Riding the Hallyu Wave

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I can't tell you about the start of the YG Family Concert because I was in a taxi racing across Seoul as the members of 2ne1 danced in unison amongst perfectly orchestrated explosions. The pits on either side on the stage were filled with screaming fans wearing crowns and holding scepters in honor of the next act, Big Bang, and I was smooshed next to Margo and Theresa talking about how you've haven't lived until you've lived in a shit apartment.

"Our place had plants in the window. Like, growing out of it. It was really cute. But then it got really dirty when the alcoholic moved in and my other roommate was on a speed binge. They were horrible for each other", sighed Margo.

"Dude, my place was like a crack house. There were these Italians who smoked cigarettes in the kitchen all day and we had grocery carts in the backyard," I countered.

Theresa gave her contribution. "I didn't live by myself until college when I moved into my sorority house. It was like a mansion, there was about 80 girls. We slept in bunk beds."

"Yeah, that doesn't count. You have to live in something really filthy. Why is this the longest taxi ride ever?" I muttered.

The clock was hitting 2:30pm. The concert started at 2:00pm. Ramsey was sitting outside the stadium waiting for you. I felt troubled, mostly because being late to anything gives me hives. But, experience has shown me that most concerts will have the less popular acts first, so we were sure that we would only be missing some crappy love songs sung by nobodys, not the main acts themsevles. But this rang false as we ran to the stadium hearing muffled strains of "Love Song" by Big Bang.

Ramsey strode up to us in all his tall and white splendor and we ran for the door where we were accosted and told NO CAMERAS. In this day and age, if you don't have videos or pictures, it didn't happen. It was defeating but we headed to our seats that ended up not being by each other. Theresa and I sat together and a few rows back were the glasses couple, Ramsey and Margo. The Korean girl next to me was wearing a coat and beanie. Theresa and I were wearing spray painted 2ne1 shirts that we made at home and hot glued chains to. Every other person had a glow stick or scepter and and they would pound the air with them for every song, like some Kpop army. We didn't have these so we went old school and just danced in our seats.

I hadn't been this giddy and outright pervy since the year 2000 at a pop concert with LFO and Bewitched. When we'd sat down Seven and Top were singing a duet and I kept screaming and pointing going "TOP TOP TOP!". "He's totally hot. Oh my god, he is so good at dancing. Seven is so hot. Oh my god." We had our hair in high ponytails. It was our right to talk like this.

The stadium itself blows your senses when you enter it. It's dark except for the main stage where metal stairs go up to a live band playing and the catwalk that goes into the crowd. There are moving panels all over the place and the lightshow was tripping me out. It was actually one of the best I've ever seen. The choreography of the show was impeccable. The only time the music stopped was for applause or when a singer was making a speech that I didn't understand. It's weird to have a record label call itself a "family" because in America most artists on a record are competing with each other, but YG likes to try and be an actual family. The singers collaborated on each others songs, like Dara dancing with PSY or CL and Minsy singing with Big Bang and they all seemed to be having a big party together, laughing and making jokes. The whole family vibe only bothered me when the beautiful but utterly boring Gummy (Korean for spider) kept popping up in 2ne1's songs.

The biggest suprise and hit of the night was when PSY hit the stage. Park Jae Sung is an older Kpop star, who's been making hits since 2001 and I first heard him this year with his song "Right Now" which immediately appealed to me because it was so different that the usual shit my students made me watch. He looks like any ahjoshi you would see on the street, except he's wearing fabulous clothes, darling, and he dances with the energy of a 22 year old and is as sexy as anyone in 2ne1. He was the only person to get everyone on their feet dancing and cheering. He oozed charisma and charm when he spoke and you could tell that everyone found him hilarious. His set was the best, it pains me to say, for I love 2ne1 with all my heart.

Jinusean was another surpise for me. I had never heard of them, but they looked classy in suits as they rapped over Latin beats. They also are an older duo, who have been making music since 1997. The guys have even collaborated with Snoop Dogg. Gangster as hell. They sounded like Pitbull crossed with Kpop, it was pretty great.

Tablo and Gummy made me want to slit my wrists. Let's see if I can remember the song names. Something along the lines of Love is Bad, Alone, and probably one called Without a Significant Other Your Life Sucks. Just mind numbing piano driven ballads where they would wipe away tears and hold one note for 20 seconds to prove they were true artists. It was gross. Apparently Margo and Ramsey offended some Koreans in the audience by criticizing Gummy too loudly. But c'mon, Gummy pretended to play a keyboard that circled the audience and was covered in lightbulbs. I ended up resting on Theresa's shoulder.

2ne1 were as bad-ass and beautiful on stage as they are in their music videos. They are my Korean heroes and they did not disappoint bringing the attitude fiercely with "I Am The Best", "Clap Your Hands", and "Ugly", which is where that bitch Gummy decided to show up. The costumes were not as glam as I had wanted them to be. Just white dresses and blazers with metallics sewn on and then later they were inexplicably in white zip-ups. But Dara looked FFIIINNEE when she sang with Jinusean in an awesome colorful little number. CL was smiling and getting down with her dance moves the whole time, which shows why she is my favorite.

Big Bang ended the show with an hilarious cover of "I Am The Best" and they really gave it their all. G-Dragon could be the next CL. Actually they should just get married and rule the world. Or maybe just Korea.

The concert ended and Theresa and I were asked if photos could be taken of us in our outfits, We obliged and modeled it up, then were herded out of the stadium so the 7:00pm show could start. Almost 4 hours of Kpop and it was well worth it. Tired and worn out from yelling, dancing, and having to listen to Gummy, we went down to the subway. The line for buying a ticket was about 30 people deep and my T Money card choose that moment to be out of credit. Thanks to the magic of blonde hair, a security guard saw my despair and took Margo and my card and put money on them in some secret security guard booth. BAM.

The night ended on a fangirl note when I saw, to my delight, Simon and Martina from Eatyourkimchi.com walking past me. "EEEEAT YOUR KIMMCHI EAT YOUR KIMCHI OH MY GOD". I actually screamed this at them from 5 feet away. I think I was so used to yelling at celebrities because of the concert that I thought this was socially acceptable. Simon looked at me like I was crazy and scurried away. Ramsey had also squealed and we looked at each other grinning. "He's so tall in real life", said Ramsey in awe. "I'm can't wait to tell everyone I saw them! Do they think I'm weird? I don't even care." I shrieked back, still on my come down.

I'm 24 years old and I've lived in a "crack house" and been to an extravagant K-pop concert which I made a t-shirt for and invested far too much time in screaming at boys younger than me.

I've definitely lived.

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Comments

[Faja]

I am happy
you never became devoted to gangsta rap.