Mina in Korea: March 2014

Saturday, March 8, 2014...was the day of the concert. Of which kpop idol group, you may ask? It was none other than B.A.P! I've been on and on about this group when they first debut back on January 27, 2012 (some will argue 26th, or 28th, but the official date of debut is Jan 27th; 26th was the debut album release, and 28th was the showcase, but 27th was the first music show debut). Actually, I've been following Yongguk when he was still underground, known as Jepp Blackman, when I happened to stumble upon 벚꽃 (Cherry Flower) by Blackout (Maslo & Jepp Blackman) before he came famous. But I never realized that Jepp Blackman was Yongguk until some light was shed on after neitzens dug out his past. And then when Yongguk went on to a duo with Song Ji Eun "Going Crazy" and then with the duo BANG&ZELO "Never Give Up", I knew that TS Entertainment's new boy group was going to be different and awesome, and therefore, I am B.A.P stan. =P

The following will be fanaccount of my experience, attending B.A.P's Live On Earth 2014 Concert, Day 1: Earth Needs You.

I set foot on Olympic Park grounds in Seoul, a little before 12pm. Merchandise sales were about to begin at noon, and I had been racing to get to Seoul before 11 (didn't work out so well) to stand in line. I heard from previous fans that some came as early as 8am to wait in line for merch purchases. So when I got to the venue, there was already a long line that lead back to the bridge (and you'll understand if you've been there before). Of course I didn't go by myself, I went with two other friends. When we got there, there were staffs instructing us on where to go, where to stand. There was a SHINee concert going on as well, so double the fans, double the trouble for the fanwars.

At first, we wondered if this was the line for merch, or line for tickets, or line for entering. But the staff just asked if we were here for B.A.P or SHINee, we said B.A.P, and then they told us to stand in line. We waited in the cold, hungry and tired from the morning's travel, keeping ourselves warm with hotpacks, and eating Kimbap from the GS store we ended up purchasing at the venue. But little by little, the line began to move and we got closer and closer to the official goods tents. Ahh, I see, this is the merch line. We kept ourselves busy by singing along with B.A.B.Y and 1004, and the B.A.P First Sensibility melody video; the three videos that were blasted on repeated over and over and over again.

So, how long did I wait in line for? 4 hours. The first hour went by quickly, only because we were too busy trying to calm ourselves down from finally arrive, and shaking off the jitters. The next 2 hours were filled with trying to keep warm by dancing a little, and it was also the time when B.A.P was practicing, so we could hear a little of what was going on inside the concert hall.

We tried to guess the songs they were rehearsing, and that killed some time. At the last hour, we were getting really close to the tent so we toughed it out. Once at the merch tents, it went by really quick, less than a minute. This was almost like waiting in line for a rollercoaster ride at Six Flags or Disney World; long waiting line but the ride lasts merely seconds.

After purchasing a B.A.P popcard, hoodie, tshirt, whistle, logo, Matoki glow sick, and a signed album (by Zelo, with Daehyun's photocard), we were given a vita-water. Then we went to the ticket booth and got our tickets, then finally went to eat. No breakfast, no lunch (well, we shared a kimbap roll), and it was almost 4 and we were starving. We scouted the area, relied on Burger King for a source of energy, and then waited in line at our designated gate; 5pm was admission time.

At the concert, TS had an event for those with reserved seats. If you got a lucky ticket on your seat, you won all 6 member's concert poster. We coordinated and got seats together for the three of us. We ran to our sections, and checked underneath our seats. None. Darn! My friend put down her seat and... BAM! AHHHH~ Winning ticket. Next seat down. BAM! No ticket. Next seat down, BAM! AHHHH~ Winning ticket! We screamed and jumped with joy, taking pictures to prove our winning tickets.

We were so lucky~! With the successful luck, we could barely wait that hour for the concert to start. They began the concert a few minutes after 6...

They came onto the stage 1 by 1, jumping up from underneath the stage, complete with fireworks as if it were gunshots shooting here and there. Half of a UFO was present on stage in the back. I don't remember the order in which the members appeared on stage because I was too busy being excited to see my B.A.P members on stage, in real life, something I never imagined would come true when I was back in the States.

They began with One Shot, Badman, and then Power. After, there was Matoki skit with Youngjae and Zelo's Matoki characters: Totomato asking Jokomato about "what is love?", complete with English subtitles (thanks TS) and Korean subtitles. Then they performed Lovesick. After that, a coffee stand rolled on stage, called "Starbaby Coffee" (lol, get it? Starbucks Coffee, Starbaby Coffee). Himchan handed out iced coffee to a lucky fan on the standing ground, and then Daehyun also. And what song you may think they would perform next? Yep, you guessed it right, Coffee Shop. And then they performed Shady Lady.

The band rolls out onto stage after Shady Lady and there's a video with all these quotes from James J Corbett, Muhammad Ali, and George Foreman. And then the boys appear and perform Punch. The boys put on an act as they prepare Jongup and Youngjae for the virtual ring on stage. I really enjoyed the theatrical portion of this song, and the use of the props they had, using the lights to beam to each light to create a fighting ring. The boys made sure to "crouch down" to get in and out of the ring also, haha. Here we get to see a bit of DaeJae OTP while Daehyun is preparing Youngjae for the fight, and the two elder, Yongguk and Himchan are preparing Jongup to fight Youngjae. Zelo stands as the referee. Towards the end of the song, Youngjae uppercut punches Jongup, causing Jongup to fly onto his back, spitting out water from his mouth, and K.O.'s. Talk about awesome acting! Continuing on, the boys perform What The Hell next, No Mercy, and Bangx2.

Hul~ what is this? The lights dim and on comes a video montage called "One Evening" with narration done by ~~theeversosexyvoice~~ Himchan. I didn't understand what he was saying but all the ooh's and ahh's from the crowd told me this was a sad story. Even more, the tone of his voice told me that it was sad. The last line of the narration, "break up" (in Korean of course), I understood that. On stage rolls a bed and a door with the doorsteps. A figure walks onto stage with sad music and, oh wait, what is this? The lights come on and it's our dear Youngjae. He begins to sing a familiar ballad song, but I can't tell what the hell it is. The lyrics sound familiar! And then....OHNOES! Youngjae's voice cracks and he begins crying. He has to stop himself from singing and the crowd goes wild, telling him not to cry. He clears his voice and begins singing again. Ahhhh, I know this song, It's All Lies. Due to him crying earlier, his voice cracks in reaching the high notes but damn Youngjae, you have true talent in acting! He leaves shortly after, but next to come on stage, two figures. One sitting by the door steps and another sitting on the bed. Oh wait, please don't tell me...*music cues* ...*ovaries bursting* it's Yongguk's self composed song, Q. Yongguk is sitting by the steps and, wait, wait, wait, is this...oh yes it is. It's Himchan on the bed. Hello BangHim! Yongguk's rapping his versus ever so awesomely while Himchan sings the chorus parts with SO MUCH EMOTIONS (eyes all closed, neck veins popping and all, yes)!! I might want to mention here that Yongguk is barefoot on stage heehee^^

(I believe the stage props were rolled out now) Next up, we have our dancing machine Jongup, who has a solo performance with a scarf (hee^^) and....OHMYGOODNESS O.O is he going to.... omg, he is! He rips off his shirt and the crowd goes wild over his chocolate abs. I ain't no pedonoona anymore, because he's legal~ I'm not gonna lie, I too screamed really loud. He leaves the stage and next we have our maknae, Zelo. Zelo-ya~ you better do a good son-...wait, what is this? The music is different. He's rapping...my mouth automatically is following along with his part. OMG! What song is this!?!? I'm rapping along with him now. I turn to my friends, desperate in figuring out this song title. He stops rapping, taking off a ring and tosses it. The crowd wails in the sadness and anger that he shows on stage. He walks around the stage and raps his part again. AHHH! It's his part in Voicemail/Voice Message. Daehyun joins Zelo on stage, singing the chorus parts, and then Zelo repeat his rap part once again, ending the song.

All the members come on stage and performs Save Me. And next up, we have a video skit, "Mato Planet Education: about mood intensity". An 8-bar measure dance, with 3 members of B.A.P (not sure which ones, or maybe it wasn't even the members, maybe it were the members of their dance team PLAY) on stage with the infamous horseface masks. They proceed to teach us, using the video to communicate in Korean and English (thank you TS), a simple dance: head, shoulders, hips, dust off your left shoulder, then right shoulder. The next round after head, shoulders, hips, you turn to your left and high five them, and then turn to right and high five them. It's been said that, if you fail to make contact with the person next to you, you will stress for the next few years so you MUST get friendly with the stranger next to you. And if you don't have anyone, it's okay, you can keep calm and high five yourself (thanks to Youngjae in the video demonstration, showing us how to high five ourselves).

After the demonstration the boys come on stage to perform Check On, having the audience follow along with the dance we just learn, to the song. Next the boys perform Excuse Me and while walking down the stairs going to the other side of the stage, our Youngjae gives fanservice only to get caught by the fans, holding on to him. I see him struggle to get out of the hold but finally he breaks free and walks calmly to the stage. At some point in the song, stringers come flying out and some are caught on Zelo and he's dragging it across with him on stage, haha. And then the song goes acapella, and our beatboxing machine Zelo is at it again, and then the music comes back and ends.

The next song is SPY. I'm not sure how to explain this but, Jongup has a small dance solo and then Yongguk bootyshakes at the end of the chorus. And then Zelo shakes his butt next. And at one point of the chorus, I catch our Yongguk messing up on the choreography. Maybe he was too excited, haha. And at the end, all the members turn around and shake their butts at us heehee^^

They take a break and talk to us, with Himchan making sure to say hello to the 2nd floor. Awhh, this is why I love you because you're so good at fanservice and including everyone. And wait, what is this? Yongguk is blowing kisses at the 2nd floor. They perform Hurricane next. During Himchan's "the roof is on fire" he backhugs Daehyun ohsocutely. Next they perform Dancing in the Rain, and the members tries to show Zelo's "abs" (that's if he has them), but he resisted and made sure to hold his shirt down. At the end of the song, Himchan is late upon returning to stage so he jets for the stage and runs into the members. Haha.

Talk ment. All I hear is KOREAN KOREAN KOREAN KOREAN. hahah but then!
Jongup: B
Zelo: A
J: P
Z: B
J: A
Z: B
J: Y
And that was the cue for the next song, B.A.B.Y. In the duration of the song, Yongguk acts as if he's skating/ice skating/olympic ice skating race on stage. After the end of the song, the boys say it's goodbye time. We whine of course and yell out encore. I'm seriously about to cry now because they can't just end like this. On comes a Twitter slide show with messages the members wrote, including pictures~

A figure appears on stage and the lights turn on. We see it's our Jongup and wait, is he...yes, he gets into his famous pose, at the beginning of 1004 (Angel). After performing, they stand on stage to talk. Everyone laughs at Youngjae at his pronunciation of "title" and "First Sensibility" and he's all like, "why are you laughing?". Because of this, he screws up and says, "our title warrior" and then we're all laughing again. Daehyun comes to rescue and takes over talking. Background music comes on, to set the mood, and Zelo begins his thanks to speech. Then Daehyun, Himchan, and Youngjae, but noooo, Youngjae had to start crying, and so Jongup went next. Then it returned to Youngjae, and lastly to wrap it up, Yongguk. It was really sweet that he mention his Grandma and Grandpa, and he says that BABYs are really 1004 (angels). During the talk, they reference Gag Concert's 안돼요 (andwaeyo), hahahahaha! I'm crying Himchannie~

Next they perform Stop It and Crash. Let me mention here that during Crash, Himchan takes the camera and begins taking pictures of the fans. Yongguk gave a lot of fan service, waving and smiling at the audience. They talk again, mentioning the members that their prospective "Earth Needs _______". Jongup does his impersonation of Olaf "yeah, why?" and "Yoohoo". Next they perform Warrior. They leave stage and a video appears with "Earth Needs ______" filling in the six words: Justice, Emotion, You, Happiness, Passion, and Love. The music background is With You, and then the music ends and the fans continue to acapella the song in the dark. It was awesome. Then the members come on stage and perform the last song With You. Himchan's always waving to the second floor (thank you). All the members are wearing the official concert t-shirt except for Yongguk and Zelo who are wearing black UNICEF shirts. Of course, what sort of ending is it if there's no confetti? Yongguk makes sure to say his thanks during the break of the song, and Yongguk blows a lot of kisses to everyone. Boy he sure loves to blow kisses, and he spent a lot of time on the right side of the concert stage, the side at which I were at.

To end, the UFO lets down it's stairs and boys all get on the UFO, the stairs retract, and the concert comes to an end.

After calming down, I gathered my things with my friends and we went to collect our posters and then left. My first B.A.P concert was amazing. Now for the next one, I'm definitely getting standing tickets. I need to
see my members up close!