Crazy fangirls vs. CNBLUE in London
"So you mean you're less crazy because you're not first in line?"
(My cousin about me when I told her we've been in the queue for two hours already, but that those ones who came first were there at 10 a.m. in the morning).
It's something with fangirls and billboards, if their idols are on it, they just have to take a picture, because it's ALMOST like having a picture with the real boys... ^o^;
Like an eager teenager I jumped on this train with Stella (from Norway) who unexpectably also was a fan of CNBLUE. When I told one of my close friends about this concert and that I was going, she was very impressed and thought I was SOOO cool going with a total stranger I've met online. But then I told her I knew Stella since before, in real life, and she didn't think I was that cool anymore... T_T;
I should have updated a week ago, but I've been busy with school and real life and eh... a little bit lazy too I have to admit, hehe. But since I made a promise to katherinekate, who wasn't able to join, I'm writing this entry for her sake and well for mine as well. ^_^v
Friday
A confused but happy little fangirl arrives at the Liverpool Street Station on a rainy Friday, sees people everywhere: in the station, on the streets, in every direction.
Whoaaa~ So many impressions launching at me at that moment, my tourist mode set in instantly and I wanted to pick up my camera, but I was late to my meeting with Stella, because the Stansted Express was delayed.
I managed to find my way to Bishopsgate but then I walked the opposite direction until I found out my mistake. Even more late now. @.@
There are people who don't enjoy food, who only eat because they have to or only eat one kind of food. Luckily, I don't surround myself with them. When I'm with my friends, there is always a topic we'll eventually talk about and that is "what to eat?". For Asian food London has a food heaven, namely Chinatown. You can find Chinese cuisine (of course), but also Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian and others. Stella told me we had to eat at least four times a day... well, I wasn't hard to persuade.
We went to Little Korea (LiKo) to try their bibimbap. The bowl was hot, but I didn't manage to burn anything... I wanted to have 飯焦 on my rice, but I guess it was good enough that the beef wasn't raw when I ate...
On our way back to the hotel we saw this man picking up the garbage and throwing it inside the garbage car. Seems like hard work. So lonely, working in the night, cleaning the streets with no one to talk to. Admirable work, but I feel bad for him somehow. =(
Our hotel Club Quarter Hotel at Gracechurch was expensive, but clean and spacey and had free wi-fi at the room. ^^b
Saturday
The rounded walls really make you feel like you're in a tunnel, underground. I think London's metro is nice and rather clean, but confusing... it might look easy on the map, and you think you know the system of subway, but you're wrong. The exit/entry you used on a certain day could be closed the other day and you won't always know why. O.o
Due to closed entry in the subway, we had to walk from Tottenham subway station to Chinatown for our breakfast. On our way, we passed a street with music stores only, where they sell all kinds of musical instrument. Of course everything was closed at this early hour. I wonder though if Yonghwa would go here to look at guitars? XD~
Scary red moving double-box, surprisingly speedy. Watch your way before crossing the roads. T_T;;
Ah, after lunch at Tokyo diner in Chinatown we headed to North Greenwich, late as always, I blame it on the subway because it was the cause. Just a quick stop to take some photos, because... it's a billboard! Tiny CNBLUE, but they're still there. Oh, can you see my and Stella's reflection in the billboard?
We were going to meet up with Wenke xxryoxx and Frauke xxasukixx (fangirls from Germany) at the entrance of Indigo2, but since we were late I tried to message Wenke. They were in the queue already and told us to join them when we arrived.
The queue to CNBLUE's concert. I took this picture when we were trying to find Wenke and Frauke, without knowing that I was taking a picture of them. This was before we met in real life. ^^
Skirmante is a girl (originally from Lithuania) living in London Glasgow, who Wenke and Frauke got acquainted with in the queue. I had such problem pronouncing her name! >_<
Stella and me found the end of the queue which was far to the right, way out of this picture. And waited. Luckily we found the other girls some time later and were able to move forward in the queue, thanks to Wilhelm, the little security guard/staff member. Can you see him in his light blue security vest?
Standing in line with other fangirls is also a fun experience if you are with the right people. Everybody is so excited, full of expectations and you're happy because it still feels unreal but in the same time, you know you'll finally see your idol boys in a while. Haha, of course it's fun to see other people looking at you, taking pictures as if you were some exotic animal in a cage. ^o^
Recognize this restaurant? No CNBLUE serving and singing there today though...
After one and an hour we suddenly realized we better find a toilet before going inside the concert, so we went inside the arena. It was harder than expected to find toilets, you would think they would have lots of in such a huge place with that many people around. Luckily, we were able to use the toilet at Wasabi's restaurant.
Finally, finally we were inside. But this half an hour was even longer to wait than the whole queue-time outside. Nothing to do more than taking pictures and waiting. Before the boys showed up, we got this message that it was strictly forbidden to take any photos or videos with our cameras/phones. Pfttt~
Turned out it was a joke.
You can enlarge these pictures by clicking on them, but Photobucket resized them for me though... T_T
Flashing everywhere, from the cameras and from the stage. Maybe they wanted to see us as badly as we wanted to see them? XD Lame joke, sorry...
Seeing them close and in real life doesn't differ much from seeing them on Youtube. They are the same, their performance is the same, they sound equally good live as their recording, but there are more interactions and you know they're singing live, not using playback singing/playing (how do you do playback playing on drums?? Soundproof the drumsticks? O.o).
"Emotional" Yonghwa and "Lovely" Minhyuk.
I was impressed by Yonghwa's English. He must have trained hard with the pronounciations? He sounds better than me (because I can't talk English, you should write me instead). But his "unfor-tuna-te-ly" was so cute. XD~
Stella teased me that I probably would stare only at Yonghwa at the concert, but the true is I had him best in view. However, this was unfor-tuna-te-ly my best shoot of him (blame my camera). And probably the best of Minhyuk too, because if you try hard enough, you could see his eye brows. His face was always hidden behind the cymbal. T_T
"Burning" Jonghyun.
To be honest, after the first excitement of seeing them on the stage, at the beginning, I didn't really enjoy the concert. I was clamped in the crowd, people's head, hands, arms, cameras and ipads were in the way of my view, the flashing lights from the stage was blinding me and I thought they wanted to crack our eardrums with the loud sound, not to mention the fangirls' screaming in my ears.
I didn't enjoy. Not much. I told God, if it's going to be like this the rest of the concert, then I'd better stayed at home and watch them on my computer. Can't you do anything about it? And it was like He replied me, but didn't you bring earplugs? Oh right, I did!
"Untouchable" Jungshin.
With the earplugs in, I could enjoy the music. Seriously. My ears didn't hurt anymore, and I could hear the music very clear. From work, in the constant noises with the kids in school I've learnt to protect my ears. When I talked with friends in my cellgroup who is playing in the band Scarlet Drop, they say they're always wearing earplugs onstage too, because the music is too loud.
As for the views, it didn't get better for a while. I had my tricks though...
... like watching through someone's tablet. Or standing on my toes. Or concentrating on listening to the music.
I didn't write down which songs they sang, because I usually listen with my mp3-player which doesn't display the song titles so I don't know the names, but I recognize the songs when I hear them. I think they performed Coward, Kimio (korean version), Intution, Love Girl, Hey You, Wake Up, Where You Are, LOVE and I'm A Loner. And a lot more. Frauke has the list though.
Singing along was a bit difficult, since they sang korean versions of all the songs (available in Japanese). I was a bit disappointed, because I usually listen to the Japanese versions. =/
Soon enough, I didn't feel the pushing from behind any longer and turning around I saw that the crowd had loosened up a bit. Frauke, Wenke and Skirmante were nowhere to be seen either... A lot of fans had backed and were staying a bit from the main crowd. Maybe the view is better over there? Unwilling to leave my place but yet wanting to get a place with better view I moved out from the crowd and went backwards. And indeed it was better. I could see the boys with almost no effort (when those annoying fan signs didn't appear).
By the way, in front of me was a really entusiastic fanboy. He was singing, jumping, dancing, raising his arms/hands and video shooting almost at the same time. It was fun too see him. There were other fanboys as well, and males who went with their girlfriends, but he was 'one in a million', so to speak. ^^
Actually, I think I'm a boring fan, because I don't shout, neither do I jump. Or maybe it's because I'm old, too old to be excited in the same way like those girls who screams for the tiniest little thing. I think it might be my personality, since I've always been the quiet, reflecting type of person, rather watching than participating. However, I think that those screaming, hyperhysterical fangirls might be good for the idols, in a way, because it is them who the idols can have the liveliest interactions with, and I guess it's these crazy screaming girls who will move their hearts and give them courage and (at least momentarily) support...? A concert without entusiastically screaming fans would be weird, so even though they're really annoying for us other fans who have come there to actually listen and enjoy the music I thought they were an important part of the concert.
Haha, but some might be TOO extreme even for CNBLUE, when Yonghwa had to ask them to back off and not get too close to the stage, because it's dangerous. Or when a fan threw a wristband in Yonghwa's head... though he found himself quickly and put that wristband on his wrist, but his surprise-stricken face when he got hit was hilarious. XD
What really annoyed me was those big fanmade signs which were raised up in hope of being seen by the boys. In that way I think people are really selfiish, because when they're seeking attention from their idols they have no thought or care about the fans behind them. We DON'T want to see the backside of your fanmade sign. Please~
That's why I didn't bring out my own uchiwa either. I wouldn't do the same annoying thing that irritates me to no end to others. >_<
It's weird, I enjoyed the encore more than anything in the concert, maybe because I knew the concert would soon be over and I'd better enjoy now or it would be too late. Mostly I think it's because they played my favourite song You've Fallen For Me. It's an old song from Yonghwa's drama, so I was pleasantly surprised, thrilling actually. *\( ^o^ )/*
And of course the obligatory a.ri.ga.tou which has another name in Korean (Thank U?). "This one I can sing..." I thought, "... no I can't, because it's in Korean also..." Jonghyun did very well singing Thank U, but sadly, people were more interested in what was happening with Yonghwa, fans throwing stuff at them. I love this song, but I also didn't want them to sing it, because I knew it marked the end. Yada! Yada! >.<
There was one song I was waiting and waiting for but it never turned up. I was waiting for Mr. KIA and since it's in their new album I was hoping... but I guess I shouldn't complain. There were a lot of good songs I enjoyed. ^_^v
After the concert ended we found a place to sit, all the five of us, at Wasabi's. Our feet hurt. And the legs. And our backs for standing that long. You kind of forget those things when you're all hyped up. ^^;
Sunday
The Bishopsgate. I like this street. There are always activities on it, traffic, people, noises - just how it is supposed to be in the city. But the restaurants aren't open early on a Sunday morning, so we had to walk far searching for food.
This building is a landmark in our neighbourhood, but WHAT is it?
Some distractions on our way to breakfast: market stalls, like those in Women Street in Hongkong. Of course we had to take a look, Stella and me. Besides, we weren't that hungry, we just needed to eat. I bought a pretty blue bracelet. I know, I'm a greenie meanie, but this blue one was prettier than the green one, okay? XD~
Packing our stuff at the hotel, saying goodbye and heading towards...
... the Liverpool Street station. Guess what we found here? Not Jungshin for sure, he was here the day before... But lots of restaurants, cafés and food stores. Yay to find it AFTER we'd eaten. T_T
Before the flight home: not the finest sushi you can get, but it sure felt good in the stomach, a good ending to this wonderful trip. o(^_^ )o
~*~*~*~
As my first concert experience, it was good. Now I'm ready for KAT-TUN and Tokyo Dome in Japan! =)
(My cousin about me when I told her we've been in the queue for two hours already, but that those ones who came first were there at 10 a.m. in the morning).
It's something with fangirls and billboards, if their idols are on it, they just have to take a picture, because it's ALMOST like having a picture with the real boys... ^o^;
Like an eager teenager I jumped on this train with Stella (from Norway) who unexpectably also was a fan of CNBLUE. When I told one of my close friends about this concert and that I was going, she was very impressed and thought I was SOOO cool going with a total stranger I've met online. But then I told her I knew Stella since before, in real life, and she didn't think I was that cool anymore... T_T;
I should have updated a week ago, but I've been busy with school and real life and eh... a little bit lazy too I have to admit, hehe. But since I made a promise to katherinekate, who wasn't able to join, I'm writing this entry for her sake and well for mine as well. ^_^v
Friday
A confused but happy little fangirl arrives at the Liverpool Street Station on a rainy Friday, sees people everywhere: in the station, on the streets, in every direction.
Whoaaa~ So many impressions launching at me at that moment, my tourist mode set in instantly and I wanted to pick up my camera, but I was late to my meeting with Stella, because the Stansted Express was delayed.
I managed to find my way to Bishopsgate but then I walked the opposite direction until I found out my mistake. Even more late now. @.@
There are people who don't enjoy food, who only eat because they have to or only eat one kind of food. Luckily, I don't surround myself with them. When I'm with my friends, there is always a topic we'll eventually talk about and that is "what to eat?". For Asian food London has a food heaven, namely Chinatown. You can find Chinese cuisine (of course), but also Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian and others. Stella told me we had to eat at least four times a day... well, I wasn't hard to persuade.
We went to Little Korea (LiKo) to try their bibimbap. The bowl was hot, but I didn't manage to burn anything... I wanted to have 飯焦 on my rice, but I guess it was good enough that the beef wasn't raw when I ate...
On our way back to the hotel we saw this man picking up the garbage and throwing it inside the garbage car. Seems like hard work. So lonely, working in the night, cleaning the streets with no one to talk to. Admirable work, but I feel bad for him somehow. =(
Our hotel Club Quarter Hotel at Gracechurch was expensive, but clean and spacey and had free wi-fi at the room. ^^b
Saturday
The rounded walls really make you feel like you're in a tunnel, underground. I think London's metro is nice and rather clean, but confusing... it might look easy on the map, and you think you know the system of subway, but you're wrong. The exit/entry you used on a certain day could be closed the other day and you won't always know why. O.o
Due to closed entry in the subway, we had to walk from Tottenham subway station to Chinatown for our breakfast. On our way, we passed a street with music stores only, where they sell all kinds of musical instrument. Of course everything was closed at this early hour. I wonder though if Yonghwa would go here to look at guitars? XD~
Scary red moving double-box, surprisingly speedy. Watch your way before crossing the roads. T_T;;
Ah, after lunch at Tokyo diner in Chinatown we headed to North Greenwich, late as always, I blame it on the subway because it was the cause. Just a quick stop to take some photos, because... it's a billboard! Tiny CNBLUE, but they're still there. Oh, can you see my and Stella's reflection in the billboard?
We were going to meet up with Wenke xxryoxx and Frauke xxasukixx (fangirls from Germany) at the entrance of Indigo2, but since we were late I tried to message Wenke. They were in the queue already and told us to join them when we arrived.
The queue to CNBLUE's concert. I took this picture when we were trying to find Wenke and Frauke, without knowing that I was taking a picture of them. This was before we met in real life. ^^
Skirmante is a girl (originally from Lithuania) living in London Glasgow, who Wenke and Frauke got acquainted with in the queue. I had such problem pronouncing her name! >_<
Stella and me found the end of the queue which was far to the right, way out of this picture. And waited. Luckily we found the other girls some time later and were able to move forward in the queue, thanks to Wilhelm, the little security guard/staff member. Can you see him in his light blue security vest?
Standing in line with other fangirls is also a fun experience if you are with the right people. Everybody is so excited, full of expectations and you're happy because it still feels unreal but in the same time, you know you'll finally see your idol boys in a while. Haha, of course it's fun to see other people looking at you, taking pictures as if you were some exotic animal in a cage. ^o^
Recognize this restaurant? No CNBLUE serving and singing there today though...
After one and an hour we suddenly realized we better find a toilet before going inside the concert, so we went inside the arena. It was harder than expected to find toilets, you would think they would have lots of in such a huge place with that many people around. Luckily, we were able to use the toilet at Wasabi's restaurant.
Finally, finally we were inside. But this half an hour was even longer to wait than the whole queue-time outside. Nothing to do more than taking pictures and waiting. Before the boys showed up, we got this message that it was strictly forbidden to take any photos or videos with our cameras/phones. Pfttt~
Turned out it was a joke.
You can enlarge these pictures by clicking on them, but Photobucket resized them for me though... T_T
Flashing everywhere, from the cameras and from the stage. Maybe they wanted to see us as badly as we wanted to see them? XD Lame joke, sorry...
Seeing them close and in real life doesn't differ much from seeing them on Youtube. They are the same, their performance is the same, they sound equally good live as their recording, but there are more interactions and you know they're singing live, not using playback singing/playing (how do you do playback playing on drums?? Soundproof the drumsticks? O.o).
"Emotional" Yonghwa and "Lovely" Minhyuk.
I was impressed by Yonghwa's English. He must have trained hard with the pronounciations? He sounds better than me (because I can't talk English, you should write me instead). But his "unfor-tuna-te-ly" was so cute. XD~
Stella teased me that I probably would stare only at Yonghwa at the concert, but the true is I had him best in view. However, this was unfor-tuna-te-ly my best shoot of him (blame my camera). And probably the best of Minhyuk too, because if you try hard enough, you could see his eye brows. His face was always hidden behind the cymbal. T_T
"Burning" Jonghyun.
To be honest, after the first excitement of seeing them on the stage, at the beginning, I didn't really enjoy the concert. I was clamped in the crowd, people's head, hands, arms, cameras and ipads were in the way of my view, the flashing lights from the stage was blinding me and I thought they wanted to crack our eardrums with the loud sound, not to mention the fangirls' screaming in my ears.
I didn't enjoy. Not much. I told God, if it's going to be like this the rest of the concert, then I'd better stayed at home and watch them on my computer. Can't you do anything about it? And it was like He replied me, but didn't you bring earplugs? Oh right, I did!
"Untouchable" Jungshin.
With the earplugs in, I could enjoy the music. Seriously. My ears didn't hurt anymore, and I could hear the music very clear. From work, in the constant noises with the kids in school I've learnt to protect my ears. When I talked with friends in my cellgroup who is playing in the band Scarlet Drop, they say they're always wearing earplugs onstage too, because the music is too loud.
As for the views, it didn't get better for a while. I had my tricks though...
... like watching through someone's tablet. Or standing on my toes. Or concentrating on listening to the music.
I didn't write down which songs they sang, because I usually listen with my mp3-player which doesn't display the song titles so I don't know the names, but I recognize the songs when I hear them. I think they performed Coward, Kimio (korean version), Intution, Love Girl, Hey You, Wake Up, Where You Are, LOVE and I'm A Loner. And a lot more. Frauke has the list though.
Singing along was a bit difficult, since they sang korean versions of all the songs (available in Japanese). I was a bit disappointed, because I usually listen to the Japanese versions. =/
Soon enough, I didn't feel the pushing from behind any longer and turning around I saw that the crowd had loosened up a bit. Frauke, Wenke and Skirmante were nowhere to be seen either... A lot of fans had backed and were staying a bit from the main crowd. Maybe the view is better over there? Unwilling to leave my place but yet wanting to get a place with better view I moved out from the crowd and went backwards. And indeed it was better. I could see the boys with almost no effort (when those annoying fan signs didn't appear).
By the way, in front of me was a really entusiastic fanboy. He was singing, jumping, dancing, raising his arms/hands and video shooting almost at the same time. It was fun too see him. There were other fanboys as well, and males who went with their girlfriends, but he was 'one in a million', so to speak. ^^
Actually, I think I'm a boring fan, because I don't shout, neither do I jump. Or maybe it's because I'm old, too old to be excited in the same way like those girls who screams for the tiniest little thing. I think it might be my personality, since I've always been the quiet, reflecting type of person, rather watching than participating. However, I think that those screaming, hyperhysterical fangirls might be good for the idols, in a way, because it is them who the idols can have the liveliest interactions with, and I guess it's these crazy screaming girls who will move their hearts and give them courage and (at least momentarily) support...? A concert without entusiastically screaming fans would be weird, so even though they're really annoying for us other fans who have come there to actually listen and enjoy the music I thought they were an important part of the concert.
Haha, but some might be TOO extreme even for CNBLUE, when Yonghwa had to ask them to back off and not get too close to the stage, because it's dangerous. Or when a fan threw a wristband in Yonghwa's head... though he found himself quickly and put that wristband on his wrist, but his surprise-stricken face when he got hit was hilarious. XD
What really annoyed me was those big fanmade signs which were raised up in hope of being seen by the boys. In that way I think people are really selfiish, because when they're seeking attention from their idols they have no thought or care about the fans behind them. We DON'T want to see the backside of your fanmade sign. Please~
That's why I didn't bring out my own uchiwa either. I wouldn't do the same annoying thing that irritates me to no end to others. >_<
It's weird, I enjoyed the encore more than anything in the concert, maybe because I knew the concert would soon be over and I'd better enjoy now or it would be too late. Mostly I think it's because they played my favourite song You've Fallen For Me. It's an old song from Yonghwa's drama, so I was pleasantly surprised, thrilling actually. *\( ^o^ )/*
And of course the obligatory a.ri.ga.tou which has another name in Korean (Thank U?). "This one I can sing..." I thought, "... no I can't, because it's in Korean also..." Jonghyun did very well singing Thank U, but sadly, people were more interested in what was happening with Yonghwa, fans throwing stuff at them. I love this song, but I also didn't want them to sing it, because I knew it marked the end. Yada! Yada! >.<
There was one song I was waiting and waiting for but it never turned up. I was waiting for Mr. KIA and since it's in their new album I was hoping... but I guess I shouldn't complain. There were a lot of good songs I enjoyed. ^_^v
After the concert ended we found a place to sit, all the five of us, at Wasabi's. Our feet hurt. And the legs. And our backs for standing that long. You kind of forget those things when you're all hyped up. ^^;
Sunday
The Bishopsgate. I like this street. There are always activities on it, traffic, people, noises - just how it is supposed to be in the city. But the restaurants aren't open early on a Sunday morning, so we had to walk far searching for food.
This building is a landmark in our neighbourhood, but WHAT is it?
Some distractions on our way to breakfast: market stalls, like those in Women Street in Hongkong. Of course we had to take a look, Stella and me. Besides, we weren't that hungry, we just needed to eat. I bought a pretty blue bracelet. I know, I'm a greenie meanie, but this blue one was prettier than the green one, okay? XD~
Packing our stuff at the hotel, saying goodbye and heading towards...
... the Liverpool Street station. Guess what we found here? Not Jungshin for sure, he was here the day before... But lots of restaurants, cafés and food stores. Yay to find it AFTER we'd eaten. T_T
Before the flight home: not the finest sushi you can get, but it sure felt good in the stomach, a good ending to this wonderful trip. o(^_^ )o
~*~*~*~
As my first concert experience, it was good. Now I'm ready for KAT-TUN and Tokyo Dome in Japan! =)