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Just like everyone else who attended the concert and the fan meeting, I had an amazing weekend. Even though I didn't have the opportunity to catch them coming out of the hotel or leaving a venue I still had a blast!
Few months before the concert, my sister strolls into my room and casually asks me "is there any news". I just answered, "not really" but as I refreshed the page, I couldn't believe my eyes. SMTown NYC?! Was this my chance to finally see the girls!? When tickets were released for sale, I glued my face to the monitor and bought the tickets instantly. Since my parents wanted to tag along, getting four 100 section tickets would be way too expensive and we decided to get the 300 tickets
But still good! I was just ecstatic that that SMTown was going to perform at MSG!After months of anticipating, fast forward to last weekend; arguably the best weekend of my life. That morning, I didn't know how to react. Mixed emotions ran through me throughout the morning and afternoon. My family decided to head out to Manhattan at 3:30pm thinking that we would DEFINITELY beat the crowd there. I was so wrong. When we parked the car by KTown, I saw a bunch of SSF members practicing for the flash mob before the concert! This is the first time my sister and I have seen other people appreciating and openly expressing their love for KPop so we were really excited (we live on long island haha enough said LOL). We sprinted to the area they were practicing but we just stood by and watched. In retrospect, we should have introduced ourselves to the fellow SSF members and join you guys but we were still in shock by the dozens of people loving KPop. Soon this dozen of people turned into hundreds and by the time we made our way to the merchandise line, thousands.
My jaw dropped when I saw the line for merchandise. We even thought we came early too! LOL My sister and I scouted the line planned out what we would buy. All of a sudden, I heard a collective and thunderous fan girl cry in front of the line. Every single head turned to that direction. The screams got louder and a group of cameras started following a giant swarm of people. COULD IT BE!? Without thinking, my sister and I jolted to the scene. Since this whole meeting an idol thing was still new to me, I thought I was about to finally get a chance to see our nine angels? Without hesitation, I joined the swarm and jumped like a kangaroo to get vision of what the ruckus was all about. To my disappointment, it was just of fans holding signs. Don't get me wrong, the banners were beautifully done but the cheers got my heart beating wildly LOL.
After two and an half hours of waiting on the merchandise line, the MSG staff started letting people in. At this point, the merchandise line just stops moving. I was determined to buy something no matter what. I stood there stubbornly for another 15minutes but i knew the line wasn't going to move anymore. People who go in with their tickets just stormed the merchandise stand and blocked the entire line. Disappointed once again, I shoved my way into the Garden. Wow. In front of me, I see a sea of Kpop fans. In back of me, I see a sea of Kpop fans. My sister and I couldn't believe we were in a stadium full of people who had loved SME artists.
As the stadium filled, you could feel the anxiety and excitement of the crowd. Girls even screamed for the SM Global Audition ads when their favorite groups came on the giant LED screen. After almost an hour of waiting, I was kind of bummed out. At that moment, the lights started to dim. The entire stadium goes bananas. I started going bananas. But to my disappointment again, they were just teasing LOL. After they dimmed the lights and turned them back on a few times, music started playing and the concert officially began. The butterflies in my stomach were bombarding the corners of my stomach as I watched several dark figures tip toe their way on the stage.
The lights illuminated the entire stadium and five girls appeared on stage. The crowd goes wild again and I’m screaming “OMG ITS F(X) OMGOMGOMOMG KRYSTAL!!! Etcetc”. My sister bursts into tears! That was first time either of us has seen a Korean idol and we were both ecstatic. Less than five minutes of the concert and I was already starting to lose my voice by screaming Krystal. I couldn’t believe that was Jessica’s sister right there in front of me.
Then after f(x)’s introduction, Krystal says that she’ll be singing Tik Tok with her sister. Then I really went bananas. Was I really about to see a SNSD member? I’m about to see Jessica? These thoughts raced in my head and I couldn’t process this information even though I’ve prepared for this concert mentally for weeks. “Omg, Jessica is just going to appear out of the darkenss. Is this really happening to me?” The funny thing is, Jessica isn’t even my favorite member! Don’t get me wrong, I love her tons but I’m a Taeganger ^^ But when Jessica magically appeared on stage as the stereos blasted “Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy”, I screamed Jessica’s name like an ecstatic lunatic monkey. I’ve never fanboyed this hard before LOL. But nevertheless, there I was; screaming my voice away for Jessica. How was I going to make it through the night? My voice was already failing and I haven’t even seen SNSD perform yet!
After several performances the other artists, Kyuhyun and SEOHYUN stepped onto the stage. My eyes widened and I just started wailing out SEOHYUN!!! Like 100 times. After their heartwarming performance, my voice was already making that hissing noise when I tried to scream. Man, I really should’ve practiced my fan boy scream LOL. Then Suju and SHINee magically appeared from the seats and everyone was going bananas. By the way, there are going to be a lot of people going bananas LOL sorry for a lack of a better word.
(Seohyun)
There was a brief intermission and there was darkness. I was wondering, “Hmm, who could the next act be? I really hope its SN-“. The stereos blasted a familiar high bass rhythm that got every sone up on their feet. At that moment, the lights epicly shone onto the stage and revealed nine angels. My heart raced and I lost control of my body. All I could do was wave my fanlight like a child would do with his candy and scream all of the girls’ names with my dying voice.
During their introduction, each member tried to introduce themselves in English! When Sunny yelled “Let me hear you scream!”, I yelled back but my voice started cracking and hissing already! It was so cute when Seohyun stumbled on the word “here” LOL. I was surprised and impressed by each of the members’ English! We’re all used to listening to Tiffany and Jessica’s “California girl” English but listening to the rest of the members try and interact with us in English was phenomenal. Since I’m a Taeganger, when Taeyeon started introducing herself, I screamed and unleashed my inner fan boy that I never thought was in me. For some reason, my hoarse voice disappeared when I screamed for Taeyeon and a whole new voice came out. My sister and I were the only sones in our area so I got a few dirty looks and awkward glares when I fanboyed for Taeyeon and the rest of the girls. “Hi, I’m Taeyeon! I’m so happy to be here and I hope you uh enjoy the rest of the show tonight –giggle- Thank you guys! Thank you New York!“ Such simple words but yet it made me so happy. After Yoona (she seemed so tired D: ) and Yuri (very dorky English LOL
), it was Tiffany’s turn. She joked about how there’s more pressure for her because all the members before her said all the good stuff. Then she said “But lets try this out. MADISION SQUARE GARDEN MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!” I screamed like a crazy fan boy again but Tiffany’s energy got the crowd going wild. What got me even more excited was when Tiffany said that she hoped this would be the first of MANY meetings for us. 
And last but not least Jessica introduced herself with her flawless English and her admirable California girl accent. Needless to say, I went bananas for her too.Right after their memorable introductions, they performed Kissing You and I waved my fan light like it was a lollipop LOL. The guy sitting next to me kept looking at me weirdly but WHO CARES!? I’m a sone and I’m proud of it
Immediately after Kissing You, they performed Oh! and it gave me the goosebumps when I heard thousands of sones chant Oh and Ah four times in unison. The feeling of sones and SNSD being under the same roof made the night (and very much my whole year LOL).Every single SNSD performance got me on my feet and cheering as loud as I could. Even though it was awkward being the only sone (along with my siter) in the vicinity, I didn’t let that stop me from having a good time. After the Haha song and Way to Go (which were amazing), they girls performed the beloved Genie. Words can’t describe how epic this performance was.
After several performances from other SM artists, the girls stepped onto the stage with their retro Hoot outfits and rocked the stage. This song kept all sones at the edge of their seats (unless you were lucky enough to be in GA) while we tried to grab their love arrows LOL.
Arguably the most anticipated performance of the whole night was about to blow MSG away. For the first time ever, the girls performed the English version of their new hit song, “The Boys”. It was an honor to be the first ones to watch their first English performance. All sones sang the English lyrics in unision and our voices and the girls’ angelic voices echoed throughout the garden. I was at a loss of words after their performance. Needless to say I was cheering but one emotion couldn’t describe how I felt. I was proud, excited, elated, awestruck, amazed, mesmerized, moved.
If this concert wasn’t epic enough already, this definitely sealed the deal. SM’s best dancers came out and put on a great show. At this point my voice is already dead so my screaming was very limited. I was still screaming but nothing really came out LOL. Hyoyeon was amazing obviously and Yuri (so sexy LOL), Yoona and Sooyoung were great too. Undoubtedly, SM’s best dancers wowed the audience with their moves.
At this point I knew SNSD would only have one song left. All of the artists came out with their most well known songs and gave their last performances. I knew Gee was going to come soon and I mixed emotions ran through my mind again. I was so excited that they were going to perform Gee but I was also sad that it was going to be their last stage. I realized I should just live it up and enjoy while it lasted. When nine beautiful angels appeared on stage with their signature white t-shirt and jeans, I cheered and chanted the famous “gee gee gee gee baby baby baby” with all my strength to show my support and love. By the end of it, my ears were deafened and nothing came out of my mouth when I tried to speak. I don’t think ever expressed so much excitement in my life before.
When the all the artists came out to say their goodbyes, I stood there and waved my fan light and waved goodbye to them. I scouted out Taeyeon and I saw her adorably playing with her dukongs. It was amusing to watch all of the artists playing around on the stage and giving fan services to us crazy fan boys/girls LOL. I kept an eye out for all the soshi members because I thought this was going to be the last time I could see them with my own eyes (I totally forgot about the fan meeting then LOL). When the confetti exploded and spread around the stadium, I grabbed one and put it in my pocket to remember the moment
. After the conclusion of H.O.T.’s song, all the artists took a big bow and slowly exited the stage. Many of them were reluctant and ended up standing around even when the music was over. I kept waving at our girls until they finally left the stage and the concert was officially over.I couldn't hear anything when I exited the Garden and I was still awestruck by what just happened the last four hours. It felt like a dream. A very long and good dream. Even though it would’ve been more fun to hang out with fellow SSF members for the rest of the night, it was a school night so unfortunately I had to head back home immediately. By the time I got in the car, I was already feeling symptoms of soshi withdrawal. I missed them already and it felt like it went by so quickly. The rest of the night was blur because I was completely drained by all the cheering. That night I dreamed of the concert replaying over and over again and I didn’t want to wake up.
The next morning, I dragged myself to school and I couldn’t stop thinking about the concert. When my friends asked me why I couldn’t speak, I hissed out that I was at a concert but they wouldn’t have understood if I told them I went to see SNSD. I tried to hide it throughout the day because in Long Island, there aren’t many Kpop fans and if there are any, they usually aren’t huge fans of SNSD. I decided to keep it my little secret.
Throughout the school day, all I could think about was the fan meeting and how amazing it would be to get to meet them up close. When the bell rang, I headed to the train station immediately. I was so worried that I would miss the fan meeting because I was so sure that there were people lining up since GMA. The train to Penn Station arrived at 3:15 on the dot and the ETA was around 4pm so I had some confidence I could make it. I had my camera (man I should’ve brought a camcorder) and my pink SMTown shirt and I was ready to meet the girls. Then suddenly I heard a ruckus a few seats in front of me. An old lady snuck onto the train without paying and she was arguing with the ticket collector. At first I just shrugged it off but then the man said, I will call the police and stop this train if you don’t pay me for the ticket and don’t stop lying to me. My heart dropped. There was no way I was going to let an uncooperative citizen jeopardize a once in a life time opportunity. The ticket collector then asserted that he would call the police and they would deal with her at the next station. I panicked. I begged the ticket collector that many of us are in a rush and we can’t afford to be late. He said that he was only abiding to the rules. Fortunately, when the doors opened at the next station, the old lady jolted out of the door and ran frantically down the stairs and avoided authority. In hindsight, I feel really bad for her because I let my fandom misjudge her and criticize her. Even though she was stealing, I’m sure she was suffering and desperate.
After arriving at Penn Station and speed walking 10 blocks (painful but so worth it), I saw a medium sized line. I thought to myself, “Wow I must’ve got here early!” I stood behind a few fellow sones and waited for the doors to open. Then a security guard came up to me and said, “Sorry kid, the line goes down the street and around the corner”. Then I looked behind me and I saw a swarm of sones. As I walked to the end of the line, my jaw was dropped because it was amazing to see so many sones in one place. This was like heaven to me because I was never able to talk about my fandom with anyone besides my sister because everyone in my school didn’t understand. After I FINALLY reached the end of the line, I got my wrist stamped with the “S9” stamp and I was excited. I asked one of the SSF staff members if I would still be able to get in because I was pretty far back. He reassured me that I would probably get in and those words made me smile like a little boy.
It kind of sucked waiting on line alone because many people came with their fellow sone friends so I just awkwardly stood there and admired the giant LED ads of SNSD. Eventually I chatted with a few girl sones and it was really surprising because it was the first time I talked about SNSD and someone actually knew what I was saying. One of the girls asked me who my favorite member was and I answered Taeyeon. Then she was like “OMG! Taengoo!! Kid Leader! I love her too!!” I didn’t know how to react because I never interacted with other sones before. Being around sones made me really comfortable and starting a conversation was no challenge at all. In no time, several sones and I chattered about soshi for the remaining wait.
As the line started moving, a few guys cut me off and walked in front of me. At first I didn’t really think anything of it but then one of the girls I was talking about started whispering, “Is that Henry from SuJu-M?” After squinting at the guy with a stylish denim jacket and cap, I mustered the courage to call his name. “Henry? Is that you?” He waved at us and I got a quick snapshot of him with my phone. We didn’t want to stir up too much attention because it was his private time so we just exchanged greetings and he crossed the street.
I finally go into Best Buy Theater and I still couldn’t believe I was about to meet soshi. The second I walked into the venue, the girls’ debut song started playing. Into the New World blasted as I walked down the elevator. I thought the fan meeting was starting and I jolted to the theater. Unfortunately all of the close spots were taken so I settled for one elevated spot near the stairs. I grabbed my camera and I was ready. After the MV showing, Cara stepped out and got the crowd cheering and screaming. I tried to scream again but all that came out was a weak voice with lots of hissing. I think we were asked, “Are you ready?” over a hundred times. I WAS SO READY. The tease was unbearable and my stomach imploded from all the butterflies.
When “The Boys” starting playing and the curtains moved slightly moved so Cara could slip in, I caught a quick glimpse of Jessica. I was stunned because I could see her face clearly. Her beauty rattled my mind and I could only say omg. Then the curtains disappeared and were replaced by our nine angels once again. This time, I could see all of them clearly and perfectly. Everything was so lucid and all I could say was omg over and over again. Needless to say I screamed like a little girl (or fan boy rather) for Taeyeon. It was evident that she wasn’t feeling well from her peanut allergy but she still mustered up the energy to keep a smile on for us sones. My heart ached seeing her like that but it showed me that she is truly an inspirational person. My heart goes out to you Taengoo
Stay strong! Poor Yoona wasn’t feeling well either. When I saw her ankle get injured and her careful and frail movements during the performance, it hurt me to see her work so hard for us. After their performance they all sat down for the interview. Since this fan account just ended up in me spazzing and rambling about that amazing weekend, I should just let this video of the interview wrap this fan account up. The interview and chat was full of inside jokes that got sones cracking up. From Jessica’s “STRESS!” to Yuri’s reaction to Sunny’s aeygo, the girls never failed to entertain us sones. OH!! And before this video, they were still setting up and everything. I was the only person screaming for Taeyeon in the area and when she was looking at my direction, I screamed Taeyeon with my new found voice as loud as I could and she waved in my general direction with a bright smile. It seemed like she was looking at me but it could’ve just been the people around me. I was the one screaming her name in that area so it made me really happy inside. ^__^ All of you guys must be tired of my rambling already LOL so here is the interview! (my memory didn’t bug out this time!)
To wrap out this perfect weekend, the members of SSF presented the girls with a special gift. One of the staff members came out and started singing ITNW and the crowd sang with him. The girls joined in and it was a perfect moment for sones and SNSD. I got the goosebumps from the love in the air and the bond between sonds and SNSD. There couldn’t have been a better way to end this memorable weekend.
The whole experience of seeing and meeting the girls in real life was life changing. I learned so much about myself and the girls over this weekend. I realized being surrounded by fellow sones let me be myself. When I was around sones, I was truly happy and I was hiding nothing. The bond between SSF members, sones and the girls is one that will never be broken. Our bond can only get stronger as time progresses. Even though I was shy around SSF members because this the first time I was exposed to fellow sones, I hope we can become closer friends in the future. As Tiffany said, “I hope this is the first of many meetings for us”.
For whatever odd reason I can't link my fancams so here's a link to my channel.
http://www.youtube.c...ic?feature=mhee
Enjoy and thank you for reading ^^
Edited by wongeen, 12 March 2012 - 01:53 PM.
