First, I should explain about the concert: YG is a music label here. They have some of the most popular groups in Korean music signed to their label. These super popular groups all performed at the same show. So, it would be the same idea if Berry Gordy-era Motown were to put on a show with their five biggest acts. The show featured the following performers: 2NE1 (a group of four girls), Pys (a solo man who has been in music in Korea for over 10 years but recently signed with YG), Gummy (a solo pianist and singer of mostly ballads), Se7en (pronounced like the number seven - solo male performer who released an ill-fated rap album in the U.S. a couple of years ago...he came back to his strengths in Korea) and Big Bang (a group of five guys). There were three shows put on for this rare concert in Olympic Park (where the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games were held) and we went to the second of the three. All of the songs are predominantly in Korean, but many of the choruses have English in them and despite the language barrier, the songs are super catchy.
The concert we had tickets to started at 2 pm, but in order to get in line for a good spot in our section, we met around noon. In the subway station, I saw two students from school. They aren't in my classes, but they recognized me and were really excited to hear that I was going to the YG concert. We saw them again as Diane was getting our wristbands. They had an impassioned conversation with Diane over who their favorite group members were. It was delightful to see them in public!
After we found where our section was to line up, we waited maybe two minutes before we were allowed to enter the building. We were supposed to be in section 009. As we wound our way through the maze of hallways and people, we came to a fork in the path. Diane showed her wristband to the security man and he pointed us to the right. We found our way to the section to which he had directed us. Diane quickly realized we were in the wrong section, but this section was much better than where we were supposed to be, and as it was a standing section anyway, we figured we could claim being dumb foreigners if anyone called us out. Here's a diagram of the sections:
Instead of people holding up lighters or cell phones to express approval of a song, fans of K-Pop hold up over sized glow sticks that correspond to their favorite group or performer. They bop their glow sticks to the beat of the song, so at any given moment during the three and a half hour show, there was a sea of yellow, green and white flashing, glittering glow sticks held in the air. No wonder Diane's arms are sore today :)
Here's a video of one of the songs someone took. You can see the vigorous waving of the Big Bang themed glow stick in the foreground. The song they're singing is a duet between Big Bang and 2NE1 that was used to promote a cell phone last year. Diane told me that this concert was the first time it was performed live. You're watching K-Pop history unfold :)
Whoever took this video had to be pretty crafty because the security in this show was crazy. There were a couple of people per section whose job it was to squash fans' attempts at taking pictures and videos. Diane tried to take a video of one of the first songs and the security man caught her and made her delete it in front of him. There was another girl who wrapped her SLR camera in a bandanna to help camouflage her efforts, but she got nabbed close to the end of the show and was physically removed by the security man. Like I said, they don't mess around.
At another point, Se7en, one of the male performers, was singing a ballad. Then, all of a sudden, he sat down and started to change his shoes. Ho took off his leather boots and donned a pair of sequin and glitter adorned Heelys (the shoes that double as roller skates) and began heelying around the different parts of the stage. It was so strange to see a grown man in glittering roller skate shoes belting out a ballad as he skated from one side of the arena to another. Only in Korea.
You can't see the Heelys in the this video, but you can see the man who wore them. He's the one in the black tux and the bejeweled collar that occasionally appears on the left side of the screen. The other guy is a member of Big Bang. His hair is dyed silver. Also, this video was taken pretty close to where my "seat" was, so this was my view for much of the concert when they were on the parts of the stage close to us. Pretty sweet.
The last number of the show featured all of the groups and performers singing We Are the World. I've always liked that song, and probably more of what is was trying to do, but it was all I could do not to laugh when they were signing it last night. Aside from the concert being hella entertaining in general, the whole show was an epic people watching feast for me. It was probably one of the best opportunities I'll have to experience modern Korean culture first hand...you know, other than actually living here. :)
This week is finals week at school, so I only teach third year students since everyone else will be busy with their exams. That means that the days that there are no third year classes (today - Monday and Thursday) I don't have to come to school! And, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, I only teach one class, with a possibility of getting the afternoon off. Teaching high school is bonkers.
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