I wasn't sure it would actually happen again this year, but sure enough, we were invited back to KCON 19 in LA to be on three different panels. This year it was just me and Toto representing The Kpop Konverters, and despite missing our comrades, we had a fabulous time.
Every night there was a concert of sorts. The first night was Klub Kcon where they have a DJ dude doing kpop mixes while everyone dances. In between that are random performances from random popular youtube types and others, all hosted by a very flashy flamboyant and quite obnoxious drag queen. (At least this year... lol. He was funny but also... not. ) We hung out there for awhile, but left early to go back and sleep after driving all day to get there.
The next night was Kcon Rookies, where they showcased what was supposed to be 4 of our newbie groups that we are all loving on right now. One of the groups ended up not being able to come, sad sad day (there were a lot of visa issues this year, thanks to our president I think.) But the three that were there were a blast and we thoroughly enjoyed that evening. We decided to play it cool and hung out in the back of the crowd instead of stressing about getting close. ATEEZ stole the show for us.. our favorites of the year by far. A new girl group called LOONA was also very popular and a cute boy group called AB6IX also got a lot of love.
ATEEZ at Kcon Rookies
The next two nights were the big concerts and we loved every minute of them both. The second night though was especially fun when we let it loose and stood up and literally screamed our voices raw during Stray Kids and Seventeen. We also sang loudly during N. Flying's tribute to Queen and then there was the moment when the three rappers from Stray Kids (3Racha) and N. Flying sang together. I really thought I was going to die seeing that. Best thing ever.
Finale of the second concert
We had three panels, one each day of the con. They all went really well and we had a blast discussing kpop with random attendees and connecting with so many fun people. I really wish I'd taken more selfies of these connections. I always forget in the moment!
After one of our panels with our fellow panelists and attendees
In between our panels and the night concerts, we went to a couple other panels (Holland and Edwin were highlights) and seeing which groups we could encounter on the convention floor. We did fight our way in the mosh pits down there to see ATEEZ up close, and also SF9 and AB6IX. We also waited for an hour and a half to see N. Flying at the foodie booth. It was worth it. They were adorable.
AB6IX cuties
ATEEZ with Ronald McDonald getting their free fries and pics taken!
Holland's panel... he's famous for being the only kpop idol who has official come out as gay. We fell in love with him.
N.Flying boys making sandwiches.
Edwin draws horrible fan art and Toto was lucky enough to win a picture of herself!
KCON is a blast. Every year I think we won't be going again, but after this time around, i hope it truly does continue to be a yearly tradition for us. Which means I can't let the channel die so we can still be relevant and invited back, right???
We posted a ton of stuff on the channel about KCON, but this one is our overall experience vlog with little clips from all the things I mentioned.
It's been awhile since I posted here in the poor neglected blog. Part of the reason is that since August started it's been non-stop kpopping around here and lots of fun stuff to edit for our vlogs on the YouTube channel.
Perhaps the biggest event we participated in is KCON held at the LA Convention Center (and concerts at the Staples Center next door). This is just like Comic Con for those of you familiar with that...three days of panels and stages and appearances and vendors and workshops.... only with all Korean pop culture stuff. And featuring two awesome concerts on two of the nights ( and a sort of club concert on the other night.) It's an awesome event for those of us who are in love with all things Korean pop culture.
A couple of years when I first got into this, I learned that this event existed and thought... dang that's cool. And I watched the live stream of the concerts online. It was so fun and I thought, I really would like to go!
The next year, I found myself there, right up next to the gate on the floor as close as one can get to the artists on stage. And I thought... dang how crazy is this?!
This year I found myself going again, but this time all expenses paid by the company in charge, as a special guest and being featured on two different panels! (It was supposed to be three but one got cancelled.)
Life is so weird!!! And sometimes so awesome that you can't ever predict anything!
Anyway, it was a fabulous time filled with close up brushes with some of our favorite (and new favorites) bands, hanging out behind the scenes with YouTubers a million times more famous than us, eating Korean street food, making new friends with those on the panels with us, getting to talk to fans that are parents and/or old fans like me, and then finally going to the concerts and seeing so many awesome performances. I can't even describe how much fun these concerts are!
So, if you are interested in what our life was like for those few days, or want to see what the panels were like, or who we fell in love with this time, or get a little taste of the concerts, or.. just see what KCON is all about, here are the vlogs and clips we put together:
Day One:
Day Two:
Day Three:
It's hard to believe it's over again for another year. Can't wait to see what next year brings!
Super Junior's D and E Donghae and Eunhyuk And the whole reason we went to KCON!
Before I can report on anything trip related, I have to report on KCON, which happened about a week and half before the big trip, which seems like forever ago, back in mid August!
KCON is a convention of all things Korean pop culture related. It's just like Comic Con only Korean stuff. And there are concerts, which Comic Con does NOT have. :) It's held in cities all over the world, here in the US it's at New York and LA. Last year we were just getting into this stuff when it happened, but we watched the live stream of the concert and thought wow, that looks pretty fun. I saw the people with their faces pressed right up to the barrier on the floor of the concert and thought they must be crazy die hards! Yeah.
Well, so a year goes by and we have to decide, are we going? Or are we not. When they announced that VIXX would be there, I ws in. When they announced D and E from Super Junior would be there, I was ALL in and my sister Megs who said no way could she go... suddenly figured out how to go! Yeah.
So ticket day comes and it took us 45 minutes to even get in the site, and then no tickets were available. But then Mr. Stuey, who always seems to have a knack for the ticket buying thing, clicked the GA button (we were trying to get seats) and there were tickets available if we were willing to do GA... basically, the mosh pit. And so, we did it.
The week arrives. I reserved an airbnb house that sleeps like 10 people, and we took an entire Surburban full of friends, and drove the 11 hours to LA. It was fun since we could blast the kpop music all the way and NO ONE CARED!!
Friday morning and the first day of the convention dawned. We found our way to the convention center and got in line to be let into the event. We had hours to wait, but that time was spent haggling for audiences and high touches with all the bands. See, with your concert ticket, you are awarded certain passes, and if you like what you get, great. If you don't, you trade with each other or buy them off of someone. It was like a high stakes pokemon trading card game! It was insane! But we managed to trade for mostly what we wanted (of course we didn't' get any VIXX high touch, but we did have an audience!) and we even sold some of our things that we knew we couldn't use. Awesome.
Finally, they let us in and we spent the day going to panels and walking around the convention and participating in the dance off and generally having a blast. We even found Kathy our friend from home and book bloggin' buddy! In the very first panel, Toto and I answered a bunch of trivia questions and won a signed poster. Afterward, the people from Viki (who do the kdramas) approached us and asked us to be part of their video answering more trivia questions! We nailed it! (In fact, we were too boring since we actually knew the answers. Whatever.) Here's that video:
Also, we met some Youtubers that we aspire to be like and hope to be actual friendds with some day. It was so much fun and I thought, wow. If every day is like this...
Here's the video of our day one:
At the end of that day we picked up Megs from the airport so she could join us for day 2 and 3. Now the party really began!
So the first concert was Saturday night and we had GA tickets, which means, no reserved seats, which means fight for the perfect spot on the floor, which means stand in line ALL DAY LONG if you want that perfect spot. So that's what we planned to do Saturday, because we wanted to see D and E close up. (See above giffy picture!) We instantly bonded and made friends in line and saved spots for each other to go and do our audience and get food and etc.
What's an audience? Well, that's when the band comes out into the big panel room and talks for a bit, plays some games and interacts with all the adoring fans. Then, the ones with the high touch pass get to file past them and do the high five, while the rest of us watch. I thought I would die of jealousy, but it was actually quite fun just to watch the boys interact with everyone and show off all their different personalities. I loved it.
So we did that for VIXX that day, but truly spent most of the day in line. Toto had three audiences, so she went from one to the other to the other before she joined us in line. But finally we got in and BAM... guess who was right up next to the barrier! YEP! One year later and we are the die hards that I was shaking my head at the year before! We even got in a bunch of videos! See if you can see us in this one (it's very fast about 14 seconds in!)
The concert was AMAZING! Oh my word. And I thought all the other concerts we went to this past year were amazing. Well. Yeah. So Megan made a sign and Donghae saw it and came down to us. Sadly, our hands weren't accessible so he grabbed the closest one, our line buddy Jocey. Still, HE CAME DOWN! (Watch the slowmo of it here!)
And everyone else was totally amazing too. I loved it so much. Here's our recap of Day Two:
Day three was another concert in the evening, but we spent less time in line thanks to our friends who saved spots for us most of the day. We went to a couple of panels, finally meeting some youtube buddies for the first time in real life, and going to a couple other audiences. No high touches for us this time. So sad.
We had a great spot in line thanks to Jocey who pretty much didn't sleep and went from the concert the night before and got back in line around 3 am. And who said it was totally okay for us to join her when we arrived. So when we finally got let in again, we had the exact same spot up next to the stage as before. Though Megs choose to get in a more central location this time, while Toto and I stayed to the side. (you can see what I mean if you watch the video.)
BUT... it's not over yet. About a week later, after one of those official channels highlighted Megs' sign at the end of D and E's song... we woke up to the news that Eunhyuk himself screen shot her sign from that video and POSTED IT ON INSTAGRAM!!! Oh my gosh we DIED!!! And made yet aonther video about dying. If you don't watch any of these other videos, you should at least watch this one:
Guys. It was the best time ever. We had so much fun. I think KCON will definitely be in our future for years to come.
