SB19's Wakas at Simula Marks a Career Milestone for the Kings of P-Pop

Do all journeys really have an end? Or do some journeys just close out one chapter before opening another?

For P-Pop powerhouse SB19, the answer was made clear with their recent Wakas at Simula: The Trilogy Concert Finale held at the SMDC Festival Grounds last April18.

The date itself isn't random. As with everything SB19 does, it carried meaning, symbolism, and depth. April 18, also written as 4/18, was a deliberate choice: a clear nod to their fandom, especially those who have been with them since their debut nearly eight years ago.

Make no mistake—this concert was for A'TIN.

And as one myself, missing it was never an option.

When SB19 released the Simula at Wakas (SaW) album in 2025 and went into a massively successful world tour that kicked off in two-day sold out stages in Bulacan, speculations as to what this meant for the band’s future swept across the fandom. After all, “wakas” is the Tagalog word for “the end.” Although it was known that the SaW album was meant to close the trilogy of albums that started with Pagsibol (2021) and continued with Pagtatag! (2023), some fans were worried it was a farewell after the world tour.

A week before the band wrapped up their tour with their final show in Perth, Australia in December 2025, the group hinted at a homecoming concert when they announced during their viral performance at the AAA/ACON 2025 event in Khaosiung, Taiwan that they were coming home soon.

Of course, the fandom waited in anticipation. Many were expecting a Simula at Wakas homecoming concert.

And then SB19 and 1Z Entertainment (the company the members founded after leaving their former Korean management team) announced the release of a Wakas at Simula album in 2026, along with a concert of the same name. The “flip” in the title—from Simula at Wakas to Wakas at Simula—was enough to once again fuel speculation about what 2026 had in store for the band.

When the Wakas at Simula album and its related singles dropped, the message became clear: there may be an ending to the previous chapter, but it also signals a new beginning.

The “ending” doesn’t come in the form of six entirely new songs for WaS, but rather in the inclusion of all 18 tracks from the original trilogy (with Pagsibol songs updated as WaS versions). It’s essentially a neat package that wraps up that journey.

At the same time, the sense of a new beginning is unmistakable—there are six new tracks, including their 2026 hit single “Visa.”

But perhaps more tellingly, the album contains the single “Emoji” (a collaboration with “Queen of C-pop” Jolin, the massively popular and successful Taiwanese artist) and “Toyfriend” (a collaboration with rising J-Pop band Be:First, with whom they soft-launched the song in a surprise stage performance during the D.U.N.K. Festival in Yokohama in March).

What became clear was that, after a successful world tour and viral appearances at award shows and on reality programs across Asia in 2024 and 2025, the band was setting the stage to conquer international markets, perhaps starting with Japan and Taiwan, where they have already amassed a significant following. 

Combine this with 1Z once again releasing “Global Fan Packages” for international fans who wish to attend the concert—a bundle that includes SVIP tickets, hotel accommodations, transportation to and from the venue, and other perks—and it becomes apparent that the goal is to enhance their global reach.

And we know that no band would invest in collaborations with high-profile celebrities, while also solidifying and amplifying their international fanbase, if there were plans to truly end their journey.

And so the week of 4/18 finally arrived.

Even days before the concert, anticipation was already palpable within the fandom, and the buzz among casual fans and the general public was unmistakable. Holding a show at a venue like SMDC Festival Grounds naturally raised questions: Can they pull it off? Will they be able to fill such a massive space? What kind of attention can they draw?

A WaS Pop-Up Store opened in SM Mall of Asia a few days before the concert, where new and exclusive merchandise was made available. Lines, as expected, were always long, and merchandise would sell out (thankfully, restocks were frequent).

On the day of the concert itself, the A’Tin Fanzone opened in Parqal, just across the road from the festival grounds, about a 10 to 15-minute walk to the designated entry points where A’Tin gathered to visit fan-run booths, interact with fellow A’Tin, exchange and share freebies, and just overall hype the vibe up prior to the event.

Since many roads were blocked off in anticipation of the concert, going from the Fanzone to the festival grounds became a communal march toward the venue, with attendees singing SB19 songs, chanting the names of their biases, and building up their energy for the show. 

The choice of the festival grounds was nothing short of genius. While many were concerned not just about the possible turn-out given the huge space that needed to be filled out but also about logistics for attendees amidst the summer heat, all the qualms were laid to rest.

Festival grounds it was, and festival feels it became.

Tens of thousands milled around the venue—estimates range from 60,000 to 100,000 attendees (as of this writing, no official figures have been released by 1Z or Live Nation)—creating a festive, joyful atmosphere that’s not easily replicated in indoor arenas.

What’s even more amazing to see was the sheer number of foreigners attending. From our section between the main stage and the center secondary stage, one would not be able to look around without seeing someone who clearly wasn't a local. Major vloggers/influencers who follow and regularly feature SB19 in their reactions, content, and challenges were in attendance, among them Australian Tiktoker Melanie Reacts, Japanese dancer Yuta in Tokyo, and Canada-based YouTube Channel Captain Korea, to name a few.

A host of prominent local figures also graced the event. Celebrities like Vice Ganda, Ryan Bang, Jhong Hilario, Barbie Forteza, Empress Shuck, singer Maki, Ppop boy band AJAA (who call SB19 their “kuyas”), members of other groups such as YARA and KAIA were present, and Gary Valenciano had also posted prior to the event that he was “excited to see the show.” It also wasn’t limited to celebrities—business scion Lisa Gokongwei and media executive Cory Vidanes were in attendance at the concert.

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And what an explosive concert it was.

From the start, it was clear this was not just a rehash of their Simula at Wakas: World Tour. This was an entirely different animal, with an elevated aesthetic, enhanced concepts, and revamped performances.

For attendees of last year’s kickoff, the entrance of hooded figures amidst a fireworks display was not surprising—but in true SB19 style, there is always a surprise. While the crowd focused on the final five hooded figures who remained in front of the main stage, expecting them to drop their robes and reveal the members as they did last year, the boys instead suddenly appeared on the secondary center stage in full glory before launching into their massive hit “Dam.”

This twist set the tone for the rest of the concert: this was not Simula at Wakas again, but rather Wakas at Simula—an event featuring new elements and major surprises. The boys delivered. 

Throughout the concert, SB19 elevated standards: updated choreographies and arrangements for several songs; did their highly-acclaimed “Crimzone” dance break from AAA/ACON 2025; released new and powerful audio-visuals of their trilogy concept (from the famous tree to forging their way to the burning phoenix); went through the crowd on a moving stage, allowing for as many A’Tin to see them as close as possible, all while showing off their powerful live vocals.

The Japanese boy band BE:FIRST was also a special guest. Not only did the two bands perform their collaboration, “Toyfriend,” for the screaming audience, but the Japanese idols also showed their stuff with performances of a couple of their own songs.

Another guest was world-renowned Japanese-Filipino dancer RIEHATA, who will headline Stella Dance Jam in June alongside SB19 to celebrate 70 years of Japan-Philippines friendship.

What set SB19 apart was how they continued to be socio-politically relevant in their approach. Halfway through, a key montage played, featuring current events such as the US/Iran War and local issues such as the flood control corruption scandal. The montage was interspersed with captions of relevant lyrics from different songs in their catalogue, often re-contextualized to adapt to the issues at hand. The montage ended with a simple “A Call to Action” message on the screen.

The two songs that followed, “Mana” and “Visa,” were a back-to-back framing about the place of Filipinos in the international stage. The former (which uses the Pinoy manananggal creature as a metaphor) speaks about remaining grounded even at the height of success. The latter uses the Filipino struggle of obtaining travel visas amidst bureaucracy and international scrutiny as a metaphor of having to continue to prove ourselves even when we may already be at the height of our success.

Of course, a concert predicated on “Wakas” could not exist without tackling the meaning of endings—and in this case, it was indeed the end of an era. Throughout the show, various video and photo montages of SB19’s journey through the years were shown between segments—from their early days as rookies and memories involving their struggles to make it big, to their more recent achievements as they started breaking into the international market and becoming the poster boys of P-Pop. 

And nostalgia truly hit hard as the boys shared their own messages and sentiments, often punctuated with strong emotion as they spoke about how their journey was never easy but that they knew their fans and supporters were always there to ensure they had the strength to go on.

The boys confirmed that this chapter of their journey has come to an end: the trilogy of concepts, ideas, emotions, and life arc of Pagsibol-Pagtatag!-Simula at Wakas, but all the memories and achievement would never fade.

But in the same manner that an event predicated on Wakas must tackle endings, an event that ends its title with Simula cannot exist without acknowledging that it is ultimately about new beginnings—that although an end may have come, a new beginning is on the horizon. 

The seeds of new beginnings have been planted, first of which is 1Z Entertainment using the event to introduce their new artists through surprise performances.

One was J2X—the new stage name of none other than SB19’s W3 head choreographer Jay, who is launching a solo career as a rapper. With his high-energy performance and powerful stage presence, J2X wowed the audience, who primarily knew him as the amazing dancer “Coach Jay.”

The other was Xonara, a seven-member girl group and the first group that 1Z formed through auditions. The group was years in the making, but taking the time to train the girls paid off; the moment they stepped onstage and performed, they were so polished that you would think they had been in the industry for years. Their performance was but a taste of what’s to come, a sneak preview of their formal debut in May 2026. 

Also present in the audience was South Korean company CJ 4DPLEX, whose executive producer David Tu Sun Song later shared on Instragram some behind-the-scenes photos of the event while saying that the “SB19 concert film shoot” was done—another indication that SB19 was just beginning to step up their goal of global dominance.

And with their upcoming stage at Lollapalooza 2026 in the USA also on the horizon, SB19 made it clear that they were just beginning.

As the concert wound to a close, and after the members finally gave their farewells and the audience slowly trekked out of the festival grounds, an amazing drone show lit up the night sky, echoing the band’s final song, “Shooting for the Stars.” 

The post-concert buzz is also worth noting, with the band trending in social media and beyond as folks spoke of the amazing event.

“I had such a fantastic time,” Joseph, one of the Captain Korea boys, later shared with Esquire Philippines. “The experience at the concert was absolutely phenomenal. Seeing so many different people from different countries come together and celebrate SB19—the messages in their songs… and what they’ve done was absolutely phenomenal. Stage production and just the atmosphere was fantastic. It was really touching to see the connection between A’Tin and the members.”

And indeed, ultimately, it is that connection between SB19 and A’Tin that has kept the phenomenon alive—one that will be sustained, even as one chapter closes and a new one begins.

The world has opened up to SB19.