Let’s begin with meeting Hwang Ssabu-nim (YG trainer) on the subway 4 hours before the show…
I met up with a few lovely Filipino VIPs in Gangnam, and then we made our way towards Jamsil on line 2. Lo and behold, one or two stops later, one of my friends noticed that Ssabu-nim came into our subway car and was standing right behind me. He was in his usual gear with a backwards YG Family concert hat and sweet Dr. Dre Beats headphones. I was surprised at how smaller he was in person. But he was still as fit as ever of course.
I caught his attention and told him how much I love him (I basically love every single person working in YG, even the stylists, managers, and Everyone in between, though I forgot to tell him how cute his son is since he posts his pictures often on Twitter.
I met up with a few lovely Filipino VIPs in Gangnam, and then we made our way towards Jamsil on line 2. Lo and behold, one or two stops later, one of my friends noticed that Ssabu-nim came into our subway car and was standing right behind me. He was in his usual gear with a backwards YG Family concert hat and sweet Dr. Dre Beats headphones. I was surprised at how smaller he was in person. But he was still as fit as ever of course.
I caught his attention and told him how much I love him (I basically love every single person working in YG, even the stylists, managers, and Everyone in between, though I forgot to tell him how cute his son is since he posts his pictures often on Twitter.
I then proceed to ask for a picture or an autograph. Though, he humbly declined, saying that he wasn’t a celebrity so there was no need. But I kept pleading with him in Korean to no avail. In the end, we all received firm handshakes and then he put his Beats back on.Since we were headed in the same direction, we saw him the whole way to the venue. We even mistakenly took the line 5 train in the wrong direction, and by the time we went back to the transfer station, he was still waiting for the right train towards Macheon.Shortly after our first encounter with him, I borrowed my friend’s iPhone (Did you know you could rent iPhones from the airport in Korea?) to DM Ssabu-nim since he follows me. I basically told him how I just met him on the train, good luck with the concert, and that he’s still a celebrity in my eyes, lol. Funny enough, when I saw him again sitting at the transfer station, he was on his phone. So I checked my Twitter again and he replied with a thank you, haha.
So after that encounter, I knew I was in for a great day. I was also lucky in that I was able to be one of the last people allowed to buy goods before the concert.Now after that long tangent, let’s go on to the setlist and my notes…(By the way, shout out to my new Korean seat mate who was so awesome with her great English and fun company. I had so much luck today in that her numbered seat was next to an unnumbered seat by the section 13 railing, which also happened to be beside one of the “?” sections on the seating chart. So I took her seat while she rook the unumbered one. More on this later…)
.1. “Don’t Go Home” M/V – I was so happy to finally watch it. I mentioned to my Korean friend before the show that I was annoyed that YG still hadn’t released it. It was so adorable, just like they’re stage performances. I gotta download it when I get home.
.2. “Hands Up” – BB came out with this song first. I was initially confused as to why they included this already-released song on their mini album, until I realized with help from my friend that they only released the Japanese version and not the Korean one.
BB then proceeded with a few of their older songs (thank goodness there was no “Dirty Cash” or “Oh My Friend” in sight).
.2. “Hands Up” – BB came out with this song first. I was initially confused as to why they included this already-released song on their mini album, until I realized with help from my friend that they only released the Japanese version and not the Korean one.
BB then proceeded with a few of their older songs (thank goodness there was no “Dirty Cash” or “Oh My Friend” in sight).
3. “Shake It” Remix
.4. “La La La” Remix
.5. “VIP” Remix
.6. “BIGBANG”
I really enjoyed them performing their old songs that they debuted with first, even if some of them forgot the lyrics in the beginning, lol.
Next were the solo/unit projects:
Seungri
.7. “VVIP” – I absolutely loved finally seeing this song performed live. Seungri is such a charmer.
.7. “VVIP” – I absolutely loved finally seeing this song performed live. Seungri is such a charmer.
.8. “What Can I Do” – I loved singing along to the “down…down…down” part. I really liked how he engaged the 2nd and 3rd floor seats to stand up throughout the whole concert. He really loves having fun with VIPs. At the end of the song, Seungri sort of fell back/dropped down into the hole he was exitting into at the tip of the stage. I guess he missed his mark a little.
Taeyang
.9. “Where U At” – A horizontal part in front of main stage lifted Taeyang up halfway into the sir while he danced. He wore all red.
.10. “I’ll Be There” – Too bad Taeyang didn’t take off his shirt by the end of his solo perfs.
.9. “Where U At” – A horizontal part in front of main stage lifted Taeyang up halfway into the sir while he danced. He wore all red.
.10. “I’ll Be There” – Too bad Taeyang didn’t take off his shirt by the end of his solo perfs.
Daesung
.11. “Baby Don’t Cry” (unreleased) – Beforehand, they mentioned that we might see this on the next BB album and I sure hope we do! It was an extremely beautiful song with a rock ballad feel to it that meshed perfectly with Daesung’s voice. It absolutely killed me when he sang the chorus: “Baby don’t cry, give me a smile…”
.11. “Baby Don’t Cry” (unreleased) – Beforehand, they mentioned that we might see this on the next BB album and I sure hope we do! It was an extremely beautiful song with a rock ballad feel to it that meshed perfectly with Daesung’s voice. It absolutely killed me when he sang the chorus: “Baby don’t cry, give me a smile…”
GD&TOP
.12. “Knock Out” – They came out on either side of the stage on they’re MV segways and rode them all over the place. GD sported a green suit while TOP’s was yellow.
.13. “Oh Yeah” – As expected but still surprising, Bommie-unni came out for her featuring and I literally screamed my head off at that point. She was an absolutely gorgeous goddess as always in her short dress. There was a lot more TOPBom flirting going on which I really enjoyed. Besides the staring bit, TOP escorted Bom all the way towards the tip of the stage by the end of the song, holding hands for quite a while. Unfortunately, there was no usual ending pose, as Bom disappeared below the stage and the next song began.
.14. “High High” – I just love jumping up and down for this song. It’s so much much to party to. GD and TOP switched lines for the second verse after their rock, paper, scissors battle. The rest of BB joined at the end. There was some cute TOPDae slapping action before the GHETTOELECTRO part. Also, there was some sexy Daesung hip-thrusting before the last refrain.^^
.15. “Secret Garden” parody – GD as G Ra Im – TOP as Joo Won – Seungri as Oska – Taeyang as the Stunt Academy guy – Daesung as the assistant and Joo Won’s mother
This has to be their absolute best parody to date! It was so f-ing hilarious even though I couldn’t understand everything. They did all the iconic scenes: sit-ups, latte kiss, oska socks, farewell letter, Joo Won imagining Ra Im, etc. It was so EPIC. TOP was also kissing up a storm in this one. Probably the most surprising was when he did a full on kiss with Seungri for 10 seconds or so. To say the least, I and everyone else were absolutely floored and going crazy. TOP also did a short latte kiss with GD. I think TOP now has to kiss Taeyang in a parody to make the set complete, haha.
I also loved the parts when TOP took off GD’s Seungri/Oska socks and then GD proceeded to kiss the socks, oh G-Ri… ^^ GD was such a convincing girl. He was so pretty. It was hilarious when he kept on grabbing his fake boobs. I especially enjoyed the part when TOP imagines GD’s character in different outfits. At the end, TOP piggybacks GD after he tells him to just wake up since GD is too heavy to carry. GD then plays in front of the camera by doing his signature frazzled hair dance from the “FIRE” MV.
.16. “Don’t Go Home” – The only prop was a big quilted heart in the middle of the main stage, and they did their usual bit with the same dancer.
.17. “A Fool’s Only Tears” – A beautiful performance by Tae-Dae-Ri. I’m pretty sure they were trying to out-diva each other at the end, heehee.
.18. “Tell Me Goodbye”
.19. “Koe wo Kikasete” – The main event as far as I’m concerned, haha, but for selfish reasons of course. I’m pretty sure the middle school beside me was surprised that I was singing along to the Japanese lyrics.
As I mentioned before, I was situated near the railing by one of the mystery “?” sections. To everyone’s surprise, BB started heading over to the stage left moving platfor to greet the 2nd and 3rs floor guests. Of course me and my new Korean friend started freaking out and placed ourselves along the railing.
As I mentioned before, I was situated near the railing by one of the mystery “?” sections. To everyone’s surprise, BB started heading over to the stage left moving platfor to greet the 2nd and 3rs floor guests. Of course me and my new Korean friend started freaking out and placed ourselves along the railing.
By the time they made it to our side, I think it was around the 3rd refrain. GD started heading towards us first and I just about went crazy and reached my hand out while singing along to the song.
I will never forget the image of GD looking on our side, spotting me, and taking my hand. He held onto my hand for a while as I sang and shook our hands along to the song. It must have been at least 5 seconds of him staring and smiling at me and then moving on to briefly touch the hands of other fans. He looked like an absolute angel with his newly dyed blonde hair, white military suit, his whole face glistening with sweat.
I saw TOP (in a white bathrobe, mind you, lol) in the corner of my eye wiping his sweat with a nearby fan’s hanky. Before they left our section, Daesung came to shake our hands. He seems like such a sweety. I really love everything about Daesung. He’s such a kind and genuine person.
I hope that moment was captured on the cameras, haha.
.20. “Wonderful”
.21. “Haru Haru” (acoustic)
.22. “Lies” remix – I feel that this and the previous song pretty much go hand-in-hand together. The melodys complement each other well. They initially sound similar, but each song holds their own weight.
.23. “Last Farewell” – This is another song I really enjoy dancing to.
.21. “Haru Haru” (acoustic)
.22. “Lies” remix – I feel that this and the previous song pretty much go hand-in-hand together. The melodys complement each other well. They initially sound similar, but each song holds their own weight.
.23. “Last Farewell” – This is another song I really enjoy dancing to.
4th Mini Album
I had only just bought the digital album the night before off of iTunes. Though I felt I still needed getting used to it, I pretty much fell in love with it all as soon as I saw the songs performed live (which is often the case).
There were some technical difficulties, but us VIPs reassured them with a chant of “Gwenchana!” – “It’s OK!” (please excuse the spelling as I’m unsure of the Korean characters at the moment).
.24. “Thank You and You” a Thongs started back up again with this video intro. The boys looked awesome on their respective shades in Las Vegas. There was also a little blurb about their favorite songs off the album and such.
.25. Cafe – This is a really cozy song to groove to. I found it funny when GD was on a small platform with a standing mic in the middle of the main stage and the members where circle him like a swarm of sharks, haha. I also liked the fact that the cafe in the scene was simply named “a cafe.”
.26. “What is Right” – I’m really beginning to love this song more.
.27. “Somebody to Love” – I think this was the first song I liked after my first listening of the album. I like the graphics of the lyrics on screen. They sort of came alive with the song. The best part was the bridge with “When I say ‘somebody’, you say ‘t-to love’…” repeated over and over.
.28. “Tonight” – I love Shaun Evaristo’s choreography once again! It’s a lot of fun to do during the chorus. Each of the boys also had their own mic stands and they did some fancy stuff with those. Finally, my favorite part was when GD lives out his rocker fantasies by playing a short riff on an acoustic guitar and then destroying the thing to shreds afterwards at the climax.
By the way, I think at this point in the concert, G-Ri-TOP were wearing leafed/accordion knee length skirts over skinny jeans, teehee. It was reminiscent of the outfit GD wore on one of his “A Boy” perfs on SBS. He wore a shiny gold one whereas the other two wore black ones.
.29. “Heaven” – The obligatory “let’s pretend the concert it really over” song.
After, VIPs did a chorus of “Saranghae!” over and over again for 5 minutes or so until they came back out.
Surprisingly, the tip of the stage closest to the seats had a crown design surround a “B” that lifted to form a real 3D crown. BB emerged from within it on individual rising platforms to begin the encore.
After, VIPs did a chorus of “Saranghae!” over and over again for 5 minutes or so until they came back out.
Surprisingly, the tip of the stage closest to the seats had a crown design surround a “B” that lifted to form a real 3D crown. BB emerged from within it on individual rising platforms to begin the encore.
.30. “Always”
.31. “Sunset Glow” – The boys headed over to the seats again. G-Ri were hanging in the air on vertical poles. Taeyang and TOP-Dae were on the moving platforms. TOP-Dae were really adorable with each other. TOP headed over to our “?” section again bur he just grabbed the phone of a girl across from us to take a selca. He’s always up to his old tricks with every concert…
.32. “Tonight” M/V Ver. 1 – Yay for multiple versions! The boys look fantastic in the video. They really have the swagger to fit in with the American style.
.33. Secret Garden NGs – GD being embarassed in acting out the imaginary Ra Im scenes, Dae pressing the moisture spray in the wrong direction, TOP-Ri kiss NG, TOP licking his lips at the end.
Kkeut! (Fin.)
0 coments:
Post a Comment