It was 2018 and I clicked on a music video titled “Simon Says” because the thumbnail looked interesting. 10 guys sitting against a red sportscar. Little did I know that those 10 guys, known as NCT 127, would become my gateway into the world of K-pop. I started becoming quickly interested in not only one group but the dozens of other groups as well. The catchy songs with brightly colored music videos pulled me in. The hours and hours of YouTube content created by these groups kept me wanting more.
Then 2020 happened… and I don’t think I need to tell anyone how rough of a year that was. But staying at home for months gave me a lot of time. My love of K-pop only grew. To stay active, I would learn the dances to my favorite songs. And when I needed a pick-me-up, I watched variety shows that guaranteed a smile from me. It sounds very cheesy, but K-pop was a silver lining for me during a year of storm clouds.
Also, if it weren’t for K-pop, I wouldn’t have had such an interest in Korea which has led to me to teach here and make the blog you’re on right now! But as a certified fan there was still one thing I had yet to do: attend a concert. In 2018, it was still uncommon for a group to come to Denver during an American tour. Then the pandemic put a halt to concerts in general. By the time I had got to Korea, groups started going back to America because concerts were still not allowed in Korea. Once concerts started up in Korea, I ran into another problem. The nightmare of Korean ticketing systems. If you manage to beat out the Korean fans to secure a ticket, you still have to go through hoops to verify your identity which is much harder than it seems. Last year I had won tickets through fan club raffle with the group TXT. Due to having two accounts (one on the global website and the other on the Korean website), I was unable to collect my ticket. After that, I felt very dismayed. Perhaps seeing a K-pop concert was not in the cards for me.
But then months later, TXT announced yet another Fanclub raffle. I entered my name again in the small chance I got lucky a second time. And luck was on my side indeed, I won again. This time, I knew what to do and how to navigate the tricky Korean verification stages. At a café in Kyoto, I furiously entered my details till I finally got to the screen confirming my ticket was secured. It felt…euphoric.
It’s been a couple months since I got to attend my first K-pop concert so I thought it would be interesting to do a run-down of my experience and hopefully help others!
Most K-pop concerts in Seoul will have two days: Saturday and Sunday. From what I’ve heard, the Sunday shows tend to sell out faster. I am not sure why! But as someone who had to travel from another city for the show, Sunday’s show would not work out for me so Saturday it was!
I set out from U-Square Terminal at 10:30 on the morning of the 25th. I had read the concert guide the week before and saw doors would open at 4:00 p.m. for seated tickets. With the bus ride from Gwangju to Seoul taking around 3.5 hours, I figured I had plenty of time to check into my hotel, get ready, and eat before arriving at the venue. About halfway through my bus ride, I found I might not have as much time as I originally thought.
As mentioned earlier, Korea takes identification processes very seriously. So tickets can only be bought in your name and they can only be used by the person who bought them. You must verify your identity at a booth to receive your wristband which serves as your ticket for entry. And from live updates from the venue online, I was seeing these identity verification lines grow long as early as noon.
Ok, let’s just do my makeup on the bus to save time when I get to the hotel. I anxiously waited to get to the bus terminal so I could dash off to my hotel. A little traffic (welcome to Seoul) pushed my arrival time to 2:10. My hotel was a 30-minute bus ride from the bus terminal. I panicked on the way there when I saw my hotel didn’t allow check-in till 4:00 but thankfully the manager let me check-in early with no problem.
After a quick change and freshening up, I walked to a nearby Starbucks for a pre-concert sandwich and coffee to keep me awake and well-fed for the event. From there it was a 20-minute bus ride to KSPO dome.
Tip: Most K-pop concerts take place at venues in Olympic Park in Song-pa (a neighborhood in Seoul). If you are staying in a hotel for the concert, try to get a hotel either a couple bus stops away or walking-distance. The subway will be packed before and after a concert so keep that in mind. I stayed at the Harmony Hotel, it was clean and cheap. And only 20 minutes by bus.
I arrived at 3:30 and immediately headed for the identity verification line. And let me tell you, this line was the longest line I’ve been in since the quarantine line when I first arrived in Korea. By the time I reached the back, I had walked maybe half a mile. Although it was quite lengthy, it still only took about 25 minutes to get through. When I got to the front, I had to show my ARC (or a passport if you don’t have an Alien Registration Card) and my Fanclub card on the WeVerse app.
Tip: Take a screenshot of your fanclub card before getting to the venue. I didn’t know we had to show it and the app was extremely slow from the amount of people using it in one spot. Luckily, the staff let me use her hotspot.
I finally got my wristband and asked a nice group of girls to take my obligatory pictures outside before going in.
If I were to rethink my day, I would’ve left from Gwangju a couple hours earlier to allow me more time to get my wristband and go to other events outside the venue. There was a booth specifically for fan club members to get free merch and many fans will make homemade merch to handout to other fans but I didn’t have time. I was anxious to get to my seat, so I didn’t linger around after the doors had opened as much as I wanted. Seats for a fanclub raffle ticket are random and I really lucked out with mine. It was right in the center and only one row away from the VIP section.
Nevertheless, I made it to my seat with around 1.5 hours to spare. I waited till about 40 minutes before the show to use the restroom. As you can imagine, these lines take a very long time. The line for the bathroom took longer than the half-mile one I had waited in before. Luckily, I met a girl who was on vacation to talk to and give recommendations for her time here.
When I was situated in my seat, I made sure the Bluetooth on my light stick was synced up and ready-to-go.
Tip: if you are in the seated section, they really do mean seated. You will get dirty looks if you are not sitting and blocking someone’s view.
Another tip: If you don’t already know, a light stick is a light up stick that has a unique design for every K-pop group. Having a light stick is not a requirement (and they are expensive) but I found it to be a lot of fun having one. Waving it to the beat along with all the other fans around you makes for a memorable experience.
Soon enough, the lights were going down and an epic intro played before all 5 members of TXT appeared before me. And what more is there to say? For 3 hours, I got to see amazing performances with intricate stage designs. Idols I had only seen on screen for years were dancing to my favorite songs right before my eyes. Even if I couldn’t understand the entirety of each speech between songs, I still gathered the main message: a thanks to their fans for allowing this to be a reality.
Three encores later and the members had left the stage for the last time. Even then, I hoped they might have one more song up their sleeve but alas, it was time to go. I left with the crowd and sadly headed back to my hotel. The post-concert depression was real. But as time as gone on, I am so grateful I could attend my first K-pop concert in the land where it was created.
Being with other thousands of fans after years of fangirling during a pandemic reminded me why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. When I was in America, I heard American music everywhere I went. In stores, cafes, restaurants. So, when I listen to my own music, I want something different. It is the same thing in Korea. I hear Korean pop everywhere, so I have been listening to much more English songs than before.
But this concert reignited my love and confirmed that being a fangirl is in my DNA. Being a young woman, I have seen the way fangirls are treated in society. Hysterical, emotional, crazy. But when I was at the concert, I didn’t see hysteria, I saw love. A unified love with people from all over the world singing songs and having fun. I thought about an amazing Ted Talk I once watched. I figured it would be best to end with a quote from it. “We can all die tomorrow so why not love things while we’re still breathing?” See ya next post!
Carly in Korea 