More information for all the VIPs who follow me (which is like half of my followers! Awesome.) I’ve decided it’s pretty pointless to just talk about the songs the singers did because anyone can just search for the set list so I will try to capture the feeling of the show. And also not to scream too much about how Se7en walked right over to me and smiled at me and looked in my eyes and held my hand and it was awesome because I think I am talking about that too much. :)

When we got to the Olympic Park, it was totally packed. And also very cold. People were running around with Big Bang masks and YG capes and with glow sticks sticking out of their bags or in their hands. As usual, there was a big screen playing YG songs and some big pictures of the singers that you could pose with. There were also promotional stands for the products the singers are currently endorsing. There was one for Nikon and one for that sparkling water drink GD & TOP are selling and one for the Soul by Ludacris headphones. I spun a wheel at the Ludacris headphones stand and got a cute Big Bang clear file. I’m not sure what the other stands were offering but it was probably nothing very special. Anyway we were a bit late and wanted to hurry up and stake out our spots in the line.

We also checked out the merchandise, and there were a lot of cool things. There was the new 2NE1 (Japanese) light stick and a Psy light stick and a Gummy light stick and a special YG Family light stick. I ended up buying the concert photo book (kind of a waste of money! There aren’t many pictures. But it’s a good souvenir) and the button set (which I will never, ever use, but just wanted to own) and the souvenir concert plastic bag. There was also a 1,010,000 won bag (about a thousand dollars.) Who is going to buy that?! And a 300,000 canvas bag. (They were designed by Corso Cosmo; that’s why they were so expensive.) I will take a picture of the stuff I bought when I get home later tonight.

I huddled in line with the other concert-goers: mostly teenage girls. I was the ninth person to enter section 5 which was awesome. The middle school girl next to me tried to help me out with English, telling me I needed to get my ticket ready and that I should tear off the stub before presenting it to the security people. She was very sweet. But actually, I just walked right by the security people, and they didn’t even notice. I could have essentially just walked into the concert without having a ticket at all (if I had gotten a wristband somehow.) They didn’t even check our bags. Security at concerts in Korea is so chill compared to the US.

Waiting inside. It was so warm I could feel my body thawing. I was in the very front of my section so I could lean on the railing the whole time. The concert started on time, with a short video of all the singers and some of their old photos. The lights went off and all the light sticks went on. It’s very beautiful to be surrounded by hundreds of yellow and green and white swaying lights. And, of course, the awesome fan-made signs. Somehow Korean fans make awesome light-up signs. I noticed one for Seungri and one for Daesung and one that said “Epik High” which I guess was for Tablo. The first song was “Fire” by 2NE1 which is a good ‘let’s get this started’ song. 

The best part about the concert was watching the different groups perform together, or perform one another’s songs. G-Dragon came out for the song he did with JinuSean when he was still a little boy. TOP joined Se7en for “Digital Bounce,” finally (at least year’s show, it was just Se7en. It didn’t make sense for TOP to not sing since he was already there.) After they sang, they hugged, and TOP kissed him, and Se7en slapped TOP’s face. It was so cute. Gummy sang a jazzy version of Heartbreaker before G-Dragon popped up from below the stage and brought up the tempo. GD & TOP did “Oh Yeah” but had Minzy and CL sing the woman’s part instead of Bom. There was a photo slideshow for Se7en and then Seungri came onstage dressed like Se7en circa 1999 and pretended to be him. It was really funny. And 2NE1 and Gummy did some songs together (girl power) but at at the moment, I can’t remember what they sang. For the encore, 2NE1 opened with “Baby Baby” (I think; my memory isn’t good) [Edit: I now think it was “Last Farewell”) and then Big Bang did “I am the Best” but with really funny, girly dance moves. 

Then everyone came out wearing the merchandise (this happens at every YG show; the last song is always the singers wearing whatever clothing brand they are currently endorsing and then random towels and accessories and hats that were on sale as tour merchandise) and they all sang an old YG song together (or a Psy song; I don’t even remember; maybe both?) and ran around receiving presents from fans and touching hands (which is when Se7en gazed into my eyes and grasped my hand!) and then doing a picture onstage with all the fans in the background. Then everyone went backstage and as the curtain thing closed you could see Seungri dancing like a nerd [edit: might have been TOP) and someone (GD?) doing a headstand. 

I really liked seeing Tablo but the slow pace of his songs really changed the mood. Same with Gummy- when she was singing, a lot of the people around me were just talking. I know most people were there to see Big Bang and yes, her music did make me want to sleep a little bit, but they should have been more respectful.

Also, I was really touched by the crowd’s response to Daesung. Every time he sang or spoke, the audience screamed their lungs out for him. I guess to show support for him after his scandal that happened earlier this year (a man was lying on the road; he hit the man in his car; the man later died.) It was really, really sweet. I’m sure he was very touched by all the support and love going his way. 

Speaking of scandals, I felt like GD was keeping a low profile during the show because of his own scandal. He wasn’t as crazy and loud as he usually is. And actually, I don’t think he came to our part of the stage the whole time. ㅜㅜ I would have liked to see him up close again because he is so cute. And tiny. All of them are so tiny in real life. 2NE1 are like flat-chested sticks. I guess they exercise and diet so much they have the bodies of little girls. (It’s weird! But you only notice it if they’re wearing a really simple outfit. I think they need to eat more.) And Big Bang are also super-small, especially G-Dragon. (He definitely needs to eat a burger.) Taeyang is so short. You really notice it when you see them live. I think he probably stands on a box or something whenever they do photo shoots. TOP also doesn’t seem that tall. I feel like he’s probably my height (5’9”.) Definitely not 6’0” like I think his official press release states. But he looks massive next to Taeyang. 

Like last year’s concert, I felt like Psy completely stole the show. It’s really surprising to me that all of the young girls like him, because he’s neither young nor handsome. But when he came on, the middle school girls surrounding me spazzed out and started screaming his lyrics and jumping up and down. He was wearing a huge white fur vest and his performance had a lot of energy. For one song he got onto a glowing, moving disk and ran around on it. I have no idea how he didn’t fall off. The crowd was also really into JinuSean, which was awesome, because they were completely snubbed by YG last year and not even asked to be part of last year’s concert. (And the hot guy in the group took off his shirt at the end. I liked that part.)

I’m not sure what else I can say that provides a different, unique perspective on the show. Well, I was also right in front of the stairs the Hi-Tech dancers used to go onto the middle of the stage (from the side) so I could see them all very clearly. Some of those men are fine. Especially the one who was usually wearing a bandanna on his head. I don’t know the dancers very well but I’m 99% sure one of the Kwon twins the girls are obsessed with was standing in front of me most of the time and he even moved my water bottle so he could crouch on the floor. (It was the one in the red jacket; is that a Kwon twin?) Most of them were actually pretty short. They were all so, so skinny. I definitely saw a bunch of them flirting with each other while they waited to go onstage. It was cute and I think they did an amazing job dancing. Also I thought it was funny that I could see the tag of one girl’s shirt sticking out, and it was from Forever 21. I guess I assumed everything would be brand new and really expensive. But even the shoes Se7en put on after he did his roller skate thing (he always roller skates around the stage!) were all scuffed up on the bottom. Interesting.

I wish I could have gotten pictures but they were being really, really strict about it. I only took 3 pictures at the very end, when all the singers were posing for their group photo. At one point I moved my phone from my back pocket to the front pocket because I was afraid it would get damaged from all the pushing behind me. I didn’t even turn it on. Immediately a security guard came out of nowhere and started yelling at me not to take pictures. RELAX, woman. I was too afraid to open my phone to check the time until the concert was almost over because of that. Also I really wish there was some photographic evidence of the special moment I shared with Se7en. Haha. Maybe it will end up on the DVD? I would be so embarrassed because I always look bad on camera (case in point: my brief and hideous appearance on the Dream Concert official video.) But another cameraman had his camera right up in my face for like a minute (longest minute ever; I had to pretend I didn’t notice it) so maybe my lovely visage will grace the official YG Family Concert DVD and Se7en will remember our brief encounter and break up with his long-term girlfriend and start an internet campaign to locate and marry me. 

The concert was amazing and, at four hours long, we really got our money’s worth. By the end, my legs hurt so badly from standing for such a long time. I have never appreciated sitting down as much as I do now! What a great concert, as always. Thank you, YG. Now, I can’t wait for the next Big Show! ^__^

I also saw foreigner celebrities Simon and Martina in the subway after the concert. Apparently, YG gave them free tickets because they wrote about YG on their blog. (JEALOUS.) They were mobbed by foreigner fans wanting pictures, and they were really nice to all the people screaming at them and happily took funny pictures with everyone. They seem like cool people. I thought about telling them I think their Kpop music review videos are funny but then decided to just leave them alone. They probably can’t go anywhere without being bothered. I’m glad no one cares that much about me and my blog. If someone said they recognized me from here, I wouldn’t even believe it.

Congratulations to my favorite Korean group, Big Bang, for beating Britney Spears and three other international singers/groups for an MTV European Music Awards trophy. 

Like a few other bloggers, I feel bittersweet about this. Big Bang presents the traditional hipster dilemma for me: I want them to succeed, but I also don’t want them to become so popular that liking them makes me boring and normal, instead of quirky and unique. I like being that cool white girl who knows about Asian stuff. It makes me very attractive to Asian dudes, and Asian dudes are cute and hilarious and always know how to cook good ethnic Asian foods.

The truth is, Korean pop music has been astronomically growing in popularity in the last ten or so years. Korean agencies formerly focused their marketing solely on other Asian countries, especially Japan and China, but now there’s a growing demand in every country except maybe Antarctica for Kpop. (Why? I blame Youtube and Tumblr.) The recent SM Town concert in Paris and the SHINee show in London are testaments to this- both shows sold out within minutes, and the demand for SM Town tickets was so great that they were forced to hold another show. 

Whenever I see non-Korean people on TV frothing at the mouth over Kpop, it feels really strange. Like, when people hold Kpop dance contests outside the Louvre, or hold up signs for their favorite groups arriving in European airports saying “사랑해”( which is totally not right; don’t use informal language with someone you don’t know who is also older than you; get it right!) I just think they’re weird. I kind of roll my eyes and think “How do you even know about Kpop?” I just assume all non-Korean fans of Korean pop music are weird social outcasts who got into Korea because they were into Japanese anime and stuff.

However, I am such a hypocrite, because, a few years ago, that person was  me. Let me explain how my love affair with Korea began.

It all started with Japan, as many love affairs with Korea do. My brother had just bought Final Fantasy VIII at a used video game shop. While I initially thought it was boring, I started to really fall in love with the music, the character design, and the unique magic system (NERD ALERT). I was reading something online about how the Japanese singer Gackt was the character model for the main character of the game. So, I got into Gackt’s music as well as his persona; for example, he claims to be a 600-year-old vampire and all sorts of other stuff.

Liking other visual kei music and just weird Japanese stuff in general soon followed. I never watched anime, but I do confess to owning several volumes of Japanese romance and fashion manga. This was all in high school.

As I went to college, I was always interested in Japan, but my studies led my elsewhere (because knowledge of Latin and classical history is really in-demand in today’s job market, right?) and I didn’t actively pursue new Asian interests for a while.

Then, in my junior year, my Korean flame was ignited, totally by chance. I was visiting a friend’s dorm room to borrow a book for our junior seminar class. She is Korean-American, and when I came in, she was watching a Korean TV show that she said her cousins had told her to watch because it was “the Korean Gossip Girl” (well, kind of…) That show was Boys Over Flowers, a ridiculous, over-the-top romantic drama with chaebol flower boys; poor, hard-working heroines; and an awesomely bad soundtrack that mostly constituted playing “Almost Paaaaa-radise” every 5 minutes, even when there was nothing to be happy about. So I was interested in that show, and started watching other shows on the same video website. And though my love for Korean dramas started out (and still is) kind of ironic, it was also genuine. (Why ironic? Korean dramas are so unrealistic. Also, they are all exactly the same. The man is a rich jerk, the girl is poor and nice, their hate turns to love, his mom is going to hate her and maybe try to run her out of the country, and maybe someone was cross-dressing the whole time [to save their family from ruin, of course!] which complicates things further.) Then, thanks to Youtube, I discovered Big Bang. If it was Boys Over Flowers that made me dream of going to Korea, it was Big Bang that made me actually go. How can you resist this?! This is the definition of ear candy. Nothing about this song is serious. It’s a self-aware advertisement for a cell phone. But see how much fun they’re having with it! Such a nice change from American music, which is always taking itself way too seriously.

However, it wasn’t until I downloaded G-Dragon’s solo album (my first Korean album) that I really, really got into Korean pop music. After learning that G-Dragon writes most of the group’s music and that they all have more control over their images than most other singers, I really appreciated them. I just never liked anyone else nearly as much as Big Bang, because I think their songs are the best. So I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Korean pop music exactly; just a fan of a few groups. (And new ones keep popping up every other day! What. Who are these “Boyfriend” guys and why are they all like 16?! Am I legally allowed to watch this?)

And why was Korean music, and even before that, Japanese stuff so attractive to me? Maybe because it’s so different from American culture? Maybe because liking it made me different, and I like being different? Maybe because the men in these dramas are always perfectly-dressed, handsome guys who would love you forever if only you could break their hard shell caused by daddy issues and see the real them? (Men like this became very attractive if you went to a women’s college and all the male college students nearby were largely unwashed, slightly dirty, annoying little weasels.)

So that’s my story, and I guess I can’t really explain why I still think it’s weird when I see other foreign people who like Kpop and why I don’t want my favorite singers to achieve the worldwide popularity they seem destined for. I guess it’s because I’m a Korea hipster and I want Korea to be ‘my thing,’ not ‘everyone’s thing.’ The less popular and accessible something is, the less desirable it is. So, because Korean music is popular in America at this moment, am I less special now? How can I look down on these foreign fans and think they’re crazy when I WAS one of them? Is Korea going to be just overrun by foreigners, whining “OPPA!” and sleeping outside the YG building and being creepy about Korean men in the next few years? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but congratulations to Big Bang and all the other Kpop groups for making being Asian cool for the first time since opium dens.