Infinite's 2nd World Tour IE Fansite Goods

I ended up getting a LOT of fansite goods at Infinite Effect in Vancouver and in LA, and I've decided they're all way too gorgeous not to share on my blog. I wrote more about the sets I bought and from which fansites in my post about IE in Vancouver here. In IE in LA, I bought the banner/fan sets that I didn't get from Hogam and Honeytree.

Here are all the sets I bought. From the top left clockwise is Spring Rain, Hogam, Honeytree, Summer DW, Miss Cham Cham, and L'aile.

Miss Cham Cham: photobook, 5 photos, 4 photocards, 2 stickers

Summer DW: banner, fan, 4 sticker sheets, 5 photocards, 3 postcards

Spring Rain: 2 fans, DVD (with 6 ~4min compilation clips), photobook, 4 postcards, 5 photocards

Honeytree: banner, fan, 2016 calendar, 2 posters, airport photobook, 9 postcards, 17 photocards, 2 sticker strips,  anti-radiation sticker, 1 sticker

Hogam: "Mask" photobook, "Bad" photobook, fan, poster, 1 sticker strip, 2 stickers, 2 anti-radiation stickers, 33 photocards

L'aile: 7 postcards, "Cunning Single Lady" and "My Lovely Girl" photobook, photobook (2011-2014), fan, banner

My favorite sets are definitely from L'aile and Honeytree because their goods are so high quality. Those L'aile photobooks and the Honeytree Everyday Everynight calendar are so precious. I really wish TurningPoint could have sold her stuff too as she did go to both stops, as well as Monodrama who didn't make the trip. Since there was sadly no official concert merchandise being sold, I'm especially happy that fansites were present with their merchandise.

Infinite's 2nd World Tour IE in Vancouver Concert Experience, Part 1

This post will be the prelude to my fan account of Infinite's second world tour, Infinite Effect in Vancouver. I'll talk more so about the boring aspects but important details to know, the logistics of preparing for this concert.

Buying the Concert Ticket

The ticketing war for Infinite Effect in Vancouver was intense on ticketmaster.com. First off, on December 1st there were limited VIP tickets on sale that were way too hard to get; after the concert, it seemed like VIP honestly had no advantage and were much more expensive, so I heard VIPs were pretty upset at the situation. Two days after the VIP sale, the regular sales began. The server crashed, not accepting many credit card payments, and therefore many Inspirits lost precious tickets, including myself. My best ticket was in the third or fourth row, but eventually I was only able to buy Left Centre Orchestra Row 10 Seat 32 for $170CAD, $197 after fees.

However, Ticketmaster is very customer friendly and allows refunds up to a certain number of days after your purchase, and offers ticket exchanges so you don't have to try reselling your tickets (unlike AXS...). I kept on checking the seating chart for any new available seats throughout the next few days, and I easily exchanged my ticket over the phone. The first exchange is free, while any additional exchanges require a $7 fee. During my third exchange, the service representative said that I can't exchange any more either, since I've done it so much -.- But anyways, I ended up with the third row in right center orchestra!

Day of Infinite Effect in Vancouver

I decided for a minimalist appearance, with my silver Infinite OTT logo necklace, gold zipper Infinite bracelet, and Cruciani Lurex Infinity bracelet in sandalwood lurex (an Italian brand popular in Korea). Lastly, I painted my nails gold.

My biggest regret from One Great Step in LA was not video recording the concert, so this time I was definitely prepared to have no regrets! I had planned to audio record with my Samsung and iPhone 4S, and video record the entire concert on my iPhone 5S. I also planned to bring a power brick and USB cable to charge my 5S during the concert.

Another regret I had from both One Great Step and That Summer Concert 2 was not buying more from fansites. I've always wanted to join support projects as those displayed on Twitter always look so gorgeous, so this time I wanted to be aware of all the fansites selling their goods, and all of their sets available. At OGS, I couldn't even find any fansites despite arriving on site at around 1:30PM. At TSC2, I mostly only bought the cheapest sets that only included photocards, banners, and fans, though I really wanted photobooks, DVDs, and weekly calendars.

At the Venue

I arrived at the concert venue, Queen Elizabeth Theatre in downtown Vancouver, at around 5PM, and of course Infinite had already arrived well before then. There were about 50 fans or so hanging around outside, and some people were graciously passing out banners and fanmade photocards. Above are the banners and photocards I received. During the concert, Woohyun mentioned that he saw the banner project for him (the yellow banner).

There were also about about four smaller fansites, I believe Inftfashion, summer_dw, MissCham, and Kyutizen, at this circular seating area thing outside the venue. They were each selling one set type. I thought that no bigger fansites would come since it was already so late, so I eagerly bought a set from summer_dw and MissCham (Sungkyu fansite).

Summer_dw had one set type which included photocards, postcards, a fan, and stickers for $20CAD (everything is in CAD in this post).

From MissCham, I bought a set that included stickers, photocards, postcards, and a photobook for $25.

I also saw Spring Rain and instinctively bought her set, which comes with a CD, photocards, stickers, two fans, and a photobook for about $35.

At about 5:45PM, the big fansites arrived, namely L's Wings, Honeytree, and Hogam. It was really cool to meet the fansite masters, despite the language barrier. They speak some English, but it is helpful if you know some Korean. For instance, one fansite master didn't understand when I asked what is included in a certain set, so I asked it in limited Korean: 안에 뭐예요? and then she understood and gladly showed me the contents.

I bought all three of L'aile's sets: the My Lovely Boy, L photobook (100 beautiful pages) for $30, another photobook set for $20, and the banner, fan, and photocard set for $20. The second photobook was originally $15, but I didn't have exact change so she changed it to $20 and included another one of the fans from the third set.

I bought two of three Honeytree sets. The first is the 2016 weekly calendar that comes with additional photocards and stickers for $30, and the second is the airport photobook and fan set for $10.

For Hogam, I bought the Bad photobook and Mask photobook for $10 each.

At about 6PM a huge line began to form to enter the venue from the left side entrance. I got in line at about 6:15PM and was near the right side entrance, however no one knew that there was an entrance on the right side. At about 6:50PM, a worker told the area where I was standing to go to the right side entrance, despite us being about halfway into the line. It was really nice to be about the 30th in line to get in, and I was near the stage side entrance where I figured Infinite would leave from after the concert. At around 7PM, we are let in, and inside there is someone checking our bags. I enter inside where the actual concert is held and asked the usher about cameras. On the promoter Dilemma's website, it says no small or pocket cameras are allowed, however the usher said that small cameras and phones are allowed, just no flash.

I made another post detailing the fansite goods I got from both IE in Vancouver and in La here. My next post will be Part 2, my fan account of the actual concert and afterwards!

Infinite: Be Back LP Review

Here I'll be unboxing Infinite's Be Back LP. This post will be mostly pictures and less text as I wrote in more detail about Infinite's other LP, Paradise, and more information about these two products in general in my previous post here.

The exterior of this LP has the same monochromatic, matte feel as the Be Back CD album. This one also includes a large imprint of the logo. This image is different from the original cover art, but it is one of the group images included in the original photobook.

The backside has the tracklist for both sides of the record. I don't know why the record is so engrained into the back cover, as I didn't have this problem with my Paradise LP.

The inside has a folder design, with a flap on the left containing the number card, lyrics pamphlet, and eight photo pages. The right side contains the record; the logo here isn't printed onto the flap but rather is another layer on top, showing the nice thought and quality put into every detail.

This is the envelope containing the number card, which is like a standard credit card size. The envelope looks very elegant and matches the LP cover.

I like how the back of the envelope has the logo continuing from the front. The top flap is slipped into the bottom flap, so you have to carefully undo it.

The card is plastic and has a silver shimmer to it, with the logo and names of the members in gold metallic.

The backside has the number; I'm #03784 out of #10000.

Here is the front cover of the lyrics pamphlet. I really like how they present the logo like this throughout the packaging. Like the design on the right flap of the folder holding the record, the logo on this cover is embossed on it.

I really like how the back cover of the pamphlet matches the back cover of the original album photobook. The font is printed in shiny black.

The photo pages are inside the lyrics pamphlet and are facing down, with the backside displaying the logo. From top to bottom is Sungjong to Sungku, then a group photo.

The left side includes the eight lyrics and song credits of the tracks on Side A while the right side has the respective information for the remaining seven tracks on Side B.

There photos are so big and beautiful~ None of these photos were included in the CD album.

The record comes inside a paper envelope.

Here is how Side A looks like.

And here is Side B. Each side contains the tracklist and play length.

Here is the LP on my record player. This album is definitely one of my most favorites, so I'm very happy to be able to listen to it as a record. The strong sounds of these songs, especially from "Last Romeo" and "Back" should sound especially amazing on a good stereo system.

Overall, I really love how the packaging of this LP matches so well with the CD version, yet still has its own upgraded look. While I was at first hesitant about getting records, I'm now so happy to have both Paradise and Be Back and to be able to play them on a record player.

Infinite: Paradise LP Review

In September 2015, Woollim released Infinite's two Korean repackaged full albums as LPs for roughly $35USD each. The Paradise and Be Back LPs are limited with only 10,000 copies each. While at first I was annoyed that Woollim was releasing yet another product that I really didn't need, I of course ended up getting a copy of each repackaged album and am really glad I did. It's really cool to be going old-school and playing records! Here I'll be unboxing the Paradise LP, and in the next one I'll be unboxing the Be Back LP.

The exterior is matte, like the original CD album cover (the pink paper part, not the cardboard). This cover photo is one of the group images in the original CD photobook, however it's not the original cover art of that album.

The back is elegant with its simplistic, metallic lines.

The case is like a folder, with all the paper goods on the left, and the record on the right. The contents include a number card, a lyrics pamphlet, and eight photo pages.

The number card comes in a beautiful metallic paper envelope.

The backside of the envelope is just as pretty.

It's a bit to open the envelope (I honestly thought I was supposed to tear it open...). The top flap is tucked underneath, so you might have to bend it a bit to open the envelope. You can see the crease in both photos above.

The card is made of plastic (I thought it'd be a nice metal card like the one from the Sennheiser headphone set). The front has the members' names.

The backside has the number. I can't believe I'm #09320 out of #10000.

This is the front cover of the lyrics pamphlet; it resembles the original CD album design. I like how the logo is reflective but as that overall pink tone to match.

The back cover also has that pink reflective logo.

The photo pages are inside the lyrics pamphlet. There are eight pieces of paper, facing downward, with one for each member from Sungjong to Sungkyu, and then a group photo.

The inside of the lyrics pamphlet has the song credits and lyrics for all 13 tracks. There are seven tracks on Side A and the remaining six tracks are on Side B.

The photo pages are practically the same size as the LP. None of these photos are included in the CD album, which is nice that we get these additional photos.

The record comes inside a nice paper envelope.

It's really cool to see the distinct lines on the record; each section constitutes for one track, with the first track on the outer most rim and the last track in the center.

Here is the center of the top side, Side A.

And this is the center of the bottom side, Side B. Sadly this doesn't include the hidden track.

Here is the record in motion. It's so cool being able to listen to new music on such an old machine. I hope others who do get these LPs will also be able to play them.

Overall, I am really happy I got this LP! It is really high quality from its packaging to its contents, especially compared to my parents' old records from the '80s. I also love how these Kpop LPs are reviving records in younger generations.