried a sentiment of intent, like they were there to take care of business. And that they did. With no opening act and no special guests, the nine ladies of Twice—the ultimate global exemplars of girl power—carried the show for over two hours performing over 30 songs in Korean and English. Included was a solo performance from each member. Brian was thrilled the group performed his favourite song of theirs, “I Got You”, a song that made the Canadian Hot 100.
Brian was taken aback when Twice announced the final song of the evening. He thought the show was supposed to go on for over two hours. He looked at his watch and couldn’t believe it was already 10:30. My, how the time had flown by.
“What do you think will be our last song in Vancouver?” Twice asked. Everyone shouted out, “Likey!”, the song whose music video the group had filmed there back in 2017.
When the arena lights came back on, Brian did not know what had hit him. He was stunned. All he knew was that he wanted to experience that again. He had never felt such joy. It was like he had been filled with an elixir of boundless potency.
Brian returned to work on Monday and heard someone approach him. “Brian?”
He turned around. It was Anna. She waited for him to go first, not knowing what to expect.
“What do you say,” Brian began, “Best concert ever?”
Anna looked as though she was about to bust into tears. She and Brian just looked at each other, speechless. They both began tearing up. They had experienced something they knew no-one else at work would understand. It had been one of the best nights of their lives.
Canadian Music Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.