In December 2019 we bought tickets to ATEEZ which was scheduled for April 2020. It was postponed... not cancelled. So these past two years we wondered if that concert would actually ever happen. But it did! On January 30, 2022! (Two years to the day of the last time we went to LA for a concert!) It was SO AMAZING to be back going to a concert again. I seriously have no words.
We drove to LA for that weekend, doing our normal routine. To Barstow one day (with a pit stop in Cedar) and then to LA the rest of the way on day 2... concert day. Before the concert it was fun to meet up with kpop friends. Then we braved the traffic (there was a football game going on right next door... same place the super bowl was at last week) and the parking (it cost $45 just to park!) and stood in line and not so patiently waited to get in. But finally it was time! After waiting for two years!
And the concert itself? PERFECT! We ended up having pretty good seats (not on the floor but in the lower bowl) and seriously could have listened to those boys sing and dance for so many more hours than just the 3 we got. They are just so good and so much fun.
Then after a very very late night, we had to drive ALL the way home on day three. This is our normal "go to LA for a concert" routine, when we drive anyway. If we were to fly, it would be two days, and one less hotel stay. Usually. Not even that always. It's crazy. But so much fun.
Here's our vlog of the experience:
Eric Nam
Then just about a week later we got to see Eric Nam, right here in our very own city! This is the first time that's happened and I'm still not over that fact. So amazing. And there's more coming! (I will be out of town for one of them.. so sad!) So hopefully this is just a start of things to come. It would be so awesome if the word got out and they realized they can come here and we will show up!
Anyway, Eric is a Korean American solo artist who sings both English and Korean... lots of mellow stuff. But dance-y stuff too. And he's just the best and so fun... so down to earth and personable and funny and... all the things. It was great to be able to finally see him live. We paid a little extra to have seats in a "standing only" venue. I am starting to learn there are ways to get around the system. And this was the best thing I've ever done for a concert pretty sure. But we did not have true VIP which is when you got to go take a picture with Eric afterwards. Maybe next time. Ha.
Here's our vlog of this experience:
Anyway, I am so glad concerts are back, even though it also brings back a lot of stress about... to go or not to go. We have to pick and choose or else we'd seriously be driving to LA every weekend. There are FOUR (at least) concerts I'm missing in these couple of months that I would LOVE to be to. But oh well. I will be grateful for the ones I do get to see. And keep hoping for more to come locally.
Two weeks after seeing SEVENTEEN, we were back on the road again to see a new group called SuperM. This is a group made up of guys from four different already well established groups... to create this super group. It's a new idea they are trying just to see what happens and to hopefully make a big kpop splash here in the U.S. This group, while part of a huge company in South Korea, is actually being funded and backed by a record label (Capitol Records) in Hollywood. So they debuted the group here (in LA) last October. It was awesome.
Anyway, so they only have five songs, but have already gone on tour in November/December and then back again in February. Finally it was our (by our I mean LA because I guess that's who I identify with these days!) turn!!
This groups includes:
Taemin from SHINee
Baekhyun and Kai from EXO
Mark and Taeyong from NCT 127
and Lucas and Ten from Wayv
They are all amazing. I have no words to describe them. Ten is an out of this world dancer. Baekhyun is an out of this world power singer. Taemin is already a legend and has been around doing this thing since he was 15 years old. Taeyong is too beautiful to be real. Lucas is a huge 6 foot tall baby teddy bear. Mark is a Canadian/Korean power rapper. And Kai...is seriously the master of duality. (Taeyong too actually. Taemin too actually.)
Anyway. Toto and I were very excited to see them. This time we met up with friends and shared an airbnb together and drove to the concert together, forgoing the lyft thing and seeing how driving our own cars went. P.S. It went well. It's expensive, but we would have paid the same or more getting a Lyft there and back. Transportation... always the big stress!
So two weeks later, we found ourselves back at The Forum again, but this time in the cheaper higher up seats. I was disappointed about that, the The Forum isn't that huge so I hoped it was okay. Still. It was hard to see them without looking at the jumbotron. Sigh. I've been spoiled that is for sure.
Our audience wasn't as nice this time either. We had a lot of very obnoxious screamers. People who stand at top of the arena there on the back row and literally scream the guys' names over and over again with the expectation that they will ACTUALLY hear them and look up. Right. And they scream over the guys when they talk, and when they sing soft balled-y songs, and just... the ENTIRE time.
I am getting tired of audiences like this. But what to do about it?
Anyway. The boys were FABULOUS. They sang all five of their songs of course... with their solo performances in between. Which meant that it was actually a very short concert. That was a little sad too, but every minute of it was perfect. Seeing the solo songs and dances they had prepared was so fun. And seeing some iconic songs live was just crazy.
Here's our video vlog of it all:
But here's what their MV is like, a bit better than the footage I can capture with my phone! This is Jopping, which is the song they ended with:
The next day, we got up and drove all the way back home in a day. These concert experiences are so fun, but very exhausting, and when we drive like we have done these past two times... it's a three day long adventure with driving nearly the whole time.
This is the last concert in the queue until the end of April. Unless something else comes up!
Back row: DK, Seungkwan, S. Coups, Woozi, Mingyu Middle row: The8, Vernon, Jeonghan, Dino Front row: Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Joshua
Our concert going year started off with bang in January over the MLK holiday with a trip to LA to see the awesome group SEVENTEEN. (Seventeen with 13 members!) We've loved these guys since the beginning and watched them grow from a newbie group to one of the most loved kpop groups out there.
We have quite the driving routine these days. On this trip, I left on a Saturday morning, drove to pick up Toto at her school three hours south. We then continued on to Barstow, five more hours of driving, with a pit stop at our new favorite pit stop place... the huge Chevron in Jean Nevada.
We slept in Barstow and then left that morning to finish going to LA, two more hours. We went straight to Choice Music where we spent some money... I bought another Stray Kids album and the lightstick for this concert... Seventeen's light stick. I can't remember what else. Ha.
Then we went to Sul and Bean in Koreatown... to have bingsoo and meet up with friends. That was fun! Then on to our hotel near the airport and venue, which this time was the LA Forum.
We had exactly one hour to rest, before we we headed to the concert by way of a Lyft ride, about 10 min away. The crowd was already huge, but we got through security quickly and ended up in our seats with an hour to wait.
But waiting is fun, because they play MVs and the entire audience sings along. It's so fun. But finally it started and then we had THREE FULL HOURS of concert bliss! From crazy dance songs, to beautiful ballads. We got it all. Hoshi stole the evening with his crazy charm and DK blew me away with his amazing vocals as expected. They are all so much fun though. I got tired standing (we had seats, but who sits at these things? No one.) and kept thinking... are my concert days numbered? How long can I do this for! I think for a good time to come still. Just no more mosh pits!
Anyway. They did their signature finale with Very Nice and pretended to leave I don't even know how many times. Seven or eight? So much fun!
So then, the big dilemma was how to get back to the hotel. We learned that The Forum has this elaborate system for Lyft/Ubers to pick people up, but so many were doing it that the app wouldn't even work. So we left the premises and walked down a street a bit and finally managed to get one called. It took us 45 minutes! But finally we got back to the hotel... about midnight.
We were starving because all we had eaten was the bingsoo 12 hours before! So we did our very first Door Dash order ever and got a hamburger delivered to our room at 12:30 am! WAH! That was a the best hamburger ever!
The next day was Monday, MLK Day, and we drove the whole way back home, taking the entire day to do so.
A few weeks ago, we had pretty much the most craziest kpop adventure yet! Nearly four years of doing this, and this one topped them all in the CRAZY department!
Earlier this year when we found out Monsta X would be at the iHeartRadio Musical Festival in Las Vegas, we thought.. that's like RIGHT HERE (lol it's only 6 hours instead of 9 hours away!) and so we HAVE to support!
Also, it wasn't that expensive for a ticket, so we were like, what the heck.. and bought tickets. Kathy (who you will know here from Read This Instead from back in the day) and I planned to drive together, and pick up Toto at her school on the way.
So that's what we did! And the adventures began!
First adventure was starting out in a pouring rain storm, but that was not bad and quite nice actually, and didn't last long. All was well.
Next adventure was arriving in the dark in Las Vegas, which wasn't too bad either, but always a bit edge of your seat-ish. We stayed at the Stratosphere, a first for me and so that was exciting. We got discounts on the elevator ride to go up the tower, so that became our adventure of the night, it was a good one. We saw the scary rides up there at the top and people bungee jumping. So crazy!
Then the adventure became trying to find ice cream, which we ended up getting just at the McDonalds at the casino. Ha. But it was ice cream and tasted pretty good.
During the night we were all woken up by some sort of siren or alarm. Kathy thought it was inside. I thought it was out, but regardless... it woke us all up... and then we realized the power was out. Kathy called the front desk and they said, yep. We don't know what's going on, but it's out. The water too.
We were like, SERIOUSLY??? But I figured it would be back on by the time we really got up. We had about 2 more hours of trying to sleep, but when we woke up... it was still out. It appeared we still had water though, however, we were scared that it would suddenly shut down on us. So we took modified showers... by the light of our phones... and then we got out of there!
When we checked out the hotel gave us the room for free, and complimentary breakfast buffet coupons. So... awesome! We ate breakfast, then headed to the concert.
It was the day stage, which we had learned lasted much longer than we thought. It was scheduled to go from 11 am to like 6 pm. And we learned our boys would perform at 3:15 pm. one of the last ones on the list. So the debate was... do we go early enough to get close, or do we not stress about it?
Well... of course we wanted to be close! I mean, after all the effort it takes to get there, you want to be able to actually SEE them, you know!!
But we didn't go and stand in the line at the gate, we just went and got in about the time the gates opened, which was at 10:00 am. and piled in with the crowd and just went straight to find a spot at the stage.
Turns out our spot wasn't bad at all. So we were happy. And as each band performed, things would shift and we ended up closer.. .and closer... and closer.
our view at the beginning for one of the first bands
But... we had to last the extreme endurance test now. It was 90 (or more, not even sure) degrees... with the sun beating down on us. So we had to stand there... from 10:00 am until 3:15 pm... waiting for the moment we had come for. So we stood for an hour before anything even started, and then after that, we at least had bands to watch....that would help, right?
We had one water bottle each, so we played the drinking game, where we all got a sip from our bottle after each band. We had to make it last the whole five hours, and try not to pass out from dehydration, which lots of people were doing actually. They did pass us water a bit, but it was quite the scramble to get your hands on one. We did each end up with one, and so then we felt good passing them on to others after that. They really did try to make sure we all didn't faint.
I had brought a little paper hand fan, and that thing saved me I'm pretty sure. Seriously. It was BAD. There were several moments about half way that each of us thought... how are we going to make it??? Like it was so hard, and truly an endurance test!
The things we do!! It's so crazy!!!
Anyway, the bands that came on before.. some where okay, and fairly enjoyable to listen to, and others.... not so much. And there was a spell there in the middle where i thought we would all fall asleep on the spot. Ugh. It was LONG... LONG LONG LONG to wait!! And all that time, you have to be very aggressive to keep your spot, and not let tons of people push in front of you. It was so painful to maintain the spot... really. This is almost the worst part of it all.
And then finally it was almost our turn, and suddenly I realize two people had come up behind me, each with HUGE cameras (which are not allowed) and I was so mad... like HOW DID THEY GET THEM PAST SECURITY??? And they just put them in your face and couldn't care how they are blocking your view! Or banging your head with it or whatever.
And they tapped me on the shoulder and were pointing up ahead (acting like they didn't speak English) and basically asking to go closer and get to the front. I was like... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? No FREAKING way!
But I calmly shook my head and simply said.. no. you are not getting in front o me. No, you can not just show up, after I've stood here for five hours, an expect to get to the front. No, no and no. They looked at me like I was the worst person in the world. And if I was, I sure didn't care. No way was I going to let them get closer. I couldn't believe they'd managed to push their way as far as they did. I guess they really intimidate people with those cameras.
So Kathy asked them.. are you guys fansites? And they were all, yeah... so proud of themselves. And Kathy asked, which one? So one of them revealed herself, so we could look her up later. The other we figured out who it was on our own later.
Anyway, so fansites are people who dedicate their lives to one member of a particular group. Basically, a stalker fan/groupie, who follows them everywhere (including on the plane they are on, and hotels they are in,etc.) to get pictures. They sale stuff and make money somehow, to support the endeavor. People, other fans, love them because they get all these awesome amazing HD pictures with those huge illegal cameras. But I have never supported them (that I know of) and can't stand seeing them at events, because they break all the rules and feel so entitled just because they have thousands of followers and because the boys actually know them. Ugh... so annoying.
So, it's about to start finally, and I have this to deal with. I was so mad. SO MAD! So when they came out and started singing I (and Kathy too I know) made ourselves as annoying as possible, making sure our hands, and arms and elbows and phones got in their way a lot. Geez. It's a ruthless game! After awhile, I did forget about them, because I needed to enjoy the show, you know?
But i was getting banged on the head constantly, and the one was still trying to push closer. And then at one point there was a HUGE surge and someone barreled into me and I was like WHAT THE HECK.. NO!!! And it appears that they had really pushed to the point several of us went flying. RIGHT WHEN MY FAVORITE SONG WAS STARTING! (And yes it's all on camera, because i was ready to film that song!)
Anyway... we survived it and regrouped and watched the song and screamed for the boys and loved (lol) every second of those 15 minutes (and 5 songs) they were on stage! Every single precious second!
Our view at the end. The person with the paper never gave up and held it the WHOLE time.
Shownu throwing water on us
Minhyuk and his out of control tongue
Wonho looking fine
Jooheon with his dimples out (you might not see them, but I know they are there!)
After they were done, (the fansites had suddenly disappeared) we had to make our way out of that pit. It was another adventure to be sure. We had to push and shove and squeeze through so so many sweaty stinky slimy slick people! I thought it would never end! They were surging forward to get better spots for Billie, and we, all the MX people, were surging back to get out. It does not work well!!
Pre endurance test (with new MX friend Liz)
Post endurance test
Whew, but we made it out, and then went to find water and to just breathe. We found Emily (internet kpop book friend) to say hi to, and just sat and talked for a bit, before Billie came on. At which point, we went back to the BACK of the crowd to enjoy her!
Seriously though. It was the craziest mosh pit experience yet!
And the most interesting thing about it is that we were not in a crowd of kpoppers. This was a mixed crowd, so it was very interesting to see the reception people gave our boys. Of course, we had lots of MX fans with us, but also lots of Billie and other fans. They were blown away by our craziness I know, but I don't know if they fell in love with our boys. I watch them and think, how can you not? They are amazing. But then, I think many people watched them and thought... what's the big deal? Sigh. It was really interesting to experience that too.
We left and went and got food and drank so much soda until we all felt hydrated again. And then we found our second night's hotel, and just had the most relaxing evening ever! Ah, that was probably the best shower I've had in a long long time! LOL!
Then we drove home the next day, and that was the end of our adventure... except for all the looking up of the fansites and seeing how they moaned about the mean racist people who wouldn't let them go in front of them... and then we debated about revealing ourselves, which we eventually did and bam... they up and deleted their posts! LOL! Well, so we got some Twitter attention for a minute about that. And vented all kinds of righteous anger. But in the end, the fansites will still get tons of love and money from their followers and lots of attention from the boys who benefit by their pictures too. (Though I do think the boys aren't too fond of the stalker behavior, yeah?)
Anyway. Yes, the most crazy thing we've done yet. I need a break.
(But only two weeks later and I've bought tickets for the next concert... but NO MOSH PIT!)
Anyway, here is everything caught on video. The sound is bad because the bass was so intense our phones totally freaked out. I've been to a lot of concerts and this was the most intense bass I've ever experienced. It was extremely painful. So add that the endurance test! Also, Toto's phone can't handle screaming, so that's a problem.
It was also sad because the boys had a ton of technical difficulties. And we learned they basically got into a fight with staff before they came on stage. So what you see here is them performing but being mad. Ugh... but they seemed to shake it off and do well in the end. They are amazing. Really and truly.
Everyone says, but... was it worth it? To that I say... YEP!
On a whim (you may think all the concerts are "on a whim" but there is usually much stress and agonizing involved) I bought tickets for Pentagon way back in May... for a September concert. They weren't selling fast, so I bought them "later" as in after everyone else because people were like... you should totally go! It's not expensive!
So I thought, yeah, why not? And I said to the husband.. "want to have a trip to LA?" and he agreed to go on an excursion with me, to even go to the concert with me. So I bought tickets WITH SEATS in the balcony and hoped it would be good.
So Thursday September 12, we left on our adventure. We decided to do Lyfts and public transportation the whole time, so we even left from our house with a Lyft ride! And then the trains to the airport, the plane ride to Burbank (our latest LA airport of choice) and then a Lyft to our hotel in Koreatown... because the concert was to be at an hysterical old beautiful theater in Koreatown called The Wiltern (on the corner of Wilshire and Western... get it? It took me awhile...)
So we wandered around the area, got food, got bingsoo, took a ton of pictures, stood in a huge line to get in (even though we had assigned seats) and finally... the concert!
Pentagon is a group that is popular, but not THAT popular. So it was fun to support them and see their adorable-ness first hand. I loved every minute of it (except the crazy girl in front of me... she should have been doing the pit thing, lol.) The husband tolerated it, but did not come out loving them or anything. He was a great sport about it all. It will be interesting to see if he will go to another one some day with me.
My favorite parts of the concert included the ballads, the covers and the cute popular songs. Also, their ending comments. (Whole video of that here if you are interesting what I mean by that.) I think the view from the balcony was awesome. It's really fun to be closer, but we definitely had a great view this time, even if we weren't RIGHT THERE.
Here's my highlight video of the concert:
We spent the next couple of days hanging out in LA... one day at The Getty, and the evening in Santa Monica. Then we spent the next day at Universal Studios. It was so hot! But we had a great time, and got a nice recharge before come home and facing life again.
Changbin, Hyunjin, Woojin, Lee Know, Seungmin I.N, Han Jisung, Felix, Bang Chan
After the fiasco of the ATEEZ concert in March, I was very nervous about this concert. I knew it HAD to be better because we all had seats. No pit at all. But I was still nervous about if all I would see would be phones. And if the sound would be okay such that I might actually hear the songs just a little. Or would I only hear screams?
Anyway. We (I took Adia and Leila with me this time) traveled to LA (actually Pasadena which is not quite LA) on the Thursday before. We drove through nice awesome gusts of wind and one dust storm that was pretty scary there for a second. Rain threatened the whole way, but never really dumped on us, so that was good. We arrived to an overcast and chilly California, but was greeted by the hotel front desk dude who asked what we were there for. When I said, a concert, he said, "Oh, the Korean band?" I was like "yeah, but BTS was here LAST week!" He was like, yeah, and THAT was insane! :) I was happy to know that he knew there was yet another Korean band besides BTS gracing their lovely city. LOL.
On Friday we made our traditional concert pilgrimage to Choice Music in Koreatown (very much LA now) and spent a ton of money on albums. We had beverages at the nearby cafe and opened them and filmed ourselves a bit. A very nice old Korean dude watched us the entire time, fascinated. Finally stood up and asked us what we were doing. We explained it all and he loved it. He explained that his wife was a famous singer too in a big fancy choir and even went to Julliard. He told us he was 90 years old. He was adorable and cute and so happy to chit chat.
We then ate lunch at the food court. I was not brave and ordered simple rice and chicken. It was good. But huge and I barely made a dent.
Then we went back to our hotel and got ready for the concert. We arrived more than four hours early even though we had assigned seats! It's part of the experience to just go hang out with the crowd and be part of the excitement. So we did!
We stood in a short line to get our P2 (hi touch) wrist bands. Then a long line to buy merch. (Well, I didn't but the girls did.) Then another short line to get batteries for the lightsticks they bought. Then we just waited until security let us in. Which happened about an hour before the show.
Once inside and I saw where our seats were, I was devastated. They were close, but as far left to one side as you can go, which meant that we could really only see half the stage. Unless they stayed all the way to the front. And we truly could only see half of the screen (video presentations are a big part of kpop concerts... not just for jumbotron type viewing)
I was so bummed.
But the girls were still very excited and seemed not bothered, which made me feel better, and I just hoped for the best and that the boys would come to the very front of the stage.
Finally, it started, and can I just say, the beginning of these concerts are seriously the biggest adrenaline rush. I have no words. Best thing ever. And this one was no exception.
And when they came on stage... WE COULD SEE THEM!! YES!!
And we only had one or two awful phone people in the way! By awful, I don't mean people who film because... I film I have my phone out, I mean, you have to have that memory preserved. By awful, I mean people who hold their phone up at complete arms length for the ENTIRE time... and film EVERY SINGLE THING! Like, seriously. BE IN THE MOMENT!!! UGH!!!
But I could see around my problem person, for the most part, and managed to get a few clips myself (not at arms length!) and the tried to remember to be in the moment and watch with my own eyes.
And they were as amazing as expected. Dang, these boys are good. They truly blow me away with their talent despite how freaking young they are. I loved every minute of it and was sad when it had to end.
(At the end, the problem girl stood on her chair and then she totally blocked the view of all of us behind her... finally I got her attention and said in my best mom way... GET DOWN! She crouched a little then, but still stood on the chair. Seriously. I wanted to lecture her afterwards, but refrained.)
Here's my video of our experience if you are interested. I skipped their long comments at the end and put them here in their own video. Every single one of them talked to us in English whether they could or not. It was awesome. Two of the boys are actually from Australia, so they have that most awesome accent and of course can talk to us a ton.
(Reminds me of when NCT was in NY for an interview a month ago and the interviewer said to Johnny "Wow, your English is amazing!" and Johnny said back. "Well yeah, I'm from Chicago." He was so annoyed!!!)
Afterwards, we waited in the theater with the huge crowd that had paid for a hi touch. At one point, Adia saw Woojin peeking his face out of the back stage door... and she said all calmly... omg that's Woojin.. then she yelled "OMG THAT'S WOOJIN!!!" The whole crowd then turned just as Woojin lead the whole line of them out the door and up the side of the theater. We stood and cheered and they smiled shyly and cutely as they tried to sneak through us all to the hi touch spot. LOL. One of our favorite moments.
Finally it was our turn. They threatened us with our lives if we tried to film it. But Adia still tried... putting her phone in her front pocket. So just as we got to the first boy, security stopped us and reached over and took her phone. She was mortified, since Lee Know, first boy in line, saw the whole thing. And then we had to quickly recover and go on with the high fiving! Sigh.
So it was one of those hi touches were there were about four security/staff people behind us the whole way, yelling and pushing us along, distracting us from our tiny little interaction moment. I HATE THAT SO BAD! Anyway... so the first half I was trying to be in the moment, but the second half I was so annoyed with staff that I can't even remember the boys. I'm so bugged.
But Jisung was as enthusiastic as expected and had a comeback comment for everyone. (to my simple "thank you" he said "YES!!" back to me. Lol. To Leila's "your awesome" he said back to her, "No, YOU'RE awesome!" Stuff like that... for everyone.) Bang Chan was good to look in our eyes and say thank you very deliberately. Felix was so beautiful I forgot to breathe. I.N was just so so cute. AH! And then... I can't remember Woojin or Changbin or Seungmin... and I sort of remember Hyunjin because he was at the end. Also very very beautiful. But... all I could think about by that time was how I wanted to turn around and tell all the staff to shut up. Sigh. DANG IT! I need to learn to just tune them out and ignore them!!
I shook my head at the staff directing us out and said "that's just not right" or some such stupid thing. She's all... I know. I think she thought I meant how fast it is, but whatever. That's annoying too, but it's the fact that the yelling staff makes you forget to actually enjoy the moment.
They all have such soft, delicate hands. I just have to say. And they didn't really high five us, after HUNDREDS of people, i think they get so tired holding their hand up. So it turns into a bit of a high hand shake.. .or quick hand grasp. It's all quite awkward actually. LOL. Next time I might rethink my strategy and not do a grasp OR a high five, but simply just place my whole palm to theirs and just hold it there for a moment.... not hold on, and not hit like a high five, but just put my whole hand on theirs.... things to ponder.....
In the end, the hi touch thing is a bit of a let down, but also so much fun. I have mixed emotions about it! I decided you have to have a certain personality to make them succeed, and I don't have it. It scares me WAY too bad. And for most of the boys (I'd say half of a usual group) they feel so awkward too... so it's all just weird. Some boys love it though. So...it's fun to see which ones are which when it comes down to it.
We got a Lyft ride back to the hotel and then as is usual after concerts, talked and watched our videos and pictures for another hour or so before we could settle down to sleep. Seriously. The high and energy from concerts (that are fun and not fiascos) are amazing and why I continue to pay the money to make them happen. It will never get old.
Then we got up the next day and drove all the way home. So tired. But all worth it.
Our view of the stage
With Leila and Adia
Stray Kids
A favorite moment I managed to capture
Saying goodbye :(
Next concert? Hopefully KCON in August. And then I have Pentagon tickets in September (back in LA) and tickets also in September for a music festival in Las Vegas where Monsta X well be showing up. So... it continues.
Concerts I've missed that make me so sad: NCT, Up10tion, BTS, and a festival where Super Junior and Taemin played. During April and May I could have happily gone to LA every weekend for something or another. It's so crazy. How did this happen?
Bonus: My favorite Stray Kids song (I think... there are many) with lyrics if you are interested. I've probably shared this already, but here you go again:
This concert happened back in March and I talked about it all over Twitter and YouTube, but never here. I decided I needed to write it down still, just to have for my own records since I print my blogs out as a sort of journal, so. Here goes....
Big breath....
Okay, so I fell in love with this new awesome cute pie, amazing kpop group back in October when they first debuted. But I didn't take the time to actually learn who they were until their comeback (remember comeback in kpop terms just means new release/album/song) in January and was BLOWN AWAY again about how good they are. So Toto and I sat down and learned their names and put faces to names and truly fell in love.
And then they up and announced their world tour! At a mere four months old! And only ten songs released! This was crazy!
So Kathy and I decided to go for it. (Kathy had since also fallen in love.) Toto would be in Korea by that time, so it was just me and Kathy trying to get tickets. Kathy had a presale code so we could buy them before the general public. And so we did... barely. We felt very lucky because they sold out fast during the PRE sale. But we got them... VIP tickets which meant that we would be let in the venue before everyone else and get a good spot near the stage... there would be no seats... it would be all pit/GA standing. But with VIP tickets we thought we'd be okay. Yeah. We also got hi touch (high fiving the dudes after the concert and actually "meeting" them and looking into their eyes.)
Much anticipation looking forward to this concert. I couldn't wait. This would be their very first concert EVER... our LA concert. They hadn't (and still haven't) even done a concert in Korea. Only a showcase here and there. So we knew this was going to be so fun and historic and all that.
So the day finally arrives. Kathy and I are doing a 24 hour trip. Fly there, see the concert, sleep, fly home. Literally nothing else.. not even time to eat really. It's SO CRAZY!
We got to the airport and the plane was delayed nearly an hour. We still had time, but that just added to our anxiety! We got to LA about 4 pm, shuttled to the hotel, ran in went to the bathroom, dropped off our stuff, and called a Lyft. I think it was less than 15 min.
We got to the venue... The Globe Theater in downtown LA, with plenty of time, and in fact we found our line of VIP people and proceeded to stand in it for two hours.
Oh, I forgot to say that they thought they'd come up with a great system to avoid the standing in line and fighting for a spot. On a certain day and time about five days before the concert, we had to log onto the computer and submit a form and depending on the time stamp of the form we got a number which determined our spot in line. We did that, submitted it right on the dot of the time, and got the numbers of 349 and 350. This is when we started to realize that having a VIP ticket actually meant nothing.
So when we got there, we got in the VIP line with all the HUNDREDS of other people with VIP tickets and ordered ourselves according to our number.. and waited to be let in. There were WAY more people with VIP than even the regular GA I think, and having a spot up close looked very dim. In the end, they never even looked at our number or checked or anything. We could have lied and jumped ahead of all those people, if we had been that sort of concert goer!
We finally get in and get our spot and stand some more waiting for it to start. Our spot wasn't good. About half way back from the stage. (This is a very small club type venue, so small is good, but also not good.) I had hopes all would be well still. But....
... it was not. As soon as they came on stage, the surge was so bad we were all smashed... and then everyone's phones went up, and I mean people holding them WAY over their heads and I quickly realized I was not going to see ANYTHING.
It was such a huge disappointment. There are no words.
The surges continued to happen and I had to concentrate on breathing and quit worrying about the concert itself. People started passing out and security had to fight their way through the throng to carry them out. It got really bad. And the boys (remember this is their very first concert) had to ask people to step back and make room. This, of course, doesn't really work. There is no way to "step back" when you are totally smashed. So finally, they left the stage and said they would come back when we all calmed down and figured it out.
It was so embarrassing. And awful. And all the terrible things.
We shuffled ourselves around and Kathy and I even debated falling back entirely or going to the side or something, just to see if we could find a better spot. But then we just said, whatever, we will just stick out. In the meantime, we had fallen back quite a bit and were now at the back of the pack. NO WHERE NEAR the front that our freaking VIP tickets were supposed to get us.
We lasted the rest of the concert praying for it to be over, trying not to cry and lose it. Trying to enjoy even a little of it. I couldn't see, hear or breath. It was hard to see the good in any of it. I wanted to see them dance so bad. I only caught a glimpse of their flopping hair now and then... and if I looked between the raised arms of everyone, in one spot, I would see first this boy and then that boy go in and out of that tiny spot.
When they talked, everyone put their phones down and I could see them a little bit. I got one picture.
At the last song, I finally pulled my phone out and joined the crowd with my phone WAY over my head (above my eye level yes) and this is what it looked like:
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Guys. We were so sad. To have paid that much and made that effort to not see them. Or even hear them really. It was the worst. I blame the stage (too low), the sound system (too crappy), the venue (too small) but mostly the company that organized this tour for WAY overselling... both the VIP and the regular tickets and cramming WAY too many people into that space. They did us so dirty. And I will never go to a concert put on by them again... and here's hoping ATEEZ and their company learned a lesson to never use them again too!
I gotta say though, the boys were fabulous. None of this was their fault. They did amazing (even though I couldn't see it I've seen clips, and their own footage) and worked so hard and put on a great show.
We hung around afterwards for the hi touch. Since pretty much everyone was a VIP there were lots of us and they actually did a pretty good job of putting us in lines that time. And finally our turn came and we filed past the boys and hi fived them all. This part was actually nice because they didn't rush us through, they spaced us apart well. Three of the boys did a two handed high ten and finger clasped our hands, so that made me happy. They were really into it. But actually I held all their hands, so it wasn't really a high five, it's more like a handshake/clasp. Some of the others were much shyer about it, but those three were great! I tried to remember to look into their eyes and I said thank you to them all, but I didn't use any of the Korean I had practiced. It's so scary (exciting scary) that all words leave your head, both English and Korean. No joke. Some people are much better at dealing with this phenomenon, but not me.
So I am happy that part turned out okay and that in the end I did SEE them, I just didn't get see them sing or dance.
Anyway. We were bummed and it was hard to shake that. We walked down the street to a Carl's Jr and had a hamburger and a drink... I was so thirsty I thought I was going to die. And then we went back to the hotel, slept, got up and flew home. All the while venting and in total disbelief that we had been so duped and scammed.
I really hope for a do-over regarding ATEEZ. Holding out hope they come to KCON in August. But they are so popular already that it will probably be a frenzy and I still probably won't ever actually see them. They are going big places and I think will rise up the ranks faster than any group has so far. It's going to be amazing to watch.
In a couple of weeks I have my next concert (Stray Kids) and I'm scared to death now that it will be the same thing. We have seats this time, so I hope that helps, but people and their phones will always be a problem. And all the screaming. I would love it everyone screamed... then stopped for the songs... then screamed at the end, the stopped for the talking, the scream at the end, then stop for the songs... etc. Not too much to ask, yeah? But people scream NON STOP and it's very frustrating.
Hoping for the best. I'm sure you'll find out how it goes down!
But you should check out ATEEZ and see what you think of them. Seriously. Here's a song called Treasure you might like:
So awhile back we realized this Japanese rock band was coming near us, like within driving distance, like we could just go and come home.. no long ride, no plane ride, no hotel! And cheap tickets too! So we decided to go! Just for fun!
We'd heard of them, but weren't totally familiar, so in the days leading up to the concert, we listened a lot to them and pretty much loved every song. So we were truly looking forward to it.
Of course, it was all GA standing, unless you spent quite a bit more money and sat in the balcony where they served drinks so it was 21+, which bans Toto from that possibility... for another year anyway. But we were fine with GA and figured we were now experienced pit goers.
Yeah. Well, we had forgotten that this concert featured two "warm up" bands. (I think they should call them "sap all your energy" bands and leave you DEAD TIRED for the band you came to see! UGH!!) And the second of those bands was flat out awful. And roused the crowd to the true mosh pit frenzy to the point that some lovely kids decided it was time to start the slamming thing. Which caused massive pushing and shoving leading to people getting hurt and people in tears. Also, we lost our good spot on the floor that we had held on to at that point for over 3 hours. Sigh. I was so mad. SHAKING mad.
When that band finally ended, there was the expected surge, but it was a HUGE surge and some boys linked arms and literally mashed their way in front of us. Now we really couldn't see as they were all a head taller than us. I thought I was mad before, but now I was SEETHING.
After standing there for a minute trying to get control, I thought, why should I let this happen? I don't need to take this. The boys were still all linked arm in arm, and so I lifted the arm from the guy in front of me, and shoved Toto between him and his buddy so that she was a little bit in front of them again. He looked at me like I was crazy. I just said, "you stole our spot, I'm taking it back." He put his arm back, which meant he was now having his arm around both Toto and his friend. Awkward. We had to stand like that, literally in each other's faces for a half hour while they messed around on stage. Finally, he awkwardness was too much and he retreated a bit. Some of the other boys saw how upset Toto was and I felt like they were feeling a little sheepish at that point. And they didn't bug us or give us grief anymore. (They were very young Japanese boys. Not sure if they even did English too well. And I am convinced that in normal life they are very nice boys, but in that situation, they were so very not. I hate how that happens to some people.)
So FINALLY, after waiting and standing for FOUR hours (one outside to come in, one inside waiting for it to start and a total of two for those two dumb bands) our guys came out and the concert truly started. Thankfully, once they started, the crowd seemed to calm and everyone was normal for the rest of the night. Sigh. I was so scared it would happen again, but it didn't.
And so, ONE OK ROCK was awesome. Hearing those songs live was awesome. So much energy. Chill inducing lyrics (they sing sometimes in Japanese, but they did English songs for us) and just powerful vocals and guitarists. We really loved it. Even though we were EXHAUSTED! We sang some of the songs loud with the crowd and everything was redeemed! In the end, we were glad we went and were able to see them. I guess in Japan, you can't hardly get a ticket and they play at huge venues and are extremely popular. So we feel lucky to have experienced them live. Next time though, I 'll probably avoid the pit and sit upstairs. LOL!
Here's a video with a little montage of some footage we took. Please take note of the very first song they sang. It's called Push Back and the chorus says :So go ahead and push us, we'll get up and push back!! LOL! We thought it was so perfect! Watch the first part of the video at least to see that song!
