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Been around Asia pretty much because of the girls (more specifically, Taeyeon mostly), been trying to catch them at some of my favorite cities. Caught them in their first tour in Taipei, then to 2 of their concerts in Nagoya, 2 in Singapore and finally 15th Jan, their HK leg...... So here's sharing of my experience this time.
Touched down on 14th Jan and checked in Skycity Marriott Hotel. Was informed by my all reliable Twitter that the girls would touch down that night. And the joy when I found out, they are staying in the same hotel as I did (not that I planned it that way). The next day, the hotel lobby was full of Sones, and you could tell these are our dear fancammers and photographers who would bring us precious pictures. 4pm, the girls were to have their press con in the hotel. Right at the Asia Expo hall, there was already queues of people for the official souvenirs. I was wishing I would meet one of the girls in a lift somehow that day but well, I can't have it all, can I?
I have got a good seat. Block 14, first row and I agree with most fan accounts I've read, security is close to null. Nobody seems to mind that we are filming or taking pictures. This was so different from all the rest of the concerts that I have been to. The usual diamond opening with my glorious Taeyeon at the top of the steps. I could tell that the standing pens are all trying to follow the fan event by turning off their light sticks before the opening. We are all supposed to on them in sequence. Anyway, not too bad, you could see most Sones are united in that.
Since I m so familiar with the sequence, I keep my eyes on my idol for most parts of the concert. One apparent observation is that Taeyeon seemed a little tired and distracted for the first half of the performance. As she was making her usual backward movement into line during the ending of Genie, she must have caught the leg of Yoona and also fell. Luckily she steadied herself (with the help of Yoong). One thing to note is the stage crew for HK concert seem to be a little less organized and effective. Clearance of the diamond stage was slow and in fact, they were blocking at small parts of the show. The cameras were also not able to focus on the singers during the Let it Rain performance so I was a little disappointed that some of Taeyeon's impressive ad-libs were missed.
Lady Marmalade was special cos Taeyeon changed her outfit. Being a TAENY supporter, was glad there was some sweet interactions toward the end. Taeng, being the less responsive one (as usual), noticed Tiffany's HI FIVE hand a little late and she aggressively grabbed it before Tiffany gave up. Then they gave each other a smile before taking quick steps down. Almost forgot, it must be tired legs or something, Taeng almost slipped again during the performance.
Then there was the Great Escape performance which I felt Taeyeon did hurt herself. She missed a couple of step while doing the forward thrusting dance routine and seemed to be limping slightly from there. Then I felt she must have been a little hurt somewhere and was a little disoriented. I have seen her 4 times for this performance and she always gave her 100% energized efforts but she seemed a little tired and helpless here. I know she must have been hurt or sick. Anyway, she collided with Hyoyeon again during Bad Girl performance and her limp started to look more obvious. She took efforts to make it look natural but from her little gallops to her small jumps, die-hard fans could tell she was making a lot of effort despite hurt.
Well, save for all the above, Taeyeon got better and seemed to be in good moods throughout. She gave a lot of fan service. And yes, the Japanese lady who flew in to watch the performance beside me was so impressed with Taeyeon while she was doing her FOREVER rendition in front of our very eyes. You see, the stage was just right before us so we could see her belt out her high notes. Anyway, you could feel the crowd roar each time Taeyeon sings her part. We felt it during her parts in Danny Boy, Complete and of course Into the New World. Back to the Japanese lady.... so before Taeyeon sang in front of us, I could tell that she found Yoona pretty cos she asked in Japanese, the name of Yoona after her solo performance. But right after Taeyeon sang FOREVER, she asked me who is the cool girl who was singing just now, she can sing very well and is very KAWAII..... Well, I could feel the pride in me SWELL so high that I exclaimed that that's my idol Taeyeon. As usual, Tiffany will tell us Forever is the "pretend last song" as most of us know the sequence of play. So we did the encore chants. They came back with our all time favorite debut song ITNW and again Taeyeon nailed the high notes perfectly. We saw lots of peas that Taeyeon didn't pick up. Read from an article that Taeyeon didn't pick up those peas because the cleaning lady back at their home is complaining about the loads of peas already in her room. HAHAHA. During the bye bye parts, Taeyeon did a cute good bye kiss into the centre camera and that sent many fans screaming.
Other notable parts to the concert:
- Jessica seemed to really like Dim Sum a lot
- Yuri couldn't seem to lift herself up during the in love with the hero part and she seemed pretty disappointed
- The boat that was supposed to come out with them was very jerky during the start and i could see a few swinging Soshis before they stabilized themselves.
- On a funny note, the translator had a "um.... nice but an ahjumma twang" to it, so it was always funny hearing the translation
- A few of them were quite surprised by the "whizzing pink balloons" event
After the concert, the girls had their celebratory dinner, I guessed. Cos I saw many sones waiting at the lobby once again and they kind of waited late into the night.
Anyway, more exciting things happened the next day which were totally unplanned for and not initiated by me at all. I got on the lift with the parents of one of the girls.... though honestly, I do not know who. They smiled when I entered the lift going down. I saw a few Korean Sones conversing to them and passing them gifts. Likewise, they seemed to have prepared presents for the Sones too. AND AND AND, I saw the little manager oppa and the other regular quite good looking one. Then I realized we are checking out about the same time. AND AND AND we were going to be in the same terminal and be flying off around the same time at terminal 1. I caught a glimpse of them all at the custom and boy, they all looked glam. Taeyeon seemed to be the only one with shades. I meant without shades
I am getting cramps from writing now.... so here's a final note to end. I am impressed with all the Sones around the world. I see them waiting, I see their cards, banners, presents. I hear them screaming their lungs. I feel them waiting anxiously just to catch a glimpse of their beloved idols. And to the HK sones, you guys have been the best so far. I could feel the whole bunch of you putting in so much efforts (I'm from Singapore). So thanks, to all. Let's continue to love the girls as we always do.
Edited by Sasyz, 17 January 2012 - 10:10 AM.
