[Concert Review] P1Harmony Comes to Atlanta on P1oneer Tour to Spread “P1ece” and Love

At 4 a.m. on the first day of February, mascara tends to give in to its chemical needs and clump together with wetness. The bathrooms won’t be open for another six hours and your hair needs revival now. The crispness of the air makes it feel like daybreak, but it’s a long while until then. The artists themselves are sound asleep in their comfortable white hotel beds while you sit on the dewy concrete outside a venue, the building slightly buzzing from the idea of what will take place 16 hours later. A security guard speeds around on their golf cart, reminding anticipating fans of where they are allowed to wait and the areas that are specifically prohibited. A girl at the front of the makeshift line gives everyone a number, a number which holds the fate of recognition and fan cams for the day to come. 26. It’s good, but will it be good enough? 

9 a.m. hits and fans race down the hill to sit underneath the neon lights that hours before lit the dawn sky with the name Coca-Cola Roxy for hundreds to see. Directly below, upcoming groups for the next two months flash on the screen, and eyes focus on it to wait for the one everyone came to see: P1Harmony. They’ve traveled from South Korea to see their Atlanta fans, and the fans have traveled from Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, and even yes, South Korea itself, to see them as well.  

The entrance to Coca-Cola Roxy during the day. It looked a lot more exciting at night.

The day progresses and groups are made up of fans who have teamed up to race to the barricade together. Ten more hours and shifts have been taken to keep spots in line while others race back to their hotels to fix their clumped mascara and humidity manipulated hair. Classic K-pop streetwear outfits are now lining the street: fur hats, chunky boots, leg warmers, and tops and bottoms consisting of lots of buckles and harnesses. This is the epitome of K-pop concert fashion. As the clock reaches 7 p.m. and shuffling feet are headed toward the venue entrance, the exhaustion of the day dissipates, and excitement arrives.

Self made and then official numbers. Form a bond with the people around you! It’s worth it.

Lucky VVIP Polaroid winners get one shot at a good picture with the six boys, less than 15 seconds from when they step behind the curtain and come back out with a white square in hand, anxious to see how quickly the film will develop. Thirty minutes later, ten rows of screaming fans are blessed with the sounds of two songs, which cost them $350, “Secret Sauce” and “Doom Du Doom,” the title track off their fourth mini album.

My Polaroid with P1Harmony. My most prized possession.

The youngest member, Kim Jongseob, bounces around the stage, coming to the front to acknowledge fans that had learned the choreography and dance along with them. The group's leader, Yoon Keeho, speaks to the exclusive crowd about the insane energy in the room. Sweat coats the faces of each group member, but this was only the soundcheck, the best was yet to come. P1Harmony is here to show Atlanta who they are, and how they will live up to the iconic K-pop “idol” reputation. After soundcheck there is an hour until the real show begins, time to bond with the people around and go over biases and favorite songs, the questions of the hour.  

The group is two and a half years in the making, with five mini albums and one movie under their belt. Their first time at the venue was in May of 2022 for the Peace Tour. As the hour comes to an end, the six boys are ready to rock the Coca-Cola Roxy one more time and make their mark on Atlanta.  

The lights go down and the screens are engulfed in flames. A live band begins playing the first song of the night, “Look At Me Now,” as the ace of the group, Jiung, begins the song with the fated lyrics “You’ve been around the world, raise your head.” Lightsticks around the venue are waving in the air in all different directions. Fans are masked, but this doesn’t stop them from showing the thrill of seeing their favorite artist in such close proximity. The group stays at the back of the stage until the end of the first chorus when Jongseob leads the group forward. The closer they get, the crazier the crowd is. Note changes are added to the song by their oldest member Choi Taeyang (Theo), as he growls his lyrics, taking everyone by surprise by breaking from his normal angelic persona. 

The stage from farther in GA feature Where’s Waldo with me.

The song ends. Security guards rush to the barricade. Helpful fans pick a girl off the ground, the energy having risen too quickly, she passed out after waiting in line for 18 hours. After making sure she’s okay, the group continues. Their most recent single “Back Down” and their second title track “Scared” are performed back-to-back without pause or time to breathe, the band still playing strong. The songs end and for the first time since the start of the concert, the group faces the audience and drops their performance personalities to begin speaking. They introduce themselves one by one: Theo, Jiung, Intak, Jongseob, Keeho, and Soul.  

Keeho looks upon the group of people that waited a whole day outside in the cold for them to perform as he describes the next song they are to sing, “Me Too.” The song was self-produced by the group as it uses real stories from fans about what they have gone through and how the group has helped them. It’s a song for the fans, from their biggest supporter, P1Harmony. From “Me Too” to “Black Hole,” the energy doesn’t drop, but everyone goes silent knowing exactly what is next. 

Theo takes the stage alone, the light reflecting off his black sparkly suit. It’s cover time. Theo sings “21” by Dean, a song suggested by Keeho that compliments his voice perfectly, and it does. The lights lower and one spotlight then shines in the corner. Soul sits in a sweater, his hair delicately falling over his face singing his cover of “Hug Me” by Joonil Jung. Known for being quiet and reserved about his singing, his wispy voice floats over the crowd, captivating everyone, who wish to hear it for only a moment longer as the chance to hear him sing is incredibly rare.

A sudden strong vocal riff. A purple ambiance over the room. “Keyonce” has arrived. Confident. Sexy. Ready. The lyrics of “Deja Vu” are being sung as he dances across the stage, having fun and presenting his solo personality that he created a name for himself with. Jiung and Soul enter as the song ends, Soul still in his sweater from his solo performance and Jiung wearing a classic Billie Jean Michael Jackson outfit. Combining Jiung’s vocals, Keeho’s personality, and Soul’s dance skills, they perform “Love Never Felt So Good” as the love from the crowd really has never felt so good. The crowd dies down as the song finishes and for the ones that didn’t want any spoilers for the concert, a silent prayer for their sanity is let out.  

The two main rappers of the group, Intak and Jongseob appear, fur coats on, sitting across from each other. As they perform their solo stage, some in the crowd are screaming as others are standing dumbfounded. Jaws are on the floor as the two boys outdo every performance they’ve done before, just for fun. They walk to the front of the stage and stop. The beat changes. They pull out muzzles. No one, whether they knew about this or not, is prepared. They rap back and forth almost arguing with each other as the crowd gets wilder. The control that these boys have over their fans is undeniable, but that’s what they’re known for.  

The solo stages end and the concert continues with their debut song “Siren.” This leads to some more recent and well-known songs like “Gotta Get Back” as they teach the crowd the easy to learn hand choreo, and “Do It Like This” which Jiung stops to have the other members play a quick follow the leader game. They finish this line up with another self-produced song “Speaker” and lead into their ending ment.  

Though the concert is close to being over, the vibes are still high, especially because it is one of the member’s birthdays. As the members give messages to their fans, a cake is brought out and everyone in the audience pulls out the birthday hats they were given out as fan projects. The candles are lit, and everyone sings happy birthday together. Soul blows out the candles and to the group's surprise, the whole crowd sings happy birthday once again, but this time in Korean. Jiung laughs in amazement and Keeho stands with shock as the song finishes. Soul then shares a secret. “It was actually one of my bucket list dreams to be able to perform on my birthday,” says Soul. “Today, I am very, very happy.” As he is known for being rather quiet, his words mean the world to his admirers.  

As Soul jumps around the stage and the other members run around, they sing “One and Only,” and the feel-good song has everyone dancing as much as they can with the space they have. It becomes time for the last song, but a fan favorite from their second mini album, “AYAYA.” The lightsticks are going crazy and everyone is screaming the lyrics as loud as they can before it ends. After two minutes and thirty-one seconds of bliss, the lights slowly come on as P1Harmony says goodbye and see you soon. With that, the concert is over. Or is it?  

Fans rush to the merch table, fighting for the last photocard pack and sweatshirt as others freak out for the moment to come. VVIP and VIP members get a quick wave and group picture with the artists before their final parting. At last, you walk outside to the fresh air that you spent all day waiting for this concert in. People are exchanging Instagrams and getting their final photos of the night. P1Harmony is driven out in a black van, waving to the people on the sidewalk with what little light they have to be seen with. Everyone goes to their cars or hotels. And now, with that, the best night ever, is over.