[KCON18NY] Day-1: Saturday Concert

Right after exiting the red carpet event at BHHH, I got in an arbitrary line leading into Prudential Center, which I later found out was the correct line for any seated ticket. The line took quite awhile to inch forward due to the tight security check. There is actually another entrance for seated tickets at the opposite end (far away from BHHH) which was probably faster. Regardless, it was fun talking to everyone around me and learning about how they all got into Kpop.

While waiting in line, this Pentagon banner project was being passed around.

The backside even has the romanized fan chant for "Shine".

I finally entered Prudential Center after 7:10PM. Concession, food, and drink stands were all open, and even though I hadn't eaten all day yet, I decided to go to my seat. This is my view from Section 20, Row 12, Seat 3. I really like my view, especially because it's very close to the extended stage and I can see all the performers from the front, rather than the side or back.

There was a high quality fabric banner on my chair, along with others' chairs along this aisle within the first 3 seats of each row. It turns out a Stray Kids member would be making an entrance down this aisle! Looking at the photo of my view, you can also see across that the opposite sections had white banners. These banners were also for Stray Kids and were oddly much smaller in dimension.

Here is the full banner. The other side is white. Sunday's concert didn't have any banners.

At 7:35PM the MC came on stage and began the pre-show. Jun Curry Ahn performed first, one of a violin cover and another where he sang and danced with backup dancers. Esna came out next and performed a couple of her self-written songs. She was overflowing with confidence,  making her have really strong stage presence. Later on the MC and Jun came on stage to throw some signed Pentagon and Stray Kids towels to the audience.

At 7:53PM the official concert began! They played a VCR showing Golden Child, Pentagon, and Stray Kids outlining proper concert behavior. (I took footage of this on the Sunday concert so I'll add a photo in that post). Then 5 members of Super Junior (everyone that came to KCON18NY except for Siwon) entered the main stage and walked down to the extended stage - they really owned the runway with their presence! They danced to "Sorry Sorry" before transitioning to Siwon's solo appearance (pictured above), where he introduced himself as tonight's MC and spoke quite a lot of English.

While Siwon was MCing, a member of Stray Kids (Changbin?) was getting ready to make his way down our aisle! I learned from yesterday and this time instinctively stuck my hand out for him to touch, but he only touched the girl's hand next to me. He rapped while making his way down, as well as another member on the opposite side of the venue, until they both made it to the extended stage.

They performed "District 9", had an introductory talk, then performed "Mirror", and followed by "Hellavator". Next on the main stage the screen showed "Who's Next?" I thought they meant who the next performer would be, and then the screen showed "Next Performer / Stray Kids" and I was thinking, of course they're the next performer of the night, since they're not done with their stage. But it turns out, it's MNET's segment of how Stray Kids would like to be perceived in the future - as THE next performer. The members discussed how they'd like to be known as the next performer, then ended with a performance of "YAYAYA". Majority of their time was spent on the extended stage. It was nice having a slogan towel and really being in the moment cheering for them, however I regret not filming any of their performances.

Next up was Heize. She first performed the title track from her fourth mini album. Then she had a mini talking segment, and said as a gift she would perform "And July", the song that won first on the MWave voting event "My Playlist KCON". I will explain more about this during my Sunday Concert post. She then performed "Star", followed by "And July". Her stage was pretty mellow, which made for a nice contrast between the more energetic Kpop groups of the night.

Following Heize was a special duet stage between 1 member of Red Velvet and 1 member of Super Junior.

To transition, Bangchan and Felix of Stray Kids were at the bottom of my aisle as special MCs. They talked about their own stage, then gave a quick (and really cute) rundown of the lineup to come.

Next up was Pentagon. They opened up with "Shine", where the members began the intro choreo on the main stage, then E'Dawn came to the extended stage with a conductor's baton and dramatically conducted in front of the roaring audience. He then coolly flicked the baton off the stage as the other members joined E'Dawn on the extended stage and began performing "Shine".

Pentagon then had that "Who's Next?" segment and the members talked about how they want to be known as the next singer songwriter. Afterwards they performed "Gorilla", "Can You Feel It", had one more ment, and ended with "Pretty Pretty".

Following Pentagon was Red Velvet, who opened up their segment with "Bad Boy", followed by "Red Flavor", both on the main stage.

Red Velvet stayed on the main stage and held a ment called "Red Velvet Roulette" where each member had to complete a task as instructed by the roulette. Irene said "I love ReVeLuv" in 5 languages, Seulgi performed Super Junior's choregraphy, and Wendy sang "Empire State of Mind". The remaining 2 members did couple poses with the audience, where a member does a pose and the camera tries to find an audience member with a matching pose. Red Velvet then performed "Rookie" on the main stage, followed by "Peek-A-Boo" on the extended stage.

MC Siwon came out on stage again.

Next was a collaboration dance stage with Stray Kids and Pentagon. First Pentagon performed "Wake Up" on the extended stage, then Stray Kids performed "Rock" on the main stage, and then both groups performed "Passion" together.

Lastly was the headliner of the night, Super Junior. They started with a performance of "Black Suit" on the main stage with some backup dancers.

Next Super Junior had a ment, staying on the main stage. Then Suju also did the couple pose game with the audience, but this time stepped it up by making it the couple choreo game. The members taught the audience various Suju point dances by singing and dancing to their past hits. They even sang and danced to their trot song "Rokoko"! This is one of my favorite SuJu songs and I was so happily surprised to see part of it live. Then SuJu performed "Los Siento" with Leslie Grace on the main stage, then towards the end transitioned the performance to the extended stage.

Then Super Junior stayed on the extended stage and performed a compilation of their past hits, including "Sorry Sorry" and "Mr. Simple".

Super Junior ended with another ment, then 1 last song where they gave a lot of fan service. Siwon even jumped off the extended stage to be closer to fans in pit! Super Junior's entire segment seemed like their own concert - they're such pros and really got everyone up on their feet and excited for their set.

At the end all of the artists came back on stage, walked to the extended stage with selfie sticks, then walked back to the main stage and waved goodbye. The concert ended sometime before 10:25PM.

Afterwards I went to the garage to wave goodbye to the artists, and within 20 minutes of the concert end they were there. First Super Junior left the building and even though their van was right in front of the exit, a few members  were really friendly and took their time to come out to where we were standing, waved, and even took a picture of us!

Afterwards Stray Kids and Pentagon happily waved to fans as well. I might have missed Heize and Red Velvet coming out.

As the van for Stray Kids or Pentagon was driving off and stopped at a red light, fans ran up to the windows...it was a bit scary to see.

[KCON18NY] Day-1: Saturday Convention

I arrived at KCON at 4PM on Saturday, decked out with my jersey and Golden Day tote. There was a lot going on, and I had no idea where to start. In several areas you have to get in line and have your wristband scanned before entering.

At 4:10PM I decided to head first to Star Square to see what it's about, and was surprised to find the area very crowded. It turns out, Fromis_9 was here taking pictures with some lucky winners! I was surprised to see Fromis_9 again so soon, especially when they just landed a couple hours ago AND because their official KCON schedules are only on Sunday.

As a side note, a group of 4 approached me and complimented my jersey. It turns out, they were also from the same area and had made the trip just for Golden Child! I'm very happy to have met other Goldenness and especially from my area at KCON.

Afterwards I saw that Heize and Fromis_9 had already signed their mailboxes at Star Square. I'm still not 100% sure what Star Square is, but I think there are surprise events posted at the MWave booth where if you take a picture at the MWave booth and post on SNS with their hashtags during a certain time period, you will be entered for a chance to win a photo opportunity with the artist for that event. Then after that artist visits Star Square and takes the picture with the lucky fan, they sign their mailbox. About this mailbox - you can purchase KCON's official stationary set and write a fan letter to any artist and drop it into their box, and 1 letter will be chosen at the red carpet to be read aloud. The fan letters also include a spot for you to write your name and Twitter handle, which will be read out loud as well.

I decided to get in line for the red carpet, which is from 5:20PM to 5:50PM. When I got to the end of the line, the security guard falsely told me that this is the wrong line, and sent me across the convention grounds. After asking several more people, I ended up back at the original security guard, showed my red carpet pass, and was able to get in line at 4:45PM. With this fiasco setting me back at least 20 minutes, I was behind at least 50 more people than originally, which is upsetting. They let the line into the venue and I was inside by 5:03PM. At this point I was 6 rows from the front. The red carpet stage is only about 3 steps higher than the ground, so it was hard to see.

The event began early at 5:15PM, with an MC/translator running the event. The first guest came out to the red carpet at 5:17PM. To everyone's surprise, it was Jeremy Lin! He said that he's most excited to see Super Junior and spoke some more (but I can't make out the words from my video >.<). In total he was on the carpet for 1 minute.

Next up was Heize. The MC asked her a few questions and translated her answers. Then staff brought out Heize's mailbox, she drew 1 letter, and the MC read it out loud in Korean. (I think the letter was originally written in Korean, as the MC read other letters later on in English). Heize also posed for pictures.

Next was Stray Kids. The crowd instantly pushed forward and compacted the first few rows of people. The same routine occurred - posing for photos, answering pre-selected questions, and selecting a fan letter for the MC to read. I don't recall any of the questions the MC asked any of the artists...the whole event was a bit overwhelming and my intention was just to get an idea of how red carpet would be like tomorrow and what I'd need to do to maximize my time there.

Next was Pentagon.

Then Red Velvet came onto the red carpet. Quite a few people left after Red Velvet's turn.

Next up was Leslie Grace!

And lastly, Super Junior took the stage. Siwon spoke a lot of English and even read the fan letter in English himself.

At the end, a member of Super Junior walked down to the side to greet fans.

After the red carpet event finished, everyone headed out to get in line for the concert. My next post will be about my experience at the Saturday concert!

[KCON18NY] Day-1: Greeting Golden Child at JFK

Saturday June 23rd is the official start of KCON NY 2018, with check-in beginning at 7AM and the convention officially opening at 10AM. At this point I should warn you that the remainder of my KCON blog posts will be more from a Goldenness' perspective and I won't be explaining everything that KCON has to offer as I didn't partake in everything. Despite being in town for KCON, I had a different agenda in mind for today: greeting Golden Child as they arrive in NY! Here is my outfit for going to the airport - I'm so happy that I packed a blazer to match Bomin's airport fashion^^ Also my outfit is complete with my Golden Day tote!

I walked past the convention check-in area at 8:45AM and the line was fairly short, but with lots of trading going on. Now the security was a lot tighter - every nook and cranny had a security guard ready to wand you and check your bag. At times this was frustrating because to get from the subway station to my hotel, I had to walk through a common area of the convention, meaning waiting in line to go through security just to exit the premise.

While on the 3 subway rides from Prudential Center to JFK, my friend suggested that I write a fan letter to give. My heart dropped just thinking about the idea of being so close to an idol! Ever since meeting Sungyeol at his restaurant almost 4 years ago, I had been weary of seeing idols outside of their schedules or interacting with idols even during their official schedules. However I started writing a letter to all of Golden Child expressing how proud I am of them and how happy they've made my life. I was proud of myself for writing over half of the letter in Korean, then ended up finishing it in English. I kept getting so nervous thinking about handing my letter to them!

At the airport, we met another Goldenness who was handing out fanart her friend had made. There were also about just 5 other fans who came to see all 3 groups arriving today (EXID, Fromis_9, and Golden Child). I heard there were a lot more fans at the airport yesterday, however the timing worked out so that few fans would greet the artists arriving today since many KCONers are at the convention.

Woollim's CEO Lee Jungyeop came out first! My heart was beating so fast staring at Papa Woollim. He walked out and began walking the wrong way, then changed direction.

Next LE of EXID came out. In the middle of leaving, she turned around and started talking to a random guy.

Then Junghwa of EXID walked out. She was so nice and had such a friendly aura while waving to us.

Then staff wheeled out Golden Child's luggage. My heart dropped again seeing their luggage...the moment was coming up soon! And then Jungyeop continued walking around the terminal, from the outside back to where the staff and luggage were.

Next the girls of Fromis_9 entered and walked right in front of us. They were all very sweet and smiling despite having such a long plane ride.

And now the moment I had been waiting for, my first time ever seeing Golden Child, has arrived! I was not ready but here they were coming out! I had my Golden Child slogan towel from their Season's Greetings out and put out a huge smile to greet the boys on their first trip to the US. While my heart was racing during Jungyeop's and Golden Child's luggage appearances, my heart just stopped with Golden Child came out. It felt so surreal.

Manager Joosung led the boys out, followed by Daeyeol and Jibeom in the front. My Goldenness friends called out "지범아 (Jibeom-ah~)" and "지범 안녕 (Jibeom hi~)", and he cutely waved at us with his hand holding his passport. Then I handed Daeyeol my fan letter and he graciously took it while smiling behind his mask. I awkwardly said "감사합니다 (thank you)" in a really out-of-this-world high pitch voice that I hope no one heard.

I completely blanked out as Jaehyun, Jangjun, and Sungyoon walked by (my phone started filming their feet...) and finally recovered in time to tell Joochan "주찬 안녕 (Joochan hi~)" again in that high pitch voice. He was so friendly, smiling the whole time, and positively acknowledged me (my phone was still filming their feet so I forget how he acknowledged me).

I blanked out yet again as Donghyun, Seungmin, and Youngtaek passed by but at least was able to film properly again. Bomin was last, and I managed to say "보민 안녕 (Bomin hi~)" in an almost normal voice. He stared at me for a brief second with his powerful eye contact.

At this point the other fans were outside, waiting to take more pictures. I tried to get back to the front of the entourage. I caught up to Sungyoon, Joochan, Donghyun, Seungmin, and Youngtaek. The Goldenness handing out fanart had 3 fan letters she wanted to pass out, but eventually had to run back up to the front and hand them to Daeyeol. In her famcam I was able to see that Daeyeol was still holding my letter!

My Goldenness friend had been trying to hand out 2 gifts to members, and at first had succeeded with one gift, but Joosung came back to her and politely handed the gift back, saying in Korean that he's sorry that they can't receive gifts.

We walked with them until they boarded their van, and waved until they drove off. Throughout, one security guard was speaking really politely to us in Korean, but I didn't understand. Overall during my 6 hour adventure visiting the airport, we saw Golden Child for under 3 minutes. I'm so thankful that my friend invited me to come with her AND that she pushed me to write a fan letter. Because of this, my fear of meeting idols completely changed. Even better, Daeyeol single-handedly ended the fear that his brother had inflicted into me. I now have such a special attachment to Daeyeol and am so thankful to have experienced his heartfelt gestures. Today marks the beginning of the most eventful weekend of my life.

[KCON18NY] Day-0: Klub KCON

Klub KCON is an add-on to your convention ticket. It is a "club" for all ages (those under 13 need a parent to accompany them) from 5PM to 9PM with a DJ playing Kpop. In previous years there would be a surprise guest from the artist lineup that would appear for about 15 minutes for either a quick Q&A or point choreography lesson. I had researched previous Klub events and found that the artist was usually from the Day 1 lineup and a rookie boy group, however I still had my hopes up that Golden Child could be a guest. Sometimes it would be a surprise who the guest is until they show up at Klub, while other times KCON would announce the guest a week beforehand. This time, on June 8th at 11:40 EDT KCON announced Pentagon as the special guest AND that another special guest will be revealed soon. On June 13th at 9PM EDT KCON announced Stray Kids is the other guest and will hold a surprise performance. At one of the KCON Facebook live chats, they had also announced that Alex Reid would be a special guest as well, however they never really advertised this nor put it on the official Klub poster.

I am most certainly not a dancer nor do I like such social events, so I was trying to minimize the time I'd be in the Klub. Do note that many people started waiting in line for Klub right after early check-in so that they could get a good spot in seeing Pentagon and Stray Kids. I decided to go into Klub by 6PM, so an hour into the event which would give attendees plenty of time to get settled in. The Klub is held at Barnabas Health Hockey House, which is part of Prudential Center and is where all artist engagements (hi-touch and red carpet) are held. The worker out front scanned my bracelet and I was in.

Inside the lobby of the venue, there is a concession stand and little seating. Once inside the Klub, there is a high stage at the far end, and about half of the room was packed. On the far right is a much lower stage, and that is where the red carpet will be held. I took this photo at towards the back of the arena. The midway point is about where that camera is, and that camera is blocked off to form about a 6' by 6' square. Standing behind that gave a better view since no one would be directly blocking you. I ended up standing to the side and in front of it throughout the night, and at that area it was a good distance to see the stage well.

Right at 6:02PM, Alex Reid came on stage. I had perfect timing - I would've beaten myself up if I had missed a performance! She performed a song, gave an introduction (she is such a great entertainer!), and then performed another song. Next she gave an introduction to the next song she was going to perform, "Gretchen Wieners", which she would release the next day. This was her first time performing this song in public! Afterwards she commemorated her stage with a group selca. Her stage ended at 6:14PM. (Yes, even with my crappy photos I'm putting my watermark on there.)

There was an MC and DJ Sanchez on stage. The DJ played a lot of popular Kpop songs, though none from Woollim. When he played "Damdadi", I was the only one scream-singing along, but it was nice to have my moment. Many people were just standing around, waiting for the two main acts, and few were actually dancing. Many were dancing in place while singing along.

By 7PM the front half was a lot more crowded. At 7:08PM, the music stopped, and everyone pushed forward in great anticipation. Stray Kids came out and performed "District 9". An MC came out (Danny Lim from Buzzfeed?) and had the members do introductions. Each member introduced himself in English. The MC then asked the members how they felt being at KCON NY. Next the MC asked the audience to ask a question to the boys, so the MC asked what they are looking forward to eating since it's their first time in NY. One member said "we all know what Woojin wants to eat..." and Woojin said "I want to eat chicken." The Seungmin said "milky milkshake" and did the cutest dance to it! Next, the MC announced that Stray Kids prepared a special stage just for Klub KCON, which is a cute version of "Beware". Then Stray Kids took 2 group photos with the audience, then took a minute to drink some water and wave to fans. Lastly, they performed "Hellavator"! During the second verse, the members were waving to fans and 2 held onto selca sticks. To close, Stray Kids said their ending ment. Stray Kids' entire stage lasted just over 20 minutes.

Afterwards, DJ Ginjo came out on stage. His style of DJing is so different from the first guy's - the first guy was basically playing Kpop hits and you could easily identify the songs, whereas DJ Ginjo really manipulated the music and made it his own style.

At 8:30PM, Pentagon came to the stage! They first performed "Runaway". Next the members gave individual introductions in English. The MC then asked if Pentagon needs water, and they said yes, so the MC said "staff, can we get water? Pentagon is thirsty!" I really like the MC, he's so entertaining, knows how to take care of the artists, and knows how to get the crowd going. The MC then asked how Pentagon feels being in Klub KCON NY for the first time. One member said "this is our first time visiting New York...it's so wonderful to be here as Pentagon and we are so touched to see everyone here." Another member said "it is so spectacular to see everyone here." The MC then asked "out of all the members, who has never been to New York?". Majority, it not all of the members raised their hands. Then the MC asked the members who haven't been to NY where they would like to go. Members said Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Shake Shack, and one even said "I want to do (go to?) a concert in New York!" Then the MC asked the members to introduce their next song. One member said "the next song is...a song which makes everybody shine." The audience partook in the fanchant so well, I was so proud of Universe! Next the members performed a relay dance for "Shine".

Then Pentagon introduced their last song as "the final song is something related to this atmosphere today, something spectacular". I have never heard "Spectacular" before, but it was such a beautiful song and so cool to see it live! It was a softer pop song than the other 2 they performed, and the members were so friendly and waving at the audience. There were only 2 members on stage and I couldn't see where the others went off to...it turns out 1 member (Hongseok...?!) went down the right side where the red carpet is! That part is barricaded off but there were about 1 to 2 rows of fans lined up there. I could have easily ran up there to touch his hand but I was too scared...lastly Pentagon took 3 group photos with the audience, the last one being a sexy version. Then for the ending remarks a member was so humble and kept saying "thank you so much," then "see you tomorrow". Pentagon's entire stage was over 21 minutes long.

At 8:52PM, the MC called it a night and everyone left after Pentagon's stage. I didn't realize just how much my feet hurt at the end of today in sneakers, and had a feeling the weekend will be much more tiring.

For the past 6 weeks, I was most nervous about Day-0 for 2 reasons: 1) whether or not Golden Child would have an artist engagement and if I could get into their hi-touch, and 2) going to Klub KCON. I am the most anti-social wallflower and feel very uncomfortable at these types of events, however I wanted to fully experience KCON and push myself past my comfort zone. I am really beyond happy to have gone to Klub KCON because 1) it was totally acceptable to be just standing around on my phone, and 2) the guest appearances were so worth it! Stray Kids and Pentagon performing 3 songs each is incredible, and I was practically seeing a mini concert in an intimate setting. So far, my KCON experience has been off to an amazing start!