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Warning, this one is... pretty long.
SM Town Day 1 (2011.06.10)
Feeling exhausted from Thursday, I dragged myself out of bed at 8:00 AM and had a bread roll for breakfast. First food in about 24 hours was brilliant. Arms still ached from the previous day, lugging stuff around Paris.
Had to wait for a package which was going to arrive at my hotel room at 12, luckily it came right on time and I departed with it, head to Anvers to pick up some more goods before meeting up with the rest of the staff at the pick up point.
Got a call while at Anvers and instead decided to pick up the rest of the goods from Porte de Pantine metro station, (the one closest to Zenith), so I made my way there and waited for about half an hour. Noticed a bunch of k-pop fans waling through the station looking lost, so pointed them towards the exit which led to Zenith. It was a bit of a giveaway with some people selling lightsticks at the bottom of the stairs of that particular exit.
Finally got the stuff I was waiting for (not as heavy as the previous day, thank God), and made my way towards to meet up point (under the highway, along the canal at the back of the Zenith). Met up with the rest of the staff, who were actually not under the highway but nearby it. They told me that the security (or was it police?) had moved them from under the highway, I suppose since they thought we were doing dodgy dealings or something. At one point a manager or Zenith staring yelling down to us from the building nearby. Not a clue what he was saying since my knowledge of French is practically non existent. I gathered from the conversation he had with @Muchworld thereafter that he was telling us we couldnt sell stuff, but since we weren't selling, only distributing it turned out okay.
People turned up in drips and drabs to collect their glowing wristbands and cheering packages, some I knew, but many I had never met before. At one point I had to help a couple of young women, who I think were from French media get down to Zenith since they were having trouble. Ended up helping them climb a way so that they could reach the staircase which led down to the canal by the Zentih, but they were both very polite and thankful. ^^ I did cut my knee on the wall, but it was only a scratch really.
It stared to rain pretty suddenly, although we knew this was forecasted, we ended up moving abck under the highway for a bit. At this point Miika (mawelli) and I decided to take the banner to those who were on duty pointing SONE towards to meet up point, so that they'd be more noticable. SO we walked through the rain with the banner upntil we were in front of the Grande Hall, where we managed to meet up with Matt (The Fly/insectdude). Sent poor Miika and Jan off to get food as they hadn't eaten for a very long time, and waited for others to come back. Some people commented on our banner and took pictures with it, seemed to go down well not only with SONE but other fan club members too
Chris then met up with us after picking up some more pink glowing wristbands. The two of us, Chris and I, then headed back to the pick up point, leaving Matt to guide SONE.
The time was drawing nearer to soundcheck, so at the pick up point we met up with Muchworld again, spoke to the other staff who werent attending soundcheck who said they could handle the work while we were gone, and the headed off.
We got to the queue and tried to ask which was for soundcheck the honestly, the Zenith security were pretty clueless. Managed to figure it out though, and walked up the the gate by the goodies tent where we would have to wait until they would let the soundcheck people in.
We were pretty worried about where Miika, Jan, and Mike were, but luckily everyone met up with us, including Vin (yoongbuck), Nichole, and Sara (if I've missed people out, I'[m sorry! Please let me know, my memory is acting up atm).
Even while standing in line at this point, our matching pink shirts drew attention and we had some pictures taken.
They finally let us past the gate and close to the Zenith at 3PM, but it wasn't until 3:30 that we were allowed into the Zenith to watch the soundcheck. In the meantime we had to wait outside under a small sheltered area, though it didn't quite fit all of us. It was at this point that we found out from Muchworld that the soundcheck was confired to only be 30 mins and that although we were told soundcheck came would goodies, we were to receive none. As you can imagine, since soundcheck was 110 euros (not including the seatin ticket that came with it, which was another 100 euros) we were pretty pissed. Especially since we had been messed around, a lot of people had to change their travel plans since the had only told us a few days before that soundcheck was to be on Thursday, but then they moved it back to Friday. (Still bothered about this, I missed my flight and forked out £50 extra for a 13 hour torturous coach ride, all for nothing)
We finally got let into the soundcheck, we were so freakin excited. We all sat down quietly, were told we weren't allowed to take photos when we were outside, even with our phones. (not a problem for me, my phone camera is rubbish haha)
So on stage were Eunhyuk, Taemin and HYOYEON. Even from this distance, you could tell she was gorgeous. She was wearing a white/cream jumper.... in relaxed clothing... so beautiful. Really I think everyone wanted to scream, but we tried our best to remain quiet so that they could rehearse peacefully, and cheered between their dances.
A little while later Yoona, Sooyoung, Yuri, Luna and Victoria also came out. Minho was there too... trying to remember other guys... I know Donghae was there, but just for his part of the routine, he was wearing shades. So everyone was in pairs practising, Luna and Hyo were together, Victoria and Yuri, and SooNa. We noticed SooNa messing around together at the back after a while haha, Yuri and Hyo were concentrating so hard, it was amazing. So serious, you can tell the practise a lot and put all their effort into their performances.
Later on Sooyoung was stood next to Yuri practising and was kind of following along, almost like she couldn't remember, it was so cute xD
YoonA was leaning against the wall I think, perhaps looking at her phone.
When it came to the point where Sooyoung, Luna, Yuri, Hyoyeon and YoonA were practising their dance together, we were in total awe. Seriously so cool. And Yuri.... man. I don't want to sound gross or anything, but just objectively she has a beautiful body. They all do. It's like the gods sculpted them.
When they did their little train part, Hyo was messing around and practically lying on Yuri's back. Kim Choding strikes again!
I can't comment much on the boys since my eyes were elsewhere (so biased, I'm sorry guys), but they were equally incredible. Everyone was so professional, seriously.
Unfortunately for 10 out of the 30 minutes we were allowed, there was no one on stage =__= (way to go Livenation you big rip off!)
After that, we were take out of the concert area, and lead to the exit where we were left for I guess about 10 minutes. We could tell it was pouring outside. We weren't really sure what they'd do with us, whether they would make us queue up not with everyone else or not. They didn;t make us queue up, but they did chuck us out into the rain, which was a bit mean. We went back to the enclosed area where we waited before, but like I said, there was only a small sheltered part, so some of us SONE got soaked. On the way back to that place, according to Muchworld the French fans queuing for general entrance were yelling a word at the sound check people which in French basically means we got ripped off. Which I guess is true (although MAN, seeing Soshi even for a short amount of time...) but it was still pretty mean, since we were the ones who suffered for it. Still I felt bad for the general entrance people, since some had waited over night apparently, and other since very early in the morning and now they were getting drenched in the rain. Some had come prepared though and had umbrellas. Through the fence we saw some other SONE in pink shirts and waves to them, they waved their hearts back
So outside in the rain Muchworld started getting people's names and emails so that we could send a message to Livenation in protest of the treatment we received. Hopefully they'll at least give us a formal apology. The rain subsided for a while, and the Visit Korea project staff brought out someone dressed as Pororo (the penguin character), who was adorable. Soshified got to have a nice picture taken with him, hopefully the picture will crop up somewhere.
They gave us all those cellphone radiation absorbing sticker things with 'SM TOWN LIVE PARIS' engraved on and a nice design, 24k gold plated or something. I think everyone who attended got one though, since my brother said he got one, and he was standing. They're pretty cute, but I can't use mine since you can't open iphones, so instead I put it in my wallet
A nice shawol get us some sweets, she was one of the Korean Connection staff I think, so we all thanked her profusely (still all starving at this point). Because we were in the enclosed area, we couldn't leave. To get back in you'd need your soundcheck ticket, but they had taken those off us when we went to soundcheck.
At out point during the rain we tried to take shelter under the area by the doors, since there wasn't enough room under the sheltered area where we were. I'm not sure if the security thought we were trying to queue up early, or trying to peak in, because we weren't, our backs were to the doors... either way those jerks told us to move away, so we just ended up getting soaked more. I was so cold since I was in a t-shirt and shorts T__T
Finally it stopped raining and at 5 (or was it 5:30?) we were allowed to queue at the doors. They started letting soundcheck people in but then they opened the gate for general admission and TONS of people like charged at us. It was scary man! Actually a bunch of fosse ticket (standing) people pushed in front of me and ran into the Zenith first! I think they just wanted a good place to stand, but man... scary fan girls.
We got in finally and since we had seated tickets, we were in no rush. Actually we were in a rush. The the food bar! Bought baguettes and coke and MAN it was so good. The bought some goodies. For me... I bought a Taeyeon fan, SM Town tumblr, the smaller cheering towel (thought this was for my brother's friend), and the postcard sized photoset. Chris leant me 20 euros (thank you so much man, saved my life T__T <3 which I managed to pay back to him the next day).
Jan, who was trying to hide his bias from me, became very obvious after he bought a Tiffany fan, and then a Jessica one xD And Miika bought Hyo (of course, he's so obvious 8D) . With Matt, we headed towards our seating area (E). At this point we had to separate from Muchworld, Sara, Chris, Vin and Nichole who were all in section O ):
We weren't allowed to go straight to our seats though, a woman had to guide us, though I'm sure we could find it fine on our own. Then apparently we had to tip her since she didn't get paid for the job. It seemed a bit fishy to me, but Jan and I handed her some money and she departed.
We ended up being pretty much surrounded by ELF and Cassies. The ELF girl (French) I was sat next to initially was very nice, but then another ELF girl (a Spanish one) asked if we could move down so she could be with her friends, which didn't bother us. She was pretty enthusiastic for the whole concert, especially when Suju were on, she waved her light stick like crazy even bashing me in the head once! It was an accident though, which she apologised profusely for and even hugged me rofl. I was glad though, she cheered for every band. The people in front of us though... cheered for all boy bands, but when Soshi and f(x) came out, they would sit down! It ticked me off to no end, but I can honestly say that the SONE I know cheered for ALL bands, no matter how tired they were! (so proud!)
Actually we were told by Zenith lightsticks weren't allowed, but then a ton of people had them anyway. I was kicking myself since I hadn't brought mine. Luckily I remembered that I had the SM Town cheering app on my phone, so I had a pink screen on anyway! Was a bit worried about raising my fan and phone too high though, I didn't want to block the girl behind me, so I had them just high enough to be visible without bothering anyone ^^
Inside the Zenith we waited for over an hour until 7 for the show to start. They had promotional clips on the screens, and everyone would scream when they saw their idols haha
During the wait we also conducted an awesome cheering wave which went all around the inside of the Zenith several times, was so cool ^^
Performances:
I'll skip ahead now and just talk about Soshi. I'd talk about the other bands but I've written so much already and I have to do day 2 yet! I'll add the others thereafter probably ^^
Since F(x) kicked off the concert, actually before Soshi even came out Krystal introduced herself and said, “Now I'll be performing a song with my sister, Jessica.”
So immediately we freaked out sine we knew it would be Tik Tok. As soon as the music started and the lights shone on the Jung.... man I was screaming. Normally I have quite a manly voice but I was screaming like a girl for sure hahaha
Jessica was wearing these red skinnies (which reminded me of when Krystal wore red skinnies during the F(x)/After School perf of Girlfriend) anf this loose black and white horizontal striped shirt. I think there was a design in pink on the front, but I didn't see it clearly. Her hair was down and man, she was beautiful. Everyone in the venue sang along, I guess since it's a very familiar song. It was so good *___*
The next time we saw Soshi, it was actually Seohyun's duet of Way Back Into Love with Kyuhyun. She was so pretty in a white dress..... Her singing technique and sound were perfect. She stared straight ahead for the whole thing, except a part where she was choreographed to look down, and the times when she was looking at Kyuhyun. They started out on either side of the main stage, Seohyun on the left (our side!) and Kyuhyun on the right. Then they walked toward each other and down the center of the extended stage, which came out in a shape with was a cross between a T and a Y. Then she walked down the left branch of the stage and he walked down the right branch and man, she was in front of us and so so beautiful, or angel maknae.
Finally, Soshi's first stage was Run Devil Run. Even in the darkness, we saw their silhouettes like up and we were like OMG SOSHI SOSHI RDR OMG. They were wearing the black shiny (sequined?) coat things which they wore in LA over their red plaid shirt + black tank top outfit (the one they wore for My Child, Ha Ha Ha, Kissing you and Himnae). Of course they were flawless. There's not much I can write about this that you don't already know. They performed Run Devil Run on the main stage, and after that all lined up to introduce themselves. I guess they hadn't discussed whether they'd leave the coats on for introductions, as some left them on, while others (Sooyoung first) just whipped them off rofl. I don't blame her, it was pretty hot in there! (thank God we bought the fans, they were a total life saver). Taeyeon started first, she was stood in the middle, and then the rest of the introductions went from right to left, starting with Jessica and Tiffany. Jessica spoke in English, and said she hoped we enjoyed the rest of the show (her accent is so cute!). The Tiffany did her 'Hello Paris!' With a smirk and omg I died a little inside. She was so kind and polite and thanked everyone for giving them the opportunity to perform in Europe and omg she's such a sweetie D: <3
She also said something in French and after in English she said 'I'm sorry my pronunciation was bad'. Actually she either said terribad or kind of bad. I couldn't quite hear her. I thought she said terribad at the time, but I can't be sure. Either way, very cute.
For the rest of the members, they would introduce themselves first with a little French (some members better than others, lol Yuri your pronunciation was too funny, Seohyun's was FLAWLESS the first day) and then in Korean. The Korean was actually translated into French too, but for me... I still had no idea what they were saying. When it was Hyoyeon's turn to introduce herself, THE SCREAMS. It was like half the people in Zenith were Hyohyunnies and it was AWESOME. She was about to speak but the screams drowned her out and she looked really surprised at first and then smiled a ton and waves, and the other girls looked REALLY happy too! The screaming lasted for a while but then she was finally able to speak (which brought about more screams!). After Hyoyeon, I'd say Sunny and Sooyoung probably had the loudest screams from fans ^^ Sunny was pretty surprised too, her eyes went really wide when every screamed before she spoke, and then she eye smiled (btw did I mention, Tiffany was shooting eye smiles EVERYWHERE ;~;<3). Yuri and Sunny both said 'Cava?' asking the crowd how they were. When everyone screams back, Sunny said 'Tres bien!' and then giggled, I'm not sure if it was because she was really happy, or laughing at herself using French, or both (:
So yeah, after the introductions the rest of the members too off their coast and My Child started to play. They stayed on the main stage for a bit before marching in a line down the extended stage, and then first towards the left side, and then back towards the right side with Taengoo leading the way. Then they all lined up in the middle part of the extended stage and finished the song off, some member waving occasionally to SONE.
After that, they went away again and other bands came out to perform.
They next came out and HaHaHa started playing. Man we were so pumped at this point, they ran down the extended stage and were giving a lot of fan service to SONE. There were 3 or 4 SSF hearts by the left corner of the extended stage branch and they got waved to a lot I think, lucky people! But yeah, the hearts really stood out in the crowd, probably the best cheering device!
I think it was during HaHaHa that Hyoyeon spotted MiikA holding her fan and SHE POINTED TO HIM. Man! His bias pointed at him, so lucky! For the left side, Hyoyeon, Taeyeon, Seohyun and Jess visited the most, but Sunny, Syoo and Yoona also came over a lot. Of course all of the members came over at some point, but Yuri and Fany, why did you forsake us! Just kidding ^^ I think they were trying to give equal fan service to all sides, so good of them <3
After HaHaHa, Himnae came on. I think this was the high energy portion of the performance. The girls spread out on the extended stage with Yuri in the center, they danced along and waved a lot... I can't recall all the details of this though, my memory got wiped because at the end when they all point and sing 'Yes it's youuuuu' Seohyun who was stood on the left branch POINTED AT US. LIKE STRIGHT AT US AND I HAD A HEART ATTACK OH MAN.
But for you JeTi shippers, they held hands and walked/jogged down the extended stage together singing the 'I like you just the way you are' part!
After Himnae was Kissing You, and the mood was really great. The crowd all sang along to the 'Kissing you baby' and 'Loving you baby' parts, so it sounded really good. YoonA sent a flying kiss to some SONE~
There was another break between Soshi performances and then they came out to perform Genie in white outsides with black shirts on underneath. They looked so wonderful. Honestly, the crowd was pretty good with parts of the fanchant, like chanting back 'malhaebwa' but I think a lot of them didn't know the name order of members to chant. Regardless, myself, Miika and the SONE we were with yelled out the names as loud as we could haha
This time only Genie was performed, and the whole thing was done on the main stage.
The next time they came out was in their gold Hoot outfits. The performed Hoot on the main stage, and SONE did the chant at the beginning, which was great
After hoot, they all came out onto the main part of the extended stage to perform Oh! And it was surprising the screams for Oh!, they rivalled those of Gee, so I think that this song is very popular among European fans ^^ For every performance, when it came to the parts where Hyoyeon would sing her parts, the screams would raise in volume nearly twofold, it was incredible!Finally they went away and came back to finish off with Gee, and the crowed went wild! Of course for Soshi's most well known song, the reaction would be like this. Really, I think they were happen with the cheers they received.
They came out for the ending stage, first singing Sorry Sorry with the rest of SM Town, and then that SM Town song... which I've completely forgotten the title of. At this point they all came down the stage wand waved to all of the fan and man.... There was SooTae hanging out with Soo's arm on Taeyeon's shoulders at some points, Hyosica were together at points too. Jeti and Yulti both hung out.... there was even a little Taeny. Of course, I ship TaengSic and there's never any of that though OTL
Finally they were all back on the main stage thanking everyone, each group took a bow and than the first concert was over. On the way out I was a lot of fangirls crying, which was weird to me since I was just really happy. We met up with the others from soundcheck that we had separated from and went outside for a while, just talking. Got in a few interviews (every time someone came to interview in French, we'd just push Muchworld out to speak for us haha) At oue point we had an audio recording interview asking us which site we were from, who we supported, where we were from... they also asked us how it compared with seeing them online. We commented that not only Soshi, but everyone was amazing.... they also asked us out favourite Soshi songs... I think the ones that got named were Forever, Complete, Mistake and a few others, I don't think we actually named any of the main singles though haha.... We also said we liked You-aholic and Beautiful Stranger from the Japanese album....
They the interviewed asked us to sing a song, any one of our choice. Oh my gosh all our voices were like broken from screaming so we quickly picked a song (I kind of wanted us to do the chorus from ITNW, but we opted for Gee since it springs to mind faster and it easier for everyone), and sang... probably quite terribly but whatever.
There was a bunch of people handing out flyers and such for kpop themed parties, and we were tempted to go clubbing but then the others asked if we were going to the second date. We weren't because we didn't want to take up the places of people who hadn't gone to the first show, but then we were told there's a bunch of extra tickets.... so Miika, Jan and I vowed to try our best to get standing tickets for the second night.
By the time I got back to my hotel it was nearly midnight xD On the metro home I randomly bumped into a German SONE and her friends, and I looked at her shirt and she was a Taengsic fan!!! I was so surprised, when I told her they were my OTP she grasped my hand tightly and shook it and then gave me a Girls' Generation/SONE lanyard ;~; what a nice person <3
I managed to convince my mom to let me go on the second day, spent a few hours scouring the internet for tickets. Managed to find 3 spare tickets being advertised by French fans on Facebook and arranged to meet them nice and early the next day (9:30am pick up hahaha) at 2am I finally sorted stuff out, text the guys to let them know, and went to bed.
