I'll be posting all about the experience I had~
There may be some "well, duh" things though because I went in not having read about anything from previous legs of the tour, and I also haven't watched all of Apink's shows so I'm not an expert on their personalities?
So at 10 PM the night before, I got an email saying that I won one pass for the hi touch event (basically you get to high-five all of them) before the concert. Which confused me because I did not even know I was eligible for the hi touch event LOL. And the email was from a gmail account, when I would expect kpopme (the event organizer) to have their own domain.....
I'm glad that the concerts seem to have went well so far without any incidents. Tbh, I'm grateful that they even happened at all, considering the shady stuff that's happened recently with announcing a concert then cancelling and sometimes not refunding.
Despite this, I still find myself shaking my head too many times at how the organizing of the concert was being handled in regards to attendees... It was a mess. Which line to go in? UNCLEAR. Volunteers are offering to take questions? COMPLETELY UNINFORMED KIDS. THEY HAVE NO ANSWERS. Why does no one know anything? THEY DON'T KNOW. Oh the staff are starting to try to sort things out now? THESE ARE THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE FIGURED OUT DAYS OR HOURS AGO.
While I'm glad that I had the opportunity to win a hi touch pass even though I was only general admission (ok I did not even know that I was GA... the website only says that VIP is standing, so we assumed our zone was seated), it feels terribly unfair to those who paid an extra $30 for a VIP ticket, which on the website is still the only tier that's supposed to be eligible for the hi touch event.
Also, how expensive is this merchandise?!
ㅠㅠ I can't believe I actually agreed to pay $28 for this lightstick, even if it does say "North American Tour" on it... It's mostly motivated by the fact that they prohibited any photos/recording—even checking bags for cameras and having security on the lookout for phones up during the show. I wanted some momento of the concert ;u; .. (Plus it's just a blast to thrust your lightstick and scream to support performers!)
I do think though that because photos and recordings weren't allowed, the girls let loose more than usual and seemed pretty comfortable during the show. :> They weren't afraid to make embarrassing faces or screams at all, and constantly made jabs at each other. I've never seen them so expressive before! It was really fun!
The hi touch event went by quickly. ;n; There were 100 hi touch winners (+ the highest tier of VIP is supposed to be guaranteed for hi touch too) so they had no choice but to get us all in and out ASAP.
Apink members stood in a line behind a curtain each with one hand up, so basically you just walk by, high five, then keep walking. xD My first impression: THESE GIRLS ARE SHINING. ALMOST BLINDING. ARE THESE REALLY HUMANS? They're so obviously celebrities and of another league, just wow ;___; They were wearing white blouses and their skin is so bright and flawless.
Honestly, I haven't been keeping up with them lately so I had no idea they lost so much weight. Or perhaps it's just the camera that adds 10 pounds, BUT THEY ARE SO SKINNY. I've never seen them look so skinny in pictures or videos!!! They almost looked a bit like different people from the Apink I was familiar with! And the very first person in line was Hayoung, who seems to have lost the most weight out of all of them. I could hardly recognize her, so I wasn't even sure if the girls I was about to meet were actually Apink for a bit LOL.
I said, "Saranghaeyo" (I love you) to every one of them ;////u////; aaaaa
Hayoung replied, "Nado saranghaeyo" (I love you too) back to me, WHICH. I'LL NEVER GET OVER. HOMG. Actually, she said it late and I had already been forced to walk past her, and she still turned to me to say it to me even as she was high-fiving the person behind me! She's so sweet!!!
Bomi looks almost just like how she looks online, always beaming with her signature smile, so she was very recognizable! Chorong said, "Thank you" to me in English!!! Namjoo was polite, but looked pretty tired. ;n; They really must be exhausted, flying in and out and performing all over.
I specifically remember I got to Na Eun and looked over, and poor girl looked tired and extremely intimidated by all this interaction. ;; She looked up at me with these giant, almost sad, doe-like eyes—and I swear I didn't think she looked human because she looked so perfect and adorable. Where can I get a face like that. The person in front of me was still talking to Eunji, so I took the opportunity to tell Na Eun that she's very pretty... except I don't know if my Korean was correct..... oh god................ cringes
And then Eunji!! She was standing a bit further off, and she went above and beyond by taking a step forward and leaning towards me with a huge smile in order to high-five me! QAQ It felt as if she wanted to high-five me more than I wanted to high-five her!
Ok we all know Eunji's vocals are the shining star of Apink's music, but she was also really the core of the concert in entertainment value. Endlessly enthusiastic. Constant fan service, coming closer to the crowd, and making affection gestures. Always wanting to talk and be a part of everything, trying to energize up the audience, and show off her English. XD She was a riot and such a troll, and always tried to say things that would get the biggest reactions from fans.
Eunji: (in English) Chorong is best leader in the entire world!
Eunji: (in English) I'm very exciting now. Let's having fun tonight!!
During the Q&A session, Eunji got the question about which other member's habits she'd want to resemble? And instead of choosing one person, she talked about EVERY member in great detail LOL.
Namjoo prays every morning for the wellbeing of the members, their families, and loved ones. She's never forgotten to do so!
Na Eun takes good care of herself. (It sounded a bit funny when the translator said that, but it's an admirable thing if someone takes care of their health well.)
Chorong looks out for the other members and is feminine.... but only compared to the others in Apink LOL. Although at first she said, "(in English) She is .. always .. scare," which earned her a loving smack from Chorong, and then she exclaimed, "IT'S JOKE!!"
Bomi isn't afraid to try new things and challenge herself.
For Hayoung, she literally just said, "Beauty!" in English. And said she's very kind to others.
Eunji: (in English) Me? UHHH... I DON'T KNOW! :D
Namjoo was asked about which member was likeliest to be eating even at 3 AM. When she saw Bomi was looking away, she shouted in English, "Eye contact!" LOL.
Bomi: (in English) I like chicken...... and beer.
Eunji: (in English) She is lying! She doesn't like beer. ........ I like beer. :D And soju.
Honestly, the one that ended up shocking me the most today was Na Eun. I've never seen her talk very much on shows. I get the impression that she's not the type to fake a smile just for the sake of it, so many times she looks aloof. She has good energy when performing, but outside of performance, she often looks blank and sometimes even uncomfortable. She barely ever spoke up unless it was her turn. ;n;
BUT WHENEVER IT WAS HER TURN...... She spoke a lot. In 90% perfect English. Her sentences would flow naturally as if she were speaking to a friend, totally well constructed with impressive vocabulary. She'd even go into detail and make sure her thoughts were complete and I could tell she's studied well. TONIGHT WAS THE MOST I'VE EVER SEEN NA EUN SPEAK....... THESE MOMENTS WERE THE MOST COMFORTABLE I'VE EVER SEEN HER.....
At one point Na Eun even said in English, "I heard it's basketball season right now... Golden 'Gate' Warriors, go!" and some more, but.. I couldn't hear what she said over the ROARING CHEERS she earned from the entire room for that sentence HAHA.
They played a game where they split up into two teams of the unnies (older girls) vs the dongsaengs (younger girls), had to reach their hands into a box, and guess what was in the box.
The unnies Bomi, Chorong, and Eunji had a crab shell in their box, which FREAKED OUT Bomi and Chorong. LOOOOL they were screaming shamelessly all over the place; it was great. Eunji just grabbed the thing fearlessly because of course she does. They guessed the answer correctly at the end, and then just simply looking at the crab shell made Chorong scream again LOL!
The dongsaengs Hayoung, Na Eun, and Namjoo had a little toy mouse in their box. The unnies were absolutely merciless in teasing them about it just to freak them out and distract them HAH. They looked into the dongsaengs' box and then pretended to scream, be unable to look at it, and ran away (secretly laughing).
Hayoung freaked out so much during her turn that she almost knocked the box over. XD Na Eun after some panic was able to grab a hold of the mouse and exclaimed that it had a long tail. To which Namjoo distorts her face and shouts in horror, "(in English) TAIL?!?!?!?!"
Eunji: (in English) It has teeth!
Later, after it was revealed to be a toy mouse...
Eunji: (in English, while examining the mouse) Oh... no teeth? Sorry. ;D
Eunji: (in English, while examining the mouse) Oh... no teeth? Sorry. ;D
Poor Namjoo though was legitimately scared and said in English, "CAN I GIVE UP?" After her turn, it seemed like she might have cried a bit? ;_; I'm not entirely sure, but she'd wiped her cheek a few times and sniffled once in a while.
After the game was over, Chorong threw the toy mouse into the crowd for someone to keep. The audience then asked to have the crab too LOL! Eunji had a little interview with the crab shell, then reported to us that no, "she" (the crab) is too sensitive and needs to go home.
And of course, the singing.
If it's a live performance, always you'd expect pitchiness or some flaws. But their singing surpassed my expectations so much.... Only a few areas of some off notes (these were the indicators that they were singing live and not lipsyncing so yay) but they were mostly COMPLETELY ON POINT. There were even times they sang acapella (Hayoung sang Good Morning Baby, Bomi sang Ariana Grande's Problem, and Eunji just sings all the time!) and they sounded like.. how you would expect to hear them in a recording... Why don't they have a better reputation as singers other than Eunji!!!!
Eunji of course is a fabulous diva who doesn't need to only flawlessly hit all of her high note belts, but also makes them even fancier than usual. Her belting is so projected and clear and beautiful ;^; She sings with such confidence and always with that Eunji-grade smile!
Bomi kind of surprised me with how much and how perfectly she sang with vibrato even in a live perf! Her vibrato is kind of to die for. She also has tons of energy and hits all of her high belting very cleanly.
Namjoo only showed her vibrato a bit but it was pretty nice. She's so stable and pulled off her few belts so well that you wonder why they don't give her more parts.
Chorong's voice is even cuter in person than in recordings, oh jeez.. I wish she'd project a bit more though because sometimes it's a bit hard to hear her parts.
Hayoung surprised me with her vibrato!! It's light and fluttery and not as controlled as the others, but it's refreshing! I love that her voice is significantly deeper and huskier than the others haha.
Na Eun is really not a bad singer at all, despite her reputation. She was the least stable in comparison to the rest of Apink, but imo she was still pretty stable as a singer in general.... I think she's missing a bit of confidence and maybe it's also just the way her vocal tone was built (it's a bit nasally and doesn't sound very full), but she genuinely seems to be putting a lot of effort to sing and to improve to match the others. She can hit the notes just fine.
Going into the show with no idea what the setlist was, I got a pleasant surprise of getting to see them perform one of my faaaaaaaaavorite A Pink songs, Good Morning Baby! The song is so criminally unknown and underpromoted?? The MV for it isn't even a proper one; it's the BTS of a photoshoot... And another awesome surprise was when they came back for their encore with Up to the Sky! I had that song on repeat a lot at a certain point because it's fun and I was impressed by Namjoo and Chorong rapping in it!
Aaaaand now it's 4:30 AM so I think I'll leave my thoughts on today's concert at that for now. ;v; Overall a great experience, thanks to these wonderful, talented, fun girls. Thank you Apink!! <3
#PinkMEMORYtourSF
#PinkMEMORYtourSF
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