Fanaccount: 102911 JYJ IN SPAIN (PART 1)
10-29-11 JYJ IN SPAIN
My own report of a dream I never thought would come true.
When I write any kind of report, I tend to be a bit detailed and will most probably write about the most common and non-interesting little thing, so you are warned. You are at ease to skip it if you want.
My camera isn't high-tech, so, sorry to say, you won't find any amazing or great picture, not to mention the videos (gasp), the zoom in my camera is a joke. For real. T_T
After quite a bit of hesitation, we decided a day before to go to Salón Del Manga as well. We were unsure because we didn't want to miss a good spot at the concert, but we just couldn't pass the opportunity to see them twice in one day. We ended up seeing them three times because, after the concert, we decided to try our luck and go to the back entrance of the Poble to see them leave.
Well, more about the most wonderful experience I had this year under the cut. ^_^
My friend and I got lost on the way to the Poliesportiu Municipal, wasting almost half an hour, so we thought we would arrive quite late and the line would be really long. To our surprise, although there was a crowd already, we weren't that far away from the entrance. And this was at 9:25 am. We heard some fans had camped on the site since 2 am! O_O
A Dutch fan who was in front of me displayed a banner she had made (the one you see in the picture below. it was a really nice touch. Thank you whoever you are!) and lots of fans were drawn by it and took pictures.
A group of Spanish and Italian fans were extremely enthusiastic and would very often chant "JYJ" and tried to initiate a wave, but it would always fail. No one would do it past where I was for whatever reason. But it was funny, because they tried it again and again in a good mood. And everytime it failed. haha! Some curious locals who were inside the Poliesportiu would take a peek every so often wondering why all of these people were gathered there. Their looks of confusion and amazement was something fun to see.
Korean press came in a group and seemed startled, somewhat astonished at the amount of people that had gathered outside. Smiles crept up on their faces when we started to cheer them and welcoming them with "Annyeong!" They were truly friendly and in no time seemed to have made themselves at ease and started taking pictures and filming us. There was this elegant woman that seemed familiar to me and then my friend cleared it up for me. It was @beyondmonica (twitter), CJEs' PR. The one who tweets a lot about JYJ. I'm sure everyone knows her. Some did and started cheering for her and she smiled and waved back. She seemed very pleased to see such enthusiasm about JYJ. It was here that I noticed this photographer she was talking to, giving him directions about what to shoot. MY GOD. He was handsome. I just couldn't take my eyes off him. He came closer at some point to photograph and whoa. He smiled and he had dimples. *DIED* haha The Korean press soon got inside and we could see them sitting at the seats which were located in an upper floor.
Some of the staff and the security men would often peek through the large windows of the gymnasium to look at us. One old lady from the staff was secretly telling us the doors would open at 11am using gestures. But she ended up being caught. Poor woman! She was kind though. XD The best was when my friend and I recognized this Korean man who came to peek as well. He was not a photographer. He was Junsu's manager. He looked startled to see a big crowd waiting to get in, he tried to figure out where the line ended. And then as he turned around, he went "Wow" at the guy he was with. Looks like we impressed Junsu's manager. XDD
The line got longer as time passed by and, at some point, when everyone was a little calmer, some at the back started going crazy catching the attention of the others. They were pointing at a window where someone was. I don't know who they think it was, but I suppose they thought it was Yoochun because of the man's hairstyle. Some photographers would show up at the windows to snap pictures. All of us at the front were startled for nothing, but created an amusing moment. lol Goes to show how eager everyone was to see them.
When 10am came and no doors were opened, it was confusing. Then came 11:30am, the time the performance was supposed to start, and still no sign of entering the venue. After an agonizing wait, the doors finally opened past midday.
One look to my friend and we just knew we wouldn't get a good spot at the concert. At that time we were supposed to be at the Poble already. But at least we would get to see them here. At this moment, I'm feeling very nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach and as time neared, it was worse.
Once the doors opened, they formed two lines to make the crowd get in quickly. But soon one of them was closed, because once the fans had their ticket checked, it seems they would run like crazy to the stage and the security feared for the fans' safety as it could be dangerous (they could fall, etc). When my turn came, my heart was beating too quickly. It was the realization of "This is it. This is going to happen." Omg. *breathes in and out* I started walking quickly, but the security man inside went all crazy yelling to not run, so i slowed down. But once I passed him, I ran as much as I could. LOL My spot wasn't bad at all. We ended up close to the stage. ^____________^
While waiting for everyone to get in, the host kept screaming into the microphone "No corréis!" (Don't run!) and have to admit that it was annoying, because probably half of the fans there weren't Spanish. So instead of yelling, she could have tried speaking in English too.
I could feel an enormous anxiety of the crowd once we were all inside. JYJ please show up!! The host kept talking and started mentioning the countries of the foreign fans, the ones who took the flags of their respective countries at least. She said Portugal! XD Well, after a misleading prank, the second time she announced them, there was an ear-aching, intense screaming, hands up in the air, people going crazy. I couldn't see a thing because there was just too many arms blocking my view. But suddenly...
I see Jaejoong coming to my side of the stage.
And I felt like crying.
All of the nervousness, the tension was gone and all of a sudden it was like "This is real. It is him." He was...so perfect. I was lost at words, my mind turned blank. It took me a while to process, as I couldn't stop looking at him, I was too enthralled with that surreal vision of him, before I remembered to turn my head to my right and saw Junsu and Yoochun.
OH GAWD. I felt my heart beating fast again. They were just PERFECT.
They looked stunning all in black. Yoochun is indeed more handsome live than in pics or vids. Junsu exuded such charisma. I tell you, he looked manlier than Chun or Jae. That was the first impression I had. Jae... I mean, I'm just going to copycat everyone and say he's flawless. I swear. His features are so sharp. And his white skin!... hearts!
They greeted us with "Hola!" and the crowd was going wild, screaming, calling for them, while they stood still on the stage for a moment. Apparently, Yoochun's mic wasn't working. But it was a wonderful thing because we could ogle them for a bit longer. They were with a serious face, but as the chants wouldn't stop, Jaejoong cracked and smiled, amazed at the reception, I think, they did not expect. My heart fluttered so badly when I saw him smile! I had only seen it on vids. To see it live! Oh my god. You can clearly see who I'm biased for, no? haha
Soon "Get Out" song started and the fans sang along with them on the "Bye Bye" part. It was a fantastic feeling! I think everyone, including me, was just in a daze and craze moment, because this was the first time to see them for most.
"Empty" started right away and Yoochun said into the microphone: "I think you know this song, right?" in english. Needless to say, everyone went nuts! XD In this performance, the three seemed hyper, probably infected with the crowd's intense enthusiasm, that Yoochun kept asking us to jump, put our hands up, Jae would direct his microphone in our direction so we would sing "Let it go, let it go", Junsu seemed happy, I saw him smile big while dancing and looking at us.
And just like that. It was over.
They said "Thank you!" and left the stage. Noooooo!
OH MY GOD! I was in a daze still. Those 10 minutes had been heaven for me. A dream I didn't want to wake up from. I couldn't believe I had just actually seen them live, no matter how short the moment had been. I had forgotten I was being squished from all sides and pushed against the person in front of me, my lunch inside my bag was probably reduced to crumbs, but I didn't care.
Once we turned around and started to head to the exit, I felt they had been instructed not to talk and to just perform. Because it was slightly awkward in the beginning and at the end of the performance. Just when I was thinking this, I look up to where the press was and saw Junsu's parents and Yoochun's mom!! ^_______^ Junsu's mom was so kind! She was smiling big and waved at us, happy with the acknowledgement.
It was already so late, a bit past 1pm, that from there to the Poble, we would waste a lot of time, since we still had to catch the metro and then the bus, not to mention the metro stop was in a relative distant way. There was no other alternative than to forget about money, and catch a taxi to head to our destination. Took a while before we caught one, but finally we did.
POBLE ESPANYOL
In 5-10 minutes we arrived to the location. Just when the taxi was going up the avenue, we had a fright. The line was SO BIG! It seemed it had no end or a beginning in this case. We were screwed. We knew then we wouldn't have a good spot at the concert. Sad, but trying to relieve the disappointment, we tried to think positive, since we had already seen them so close. So we could just enjoy the concert later on and not be worried if we could see them clearly or not.
I suppose, when something good as that happens, we can't help but want more and more. We just couldn't get enough. Not of JYJ. Well, we went and exchanged our tickets for bracelets, no one was basically there, so it was fast. Next to the place was the merchandise stand where we went to have a look. Have to say, I was pretty disappointed. Nothing worthy of spending money. It's a shame we didn't have rights to an official merchandise. I'd love to have a t-shirt just like the ones JYJ wore at the concert later on.
We headed down to the end of the queue, and it was sure people at the front had come extremely early, there were blankets and bags of food. Some were actually still sleeping. As we got further down, it was getting clear, by the second, the line was really long. Just when we arrived, since there was 7 hours left, we laid down this big and thin raincoat we had on the cold and wet floor and sat down. Basically just like any other fan. We had some sandwiches with us and had our lunch there.
The hours went by with me changing positions while seated, (the ground was not soft! LOL) and getting up for a few moments so I wouldn't tire my body. By then, the line behind us had gotten extremely longer.
At some point, we recognized the same photographers who had been at the Salón coming down the street. They were from CJES, we think. And that same photographer I was attracted to that morning made his appearance again. I was suddenly happy to see them and wanted to take a picture of him. But while I tried to get my camera, he walked by pretty quickly and I had no chance. DARN! I was hoping he would come back up and I'd have another opportunity.
There were two Japanese fans in front of us in the line who were very friendly. They had fans made by themselves, which they distributed, had Japanese snacks that they generously gave to the fans that surrounded them. The older woman was damn amusing. The touristic buses heading down to the Plaza de España would horn continuously and from the front, through the middle, till the end of the line, every fan would wave to the tourists who traveled on the open upper roof. It was always a distraction that helped us spend the time more comfortably. The tourists would be happy and would wave back at us. The Japanese woman would be the first to see the touristic buses and would jump out of nowhere from the line, run to the edge of the street and would wave like crazy. LOL She would come back with a big smile on her lips everytime. She seemed full of energy. At one time, she smiled to my friend, after doing it, and she looked like a manga character, with her closed eyes, tilted head and cute smile on her lips. ^^
It was little things like that that helped us pass the time quite calmly.
The only upsetting thing was when (i think) Chinese fans showed up proudly *rolls eyes* displaying a Yunjae banner. I just couldn't disguise my disgust, because what a lack of sensitivity towards Jaejoong, what a lack of respect towards JYJ. I really never thought such a thing would happen in this concert. And it was just a bad surprise for me.
The line had gotten a lot longer once the hours passed, and by then I couldn't see where it ended. It could have probably reached Plaza de España considering the amount of people that gathered there! Just when I was standing, after what seemed a long time, my friend suddenly went. "Lena, No-No!" Just for the record, No-No, is a nickname my friend gave him after a silly joke. lol Well, I looked to my right and there he was.
He and another photographer were taking pictures of the fans. Whenever he smiled...those dimples!! I just couldn't miss this chance! I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped two pictures. XDDDDDDDDD Pity I didn't catch one of him smiling.
If anyone knows the name of this man, I would greatly appreciate it. Since No-No, although a caring nickname, isn't enough. This man is WANTED. by me
At 8:30pm the line started to move. Finally. But it caught a lot of us unprepared and suddenly having to get up and pick up all of our belongings which were on the floor, like we were, was sort of confusing. Especially for a girl who was saving the spot for her two friends and she was having dinner right then. Everyone passed her by and all of her things were surpassed by all the others on the line. At one point, we all gave up on sitting. Everytime one tried to, the line would start to move. And it had gotten a lot colder by then. Really cold.
Soon, we found ourselves in no time at the entrance. They were getting us pretty quickly inside. The security man checked my bracelet, and I have to admit I was a bit nervous because I had water bottles inside my bag, including some snacks we ended up not eating and thought it could cause a problem or a delay. But he simply touched it and gave me permission. XDD So, I got in and walked quickly but not like I had in the morning at Salón Del Manga. I was resigned to the fact I wouldn't be able to get a good spot. So, I turned to my left side, there were fewer people on the way and suddenly my eyes widened. O______O
There weren't that many people! I could actually get an okay spot! My legs clicked and ran at full speed, the other fans joining as soon as they noticed as well. I was DAMN happy with the spot. I thought I'd be way at the back and that ended up not being true. XDDD I couldn't believe my luck. I'd be able to see their faces and their expressions clearly again for the second time...and for TWO whole hours! ^__________^
The excitement and anxiety was triple the amount then, while everyone rushed to fill the venue and others waited impatiently for the time they would come on stage. I prepared my lightstick, my camera (which had already only half of the battery *cries*) and I was ready for the most amazing concert it turned out to be later. XDDD
Part 2 soon!