So in October, it was announced that my favorite k-pop group Lovelyz would be coming to LA for a concert in November! Somehow, both times they've ever had activities in America have been this year in LA..... and both times, the concerts were announced a cruel mere month prior. ToT Initially I was like, "WHAT I probably shouldn't yolo down to LA again for a concert," for maybe like...10 minutes before it became, "But why not?" As a member of their relatively small western fanbase, I'd definitely regret not being there to support my girls 💪! Y-you can always make money back anyway right? o(-(
Luckily it turned out to be a pretty wallet-friendly trip. ^^ The concert, which also featured JBJ95 and Heize, for whatever reason was free to attend?! I went with my friend Tiffany—who's my only irl Lovelinus friend—and also Myst who was heading to LA for her own playtime, so we made a roadtrip down together and shared a motel. It was a fun little weekend trip with good music, good food, and good friends!
As I mentioned, I've only ever known one person irl who's a Lovelyz fan, aside from Chiisana who likes them but isn't necessarily a Lovelinus. Even given that, Tiffany and I had never actually attended a concert together before. But on this trip I was introduced to two more wonderful friends who are Lovelinuses!!!! It was sooooo much fun and so refreshing to be around them and talk about our girls and for everyone to be on the same page without explanations and just being able to share our excitement and practice fanchants together! 💓
Thanks to these friends kindly waiting in line early—and no monetary restrictions—we were luckily able to have some amazing seats! Honestly so grateful; I owe them my life. The poor folks all the way in the back probably saw nothing as there were no cameras/screens.. But we were able to see the performers' expressions, so therefore they must've been able to see ours too! 🥰
And the moment I realized this...... that Lovelyz could see me, that I was now an existence known to my beloved idols that I'd only ever in these past 5 years been able to admire from afar, that my actions and support might really be felt by them directly, that I had the power to help them feel loved by their fans and give back to how much strength they've given us, that I was truly in that moment a representative of their American fanbase.......... I almost cried while they were performing.
It was a small concert with only 3 acts, but because of that we were treated to a long set with SIX WHOLE SONGS!! 😠What an amazing experience....
One of the things I love the most about Lovelyz is that their title discography tells a whole story. It's brilliant and it's been so incredible to watch this beautifully thoughtful music project unfold.
Candy Jelly Love --- Crush
Hi~ --- Confession
Ah-Choo --- Friendzoned
Destiny --- Jealousy
WoW! --- Distance
Now, We --- FINALLY A MUTUAL LOVE!!!
Twinkle --- Exploring the relationship
That Day --- Break-up
Lost N Found --- Loneliness
Beautiful Days --- Reminiscence
Also the lyrics were way too relatable to my feelings at this concert... 💗
"You and I being this close seems like a lie.
Is it a dream? Maybe not? I'm confused.
You said you loved me—what should I do? I think it's for real!"
During this song I mouthed all of the words, my friends and I followed the choreo's hand motions with our lightsticks, we did the fanchants, and and and... I just swear I saw Babysoul and Kei looking our direction a lot. 💕 I really felt that we had some eye contact! I truly hope that they were touched by us. All of the members were pretty generous with fanservice with lots of waving and hearts! Kei gave our section a thumbs up. ^___^
The other songs they performed:
That Day --- YESSSS I was so happy they did this!!! The song's meaning is about healing after a break-up—it's overall a feel good, light-sounding song and I love the choreo with how gesture blowing confetti out of their hands which was fun to reciprocate with our lightsticks. I could listen to this song anytime, any day.
Ah-Choo --- Their iconic signature song! The audience reacted well hehe
Beautiful Days --- YALL. I'M SO FREAKIN PROUD OF ME AND MY FRIENDS. The fanchant for this song, which requires saying all of the members' full names in sequence, is hard for non-Korean speakers BUT WE DID IT. OUR PRACTICE WAS WORTH IT. And the girls were graceful and beautiful.
Rewind --- Woah, a b-side performance I wasn't expecting at all!! It was nice for them to take a break from dancing (they didn't do the choreo) and show off their ballad singing. Babysoul's live singing especially blew me away 🥰 This song was pure fanservice galore.
Hi~ --- Huh... I was shocked that they included this song in their short 3-song set during the last concert in LA, and still shocked that they continued to perform it again this time LOL. It's one of their first songs and fairly cutesy so you'd think they'd choose other songs that might appeal more to an American audience or is more recent? Still enjoyed the girls' refreshing energy though! They really have this lovely charm that not every group can pull off and this song is a showcase of that. ^^
The venue was STRANGE. The concert took place at the top floor of a ... parking garage?! Which they made us walk through to get to, interesting... Oh and also one of the speakers kept cutting out throughout the show and there was a power outage during Heize's set which was wild LMAO. The organizers are obviously somewhat amateur though so I can somewhat sympathize since I help run events sometimes—the audio engineers must have been freaking out but really what could they do about the faulty equipment as the show was going on? The show flow was a total disaster, buuuut I can't blame them too much...
Before the concert, I hung out with Myst and some of our friends who were not attending the concert/mini convention and we happened to be walking around when they started doing a Random Play Dance so we stopped to casually watch from the floor above. And then SURPRISE—the two boys of JBJ95 appeared on stage right below us?!?!?! The unexpectedly perfect view of the tops of their beautiful heads?!
After the concert we treated ourselves to delicious KBBQ ehehe. Finally tried the highly famed Kang Ho Dong's Baekjeong!
And the next day before making the 7 hour drive home, we got jokbal in honor of Kei who's the biggest endorser of jokbal ever ahaha.
It was a great, very cathartic weekend that was the escape from reality that I needed! ✨
2 posts in a week?? This is the kinda stuff I’m here for.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like so much fun to support at a small venue! I’m sure it means a lot to artists when the vibe is smaller and more intimate too. They really get the most dedicated and interested audience that way. They couldn’t have had a more supportive fan there.
Also, I love the decision process. YOLO Eva 4eva.
DeleteY-YOU CAN ALWAYS MAKE MONEY BACK ANYWAY RIGHT? o(-( LOL
Ahh yeah that's a good point–it was a really good sized venue for the artists! Close enough to see the audience but enough of a distance to not get mobbed, and a good amount of supportive fans there. Speaking of intimate as you mentioned, one of the performers Heize basically hilariously made the concert into her own fanmeeting by pointing out her fans in the audience—for example she wanted to take a selfie with a guy in an Olaf kigu and then she recognized one of her loyal fans and brought her on stage to do the rap part of a song.... It was crazy and they were so lucky!!