KCON LA 2015!

I just went to my first KCON! And now I wonder why I've never gone to KCON before because holy shit, it is such an unforgettable experience. I went with Chiisana and our friend Dres, and the funny thing is that Chiisa and I are known for having very bad luck—especially together. The drive from Norcal to LA is supposed to take 6-7 hours, but guess who had to endure a 10 hour drive through traffic hell with a lovely view of mountain wildfires.... ;x;
And somehow, KCON itself went .. beyond smoothly for us. In fact, it went super well!

So here's my KCON experience complete with shaky pictures and scream-ridden fancams ^^


We got P3 tier tickets for both concerts (which really were so much better than the cheapest seats—those poor people looked like ants even to me) and they came with 1 guaranteed fan engagement pass. We registered and got these scratchers, which excited us to heck because it was like kpop scouting!! LOL (School Idol Festival reference)

Then we got "Sorry" on both our two passes. Ensue confusion.
We ended up having to get back in the registration line to ask, and it turns out that you just have to keep going back until you get a non-sorry lmao...... We got another set of sorries, and finally the guy just gave us 4 passes each to try instead of 2 HAHA. That's how we ended up with a bunch of Shinhwa passes and one Red Velvet one! Unfortunately, Shinhwa's the group we're least familiar with among the guests, so we took it to twitter to trade with fans who wanted the Shinhwa pass. :> That went smoothly too and didn't take us much out of our day.
Finally we had on hand 3 Red Velvet passes and 2 AOA passes. But there were 3 of us D: So since some fans had been selling their passes for $20, we thought we'd try to find an AOA one and split the price among us.
Just that moment, someone tweets that they're giving away their AOA pass because they're not going!!! AND SO WE GOT IT FOR FREE. SOMEHOW. WOW. Thank you, o generous person our savior!!!! ^^

So begins all the fun.

We were browsing the expo hall for the first time when suddenly there's screaming. There's a group being escorted to the stage that's in the center of the hall.
AND GOT7 COMES OUT FOR A SHORT FASHION WALK. We were so close to GOT7!! They're dorks, as expected. Leave it to Bambam to come up with some cute English comment that will crack everyone up.

WITH SOME KIND OF LUCK, Jinyoung/Junior was the member closest to where we were standing! We were swooning! He's even more handsome in real life! The boy is bursting through my bias list like a wrecking ball!!

I swear Mark is looking in my direction in this picture.

JB was pretty serious for the most part, but as they were leaving the stage, he let his dorkiness loose LOL.. Just kind of flailed his arms and held them out like an airplane. JB's great.


NIGHT OF THE FIRST CONCERT!
The amazing line-up was Monsta X, GOT7, SISTAR, Roy Kim, and Super Junior!

LOOK. AT THIS STAGE. It was breathtaking! The parts of the pyramid move! You can't really tell but the lighting was also extremely intricate and well done. Sound system was also pretty good; there didn't seem to be any mic problems and I could mostly hear the singers' voices. Props to the crew!

I think that's Daniel Henney in that right picture.

My fancam for GOT7's Intro Dance:

Unfortunately, Jackson couldn't make it but the other members made sure to make everyone understand that he felt really sorry about it and wanted to come ;A; So sweet. I'm sure it would've been so much more fun with Jackson around since he's another fluent English speaker.. But on the bright side, since he wasn't here, Bambam and Yugyeom got more parts, so that was nice!

And then GOT7 performed JJ Project's "Bounce" which was SUPER FUN. I wished I was in the standing pit because I would have jumped around like a maniac. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a GOT7 studio version of "Bounce" or at least for JJ Project to rerecord it!

I really enjoyed the collab stages too!

Roy Kim and Soyu (SISTAR) did a lovely duet. ;u;

And then GOT7 and Monsta X did a dance battle! It was intense!! The end where they face off. TESTOSTERONE.

GOT7 and Monsta X:

And then the kings of hype! Everyone got up and screamed for these guys :> but of course not before lighting up a beautiful sea of Super Junior's sapphire blue!

This year is Super Junior's 10 year anniversary, so they really got us with feels as they revisited the timeline of Super Junior's career starting from 2005...

And then they came out and performed "Twins (Knock Out)", their debut song !!!! I was gonna cry!!

They also did Sorry Sorry and then Heechul CAME OUT PLAYING DRUMS. Seemed legit to me. I was very impressed.

Seriously though Super Junior have sooo much fun on stage THEY'RE CRAAAZYYY and then you end up going crazy for them too. That was a wild night. Their English is hilarious! Leeteuk never changes LOL.. (Siwon's English is surprisingly very good!)

At one point, they mention how they're at the Staples Center and then they all start .... pretending that they're shooting hoops.... ALL OF THEM.. THEY'RE JUST STUPIDLY JUMPING PRETENDING TO MAKE HOOPS. They're the best.

And then everyone comes out at the end of the concert and it's confetti galore!

Heechul (Super Junior) and Bora (SISTAR) - I can't tell who's dragging who LOL

I really love Super Junior's fanclub—they're so generous! The lightstick is mine from years ago, but the light-up headbands were given away by the fanclub for free (optional donation but I definitely donated) to those who had a concert ticket. SO AWESOME.

Day 2 of KCON!

Had to get up early because the AOA fan engagement started at 10:30 AM..

AND SURPRISE.. Eric Nam comes out to host the fanmeet!! eeeee he's such a great MC on top of being a great singer, personality, and human being in general. Fucking love him. He so effortlessly transitioned between Korean and English and made sure to translate for everyone and establish a fun but productive atmosphere!

Unfortunately, I wasn't that close so mostly I had to look at the screen. Which isn't so bad because close-ups :D

I don't know much about Chanmi; I only knew that she usually gives off the impression of having attitude and looking angry. Tbh even on shows and performances, I never saw her smile much..... So this was my first time ever seeing her look so cheery and sweet! She actually smiled quite a bit and was pleasant and active! ^^

My fancam of Jimin rapping:

The latter part of the fan engagement had opened up to the audience to ask questions, which was really nice. ovo One very lucky fan was standing in the back near where we were, but she was holding a big white AOA sign, so AOA picked her to ask a question. xD And she asked if ChoA would marry her LOL! ChoA enthusiastically said yes but then added that she couldn't see the fan's face due to the crowd in front of her. The members asked the fan to jump so they could see her HEHE. It was a fun fanmeet.

Then we actually went and checked out some panels/workshops. We tried on and took pictures in hanboks! Pictures we very much would like to burn. but. still fun.

Charlotte Cho and beautifymeeh's panel on skin care may or may not have changed my life LMAO. It was actually very informative and interesting! I enjoyed it and learned so much. The seeds of interest in Korean cosmetics within me are now sprouting out of my control and I want to buy every product they mentioned... Thank god they gave goodie bags to every audience member! So generous!!! The samples they gave are so great! Guess who's actually getting off her lazy ass to have a nightly skin care routine.... I'm a changed girl.

Next was the Red Velvet fan engagement, yay! It was unfortunately short because it was scheduled just a mere 35 minutes before the red carpet ._. Poor girls must have been rushed from place to place.

Eric Nam hosted both the fanmeets we went to, so now we're wondering if he just MC'ed all of them LOL. I'd like to know, actually.

We lined up for this one early so we were much closer to the girls and Eric. :>

They were endlessly friendly and receptive to fans! So much waving!! So many smiles! *____*

One of the first things I noticed was how much Yeri has matured into a lovely young lady! She doesn't seem like a kid anymore.. She's still the cutest, most enthusiastic member, but she now has this certain air of sophistication??

Look at this pretty young lady! She's grown on me a lot more after KCON ^^

Eric asked where they wanted to go here in LA, and I think it was Yeri who immediately said In N Out haha. And then Wendy (who was talkative and awesome, seemed more comfortable speaking in English) mentions going to Bath & Body Works because they don't have it in Korea.... and Victoria's Secret (this one got the biggest reaction hehe). They also mention Disneyland and Six Flags.

They also talk about American artists they like and Yeri's super passionate about making sure everyone knows she likes Beyonce LOL. Then Wendy mentions Jessie J and sings a bit of Bang Bang!

It's ironic because Yeri and Wendy are the members of RV that I used to pay attention to the least, but they're the most memorable ones from the fanmeet.... Joy is my favorite but I can't really remember much other than her being the most popular and making the entire room swoon when she blew a kiss at a fan///

Was very disappointed that we didn't have enough time for fans to ask questions, because I think that would have been fun, especially with Wendy's proficiency.

Seemed like the girls had a really good time comfortably up there with Eric Nam!

NIGHT OF THE SECOND CONCERT!

The line-up was Red Velvet, Block B, AOA, Zion.T & Crush, and Shinhwa.

To be honest we could have renamed KCON 2015 as the "Where is Kim Soohyun Event 2015" because that's pretty much what everyone spent the entire con wondering. KCON announced star actor Kim Soohyun as a guest. But no panels, no fan engagements, no performance.... where to find Kim Soohyun???? when?? how??

Finally! He came out to give a short MC speech/introduction. :> It was really short. Bye Kim Soohyun I miss you already.

I hardly have pictures and videos from this night because I'm a fool who didn't charge her camera battery.

Here's a craptastic fancam of Red Velvet introducing themselves to fans in English, but do beware that my screaming is all over this so watch your volume LOL..

Block B is SOOOOOO MUCH FUN. AAAAAAA. They're wild. ZICO IS A FUCKING ANIMAL. DAMN. Glad I didn't try to get any pictures or videos during that HAHA.

AOA!! AOA!!!!!! I was surprised they performed 5 songs.. But no complaints here.

I feel really bad because I should have gotten all hyped up over Crush, Zion.T, and Zico's "Oasis" performance but.... around the time when Zico came out to do his crazy thang.... people in nearby sections started freaking out because ROY KIM WAS RIGHT THERE.

I was SO CLOSE TO ROY KIM. He's so charming! Surprised us for a MC bit. :> (Really though, I now find him to be an incredible and inspiring person. Not only is he an amazing singer.. There's something very earnest and heartfelt about the way he speaks and how he's using his star power to lend help to the underprivileged. Really beautiful.)

Basically all of the special stages/collabs happened during Zion.T and Crush's part.....
For one, Zico (Block B) came out for Oasis.
Wendy (Red Velvet) sang a breathtaking duet of "Yang Hwa Bridge" with Zion.T.

And then AOA's Jimin came out to rap part of her song "Puss" ?!?! I was expecting Crush to come out and rap Iron's part of the song, but then..... then Jimin left the stage........ and there was no continuation to Puss... It was confusing. But still very welcome. Because omg Jimin. She's so hot and so charismatic.

Shinhwa was hilarious and went around to every side of the stage to make sure they did their "WE ARE.. SHINHWA!" introduction to everyone in the stadium. xD I can't believe they still do these idol dances despite their age and how long they've been in this industry. It's pretty awe-inspiring.

During the closing when all the groups came out, there weren't really inter-group interactions EXCEPT for one major one. Right at the very start, Chanmi (AOA) came towards Joy (Red Velvet) and they had a really joyous hug! It was so cute! I didn't know they were friends ovo
Block B were the last ones to leave the stage and awwww it seemed like Ukwon really didn't want to go HAHA. He kept wanting to fool around/dance more and wave to fans. He got himself his own wave of cheers. :>



So another stroke of good luck happened right before the last concert when we were browsing through the expo hall for the last time while things were starting to close down. It was emptying out—plus all of the gungho extra passionate fans were the ones gone waiting in line because they paid to stand close to the stage.

We were walking by the official Mnet booth (remember Mnet is the channel on which M! Countdown airs, which is the program that will broadcast the KCON performances) when suddenly they started announcing..... that they were selling OFFICIAL AOA KCON BANNERS.... AUTOGRAPHED BY AOA. Just minutes ago backstage. And they had a video showing the members signing items.
If you think about it. That autograph itself is worth $30 or more. But this deal had a KCON AOA banner (can I mention that it's unnecessarily comfy soft.. like I could ttly sleep with it), a KCON AOA fan, a big AOA pin, and a huge Block B poster. And a fresh autograph. Legit for sure. For $30. That's pretty tight.

SO GUESS WHO GOT JIMIN'S AUTOGRAPH......... ^___^ I think they ran out of her signed banners so instead I got a signed fan. BUT THAT'S OKAY. At least I got something before they ran out!!

Now to wait for KCON 2016~