[KCON18LA] Day-2: Saturday Convention Part 2/2 - Red Carpet

This post is the second part of my convention experience from KCON LA 2018 Day 2, where I attend the Saturday red carpet event. I talked about my experience at the convention and Star Square here.

After Golden Child's meet and greet at Star Square ended at about 2:48PM, my friends and I decided to line up for red carpet which began at 5:20PM. Once we reached the temporary line, my heart sank. There were two lines, one for Toyota Red Carpet and another for regular Red Carpet. There were about 15 people waiting in the Toyota line and at least 100 people in the regular line. I asked the staff member for clarification, and she said that the Toyota Red Carpet is basically like hi-touch, where you get to enter the venue first and be in the closest section to the stage while regular Red Carpet is  in a further section behind the Toyota voucher holders. Of the three of us, two of us had sold our Toyota Red Carpet vouchers since we already had regular Red Carpet vouchers, and the third kept her Toyota Red Carpet voucher. She got in line while the two of us headed back out to the Toyota booth in frustration.

While waiting in line for the Toyota Ride and Drive booth, we found out that the allotted 20 Amber  Toyota meet and greet vouchers scheduled for tomorrow were already all gone. This was puzzling when the staff had stated these meet and greet vouchers were only passed out on the day of the event.

In the end, we found two people who had just completed their test drives and were willing to sell their Toyota Red Carpet vouchers for $20 each. We eagerly took the deal and didn't bother trying to sell our regular Red Carpet vouchers. 

We made it back to the Toyota Red Carpet line, which didn't look much longer than when we had left. This was when I ran into one of the Goldenness who had made their own banners and found out they're both from my hometown! I just love how Golden Child brings Goldenness together, or else I would've never met them otherwise^^

The red carpet event takes place at the same venue as the artist engagements. The last artist engagement of the day was Chungha at 4PM. While in the temporary Toyota line, we were able to peer through the open doors and catch a glimpse of Chungha leaning in and hugging her fans; the interactions she gave seemed so sweet and personable. But now come to think of it, we saw the hi-touch portion of her artist engagement at 4:15PM, meaning her stage time was much shorter than Golden Child's...I wish KCON could make the artist engagements more uniform and longer, because getting short changed is unfair.

Later on the staff moved the temporary red carpet lines to the permanent spots next to the hall. Eventually the diamond and platinum people entered into the hall from a separate line. At about 5:10PM us Toyota voucher holders were let into the hall to the hi-touch section. The entire first row was already filled by the diamond and platinum people. My friends and I settled for the second row on the far right where the artists would be entering and exiting. Here is our view of the stage. After everyone entered the hall, the hi-touch area really only had the two rows of people close to the barricade and a few people at the back. The audience area looked completely packed.

In hindsight I'm really glad that there was this Toyota line. Because today was the first day KCON had implemented this, it was a surprise to everyone but my friend and I were able to obtain a Toyota voucher and be so close to the stage and overall not many people were in this first section. Whereas by Sunday's red carpet, the Toyota line became public knowledge and it could be much more chaotic with so many more people in that section.

The guys in front of us seemed nice and definitely didn't seem like they were here for Golden Child. I kindly asked the guy in front of me who he was here for (he said Twice) and if we could switch spots only for when Golden Child came on stage. He was very friendly and agreed.

At about 5:25PM LA model (?) Irene came onto the stage and introduced herself as the MC for red carpet. Then Momoland came out onto the red carpet as the first artist. They were on stage for about 3 minutes. They had special outfits just for the red carpet! I always find this as a nice touch^^

In2it made their appearance on the red carpet next and were on stage for about 3 minutes. They made some unique poses while walking up to the stage and while on stage.

Next was Mia. She seemed so shy and quiet, but hopefully she's break out of her shell during her performance later.

And then the MC announced that Golden Child was next! The guys in front of us instantly smiled and kindly let us switch spots. While fangirling I felt those guys staring at us like we were fools but they were so kind and I'm forever grateful for all the kind people I met at KCON.

At 5:36 Golden Child entered the hall, and in dashing new outfits once again! Jibeom in a bowtie is the cutest thing ever! The first six members waved and interacted with the staff members' cameras.

Donghyun, Seungmin, Jangjun, and Daeyeol all waved at the crowd. Seungmin is so adorable in a beret!

As each member grabbed a mic and got on stage, they were all so polite and lightly bowed to the MC.

Y was so observant; he noticed that Daeyeol, the last member to enter the stage, didn't have a mic, so he reached over to hand his mic to Daeyeol. But Donghyun who was in between them gave up his mic to Daeyeol instead.

Next the MC told the boys in Korean to face the right, then the left, for photo time. They all looked to their right and posed with serious expressions very briefly. Then the members on the right (Jaehyun, Bomin, Donghyun, Seungmin, Jangjun, and Daeyeol) all turned to our side and started to wave, while the members on the left (Tag, Joochan, Jibeom, and Y) continued posing for the other side.

Soon the other members turned so they were all facing our side. They still had their expressions but also waved. Here you can really see that the cameraman was perfectly in my line of sight. Whether it be Klub, Star Square, or Red Carpet, the staff members were bound to have the best view despite me being in front row for all of these events.

Then they turned to face the center, and finally back to the far side. Photo time lasted just under 20 seconds long. With so many artists and only a 30 minute time slot for red carpet, everything seemed to happen very quickly.

Then the MC began the Q&A portion. She asked the members in English how they felt to be at KCON. Tag replied in English, "It feels like a dream to be on this stage at LA KCON and I'm thankful to say that it is an honor to be here to perform for you guys. Thank you so much." The members clapped for Tag's well-prepared speech.

The MC then asked what the point dance is in "Let Me." Jaehyun then looked and pointed at Donghyun and said, "I think Donghyun is our best performer." Donghyun and Y went up to the center, then Jaehyun counted off, "1, 2, 3" and the members started singing the chorus.

Next the MC went to Golden Child's mailbox at the back of the stage and picked one fan letter while Jangjun said "Ooh" into the mic and then "What's this?" as the MC came back with a fan letter. The members occasionally waved to the crowd or toward the direction of the mailbox. The MC passed the fan letter to Daeyeol and Jangjun, who instantly handed it off to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun read the letter, "'To Golcha,' alright, 'I've been a fan of yours since day one. And it is amazing I can see you here in person. Thank you for always working so hard and for making amazing music for us Goldenness...(cheering was too loud so I couldn't hear)...I can't wait to see you guys grow even more. I love you guys, fighting, and this is from (person's name).' Thank you!" Jaehyun's English was so good and it was great hearing him say "Goldenness" the American way just so we now know exactly how it's pronounced. Tag added, "Thank you so much."

The MC then wrapped things up and said "Give it up for In2it!" She didn't even realize she said the wrong name and continued on. Here are the members' reactions after she said the wrong name.  I cannot believe just how much disrespect Golden Child has gotten at KCON LA because of the MCs. It is only expected that the MCs address the artists by the correct names. Jangjun then yelled, "Bye~~" into the mic and the members waved to the crowd. Someone said "We love you guys!"

As the members walked off the stage, they even bowed to the MC I can't get over just how humble they all are, despite being treated unfairly. They all continued to wave to the crowd and to the cameramen as they exited the hall. Golden Child was on the red carpet for under 3.5 minutes.

There were still many more artists left, however my friends and I decided to leave now and get in line for the concert. Next I'll blog about the Saturday concert, which will unfortunately be my last post about KCON for the year!