K-EXPO is a new Kpop convention by All That Korea and Drama Fever. It took place on Sunday, September 30, 2018 in NYC at Pier 36. The latest updates for this convention can be found on All That Korea's Instagram account and on the event's webpage. I blogged about my experience at the expo, Red Carpet, and Myungsoo's artist engagement in this post. I blogged about the performances here.
The webpage and ticket sales began on Friday, August 17. Prior to ticket sales, the organization announced the artist lineup: Infinite's L, Astro, A.C.E, and The Rose.
As a side note, I'm a Woollim stan. L has been holding his worldwide solo fan meeting tour, and previously reports stated he would have a stop in New York. As all other stops (Seoul, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan) were stand-alone events, I figured his New York stop would be too. Especially when L can fill a venue on his own and so many people going to this expo are more for rookie groups, I was more than upset on how this turned out. But in the end, I decided to go see L at this expo. It puts a smile to my face knowing I can use my yeobong again!
As this is the first year this event is being held, the days leading up to the event were quite chaotic and there were so many unclear logistics. I may have complained a lot about KCON's organization, but at least I knew what to expect out of it based on others' past KCON experiences. But because this is the first year for K-EXPO, I didn't expect much. Honestly I was reluctant to go because of all the uncertainty that comes with a new event.
It wasn't until August 30 that the organizer published a more concrete event schedule. L would get 1.5 hours for his artist engagement and 1.5 hours for his performance (ie. his first solo fan meeting in NY). I assume the artist engagement is just high fiving and taking a group picture so it'll be very quick, but knowing that he gets a solid 1.5 hours of stage time is amazing, especially while some other artists only get 40 minutes (which is still a lot compared to KCON). It feels great knowing that the artist I came to see is the headliner (though he's performing first) whereas when I went to see Golden Child at KCON they had the least amount of stage time. After seeing this schedule, I figured I should go because probably others were still reluctant and therefore the turnout would be small so it would be a more intimate setting as opposed to KCON.
I eventually bought my ticket a couple of weeks after the initial release. The highest ticket is $293.90 USD after fees. The one thing I like about K-EXPO's system over KCON is that the ticket you buy is already for a specific artist engagement for the 2 highest tiers (P1 and P2), so there is no need to stress and trade.
Please note, everything up to this point was written before the weekend of the expo. Everything after this point was written after the expo. I was going to heavily outline all the logistics that ATK had detailed on their website, but honestly none of that was executed on Sunday. Therefore, I'm just going to write out my experience.
On Saturday at 9PM, ATK posted on Instagram and then Twitter that they are changing the venue to Melrose Ballroom in Queens. The hours leading up to this point, there were rumors that for sure Pier 36 was out of the question, and that a venue in Elizabeth, New Jersey was taken into consideration. At 11:42PM, ATK sent an official statement via email about the venue change. In the late evening, ATK posted on Instagram that the event schedule would remain the same. At 6:11AM Sunday morning, ATK posted on Instagram an updated event schedule for the artist engagements.
While the convention began at 11AM, check-in began as early as 9AM, depending on your ticket type (or 8AM for special guests and press). P1 and Red Carpet ticket holders could begin checking in at 9AM. This schedule supposedly remained the same. At 7:25AM, my friend and I arrived at the new venue Melrose Ballroom with at least 100 people in front of us. No matter the ticket type, everyone got in the same line since there was no staff to dictate. Some time later, the artists entered the venue where the front of the line started, but we couldn't see anything. Cops were also driving by and continuously yelled for us to get off the sidewalk or we wouldn't be able to have our expo. Regardless of the previously posted schedule, the staff finally came around and called for those other than P1 and Red Carpet to create another line. Then a few staff members walked on either side of the original line, checking us in, handing us our respective artist engagement tickets, a raffle ticket, and putting a random band around our wrist. I was offically checked in at 10:05AM.
I was surprised at how high quality the artist engagement ticket was. I had "Group 1" for L's artist engagement. Though the entire artist engagement is 50 minutes long (originally 1.5 hours for L), it is broken into 3 groups of ~15 minutes each. The raffle ticket is only for P1 and will be used during the performances where you have a chance to go on stage with one of the artists. And lastly, I was given a purple wristband with Group A on it. The color indicates the tier you're in (P1 is the best tier), however the staff wasn't sure if this wristband was for the artist engagement or for the performance. There were 3 groups (A, B, and C), and depending on which staff member checked you in, you received whichever group that worker had. So while I fortunately got A, my friend who was right next to me, received Group C. The people in front and behind us got B. It doesn't make sense that despite us waiting for the same length of time, we would have different placements for whatever these bands signified. I even asked the staff on the spot that my friend and I were together and waited for the same period of time, and would like the same group, however they basically said that it is what it is and that we can't remove the wristbands without breaking them.
Though Inspirits were sparse compared to the other fandoms on site, they were very kind and some gave out fanmade goodies. Above are the ones I received, one while waiting in line to enter the venue, and the Sungjong card while waiting in line for the artist engagement. The fan was giving out a pack of 7 cards, and the lucky receiver decided to share.
Originally, you got to enter the convention at a specific time based on your ticket. P1 and Red Carpet ticket holders were supposed to enter at 10:30AM. Staff had told us to stay in our original line, since this would be the same line for Red Carpet. Therefore Red Carpet would happen first before we could enter the expo portion of the event. There were two security guards going through everyone's bags before entering the venue. The guard I went through was really strict (no luggage, which is a given, but many people had luggage with them. I think they kept them at the side of the building where staff watched them) and called out those with DSLRs. However there were definitely still people with DSLRs in the venue. I had brought a huge backpack with many pockets, and my guard heavily signed and was really annoyed that he had to go through everything in my bag. At 11:15AM I finally entered the venue and found a spot in the ballroom for Red Carpet.
The layout is set up so that Red Carpet and all other performances are in the ballroom. The second floor is a U-shape balcony that overlooks the ballroom, and this is where all the vendor stalls were. The third floor is where the artist engagement was held.
This is my spot for Red Carpet. I was on the right, about 5 rows from the front. I was so happy to finally be able to use my yeobong again! The girl next to me had a stool and a semi-large camera (I couldn't tell if it was a DSLR); the stool was definitely frustrating but I'm just glad I wasn't standing behind her. She was also really nice; after her artist had appeared on stage for Red Carpet, she let the girl behind her use the stool when her artist Myungsoo came up on stage. That girl behind me turned about to be an Inspirit for 8 years from Brazil, and it was her first time seeing an Infinite member. It amazes me how how Inspirits have dedicated to make this their first time seeing an Infinite member.
At about 11:40AM Jeff Benjamin, the MC for Red Carpet, appeared on stage and spoke with the crowd. He also took a selca with the crowd. He was a really good MC, especially when he had called an artist to come onto the "red carpet" but they weren't ready yet, he would make engaging small talk with the audience. There was also a translator on the side of the stage.
At 11:43AM, The Rose came on stage for about 4 minutes. With each artist, there was photo time where the members would face left, then center, then right, for us to take pictures. Then Jeff would ask a few questions, mostly to do with the artist's time in NY. And lastly, Jeff would always take a selfie with the artist and the audience in the background. Each artist stayed on stage for about 4 to 5 minutes.
A.C.E went on the red carpet next.
Next up on stage was Astro. At this point, the MC had told everyone to look in one direction but some of the members were still in the zone facing a different direction.
And finally, it was Myungsoo's turn! While he walked to the center of the stage, he humbly bowed twice. Then I think he said "Hello, my name is Kim Myungsoo-imnida", cutely mixing Korean and English together (or my hearing was just really bad). Then he began photo time. After the translator spoke, Myungsoo looked to his left, waved, and said "안녕 어 안녕" (hi uh hi). Then he just stood there dashingly, then waved again.
Myungsoo then turned to the center and asked in Korean if there's a pose that we want. He made a finger heart and kept waving. Then as requested by Jeff, Myungsoo made a quick heart above his head and then bowed again to the audience. The entire time, Myungsoo was so humble and down-to-earth. The photo time lasted one minute.
The next segment was Q&A. Jeff asked Myungsoo to explain his fashion concept. Myungsoo instantly chuckled into the mic. He gave his response genuinely and thoughtfully, and the translator said, "Today is a very simple and clean look" while he put his hands behind his back, closed his eyes, and just stood there looking perfect. Jeff then gave a compliment and Myungsoo said "감사합니다" (thank you) and made two mini bows to the audience.
Jeff then asked how Myungsoo felt having his first fan meeting in the US. Myungsoo spoke, then the translator said, "This is my first time as a solo artist instead of Infinite in NY and it's been awhile since I've been to NY so I'm very excited I hope to have a great time with you guys today." As the translator was talking, Myungsoo clasped his hands in front of him and cutely rolled his neck around.
Jeff continued on, asking, "You've come to NY a couple times with Infinite; do you have any special memories of NY?" After the translator gave the question in Korean, Myungsoo leaned into his mic and lightly chuckled again before replying in Korean. The translator said, "I went to go see Broadway musicals in particular and I went to Times Square and there were a lot of famous sites that I've been to."
Lastly, Jeff asked Myungsoo if they could do a selfie with the crowd. Even without translation, Myungsoo instinctively slightly bowed and said "예예예" (formally yes yes yes). Myungsoo then took initiative by saying in Korean that he'll take the photo, then taking Jeff's phone, choosing the filter, and taking the selca himself. At first they were facing to the side with the side of the stage as the background, then they cutely rotated so that the audience was in the background instead. I held up my yeobong high up in hopes that it made it in the precious photo. Myungsoo then formally shook Jeff's hand, waved and bowed deeply to the crowd, and then headed off the stage. His entire Red Carpet appearance was just under 4 minutes. To my surprise, I was tearing up throughout Myungsoo's appearance. I was just so overwhelmed with happiness to be able to see my ultimate bias again, after over 2.5 years. I had never cried seeing any artist before until now; my love for Infinite was definitely still strong.
Red Carpet officially ended after Myungsoo, at 12:02PM. Afterwards, there was no direction as to what we were supposed to do. The balcony level still had black curtains all around so that people in the ballroom couldn't peer up and those on the balcony couldn't peer down. (Though prior to Red Carpet, my friend was able to see Myungsoo's manager peeking down). Mostly everyone stayed on the ballroom floor and then after 12:15PM the drum performance began on the same stage. The performers played a traditional piece, then played another piece infused with a BTS song while the crowd shouted the fan chant.
There were a few more performances and activities at the stage and ballroom throughout the day, such as a random dance play. My friend and I decided instead to head to the balcony level and check out the convention portion. As this floor was a U-shape and essentially like a hallway, it was very tight with vendor tables taking up half the space and attendees trying to get around. There were under 20 vendor booths, selling jewelry, skincare products, Kpop albums, one was selling official merchandise for The Rose. There were also fanclub booths for each of the K-EXPO artists that were hosted by attendees, and they had prepared their own activities and projects in support of that artist.
At this point, the artist engagements were beginning to take place. It was quite chaotic, with the original schedule posted on the displays throughout the venue, but then a worker on the loud speaker announcing the updated, delayed schedule. When it's your artist and your group's turn (refer to the ticket you received at check-in), you're supposed to line up at one of the two staircases on the balcony level. First was Astro Group 1, then Group 2 (then possibly Group 4? For some reason there was no Group 3 for any artist). They had announced Astro P1 Group 1, then P2 Group 2, and one girl came up to me saying she had P2 Group 1, and therefore didn't get in line yet. But then they had already called for L's artist engagement to begin, so I'm not sure if she ever had her artist engagement due to all the confusion.
There were also supposed to be various food vendors, however with the new venue change, there was no food on sight. People had to exit the venue to get food nearby, however it was hard to gauge when to leave the venue since the schedule for artist engagements wasn't clear.
Eventually L's artist engagement was about to start, so my friend and I got in line at one of the staircases on the balcony level. The staff led us up the stairs, we relinquished our ticket, and got in line outside on the rooftop terrace of the third floor. At this point the staff were adamant about us keeping our phones away. When we first entered the rooftop terrace, there was a long table with cardboard boxes where we could place our gifts and fan letters for the artists (but who knows if these actually reached the artists), so I placed my letter into L's box. There were very few fan letters and gifts on the table, but it was only the start of the second artist engagement, so maybe the boxes began to fill up later in the day.
They snaked us around the border of the oddly shaped terrace. Since no phones (or cameras) were allowed, but this is really important to me to visualize, I drew a floor plan of the terrace so I can explain this better. I was around the 30th person, and ended up at the green circle above. You enter the line from the bottom right corner and follow the red line to the bottom left corner. The blue square is the elevator, and you can't stand in line in front of the elevator. Note how narrow the section I'm standing is. Then before the artist engagement began, L and a few staff members got off the elevator, walked right in front of me, and entered the building. I was so dazed and instinctively wanted to take out my phone but didn't. At this moment, I thought the day was already going so perfectly and I certainly had no qualms...little did I know...
The layout is set up so that Red Carpet and all other performances are in the ballroom. The second floor is a U-shape balcony that overlooks the ballroom, and this is where all the vendor stalls were. The third floor is where the artist engagement was held.
Jeff continued on, asking, "You've come to NY a couple times with Infinite; do you have any special memories of NY?" After the translator gave the question in Korean, Myungsoo leaned into his mic and lightly chuckled again before replying in Korean. The translator said, "I went to go see Broadway musicals in particular and I went to Times Square and there were a lot of famous sites that I've been to."
There were a few more performances and activities at the stage and ballroom throughout the day, such as a random dance play. My friend and I decided instead to head to the balcony level and check out the convention portion. As this floor was a U-shape and essentially like a hallway, it was very tight with vendor tables taking up half the space and attendees trying to get around. There were under 20 vendor booths, selling jewelry, skincare products, Kpop albums, one was selling official merchandise for The Rose. There were also fanclub booths for each of the K-EXPO artists that were hosted by attendees, and they had prepared their own activities and projects in support of that artist.
At this point, the artist engagements were beginning to take place. It was quite chaotic, with the original schedule posted on the displays throughout the venue, but then a worker on the loud speaker announcing the updated, delayed schedule. When it's your artist and your group's turn (refer to the ticket you received at check-in), you're supposed to line up at one of the two staircases on the balcony level. First was Astro Group 1, then Group 2 (then possibly Group 4? For some reason there was no Group 3 for any artist). They had announced Astro P1 Group 1, then P2 Group 2, and one girl came up to me saying she had P2 Group 1, and therefore didn't get in line yet. But then they had already called for L's artist engagement to begin, so I'm not sure if she ever had her artist engagement due to all the confusion.
There were also supposed to be various food vendors, however with the new venue change, there was no food on sight. People had to exit the venue to get food nearby, however it was hard to gauge when to leave the venue since the schedule for artist engagements wasn't clear.
Eventually L's artist engagement was about to start, so my friend and I got in line at one of the staircases on the balcony level. The staff led us up the stairs, we relinquished our ticket, and got in line outside on the rooftop terrace of the third floor. At this point the staff were adamant about us keeping our phones away. When we first entered the rooftop terrace, there was a long table with cardboard boxes where we could place our gifts and fan letters for the artists (but who knows if these actually reached the artists), so I placed my letter into L's box. There were very few fan letters and gifts on the table, but it was only the start of the second artist engagement, so maybe the boxes began to fill up later in the day.
Soon the staff let the first 10 people enter, and shortly after the second 10 fans. Then it was my turn. I entered inside to a long black bench, and Myungsoo standing behind the couch. At this point he still seemed so unattainable, so close yet so far away. There were 5 girls in front of me in my group, and some of them impromptu reached for Myungsoo's hand and he casually low fived them. They all sat on the bench and I had assumed that no one was standing behind the bench with Myungsoo, so I sat at the furthest seat from Myungsoo. Then 4 other girls joined our group and stood next to Myungsoo. I got out my yeobong, L slogan towel (which I bought from L'aile at Infinite Effect in Vancouver) and my L fan (which I bought from L'aile at That Summer Concert 2 Day 1). There were several cameras taking our group picture, so no one knew where to look. Afterwards the staff pointed us to the exit.
Staff at the stairwell were pointing down for us to leave. A few girls and I were confused - where was the hi-touch? I kindly asked the worker where was the line for hi-touch, giving them the benefit of the doubt that it would happen sometime after the group photo. The worker just said "his manager probably didn't want him to high five." I then said that I paid for a hi-touch and group photo, and that's what's printed on my ticket. At this point no one was exiting the area, so the workers at the bottom of the stairwell came up to us and told us to come down. Again I explained that we didn't receive a hi-touch, and one of the workers said that I was "being disrespectful to the artist and manager" and for me to leave. She probably purposely said this to piss me off and get me to shut up, pinning the situation on me and making me feel bad go my actions towards my idol, and it definitely worked. There was no point in talking it out with these workers, so I left.
Later on in the day, I ran into several Inspirits and asked them about their artist engagement experience with Myungsoo. Both girls I talked to had their engagement much later than mine. One said that she actually had 2 hi-touches with Myungsoo; the first where each fan walked behind the bench to high five Myungsoo, then took the group photo, then Myungsoo ran to the front and high fived everyone again. The other girl also mentioned how her group had an official hi-touch. I was really happy to hear that other Inspirits had official hi-touches and honestly it was probably because my group informed the staff that they finally realized they should properly inform Myungsoo what the actual agenda was. I hate that my friends and I had our hi-touch opportunity robbed, but I'm glad we spoke up so that others did get their opportunity.
People may say that I should be grateful for at least seeing Myungsoo, but in all honesty, that is not the point. One issue is that I had paid for hi-touch, and the staff didn't bother to inform Myungsoo exactly what he was supposed to do during his artist engagement. Rather, the worker simply blamed it on Myungsoo's manager and myself. The second issue is rather internal - I had been a single fandom Inspirit since late 2012 (until last year when Golden Child captured my heart), and have always seen Infinite as something special, unattainable, practically godly (as opposed to how I view Golden Child, who were very attainable through KCON and who are almost all younger than me, so the sentiment is different). Therefore it was the guarenteed hi-touch that convinced me to invest on this weekend trip, because though I've seen Infinite before, I've never had an interaction opportunity and through this hi-touch it would make me feel complete as an Inspirit. But with no hi-touch, I feel like these past 6 years have led to...feeling empty. I've already had so many regrets as an Inspirit, and had hoped to redeem myself this time. But it hurts knowing that even when I tried to have an interaction, it was robbed just like that. The only positive thing I have coming from this experience is having Myungsoo walk right in front of me shortly before his artist engagement, which is something that only the first few groups who didn't get their hi-touch were able to experience.
On Thursday, October 4th, K-EXPO released the group photos on their website. I can't help but to feel anger and frustration every time I look at this photo. It doesn't even look like I belong, I'm so far away. And I'm sad that my L fan was cut off; this fan is really special to me because it's the one I used during That Summer 2 and it's been a part of my Twitter profile picture for over 4 years.
As a flashback, shortly after Myungsoo had walked in front of me while I was waiting in line for his artist engagement, a girl behind me kept sneaking in front and trying to cut me. I didn't think of it as a big deal, and my friend ultimately let that girl go in front of her too. But looking back, if we were in our original spot, then we would have been closer to Myungsoo and might have actually high fived...
Now back to the expo...after the most disappointing artist engagement, I headed back to the ballroom and found my friend, as well as another friend I had made during KCON NY. The ballroom was crowded, and especially the surrounding area had people just sitting on the floor waiting for the performance to begin in a few hours. There was clearly not much to do at the expo, and not much space for people to relax comfortably. Since there was no food on the venue, the three of us decided to head out and find something to eat. Just as we exited the venue, we noted a worker casually guarding the abandoned luggage. He was standing behind a table that had stacks of those colorful wristbands. Determined to get one of our issues justified, my friend and I explained to the worker that we wanted my friend to have a Group A band instead of a Group C band. The worker said that the indicated group probably doesn't even make a difference, and at this point I felt the same way but still wanted a win for all the losses we had so far today. He made a phone call, another worker came over, we explained the situation to him, and finally he let my friend switch wristbands. Though they had said these wristbands weren't removable, my friend found a way to take hers off without damaging it, and she made the switch. Afterwards, we walked around looking for food. There were only a few local restaurants and delis nearby, and they were crowded with expo-goers.
At this point I was so done with the expo. I came in with just the expectation of a group photo and a hi-touch, and didn't even get what I had paid for. I definitely had no more expectations for the performances. I blogged about my experience for the performances in Part 2.
As a flashback, shortly after Myungsoo had walked in front of me while I was waiting in line for his artist engagement, a girl behind me kept sneaking in front and trying to cut me. I didn't think of it as a big deal, and my friend ultimately let that girl go in front of her too. But looking back, if we were in our original spot, then we would have been closer to Myungsoo and might have actually high fived...
Now back to the expo...after the most disappointing artist engagement, I headed back to the ballroom and found my friend, as well as another friend I had made during KCON NY. The ballroom was crowded, and especially the surrounding area had people just sitting on the floor waiting for the performance to begin in a few hours. There was clearly not much to do at the expo, and not much space for people to relax comfortably. Since there was no food on the venue, the three of us decided to head out and find something to eat. Just as we exited the venue, we noted a worker casually guarding the abandoned luggage. He was standing behind a table that had stacks of those colorful wristbands. Determined to get one of our issues justified, my friend and I explained to the worker that we wanted my friend to have a Group A band instead of a Group C band. The worker said that the indicated group probably doesn't even make a difference, and at this point I felt the same way but still wanted a win for all the losses we had so far today. He made a phone call, another worker came over, we explained the situation to him, and finally he let my friend switch wristbands. Though they had said these wristbands weren't removable, my friend found a way to take hers off without damaging it, and she made the switch. Afterwards, we walked around looking for food. There were only a few local restaurants and delis nearby, and they were crowded with expo-goers.
At this point I was so done with the expo. I came in with just the expectation of a group photo and a hi-touch, and didn't even get what I had paid for. I definitely had no more expectations for the performances. I blogged about my experience for the performances in Part 2.
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