B.A.P. Live on Earth Seoul Concert and Hwarang Musical

Wow. I've seriously been slacking on posting. In my defense, I've been really busy (especially at work) so here is an entry covering Saturday, March 8th and Saturday, March 15th. 

Jenee and I went to the first day of B.A.P.'s Live on Earth concert in Seoul and we (once again) had standing "seats". We purchased these before attending B1A4's concert and discovering how uncomfortable standing could be so that's how we ended up meshed in the crowd again. 

My standing section wrist band after the concert

Of course, we knew what to expect this time so we left our jackets in the cloak room. That meant nearly freezing to death for over an hour but at least we were comfortable inside.

The venue was the same as B1A4's concert (the smaller of the Olympic Park gymnasiums) while across the way Shinee was having their concert in the Gymnastics Gymnasium. Battle of the fangirls! 

Picture from ever_sooj on instagram

Our numbers for standing were actually really good (in the 200's) so after waiting in line in the freezing cold for forever, we ended up amazingly close to the stage. Actually, to part of the stage, I should say. Luckily, the boys came by our section often and we got some suuuuuuper close views of them. I'll admit I did freak out when Bang Young Guk (my favorite B.A.P. member) finally came by. Gaaah so close! 

The disappointing thing about standing is that, if you're up close, you really can't see most of the concert. Especially since 9-foot Korean girls (wearing platform shoes) are always in front of you. I did manage to stand on my tippie-toes for parts and catch some of the stuff going on center stage, but in general, unless they were over by our section, we couldn't see much. 

B.A.P. fans were also a lot more aggressive than the B1A4 fans were. At first, we thought it was going to be okay because there was no excessive compressing in the beginning like there was at The Class. But then, when the concert started everyone just went nuts and there was this giant shift that was actually a little terrifying. We spent a majority of the rest of the concert pushing, in fact, in order to keep our spots. It was really annoying. 

But, all-in-all I am really glad we did go with standing because it's pretty cool when the members come by and they are just right there, singing in front of you. 

I did have one fun moment when Himchan (another member of B.A.P.) came by with this BIG DSLR camera and took some pictures of the fans. He stopped right in front of our section and Jenee and I were spot-on in the center of the picture. 

Of course--as always--we weren't allowed to take pictures. I told Jenee that I really hope I never get Alzheimer's because all I have really is my memories to remember all these concerts by and that's fine and dandy until you can't remember anything. Thanks, Korean photo-ninjas.  

Pretty and yummy!

Anyway, we survived the concert and have some good memories to take home with us. Afterwards we stopped by Starbucks and I got the Cherry Blossom Latte. It was so delicious. Tastes something like white chocolate blended with a nice herbal tea. 

화랑

The following Saturday (March 15th) we headed in to Seoul to see the Hwarang musical. We choose this one just for fun as we didn't know anyone in the cast or really anything about it. 

In fact, we were completely un-prepared for the fact that it was a community theater musical. The venue was really hard to find and we ended up getting directions from this really nice Korean girl after walking around for forever. We got our tickets and had about an hour to wait so we headed upstairs to the waiting area. It was pretty decked out in Hwarang pictures and stuff. 

The waiting area...

When we actually went inside, we were surprised to see that there wasn't really a stage. There was just a designated "stage" area....and our seats were front row.

Our seats

We were literally right in front of the "stage." In fact, it was uncomfortably close. Plus, the musical was really low-tec and interactive. It was like sageuk (historical) meets modern boy band. I'm not even sure what happened. But it was hilarious and awful all at once. 

You know what though? They actually gave us permission in the end to take pictures. I think this whole community-theater thing has the right idea. 

In the end, it was a really fun musical and we learned our lesson about getting front row seats for community theater. Next time we'll get a few rows back, haha. 

Infinite One Great Step Returns Concert in Seoul and Ghost Musical Take 2

Infinite One Great Step Returns

Saturday Jenee and I went to Infinite’s One Great Step Returns concert in Seoul. We didn’t know it at the time that we booked tickets, but this was actually the final concert in their world tour so we lucked out.

Yey~

When I first saw the tickets they were actually all sold out. Luckily, as time went on seats became available—although they were pretty awful seats all the way in the back.  After many purchases and refunds I slowly worked my way up into the R section (there was Standing, R and—the furthest back—S). Since Jenee is not nearly as big of an Infinite fan as I am, she chose to stick with her S seats and not try to get in the R section.

Needless to say, the concert venue was packed and this was the Olympic Park Gymnastics Gymnasium which had about 15,000 seats (I think they were sold out by the time of the concert, too). I just can’t really explain what it’s like to have that many excited fangirls IN ONE ROOM. There are only around 16,000 people within the city limits of my home town back in America, to give you a little prospective. That’s just insane.  

View from Jenee's seat...

Anyway, the concert was fantastic. The opening was really epic with some great lighting and pyrotechnics. In fact, I really enjoyed the glitter canyons thoughout the show!

And the fans….wow. The screaming was so loud it nearly overpowered the actual music.

Plus, kudos to Infinite because they totally played all of my favorite songs. I was so happy I nearly cried.

I wish I could find some good fancams online because I wasn’t able to get any pictures/videos but it looks like everyone else was pretty much in the same boat. In fact, security was so strict at this concert that we saw numerous people having their photos deleted and being escorted off the premises…how horrible! I know that they explicitly prohibit photography and videos and they give a very clear warning about what will happen if you break the rules…but still. They should at least warn you once before hauling you out like a criminal from a concert you paid a lot of money (and possibly came a great distance) to attend. I felt really bad for those girls!

I honestly don’t understand Korea’s stingyness with photos and stuff during concerts. I get that they don’t want people bringing professional video equipment in there and recording the whole thing but let a fangirl take a few pictures yeesh.

Ok, I’m done ranting about things I can’t change. This will be another one of those things where the memories alone will have to suffice. Here are two fancams that I did find though, posted by a few brave souls on YouTube:

This video isn’t that great but it’s my favorite song by Infinite “Inconvenient Truth” (불편한 진실). I was super excited when they played it.

This video is pretty awesome and you can hear all the fans chanting “dashi dorawa” (다시돌아와)…it was just thousands of people saying that over and over before they played the song. Pretty cool!

Sunday, Jenee and I went to see Ghost, The Musical. I already went to see it back in December but since Jenee hadn’t seen I figured why not? Plus, front row seats! Who could pass that up?

This time I actually got to take some pictures which was fun.

Row 1, Seat 2!

And yeah…front row…

I had many moments of freaking out when Joo Won was standing right in front of me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quite comprehend that this really happened (in fact, my hand was shaking so bad I got a lot of blurry pictures haha). Wow.

Pictures Jenee took with her phone (no zoom)

The musical was just as good as before and I’m super glad I went a second time. Who knows when I’ll ever get to see Joo Won perform live again? Hopefully sometime in the future, but realistically it probably won’t happen. I’ll treasure this memory forever ♥

B1A4's Concert "The Class" 2014

On Saturday, Jenee and I went to B1A4’s The Class concert in Seoul. Before we came to Korea, Jenee and I discussed various artists we would like to see live and Lee Seung-gi was the person I wanted to see the most (of course) but as far as KPop boy-bands go B1A4 was right up there on both of our lists.

Baro, my favorite B1A4 member on banners at Olympic Park

I’m actually not a big KPop fan. There is only a handful of artists I like so I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to see two of my favorites live in concert already.

Yey!

B1A4 is a group Jenee and I have both followed since they debuted a few years ago. Our tickets for their concert were in the standing section so we were able to see them up so close which was just absolutely amazing. Before the concert, you line up according to your section. For this event, there were 3 different standing sections and we were in the group to the right of the stage.

My ticket!

After you line up, they let you into the venue accordingly and then you are free to mesh and mingle as necessary. Mesh being the key word, here. At first, it was absolute chaos. Actually, I was nearly crying because the people kept pushing and I was scared I was going to fall and die. I’m not even joking. I distinctly remember thinking, This is it. This is how it’s all going to end. At a KPop concert. Fantastic.

This is a picture @maiizzzz posted on instagram of the concert, we were located about where the red dot is

My shoe kept coming untied and those terrifying  moments nearly made my life flash before my eyes until I could get it tied again (which was a feat, let me tell you). Also, I am above average in the height department in Korea (5’4”) so I have no idea where they came from but there were like three girls in front of me who had to be at least 6-feet tall. What even.

Plus, there was this girl who ended up squished between me and one of the giants at one point and she was wearing this big ol’ stocking hat with two pom-poms on it that kept whacking me in the face. And so I would lean my head back out of the way and this jerk-wad behind me kept pressing TWO OF THEIR FINGERS to the back of my skull and thrusting my head forward. EXCUSE ME.

It was awful.

Everyone would push and push until I couldn’t believe we weren’t all breaking and then the security personnel upfront would tell them to push back and it was like a big game of back-and-forth.

Our section wasn’t the only one with this problem. You could hear the wave of screams happening on and off in the other sections as well when the pushing was going on. I’m very surprised no one was seriously injured.

The only good thing that came out of the pushing was that, once it was all over we somehow ended up only 3 people away from the very front. So that was kind of awesome.

When the concert finally started everyone was jumping around and stuff so the crowd actually evened out and it wasn’t so bad. Sweaty and gross, but survivable.

Plus, they were right there! B1A4 was right there.

The boys were great and they played all my favorite songs. The stage was also really neat and there was some cool special effects. I really enjoyed the concert after I wasn’t afraid of being crushed to death.

The only thing I was really disappointed in is that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. That’s a pretty normal thing for concerts here but a little sad especially since we (foreigners) usually only get one chance to see (a particular group). Oh well, I’ll have the memories with me forever! And maybe they will come out with a concert DVD :)

Lee Seung Gi's Hope Concert in Seoul 2013

 

On Saturday I had the wonderful, and possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see my favorite South Korean star Lee Seung Gi (이승기) in concert.

There are not really words to describe what this experience was like for me, but I will try.

A few years ago I discovered Lee Seung Gi when he debuted for the first time in a leading role in the television drama Brilliant Legacy (Shining Inheritance 찬란한 유산). I’ve followed his carrier ever since and watched all of his proceeding dramas. I love him as a variety actor although I haven’t seen every episode of every program he’s been in (trust me it’s on my list of things to do at one point) and I enjoy his music as well. So, it was with great excitement that I booked my VIP tickets to his Hope Concert in Seoul.

Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium

I have to admit: until the very moment I arrived at the venue I was certain I’d been horribly tricked and that I wasn’t actually going to his concert. It seemed too un-real to me that I was actually given the opportunity to see him live. Like, how did that even happen? But as I walked out of the station at Olympic Park (the concert was held in the Gymnastics Stadium there) and was bombarded but vendors selling Lee Seung Gi goods it was like I finally realized it was real.

Then, after I picked up my tickets I just remember thinking ‘Holly crap!’

In fact, I pretty much kept thinking that all night.

Holly crap.

HOLLY CRAP.

Wow!

There was a ton of people there (holly crap) and while my seat wasn’t within touching distance it was really close (holly crap)!

The fans were also really awesome. No one does concerts like South Korea. Everyone (and I mean everyone) had a green (or turquoise) glow stick and there were fans from all over the place (mostly Japan and Taiwan).

When the moment finally arrived and Lee Seung Gi came out of stage it was absolutely phenomenal. The lighting was stunning and beautiful…plus the added bonus of everyone’s glow sticks just making it seem like a brilliant, wonderful fairytale.

I was looking at Lee Seung Gi. Not on TV. Not on my phone. But for real. In person.

It’s once of those moments were you realize for the first time that (holy crap) this person is real.

And let me tell you…this man puts on an awesome concert.

He had a lot of things planned…including performing songs from a number of different genres which really surprised me. We got some electro-pop, some ballads, and even some rock.

Lee Seung Gi with Bora

Once of my favorites was his performance of SISTAR’s “Gone Not Around Any Longer” (있다 없으니까) which featured Bora (one of the group’s members). It was…just…wow.

He also sang my favorite song of his—also one of my favorite Korean songs—“Losing My Mind” (정신이 나갔었나봐) so that was a special moment for me. Actually, he sang all of the songs I love. Which hardly ever seems to happen. Unreal.

There were other highlights -- such as his trot performance (which is apparently an annual tradition). And what continued to amaze me was that he was smiling the whole time. All the time. The adorable smile of his. Guh.  

Cross Gene

There was also a intermission (half-time) performance by two different groups. The first was the boy band Cross Gene.

I actually didn’t know at the time (although I recognized him) but one of the members is Shin Won-Ho from the drama Big. I really enjoyed seeing them on stage even though they only performed two songs. It was quite a different experience seeing a boy band and I’d really like to go to a concert like that sometime before leaving Korea.

The second group was much older guys performing some ballads. I didn’t catch their name and nor did I recognize them but I’m not really interested in looking them up so I guess that’s okay. I will say they had awesome voices.

The end of the concert was the saddest part for me. I kept wanting to cry because it was just so awesome an I know that I will probably never get a chance to see Lee Seung Gi in concert again.

There was an encore, of course. Seung Gi came out to a white grand piano and played “Let’s Break Up” (우리 헤어지자) and then walked off stage. It was actually really funny because one of the Korean girls behind me was like, “Wh-what? He just played ‘Let’s break up’ and then that’s it? It can’t end like that! How weird!”

But then he came back and went on to crush my heart further by performing the song he sang for the Gu Family Book (구가의 서) OST with a lovely montage of footage from the series showing in the background.

And that’s how it ended.

On a Gu Family Book song.

It broke me just a little, that.

Anyway, when I was heading back home I think I was a bit in shock.

Holly crap.

It was one of the best nights and I’m so thankful, so happy to have been able to go to that concert (the only thing I'm sad about is that I couldn't get better pictures).

Hopefully, someday I can go again. I love you forever Lee Seung Gi!