JYJ World Showcase Tour in Vegas
BEWARE: This is a fairly long and descriptive fan account. It details my entire day's worth of activities on the day of the concert, not just the concert itself. If you want to skip all the prior stuff, please hit up section three.
Section One: Before the Concert
I went with two other people to the Las Vegas venue. On the day of the concert I had been informed that the lovely Junsu had given away the boys' location due to a picture that was quickly deleted (though not in time)...haha. We went to The Palms first, trucking around a little and goofing off on the top parking lot level of the hotel next door. It was my first time being able to "stalk" any artist I loved before, so I found it quite intriguing. For those who aren't aware, The Palms is a bunch of condominiums, not hotel rooms (I wasn't aware of that). Me an my friends stayed back in the area of the elevators while we stared up at all the windows/sliding glass doors to see if we could make out any familiar bodies or anything. No luck!
We gave up on that after a good half hour and found ourselves just going into the lobby, but we didn't want to look obvious so...we went to the bar just inside the doors to our right (lol). The sofas already had some people stalking, so to loosen ourselves up we decided to get drinks. The bartender was VERY nice and chatty, so we wound up talking to her about all the big names she'd seen come into the facility and occasionally glancing over for any runners who might possibly be the boys. After awhile, nothing. We figured they wouldn't be that stupid and just show themselves like that; they would most likely be leaving from a location where they couldn't be stalked. Of course, we also took into consideration that they were probably already gone to do practicing or last minute sound checks and the like. So, we left the condo facility and headed off toward Planet Hollywood.
After two fruity martini Fireflies (these things), I was pretty happy. After arriving at Planet Hollywood (we had gone there a day before to scope everything out--and to check out ticket/seat availability), we realized we were quite early. I think we arrived around 2pm or so. For the hundredth time we checked our seat availability again to make sure we were going to be able to keep our seats or to see if we had to do a trade for newer tickets; again we were told we were fine and to keep the tickets we had. We saw some fans already sitting in the line, but we were told that security wouldn't allow a line-up until 6:30 so we had a lot of time on our hands. While browsing in stores and trying to kill time we decided that we wanted to show our support for the boys (since we had fairly close seats and they might be able to see us out there). We each got white t-shirts and picked a letter to write on them; I was J, Yoon was Y, and Shannon was J. We did all of this while at an ice cream place just down the way from the venue, even having some time to doodle on the shirts a bit. It was around 5pm by the time we finished our shirts.
Section Two: At the Venue
We went on our way to check the line--which had grown since we were gone and it wasn't even 6:30 yet! Well, we claimed a place in line and managed to get all of our shirts on. The waiting wasn't too terrible, but my feet did start hurting even with flats on. We were talking to some other fans and messing with our cameras to pass time (the fans were very nice and fun to talk to, if you ladies are reading this--hello!) For those who aren't familiar with the setup, here is a visual idea of how the line appeared, me and my friends were standing 30 or so people away from the front of the line: here. The line had to do a half circle around the bar and continue down several store lengths because it was so long. I was getting pretty peeved with the security guard's answer to any question involving who the line was for "They're Japanese singers..." or "From Japan." I know the guy probably isn't getting paid to know who these artists are more than he is to simply keep non-staff from breaking in, but he was misinforming everyone (D:). Additionally, there were several points where the line began to chant "JYJ!" to give people the idea we were all getting anxious.
Anyway, we saw people coming out from the back with carts of supplies or counting people in line or messing with the doors. They wound up doing a last minute sound check because something happened inside, so we had to wait a little longer (blast it). FINALLY, we were able to go in, I believe it was between 7pm and 7:30pm, I could be wrong--everyone began to cheer and it was the bar patron's turn to cover their ears! Well, as luck (or none in this case) would have it, my ticket gets scanned and it has a stop put on it--I was told to go to the box office and get a new ticket. Immediately we started to explain why that happened--we had gone to the booth several times to check our tickets to make sure this wouldn't happen and that what we had was acceptable for entry. They let me by anyway (thank god, because I did NOT want to go back into that line again). We had to wait inside the lobby area for about fifteen minutes before being let inside the actual venue, which was crowded with people going down the stairs and I almost fell from people pushing past me.
Finally, we got our seats and were happy. All we had to do was wait until the show started. They played various songs from the album over and over (about three or four times) as we waited. The trouble for us didn't end there, though! Three other girls came along as the place was filling up and said we had their seats. Immediately, me and my friends refused to move because we had already gone over this several times before to make sure we were fine--we were not doing this again. So, we called over some head honchos and we had to wind up explaining our story again for two other people. Me and Yoon stayed where we were because if we were going to have to move it was going to be up front and not farther back. After a thorough checking of the situation, the other girls had free tickets and we had the paid tickets so we were told we could stay in our seats and the other girls were moved a few seats down from us in the same row. Seems petty, but geez. We'd had trouble the entire way in and even though we had already checked many times over to avoid that, it still backfired!
On a happier note, the seating issue worked out for everyone, yay! Here is a picture of the screen we were able to stare at as we waited: here. The lights flickered several times and the stage equipment went through various checks, all of these actions warranted cheers from the audience (lol). We eventually began to do a chant to hurry things along and show support (I forgot some of it, but it had the boys' names followed by clapping and an added "Viva Las Vegas~" part in there--can anyone who was there help me out on the exact chant? lol). The camera men were filming the audience at one point, which got everyone cheering and hoping they were seen on the big screen. The ladies in the row ahead kept telling me and my friends to stand up so they could see our shirts, so we did. Shortly after that we saw ourselves (and our heavily worked on shirts) on that big screen atop the stage--the ladies began to cheer and moved aside for us, even as I cheered so hard that I got dizzy and nearly tipped over! (XD) FIIIIINALLY~ The lights dimmed entirely and the show started, which was roughly around 8:30pm.
Section Three: The Concert
The MCs Arden Cho and Shane Yoon came out to do their spiel, which was actually pretty funny considering how lame it was (XD). Anyway, they announced the boys and it kicked off with Empty--I love that song. The crowd was screaming and cheering, but the boys did such a good job with their dancing and English that I was mesmerized. The boys bounced all over the stage and were so energetic that I found myself just staring at certain parts without taking a picture at all--they are incredible to watch in person. Be The One came next, which got the people around me hopping and cheering. This performance was also full of energy and the boys amazed me with the charisma they gave off--especially during the moments they did dances that were in sync with one another. I have to bring up the fact that even though I usually dislike a crapload of lighting effects, they did those very well. The reds, blues, whites, and even pinky colors gave off a very up-beat feel to these particular songs. The only thing I was thinking (clearly anyway) to explain these boys is stage presence--they have it. After the second song, we got a short intermission and I went to messing with my camera. Be My Girl came next--another favorite of mine. Their voices just blew me away here. I couldn't help staring at the boys as they moved and got so into the lyrics that I could have sworn I heard one of them get this little teary-eyed tinge to their voice. The purple lights I loved because it gave a softer and more emotional feel to the song--though the boys did that themselves quite nicely.
Next came the Q&A, which was AMAZING to me. The boys introduced themselves and for the life of me I could not hear what Jaejoong said after the "Hey guys." He laughed so it must have been cute. But listening to them speak in both English and Korean right in front of me was an experience in itself. I don't know why, but I've heard Korean from other people and it just sounds ten times more awesome when the boys do it? LoL Yoochun did a majority of the talking, in English, and then covering for their partying with a lie about practicing wasn't very good (I don't think he meant to try pulling off a lie, but it didn't work nonetheless). When Yoochun nearly fell out of his chair laughing, it made me start giggling so much I had tears in my eyes. These boys really ARE incredible to watch, even if they're just talking. The slight JaeChun moment where they smiled at each other got me lightheaded, but I thought it was cute. Those two really are close, if I never believed it before, that part proved it to me. It was funny to hear Jaejoong refer to thongs as panties. After that he was just too embarrassed to even look at the audience for awhile--he kept turning around and hiding or laughing--it was just adorable. I was hoping to see Jaejoong smile or laugh, and I met with success! Jaejoong's smile and his laugh just turned me to mush that very second, it was quite an entirely different experience while happening right in front of me instead of watching it on a DLed clip. I loved to hear that they enjoyed receiving art and writings from the fans more often than other presents because it shows how much they appreciate the non-material objects more, if that makes sense. It's not to degrade those who buy them presents, but they can buy it themselves...I enjoy hearing that they appreciate stuff that's written or made from the heart, again, if that makes sense.
Next came Found You, from Sungkyungwan Scandal. They did a Korean song and I was so amazed, not shocked that they did it, just amazed at their live voices. The whole performance for that song was beautiful, it really was. Their voices unified and seemed to fill the entire room, like they were everywhere around the audience--I actually got chills! The lighting was soft, which gave that same gentle feel to the music, but the boys had my eyes right on them. They REALLY are that intriguing, seriously. I sound like a freak, but I am still reeling from this experience. The ending song was Ayyy Girl, which was SO MUCH FUN. The lights were all over, the boys were just so active. The voices and dancing were incredible, I found myself staring, yet again. The final song was the remix of Empty, which I found to be an excellent ending to the show. This is where the boys were the most energetic, lots of bouncing and activity went on, especially from Jaejoong. At certain points they would tell us to jump--which is exactly what everyone did. Jaejoong went "why can't you let it go" then held the mic out to the audience as a cue for everyone to say "let it go" and we did that, too. There was lots of white confetti shooting out from the top of the stage into the audience, as well as various white and red streamers (it was fun gathering it all up!). I gave up pictures or filming in the interest of jumping or saying "let it go" because I LOVED being able to interact with them like that. Lights and activity (and interactivity) abounded, which made the ending all the more excellent. I was thoroughly amazed with how this concert panned out. When it came to a close, the boys thanked everyone for coming out and quickly moved up to a higher part of the stage where they were slowly went down beneath it (I'm assuming little circular cut-outs in the floor that were like elevators taking them down beneath the stage). The audience screamed for an encore that was never given (lol), but I enjoyed the entire show regardless. The boys amazed the hell out of me with their voices, dancing, and ability to interact with their audience. There were points where they might have seemed slightly uncomfortable, but I supposed that's to be expected due to the overwhelming amount of response they received and inability to understand a lot of the English being screamed at them (Junsu and Jaejoong mostly).
I have to point out that both the boys and the MCs did random talking portions where they would ask questions and or talk to us in the audience, which usually always resulted in cheers. Arden got the audience split into three sections where: the right half screamed "J," the middle half screamed "Y," and the left half screamed "J." I'm guessing to show support or to let the boys know how much we wanted them out on stage, but it was fun. I loved most of their outfits, too. Except I still do not know what that shirt is they put on Yoochun in the Q&A portion (a white and silver version of his shirt on the album cover? lol). During intermissions or right before the boys came out, there were cute little cut scenes of them or theatric sequences playing on the screen--which got lots of screams from the audience every time it happened. The entire concert, to me, was a success on many levels--even if the chanting wasn't always unified or as energetic sounding as the coordinators wanted it to be. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these boys (for the first time!) in concert like that. I hope and pray I will get this chance again, as it was an amazing experience that will always be forever trapped in my memory. I really wish them the best of luck in the LA concert (as if they need it), and hope all the fans attending enjoy the concert as much as I did. ^^
Also, Jaejoong is so beautiful and charismatic in person. I am still reeling from how sexy his entire body looks and how he sounds and acts and gah. Sorry for that, but obvious bias is obvious. *-* I adore that man.
Even if they aren't perfect quality like I wanted, though some are pretty decent, here are some of the pictures I left the concert with: here
Here is my video of the Q&A portion, which I think came out quite well aside from the chick next to me who kept bumping into my shoulder: here
Section One: Before the Concert
I went with two other people to the Las Vegas venue. On the day of the concert I had been informed that the lovely Junsu had given away the boys' location due to a picture that was quickly deleted (though not in time)...haha. We went to The Palms first, trucking around a little and goofing off on the top parking lot level of the hotel next door. It was my first time being able to "stalk" any artist I loved before, so I found it quite intriguing. For those who aren't aware, The Palms is a bunch of condominiums, not hotel rooms (I wasn't aware of that). Me an my friends stayed back in the area of the elevators while we stared up at all the windows/sliding glass doors to see if we could make out any familiar bodies or anything. No luck!
We gave up on that after a good half hour and found ourselves just going into the lobby, but we didn't want to look obvious so...we went to the bar just inside the doors to our right (lol). The sofas already had some people stalking, so to loosen ourselves up we decided to get drinks. The bartender was VERY nice and chatty, so we wound up talking to her about all the big names she'd seen come into the facility and occasionally glancing over for any runners who might possibly be the boys. After awhile, nothing. We figured they wouldn't be that stupid and just show themselves like that; they would most likely be leaving from a location where they couldn't be stalked. Of course, we also took into consideration that they were probably already gone to do practicing or last minute sound checks and the like. So, we left the condo facility and headed off toward Planet Hollywood.
After two fruity martini Fireflies (these things), I was pretty happy. After arriving at Planet Hollywood (we had gone there a day before to scope everything out--and to check out ticket/seat availability), we realized we were quite early. I think we arrived around 2pm or so. For the hundredth time we checked our seat availability again to make sure we were going to be able to keep our seats or to see if we had to do a trade for newer tickets; again we were told we were fine and to keep the tickets we had. We saw some fans already sitting in the line, but we were told that security wouldn't allow a line-up until 6:30 so we had a lot of time on our hands. While browsing in stores and trying to kill time we decided that we wanted to show our support for the boys (since we had fairly close seats and they might be able to see us out there). We each got white t-shirts and picked a letter to write on them; I was J, Yoon was Y, and Shannon was J. We did all of this while at an ice cream place just down the way from the venue, even having some time to doodle on the shirts a bit. It was around 5pm by the time we finished our shirts.
Section Two: At the Venue
We went on our way to check the line--which had grown since we were gone and it wasn't even 6:30 yet! Well, we claimed a place in line and managed to get all of our shirts on. The waiting wasn't too terrible, but my feet did start hurting even with flats on. We were talking to some other fans and messing with our cameras to pass time (the fans were very nice and fun to talk to, if you ladies are reading this--hello!) For those who aren't familiar with the setup, here is a visual idea of how the line appeared, me and my friends were standing 30 or so people away from the front of the line: here. The line had to do a half circle around the bar and continue down several store lengths because it was so long. I was getting pretty peeved with the security guard's answer to any question involving who the line was for "They're Japanese singers..." or "From Japan." I know the guy probably isn't getting paid to know who these artists are more than he is to simply keep non-staff from breaking in, but he was misinforming everyone (D:). Additionally, there were several points where the line began to chant "JYJ!" to give people the idea we were all getting anxious.
Anyway, we saw people coming out from the back with carts of supplies or counting people in line or messing with the doors. They wound up doing a last minute sound check because something happened inside, so we had to wait a little longer (blast it). FINALLY, we were able to go in, I believe it was between 7pm and 7:30pm, I could be wrong--everyone began to cheer and it was the bar patron's turn to cover their ears! Well, as luck (or none in this case) would have it, my ticket gets scanned and it has a stop put on it--I was told to go to the box office and get a new ticket. Immediately we started to explain why that happened--we had gone to the booth several times to check our tickets to make sure this wouldn't happen and that what we had was acceptable for entry. They let me by anyway (thank god, because I did NOT want to go back into that line again). We had to wait inside the lobby area for about fifteen minutes before being let inside the actual venue, which was crowded with people going down the stairs and I almost fell from people pushing past me.
Finally, we got our seats and were happy. All we had to do was wait until the show started. They played various songs from the album over and over (about three or four times) as we waited. The trouble for us didn't end there, though! Three other girls came along as the place was filling up and said we had their seats. Immediately, me and my friends refused to move because we had already gone over this several times before to make sure we were fine--we were not doing this again. So, we called over some head honchos and we had to wind up explaining our story again for two other people. Me and Yoon stayed where we were because if we were going to have to move it was going to be up front and not farther back. After a thorough checking of the situation, the other girls had free tickets and we had the paid tickets so we were told we could stay in our seats and the other girls were moved a few seats down from us in the same row. Seems petty, but geez. We'd had trouble the entire way in and even though we had already checked many times over to avoid that, it still backfired!
On a happier note, the seating issue worked out for everyone, yay! Here is a picture of the screen we were able to stare at as we waited: here. The lights flickered several times and the stage equipment went through various checks, all of these actions warranted cheers from the audience (lol). We eventually began to do a chant to hurry things along and show support (I forgot some of it, but it had the boys' names followed by clapping and an added "Viva Las Vegas~" part in there--can anyone who was there help me out on the exact chant? lol). The camera men were filming the audience at one point, which got everyone cheering and hoping they were seen on the big screen. The ladies in the row ahead kept telling me and my friends to stand up so they could see our shirts, so we did. Shortly after that we saw ourselves (and our heavily worked on shirts) on that big screen atop the stage--the ladies began to cheer and moved aside for us, even as I cheered so hard that I got dizzy and nearly tipped over! (XD) FIIIIINALLY~ The lights dimmed entirely and the show started, which was roughly around 8:30pm.
Section Three: The Concert
The MCs Arden Cho and Shane Yoon came out to do their spiel, which was actually pretty funny considering how lame it was (XD). Anyway, they announced the boys and it kicked off with Empty--I love that song. The crowd was screaming and cheering, but the boys did such a good job with their dancing and English that I was mesmerized. The boys bounced all over the stage and were so energetic that I found myself just staring at certain parts without taking a picture at all--they are incredible to watch in person. Be The One came next, which got the people around me hopping and cheering. This performance was also full of energy and the boys amazed me with the charisma they gave off--especially during the moments they did dances that were in sync with one another. I have to bring up the fact that even though I usually dislike a crapload of lighting effects, they did those very well. The reds, blues, whites, and even pinky colors gave off a very up-beat feel to these particular songs. The only thing I was thinking (clearly anyway) to explain these boys is stage presence--they have it. After the second song, we got a short intermission and I went to messing with my camera. Be My Girl came next--another favorite of mine. Their voices just blew me away here. I couldn't help staring at the boys as they moved and got so into the lyrics that I could have sworn I heard one of them get this little teary-eyed tinge to their voice. The purple lights I loved because it gave a softer and more emotional feel to the song--though the boys did that themselves quite nicely.
Next came the Q&A, which was AMAZING to me. The boys introduced themselves and for the life of me I could not hear what Jaejoong said after the "Hey guys." He laughed so it must have been cute. But listening to them speak in both English and Korean right in front of me was an experience in itself. I don't know why, but I've heard Korean from other people and it just sounds ten times more awesome when the boys do it? LoL Yoochun did a majority of the talking, in English, and then covering for their partying with a lie about practicing wasn't very good (I don't think he meant to try pulling off a lie, but it didn't work nonetheless). When Yoochun nearly fell out of his chair laughing, it made me start giggling so much I had tears in my eyes. These boys really ARE incredible to watch, even if they're just talking. The slight JaeChun moment where they smiled at each other got me lightheaded, but I thought it was cute. Those two really are close, if I never believed it before, that part proved it to me. It was funny to hear Jaejoong refer to thongs as panties. After that he was just too embarrassed to even look at the audience for awhile--he kept turning around and hiding or laughing--it was just adorable. I was hoping to see Jaejoong smile or laugh, and I met with success! Jaejoong's smile and his laugh just turned me to mush that very second, it was quite an entirely different experience while happening right in front of me instead of watching it on a DLed clip. I loved to hear that they enjoyed receiving art and writings from the fans more often than other presents because it shows how much they appreciate the non-material objects more, if that makes sense. It's not to degrade those who buy them presents, but they can buy it themselves...I enjoy hearing that they appreciate stuff that's written or made from the heart, again, if that makes sense.
Next came Found You, from Sungkyungwan Scandal. They did a Korean song and I was so amazed, not shocked that they did it, just amazed at their live voices. The whole performance for that song was beautiful, it really was. Their voices unified and seemed to fill the entire room, like they were everywhere around the audience--I actually got chills! The lighting was soft, which gave that same gentle feel to the music, but the boys had my eyes right on them. They REALLY are that intriguing, seriously. I sound like a freak, but I am still reeling from this experience. The ending song was Ayyy Girl, which was SO MUCH FUN. The lights were all over, the boys were just so active. The voices and dancing were incredible, I found myself staring, yet again. The final song was the remix of Empty, which I found to be an excellent ending to the show. This is where the boys were the most energetic, lots of bouncing and activity went on, especially from Jaejoong. At certain points they would tell us to jump--which is exactly what everyone did. Jaejoong went "why can't you let it go" then held the mic out to the audience as a cue for everyone to say "let it go" and we did that, too. There was lots of white confetti shooting out from the top of the stage into the audience, as well as various white and red streamers (it was fun gathering it all up!). I gave up pictures or filming in the interest of jumping or saying "let it go" because I LOVED being able to interact with them like that. Lights and activity (and interactivity) abounded, which made the ending all the more excellent. I was thoroughly amazed with how this concert panned out. When it came to a close, the boys thanked everyone for coming out and quickly moved up to a higher part of the stage where they were slowly went down beneath it (I'm assuming little circular cut-outs in the floor that were like elevators taking them down beneath the stage). The audience screamed for an encore that was never given (lol), but I enjoyed the entire show regardless. The boys amazed the hell out of me with their voices, dancing, and ability to interact with their audience. There were points where they might have seemed slightly uncomfortable, but I supposed that's to be expected due to the overwhelming amount of response they received and inability to understand a lot of the English being screamed at them (Junsu and Jaejoong mostly).
I have to point out that both the boys and the MCs did random talking portions where they would ask questions and or talk to us in the audience, which usually always resulted in cheers. Arden got the audience split into three sections where: the right half screamed "J," the middle half screamed "Y," and the left half screamed "J." I'm guessing to show support or to let the boys know how much we wanted them out on stage, but it was fun. I loved most of their outfits, too. Except I still do not know what that shirt is they put on Yoochun in the Q&A portion (a white and silver version of his shirt on the album cover? lol). During intermissions or right before the boys came out, there were cute little cut scenes of them or theatric sequences playing on the screen--which got lots of screams from the audience every time it happened. The entire concert, to me, was a success on many levels--even if the chanting wasn't always unified or as energetic sounding as the coordinators wanted it to be. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these boys (for the first time!) in concert like that. I hope and pray I will get this chance again, as it was an amazing experience that will always be forever trapped in my memory. I really wish them the best of luck in the LA concert (as if they need it), and hope all the fans attending enjoy the concert as much as I did. ^^
Also, Jaejoong is so beautiful and charismatic in person. I am still reeling from how sexy his entire body looks and how he sounds and acts and gah. Sorry for that, but obvious bias is obvious. *-* I adore that man.
Even if they aren't perfect quality like I wanted, though some are pretty decent, here are some of the pictures I left the concert with: here
Here is my video of the Q&A portion, which I think came out quite well aside from the chick next to me who kept bumping into my shoulder: here