[KCON18LA] Day-2: Saturday Concert

Right after Golden Child's red carpet appearance ended at 5:40PM, my friends and I decided to leave red carpet early and get in line for the concert. We all had P1 GA which officially began lining up outside at 12:00PM. We joined the line outside under the hot sun. It was a fenced switchback type of line, so it would be hard to get out and back into line. Toward the front of the fence area was a stand handing out free cold Milkis drinks, which was a nice refresher. Eventually the line started to move; we went through security and a metal detector wand, then were handed wristbands with special print that could be seen under certain lighting.

By 6:45PM we were inside pit. Diamond and platinum people were already crowding the main stage, however that stage is so high up I'm sure it was really hard for them to see the performances, especially if the artist is performing at the far end of the main stage.

The original seating chart showed that P1 GA Floor was split into two sections where the extended platforms are, with Diamond and Platinum in between the two P1 sections. Therefore we were unsure if P1 GA Floor was the right choice, because based on the map it seemed like we would have to choose one of the two P1 GA Floor sections and won't be able to move to the other section throughout the concert. It turns out, they had a makeshift walkway in between both P1 GA sections so that we could practically walk laps around the stage. The security guard closed off the walkway only when the artists were walking to and from the main stage.

The food stalls inside Staples were open, and we were able to bring food and drinks down to pit. There was also a garbage can by the walkway.

Us Goldenness were ready to represent! We were decked out in Goldenness attire and ready to cheer our hearts out for Golden Child. Our plan was to stay in the back of pit and run to wherever Golden Child was. We started heading around the stage to get a better idea of the layout. At one point while we were bolting to the other side, my friend could here someone seated groan and say "Here they go again." Part of the privilege of being in pit is to walk anywhere you want in the area, so I just ignored them and kept heading wherever I chose.

Our first test came when Golden Child's "Let Me" music video started playing on the big screen at 7:11PM. We cheered loudly and shouted the fan chant! No one else in the vicinity was cheering, and one girl waiting close to the stage stared at us. While in every other situation I would've felt discouraged, here I just felt more invigorated and raised my voice to show support and raise awareness for Golden Child.

At around 7:20PM our favorite MC, Danny, came on stage to begin the pre-show. 

Kukkiwon Taekwondo opened the pre-show. Everyone was so impressed with their beautifully choreographed martial arts moves! Afterwards MC Danny came back on stage, then some sponsors came on stage.

At 7:51PM, a VCR clip began signaling the start of the concert! Momoland, Pentagon, and Golden Child were the stars of this VCR demonstrating the dos and don'ts during the concert. Jaehyun spoke a lot of English during Golden Child's segment. The VCR was about 3.5 minutes long.

Another VCR followed with three members of Momoland entering an enchanting fairytale entitled "KCON World". The video segued into announcing tonight's lineup. It was cute how the fireworks displayed each artist's name, and with Golden Child's logo it fit extremely well. This VCR was just under 2 minutes long.

At 7:56PM, Momoland opened the concert by performing 2 songs for 10 minutes. With such a huge lineup and MNET for sure not extending the concert length, it was the sad reality that some artists would only perform 2 songs. For part of their performance, the members split up and went to the two extended stages to wave at fans. Then they continued their choreography with each member facing one direction. It was really cool to see them perform like this, kind of like viewing an individual fancam.

Momoland's outfits also glow in the dark! That was a nice touch by their stylists. After ending their second song at the extended stages, the members walked off the stage.

Next up two members from Twice came on stage as special MCs.

At 8:08PM, In2it performed until about 8:16PM. They performed 2 songs. During their second song, "Snapshot," they began performing on the main stage but facing away from us so we only saw their backs. After the first chorus, the members split up and headed for the extended stages like Momoland, where each member was facing a different direction. There was quite a bit of time before the members had to dance again, so two members on my side squatted and started high fiving fans, while another member was really engaging with the audience closest to the extended stage, making eye contact and pointing at them (in a good way). Then the members started dancing to the song again. Afterwards the members quickly walked off the stage. I wish KCON could have been more forgiving with the timing and given each artist a proper sendoff after their set, rather than having the artists rushing off the stage.

Next was a special stage with Dynamic Duo and Chungha performing a song for under 4 minutes. With so many artists in the lineup, I didn't think there would be any special stages, let alone any collaborations between artists from different lineups.

Afterwards special artist Mia performed two songs with a total stage time of about seven minutes.

Towards the end of Mia's set, my friend saw Golden Child passing through the walkway! We had been chilling in the back of pit, unbothered if we saw the front or the back of the previous artists. But now we were on alert!

Fittingly enough, Golden Child was on stage at 8:28PM. Everyone was facing our side but Golden Child was on the far left while we were on the right, however I was just so stunned by seeing them that I didn't think to move to get a better view. It was a joint stage with In2it and two members from Wanna One as MCs. I honestly had no idea those were Wanna One members until well after the concert finished; I just thought they were In2it members and that it was weird how members of In2it got to MC and have more talk time than Golden Child and how the segment kept mentioning Wanna One.

This segment was titled "Who's Next," continuing the segment from KCON NY on what newer artists aspire to be. This time is a bit different, where the groups would perform three missions based on the key phrases "Let Me," "Snap Shot," and "Burn It Up." At the time I was wondering why a Wanna One song was used as a key phrase.

The first mission was "Let me serenade you." One guy from In2it had pretty good English and introduced a member who would sing "When We Were Young" by Adele. As he sang, the other In2it members got really into it and waved their arms to the music. The Golden Child members applauded but up until now still felt a little out of it. Then Joochan sang the beginning of Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are" so beautifully! After Joochan finished, the members cheered and Jangjun dabbed!

The second mission was "Pose for snapshot." Right when the screen revealed this mission, Jangjun and Y were so cute, looking up and opening their arms to reveal the mission.

Each group had to select four members for this mission. Instantly Daeyeol jumped up front like a little kid, and Jangjun, Donghyun, and Seungmin walked forward.

Jangjun went first, posing really extra like he did in the "Let Me" music video.

Jangjun did another pose while Daeyeol went next with a cool pose.

Donghyun was so cute, doing his huge heart pose but this time drawing the heart from the bottom point and ending with a heart above his head.

Lastly Seungmin did a quick gymnast pose.

The four In2it members were really good at this, one ruffling his hair, the second using his coat, the third looking handsome (some members were shouting "Yah, so handsome!"), and the last being really extra by body rolling to kneel on the floor and form an "LA" sign with his hands, then slowly rising back up while blowing hearts.

The final mission was "Burn up the Dance." They started playing music and all the members began to dance. Jaehyun, Tag, and Bomin instantly went to the front to dance though all the members really did get into it. And Jibeom did that arm movement again like he did in their "It's U" showcase.

They wrapped up this segment with ending ments from both groups. A member from In2it spoke in English while Jangjun rolled his arms in front of him like doing a gentlemanly bow. Then Tag began speaking in English, "We will do everything in our power to make sure Golden Child..." and he trailed off, then passed it off to Jaehyun. I felt so bad for Tag, especially since he's been trying so hard to communicate with American fans. Jaehyun continued by saying, "This is our first time in LA and I think KCON gives us a lot of great memories first of all and we're so thankful for M Countdown to give us a chance to perform here and we love you LA. We love you!" Then all the members said in Korean, "Until now, it's been Golden Child!" One of the Wanna One MCs then announced that Golden Child is the next artist to perform! This joint segment lasted about 6 minutes and 10 seconds.

It became black for about 10 seconds as Golden Child was getting into place and the other artists were exiting the stage. My friends and I were getting ready in case we had to run to a different side of the stage, and I started shouting "Dae Dae Dae Dae" to begin the "Let Me" fan chant. But instead of starting with "Let Me," Golden Child began with an intro dance! The beginning pose was the ending pose from KCON NY, so it was really cool to see the continuation. I was so proud of Y for being the center for majority of their dance!

They ended the dance performance with the beginning setup of "Let Me." I was so caught off guard I completely failed the beginning fan chant, I was too mesmerized by Golden Child! They performed majority of the song on the main stage, thankfully still facing my way so I didn't have to run around.

During the bridge of the song, the members went onto the extended stages! Y, Jibeom, Tag, Jaehyun, and Donghyun came to the extended stage in front of me. The members took their time walking down the stage and waving at the crowd.

They started loosely dancing to the song again just in time for the third chorus. During the line "내게 말해줘 yes" all the members jumped up, then Y landed badly and ran in a circle with his arms out to catch himself; he laughed it off but it was the most adorable thing ever.

Then each member took one of the four sides of the extended stage while either Jibeom or Donghyun took the center and the members continued the choreography. Jaehyun faced my way but of course my phone could not capture his beauty well, he was too powerful. The members didn't really give fan service, they were all too focused on the choreography.

Right after the song ended, the members walked back to the main stage.

As the members met at the main stage, Joochan looked to our half and waved while the others were facing the other way and getting ready for their next song. I think Jangjun was talking, saying "Okay, the next is our debut album's first song, 'DamDaDi.' Are you ready? Okay, let's go!" Joochan continued walking around our side to wave.

It was clear that the members would perform facing the other side, so we started running over. Right when "DamDaDi" started, we were at the walkway which is closest to the stage, but you can't stop there. This was my view for a brief moment before I continued jetting over.

Not soon enough I found a place on the correct side of the stage and settled for this view. It was cute seeing the poses for "언제까지" since they sometimes change it up.

Golden Child's entire set was about 7 minutes and 45 seconds long. Right after they finished "DamDaDi" the lights went out and the members went off stage. Majority of the members were already on the edge of the main stage ready to walk down the stairs while Jibeom was all the way at the opposite end of the main stage, then he quickly ran across the stage to join the other members. I quickly ran over to the walkway to see Golden Child leave while the next performance began. I was on the correct side where Golden Child had to walk toward me before exiting, but they quickly left so it was a bit hard to see. From 1 to 4 here are Donghyun, Jaehyun, Joochan, and Seungmin.

Next Twice had a special stage. They performed at the far end, so I wasn't able to see nor did I have the energy to run to the other side.

Then special artist Davichi performed. So far no artist (besides the one I came here for) had stood out to me, until I heard the duo sing! Their voices are breathtaking. Their set lasted at least 10 minutes and they performed three songs. As a special artist, I was annoyed that they performed more songs than many of the featured artists; it just does not make sense.

Next two members from Wanna One came out on the extended stage as special MCs. I'll mention it now - on the big screens they would try to display English subs in real-time, though for some segments where they used the big screen to show something else, there'd be no subs.

Crush performed next. He came down to the extended stage. Then Dynamic Duo performed. And then Crush came back on stage and the trio performed together. The entire set for Crush and Dynamic Duo (separately and together) was about 15 minutes long.

Next was Twice's set, where they performed a total of four songs and had a talk time. The talk time consisted of the members dancing the point dances of their title songs, including "Likey." This was my cue to learn this dance, after Donghyun had danced to it at their KCON NY artist engagement and I had no idea.

Twice finished their set with "Cheer Up," the only Twice song I could recognize. In the middle of their performance, the screen lowered onto the stage, so you could only see whichever members were on your side. They were on stage for 20 minutes.

Ailee was up next, and performed for about 16 minutes. Out of all the artists, Ailee definitely had the most stage presence and really owned the stage and got the audience up on their feet. She began on the main stage but eventually walked down to an extended stage, giving fan service including sending my friend a finger heart!

Next I think two members of Twice came out into the seated area as special MCs. It's really hard to tell, but I think they're somewhere within the yellow circle.

By this point we had switched sides so many times, and during the special MC segment, we ran into none other than MC Danny! He was really friendly, gladly taking selcas with any concert goer that came up to him. There's an ongoing joke between my Goldenness friends where Danny chose my friend while Jangjun chose me during their artist engagement in NY, so I had to continue this and have the three of us take a picture together. I boldly walked over to Danny and asked for a photo (this is so unlike me, but my adrenaline was still going strong after seeing Golden Child) and my friend joined. Sadly it seemed like Danny didn't recognize us...maybe next time we can jog his memory!

Lastly Wanna One performed as the headliner for the night. They opened with one song on the main stage, then had talk time.

They performed a few more songs, and at one point came down to the extended stages to give fan service, then went back to the main stage to finish that song. Their set lasted about 20 minutes and included about four songs.

While Wanna One was finishing their last song, all the artists began coming through the walkway in preparation for the ending stage. I was on the same side as when I saw Golden Child exiting the stage, so this time I saw their side view and backs as they walked toward the stage. Above are Jaehyun (1) and Seungmin (2). I also saw Ailee took a selca with a fan's phone nearby!

Soon all the artists went back on stage to say goodbye to the crowd. As each artist stepped on the main stage, they played their song. Momoland came up first, then Golden Child. For some reason Jangjun didn't come on stage, however I didn't even realize it until well after the concert; I was too drawn in yelling for the other members. I hope he was okay...Golden Child walked to the extended stage opposite of me, so I quickly ran over to see them. The members mainly waved at the fans closest to the extended stage. We kept shouting the names of whichever member was in front of us, but sadly they never noticed us. Most of the members waved, but Y even bent down to interact with a fan.

The members stayed on the end of the extended stage but continued to rotate to face a different direction than before. We continued moving around the end of the extended stage to follow Golden Child. Everyone in our area seemed like fans of other groups, but the members continued waving to everyone despite the lack of Goldenness.

At this point the members seemed pretty drained, mainly standing around and lightly clapping to whatever song was playing or continuing waving to the crowd. Bomin blew a kiss to a fan very close to the extended stage, then he bent down and sent a finger heart. Daeyeol started doing a jogging move with his arms, cutely dancing in place like a dad. At one point Bomin was shyly waving and turning his head to the right like a cute puppy.

And here it looks like Jaehyun is looking straight at us but giving us no interaction like the cold city man he is.

Jaehyun may have seen us and waved, but if he did notice us it seemed like he was just waving to us as regular concert-goers and not as Goldenness. To the right is...a member of Davichi (?).

I continued shouting each member's name while they all looked and waved at every direction except mine. Seungmin and Daeyeol continued dancing to the music. Bomin continued bending down and getting up close to fans in the front.

Eventually this extended stage got a bit crowded as Dynamic Duo, Crush, Mia, Davichi (?) and Wanna One joined, but Golden Child held their own at the very end of this extended stage. Then all artists made their way back to the main stage. As Golden Child walked back to the main stage, it took me awhile to realize this shouldn't be goodbye, and that I should still follow Golden Child as they headed to a different part of the stage.

As discouraged as I was that my shouts weren't being heard or acknowledged, I continued calling each member. I wanted them to know that even though they continue coming to KCON to gain new Goldenness, there are Goldenness that came to KCON just for Golden Child. The members stayed at the corner of the main stage closest to the walkway. The security guard told us we couldn't stay in the walkway, but I instinctively stayed there especially when it was the closest I could be to Golden Child. At this point most of the members seemed done, and they were just nonchalantly standing around. On the far right were Mia, Davichi, and Dynamic Duo.

And the miraculously Bomin noticed us! He continued waving while opening his mouth in surprise for spotting Goldenness.

He gave us a finger heart! And of course I was freaking out so much my video missed a moment >.<

He then gave us a thumbs up! And then he moved on. This interaction was literally only 5 seconds, but it is one of the most precious 5 seconds of my fangirl life.

Right after that, the artists slowly made their way off the main stage. I'm so happy Bomin was able to notice us just before they had to heave! I was still starstruck and couldn't think properly by now...I had thought that Golden Child would come down the closest set of stairs and walk through the walkway I was at, but they continued across the main stage and exited from the other side. I just stood there and watched them walk further away from me, not thinking to run all the way around to catch them walk down the far set of stairs. When it comes to these events, there is no time for hesitation.

And it turns out, Golden Child wasn't leaving just yet. Daeyeol, Y, and Bomin stopped at the opposite side of the main stage and waved at fans while the other members headed toward the stairs while still waving.

Golden Child then walked down the far set of stairs while Davichi, Crush, Dynamic Duo, Twice, Momoland, and In2it walked down the set of stairs in front of me. The concert ended at about 10:27PM.

Right after the concert finished, my friends and I reconvened (during the ending stage we were too caught up trying to get the members' attention that we naturally separated) and waited at the intersection of Georgia Street and Chick Hearn Court in hopes of catching the artists leaving the venue. Many fans were waiting there so we figured we were in the right place. Several vans with tinted windows from 10:55PM to 11:20PM, but it was too hard to identify who was in each van.

Reflection time: I've been an Inspirit for 6 years and have had many regrets on not trying to interact with Infinite more. I wanted to redeem myself with Golden Child, and as this is my second KCON, I tried to have no regrets this time. I wish I had paid more attention to each member's reaction to whatever I said during hi-touch, perfected my fan chants more (in reference to Klub and the concert), and been more proactive and strategic in seeing Golden Child as best and as long as I could (in reference to Star Square and the concert). But overall I would say this was a successful KCON experience for me as a Goldenness and as Tag has requested, I will treasure this moment forever!