open discussion

Open Discussion (June 26, 2022)

Posted on by 45 Comments

Open DiscussionIt’s Sunday, which means it’s time to end the week with an open discussion post!

To keep things civil, there are a few rules:

  1. Be kind and respectful to one another. Any harassing language will be deleted.
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Each week, I’ll open with a question to get the conversation going. Feel free to chat about anything, but if you’re not sure what to write you can use this question as a starting point.

This week’s question (since I’m still in concert-going mode):

What is your most treasured K-pop concert experience? And/or, what concert experience are you hoping for in the future?

45 thoughts on “Open Discussion (June 26, 2022)”

  1. Mine has still got to be Infinite in 2016. My ultimate K-pop group with an incredible setlist. I mean, seeing The Chaser performed mere feet in front of you is the stuff of fever dreams. Front row seats with plenty of fan service as the guys came down into the audience to interact with us. The stars really aligned for this.

    In hindsight, I’d also choose SHINee in 2017. I didn’t know how precious that OT5 experience would be. Excellent show, in a much-smaller venue than you’d expect from a group of their caliber.

    There aren’t many of my favorite groups I haven’t seen, but I’d like to go to a TVXQ concert if they ever toured internationally. I need to hear Rising Sun in person! And apart from K-pop, I’m desperate to somehow attend a Johnny’s concert. I have this fantasy that the whole agency roster will come to the States for a special concert like the one SM Entertainment did in 2011. I’d be on a plane asap.

    For reference:

    Review & Recap: Infinite Effect World Tour in L.A.

    Review & Recap: SHINee World V – Vancouver, B.C.

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  3. I got tickets to Seventeen’s concert later this summer! They were a birthday gift. And I guess the other concert experience I had was an online BTS concert. I got up at 3am to view it. It was great. Although I had to stay somewhat calm and collected since people were still asleep.

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  4. Never had a kpop concert experience but here is what I want to happen.

    Kpop Agencies there is a whole dysphoria of kpop lovers in the Caribbean and latin America. We exist, why can’t one of y’all be brave and take a chance at the Caribbean. I would love a concert here it doesn’t matter who. Heck if I don’t listen to your I would just to attend a concert. There is a market here, why else would you all use dancehall and reggae beats if you don’t know about us.

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  5. I think they all were a good experience. I saw Cn Blue in London, Infinite, SF9, N.Flying in Paris. Sadly, I couldn’t see Ft Island when they came in Paris. N.Flying were incredible, they have so much energy! Bands in general shine really more in live on a stage than in a TV show.

    I think my biggest issue with these concerts was the public. Maybe because I’m older than the general public and went to a lot of non kpop concerts (the chance to live next to a big festival :p), I found the fans being more happy to see their oppas than fans being there to actually listenning music and knowing how behave during a concert.

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  6. I never attended offline K-pop concert, but I watched 4 online concert. My first one was Kang Seung Yoon Passage. His voice is incredible and the effort of live band and dancers made it into amazing experience even online. The next one was Treasure first concert, it was very meaningful for them and for the fans, beacuse it was their first concert. Their was amazing especially taking into accont their lack of experience with performing in front of the croud of people. Also this was a first time hearing Darari remix from them. Hope their release remix of Orange and Going crazy in the future. Winner concert was so much fun, their know how to make people even online so much excited. I can’t wait to their comeback.
    Hovewer i think my favourite was definitely today’s iKON concert. Their energy, stage, presence made me excited and emotional at the same time. Despite watching them through the screen i got so much energy from them. This was also their first time performing with live band, it was a blast to hearing all that new arrangement.
    Online concert are definietely more budget option, can’t replace offline concert. However this was definitely amazing experience.
    My biggest dream is to see Bigbang concert someday, hope to see them in Europe.

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  7. I think I have two

    1. Going to a Cube concert back in 2011. It was 4Minute, B2ST (Highlight) and G.Na. It was my first ever kpop concert so it was just fun all round. I got to see Troublemaker performed live 😎.

    2. Going to see Monsta X in 2019. Cos I got to go with friends and in the beginning I never had friends into kpop but now I have many so it was awesome for that. Also MX are a fantastic live act, especially Jooheon and I.M, they stole the show with their duo stage. It was also back when Wonho was still in the group.

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  8. I live in The Netherlands so it’s quite hard here :p In general I am not really a concert fan. I just want to sit and enjoy a concert in a calm way. That won’t happen with a K-pop concert for sure. But the one act I’d love to see is TWICE. It’s my favorite group by far, I love their diverse and high quality discography and their shows are spectacular. K-pop had and has many successful acts but with BTS, Blackpink and TWICE it really became global on a new level. And with much of K-pop’s success in the United States/worldwide being attributed to most Korean acts employing either hip-hop or EDM as their sonic base, TWICE succeeds in making their bubblegum sound attract Western appeal. Therefore I see them as the premier K-pop group and I think they are very undervalued in this aspect.

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  9. I have 3:

    1) Winner – I was a huge fan of the group, but somehow was unaware that they were gonig on tour until I saw an ad from Ticketmaster underneath their “Millions” video weeks after the ticket sales began. I literally yelled out loud “Oh My God!” and ran to get tickets. It was my first KPOP concert, and I truly enjoyed it. They really are a fun group to see live.

    2) Red Velvet – I was heartbroken when I was waiting on ticket site for a hour before the sales opened, only to get a “Sold Out” message just minutes after the sale began. Luckily, I was able to grab tickets in another city and made it a vacation. They sounded so good (especially Wendy!) and gave off such a relaxed vibe the entire show. I am so glad I got to see them since they are my favorite group.

    3) Monsta X – This concert was the closest to the Kpop concert experiences I’d seen online. The venue was PACKED and I swear the audience was the loudest I’d ever been in. Similar to you Nick with Shinee. this concert was precious because it was the last tour before Wonho left the group. To see OT7 performing together is something I will never take for granted.

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    • To quickly add, I’d love to see Twice live. I wasn’t a huge fan of them during their first US tour, and I wasn’t able to see them on their recent tour or encore shows in LA.

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  10. I have only been to one in person kpop concert and that was Oneus in the fall of 2019, not too long before the covid shut down. It was held in a NYC opera house which was actually really nice. Sadly Seoho was not there due to health reasons but the other members, Keonhee in particular covered for him beautifully all night. It was a great experience and even to this day it still feels surreal to think I got that close to them.

    I have also attended several virtual concerts, including Shinee, NCT and Oneus again. I know its not even close to them same as seeing them live but I really enjoyed those as well.

    I know its not possible but if I could I would sell my left kidney, a lung, and my right arm to go back in time and see Shinee in one of their OT5 Tokyo dome concerts, or any of their Shinee world tours.
    My slightly more realistic dream concert would be to see them at all in the future somehow.
    I would also love to attend kcon some day too.
    Honestly living outside of NYC makes attending kpop concerts more accessible in general, but safety concerns have always held me back. Beyond covid, NYC is a mad house and I don’t enjoy traveling to it or through it. I would for Shinee though, if they were ever here.

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  11. My first K-Pop concert experience was SUPPOSED to be Monsta X in February, but COVID-19 struck again and the Boston location was cancelled. I’d love to see NCT in concert (possibly a whole SM concert in America? Pretty please Lee Sooman?).

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  12. GFriend 2019 in Manila. I had to pass up Dreamcatcher earlier that year because I had a conference while it was going on (and they didn’t pick a place in my state this year so sigh), so I sent my sister (fellow InSomnia who got me into them to begin with) some tickets instead. Instead we dragged each other to GFriend. She also dragged in another friend of hers, so it was the three of us.

    We almost missed the sound check because Manila traffic is fucking awful, but we made it in time and were treated to an explosive rendition of Fingertip.

    Whole concert was fantastic, and it’s something you absolutely have had to experience. For example, I never appreciated the appeal of their ballad arrangement of “Rough” which I’d seen from clips on YouTube, until I saw for myself them belting it out, and felt the sound shaking my whole body. Then I got it. Setlist was solid, would’ve wanted a few more songs but we got the staples and they were wise enough to cut “Fever,” only doing a short version of it (it was their most recent comeback at the time but I think they knew it wasn’t a great one lol).

    Sadly, I don’t have any clips or photos because security was extremely strict about phone use, and aforementioned Manila traffic meant that basically all the merch was gone by the time we got there. So it’s really just memories for me. But I’ll never forget it, for sure.

    This turned out to be the last chance I ever had, because Covid upended everything and then they just suddenly disbanded. I’m glad I took it.

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    • Ooh, I’m jealous! I saw them at KCON 2016 but it was only a couple songs (luckily, two of those were Rough and Navillera!) but I would have loved to see a whole show — especially Fingertip!

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      • They did most of the pre-2020 staples (no Glass Bead or Summer Rain tho), and a few of my favorite B-sides (Compas and Flower Garden come to mind)! https://www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/gfriend-2bd9003e.html?tour=2bd07c1e

        Couple of other highlights of that show:
        – Everyone knowing the fan chants, because of course. Even I did my best to learn them!
        – Buddies throwing blue paper planes towards the stage on instruction from the group, some of them accidentally hitting other audience members from the back lol
        – The meme-worthy intermission clips (Yuju having four hearts, apparently)
        – One Filipino Buddy shouting “walang uuwi!” (“No one go home!”) towards the end of the show, just before the encores

        Man I miss GFriend so much. I mean we still have Viviz, Yerin, Yuju (haven’t heard too much from Sowon) but it’s not the same.

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    • I was there too! I remember during the “Vacation” stage how the audience played with two large beach balls, one even reaching the stage. My concert highlights were seeing “Flower Garden,” “Windy Windy,” “Time For the Moon Night,” and “Sunrise” live.

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      • OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO MENTION THE GIANT BEACH BALLS FROM THE VACATION STAGE. That looked like fun (even tho they didn’t reach my are haha–I was somewhere in the VIP area).

        Flower Garden is amazing live. I mean all those are, but yes.

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    • Depending on where you live, Ticketmaster might be a good source for upcoming events! As much as I loathe the site, many Kpop acts do sell concert tickets through the company. Otherwise, keeping up to date with the official social media for groups you like helps, as they usually announce tours and dates through those platforms.

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  15. I’ve been to hundreds of shows and concerts, but this coming Saturday (July 2) will be my first K-pop live concert – Golden Child! I have really been enjoying the free SM New Year’s Eve concerts, and the Beyond Lives from last year for SHINee, Baekhyun, Taemin and Kai. It’s hard to choose between them but I was really impressed with how Baekhyun switched between moods and costumes. It was a different side of him, and I really liked it.

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  16. I think I’m in the minority here since the only concerts I attend are Kpop or Jpop concerts (but Jpop acts aren’t as common as Kpop in northern California nowadays!), but I think Seventeen in San Jose in 2020 takes the cake for me. It was 1.5 months before the pandemic shut everything down and I went by myself since I knew they were great performers and I just wanted to see their dancing in person. I had no clue I was in for an hour’s worth of AJU NICE! encores; it was great and I had so much fun despite being by myself LOL. And now fast forward 2.5 years and SVT is my ult group and I’ve got front row seats this August 🤩 (I’ve watched two of their online concerts and enjoyed them thoroughly, but NOTHING compares to in person)

    I saw SuperM two weeks later at the same venue with some friends and that was also fun! I think having seen Seventeen so soon beforehand made me compare the two though; the concert felt very short since they didn’t have as many songs to perform.

    I was lucky enough to catch Shinhwa in Taipei in 2018 for their 20th Anniversary Heart Tour and that was a real treat. I kind of went for the hell of it though, so I wasn’t familiar with most of their songs, so I probably could have enjoyed it better if I’d done so more research beforehand. Nonetheless it was great and could tell the members were true and seasoned performers.

    It’s not Kpop, but honestly my most cherished concert experience was seeing Perfume in San Jose in 2018. I’ve loved their music for 9 years and their music has genuinely lifted me from dark places and certain songs can make me cry. It’s still the only concert I’ve cried real tears at because it felt like one of my life’s dreams had been fulfilled. I hope everyone can have that experience some day!

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  17. my first ever concert experience was seeing exo live in los angeles in 2016 for exo’luxion! i am a very short person and had my regrets getting into the pit section, but i thought it was a wonderful experience to be able to hear exo outdo themselves (especially chen, who was not a favorite of mine until i finished the concert) live and be incredibly charming people (for example, chanyeol who made jokes about taking part of the local marathon at the time) during their mentions. was incredibly tired by the end but i cherished it a lot.

    in terms of kpop acts, i would love to see aespa tour in the states (which will happen eventually) and see them in la again. hope to see twice (and regret not getting tickets despite being in the midst of school hell every time) live at some point but not confident about their contract renewals this year. non kpop related but if japan opens up, would love to ballot for snowman (with their imminent second album rumored for fall or winter of this year)!

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  19. I don’t really enjoy concerts – the crowds and confusion, parking, such a hassle. I discovered Kpop during quarantine, so I’ve never had an option for a live concert anyway, but the online BTS concert has a special place in my heart. They were my gateway and I absolutely adore them (Permission to Dance never happened and you can’t convince me otherwise). It was so exciting to see them perform live from the comfort of my living room, even it it was at an ungodly hour. Here TxT is sold out. Golcha are plaing soon at a pleasant llittle venue, but…people, transportation, parking, going alone which makes me veal vulnerable. Stray Kids is coming but tickets start close to $200 and just skyrocket from there, and I don’t think anything is worth that amount of money. Felix better have an hour long conversation over desert and coffee for that price. Saying that, if Taemin ever shows up here, I’ll probably sell a kidney. I think I would also like to see A.C.E, ONF, ONEWE and LUCY live.

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  20. I’m going to my first Kpop concert/actual concert in August! My mom somehow got us reasonably priced tickets to see Stray Kids in a few weeks. I’m a little sad though: they “sold out” immediately, but a ton of the tickets were scalped, so it’s really not that full at all. Not to say that there aren’t a lot of people going, but it is a pretty big venue and it is nowhere close to sold out. And then the resale prices went up to over a thousand dollars!!! I was so shocked. A lot of people on Twitter said they wanted to go but just could not justify paying that much, and I totally agree. Have experiences like that happened to anyone else here? Or going to a half-full concert? I hope that doesn’t dissuade them from coming back in the future. We were lucky to get tickets at all. I have no idea what to expect, but I hope it is still fun 🙂

    Also, Seventeen is in that same venue on my BIRTHDAY a month later but there is no way I can make it, sadly. Can’t afford back-to-back concerts anyway. Since HOT came out, I have been listening to a lot more of Seventeen’s stuff and now they are tied for my top group with SKZ.

    Speaking of Stray Kids, it is really interesting for me to read reviews here (especially on 4th gen) and see what everyone thinks, as it feels like a decent amount of you grew up with an older generation of Kpop. For me, Stray Kids was the first group I got into because I only started listening to Kpop in late 2020. I feel like I have a pretty darn wide range of what Kpop I listen to now though. This site is super great for finding older music or obscure songs that I wouldn’t have found otherwise. But while I listen to a lot of 2nd and 3rd gen Kpop, it’s hard getting attached to groups who have already disbanded or are less active.

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    • Sadly even tickets through the arena here for SKZ are over $200. I guess the less expensive seats are now sold. Still seem to be plenty of seats at the higher price! They have so much energy – I bet the concert will be awesome! Seventeen are playing the same arena here too, and the cheaper seats are still available. I’m not a big enough fan, though. Atlanta gets lots of Kpop groups, so I’ll have many opportunities if I get brave enough to go…

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  21. I’ve not had the concert experience and there’s not much history of groups coming to my country either. And even the few that did come were all in cities quite far away.

    I’m also a quiet person so I’m pretty sure I’ll be too overwhelmed by the crowds to enjoy it fully 😅 but still in an imaginary world where I’m more outgoing… the groups I would like to see in a concert are : SKZ, Ateez, Oneus, Onewe and Dreamcatcher 😀

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  22. I currently have tickets to see my first kpop concerts this summer (and first popular music concerts in general)—Loona and Dreamcatcher. Had to talk myself into not buying tickets for more groups where I’m just a semi-fan (SKZ and Gidle). Scalping is illegal in my state, so luckily it was more of a numbers game than a buyers game.

    From what I’ve seen of two groups online, they give great performances, so I felt confident in choosing them. As an introvert who doesn’t do too well with crowds, I’m a bit nervous, but I’m hoping the excitement of the night wins me over.

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    • Oh yeah, I’m also considering going to see Brave Girls, where tickets for general admission and VVIP are are extraordinarily cheap compared to the others. The only thing holding me back is that I don’t know their whole discography quite as well and compared to the others’ concerts, theirs is much further away from me (around 1.5 hours via public transit vs. 30 minutes.)

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  23. man, looking at these replies makes me miss concerts

    last one i ever went to was for taylor swift all the way back in 2015

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  24. I’ve never been to a concert 💀 but though I don’t think I’m the biggest fan of concerts (generally introverted and not a crowds person), I’d definitely like to go to one at some point! But before that the K-pop industry needs to realize that Canada is right next to the US and just cross the border to Toronto or Vancouver, please 😭 I would love to see Twice or SKZ some day…

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  25. I have a couple. I was able to go to a VIXX concert while studying abroad in Korea in 2018, and it was truly incredible. They’ve been my ult group since 2014 and hadn’t ever done a solo concert in the US minus a showcase tour in 2013 that I wasn’t able to go to. So seeing all 6 of them do solo stages, hearing the Eau De VIXX album in its entirety live, and just seeing my favorite boys live (not at KCON) was life changing.

    I also loved when I saw NCT 127 in LA in 2019. I have a distinct memory of when they did Replay, we were all jumping to the music and it felt magical. Plus the jungle gym thing was so awesome to see irl and I feel blessed that I got to hear Back 2 U live, what a song.

    My last one is Seventeen in LA in early 2020. It was a few days before my birthday and I did my very first VIP and pit experience for them. We definitely had to wait a looooong time since it was GA, but the soundcheck was unforgettable. I had a slogan for my ult Vernon and was waving it around and made direct eye contact with him and he saw the slogan and I kinda sorta burst into tears. The concert itself too was incredible, but that soundcheck was truly special.

    Kinda funny that these are my 3 ult groups, I didn’t mean for it to be that way but I’ve had some awesome experiences seeing my ults.

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  26. i have yet to go to a k-pop concert….of some that i would like to go to in the future?….a lot, but to mention just a few: BTS

    BigBang (if they are still together and decide to bless us with their full potential)

    EXO (would absolutely love being at an EXO concert with all of their 9 members present)

    Got7

    Girls’ Generation (though I may be asking too much, because who even knows their status, other than that we have been deprived of their music for over 5 years now)

    probably Twice (if for no other reason than to gaze upon Jeongyeon’s beauty)

    ITZY, Everglow, Rocket Punch, GIDLE, Mamamoo, A-Pink, Brave Girls, Purple Kiss….maybe Billie, Red Velvet, and Stay C….

    Dreamcatcher

    WJSN (and i promise that i will give it my best to not faint when i see my beautiful bias, Yeonjung)

    if i had a few wishes: Spica, 9Muses (2012-2013 lineup), Sistar, CLC (wherever Seunghee is at, i will be there!)

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