JYJ Experience. The good, the bad & the ugly.
November 10th.
We arrived at PHL to meet up with my friend Marc, who goes to school at Temple. She agreed to let us stay at her dorm so that we didn't have to spend a lot of money on a hotel.
When we got there, she met us halfway to the school to show us around. We dropped our things off & headed to get something to eat while she went to a meeting. It was typical college, kids being loud & retarded. We ate & discussed what we wanted to do until Marc was done & came back to get us, then we went on a walk around Philly's Center City. It was really nice. Not so busy but definitely not quiet. We made a stop at a few places & took some pictures.
That night when we were getting settled in the dorm, we were looking online for any info about the boys & what they were up to. Apparently, fans had figured out where they were staying based on a picture that Junsu had posted on Twitter. Being the seasoned stalker fans we are, we decided to get a room at the New Yorker since we were going to have to be at the Hammerstein early anyways. So we book the room & pack our overnight bags since we'll be coming back to Philly on Friday after the show. With visions of JYJ in our minds, we all drifted off to sleep.
November 11th.
We get up early, get ready & take the subway to Chinatown in Philly & take the 2 hour bus ride into Manhattan. I charged my phone to make sure I had something to do while on the way. I decided to search for any news about JYJ & came across the MTVk Secret Concert. Even though the concert would require me to be there from 1-6p on the 13th & my flight was at 4:45p on the 13th, I did it anyway. We arrived in Manhattan & hop on the subway to head over to the hotel which took about 15-20 min.
When we got there, about 30 fans were waiting outside & 10-15 inside. As soon as we walk in the door, the door man asked us for our key card. I'm like "Dude we still have to check in. Can't give you something we don't have yet asshole." As it turns out, earlier that day Jae came down solo & the fans swarmed him. The revolving door is on a motor so it rotates constantly. If you get too close it stops, which it did, & he was stuck in the middle of all the fans so the security guard pulled him back & kicked out all the fans without a room.
We got checked-in & head up to our floor which is the 33rd & dump our stuff. Tiernee & Jessica decide to go look around because we saw someone that looked familiar get off on the 24th floor. When they came back about 15 minutes later they were practically squealing that they saw Magenta. At first, I was like "What?" & then they said that they saw magenta hair, meaning Junsu. So Christina & I were like "w.t.f. let's see the autograph!" I am disappointed to say they didn't get one. Didn't even ask.. I wanted to smack the both of them. Who goes stalking & does not have their markers & shit at the ready. Best believe if it had been me, I would have gotten an autograph & a picture. The boy was alone in the hallway with no fans around. Such a waste.
After we got everything in the room settled, we went downstairs to meet Bobz, who I met in LA for KMF, & her friend that came with her. We decided to go to Ktown to see what they had to offer. Due to construction & stuff it took a little longer to get there than planned, so it was dark & cold. Damn NY weather. Anyways, we stop at Koryo Books because they sell kpop music & magazines. It was nice & warm inside so I wandered around looking at different stuff. It had changed since the last time I was there. The entire left side had been turned into a cosmetics place. Very strange but whatever. After the girls spent several hundred dollars, we made our way over to this Korean buffet style restaurant. There were tons of people in there but it was cheap & the lines were moving fast so we go in. I wasn't really that hungry so I just got a little kimchi, japchae, kimbap & dukbokki. Walking around to get drinks, I noticed that they have soju on the shelf. So I bought a little bottle along with some banana milk. The idea was to give the soju to Yoochun or Jae if we happened to run into them because they are alcoholics, haha. The trip back to the hotel was a lot quicker. Bobz & her friend were going to go camp out at the Hammerstein so we said goodbye & headed up to our room to watch a little TV while we eat our dinner.
It was probably about 8 or 8:30 at this point & my phone starts ringing. From looking at the number, I thought it was a friend of mine from Philly. I didn't want to answer because I was really tired but I hadn't talked to her in a long time so I decided to pick-up. I answered the phone & there was a guy on the other end asking if I was Mandy & I said yes. He said that he was from MTVk & he wanted to let me know they were inviting me to the Secret Concert on Saturday. I kinda sat there for a second & was like.. "Are you serious?" They said that I was the first person they called. I was a little shocked. I had no idea what to say. There was a lady in the background saying congratulations. I think I mentioned to them about having to miss my flight. I'm sure they thought I was crazy. Anyways, they gave me the info about the event & told me I could bring a guest. I wrote everything down & after I hung up, reality sets in. I have 3 people with me & I can only bring one person. I'm not even going to go into the whole fiasco that followed. It involves pointy objects, stabbing & band-aids. haha j/k The band-aids were for my blistered feet, but everything else was true. I decided not to worry about it & just get some sleep. We all ended up going to bed probably after 1 or 2am.
November 12th.
So the day of the concert arrives. We get up & decide to check with Bobz to see how the line is doing. She said that there are a lot of people there but there is no line separation. Meaning, since JYJ decided to make it a free concert, anyone could go ticket or not. So we all haul ass to get to the Hammerstein which is right around the corner & down the block. There are already barricades up blocking off the area to stand in so that people can still get by on the sidewalk. Each barricade probably held about 200-250 people. By the time we got there, we had to go to the third one.
We got there at about 9:30am & the concert doesn't even start til about 7 or 8pm. Christina & I get in line to hold our groups spot while Tiernee & Jessica go get Tiernee's friend Meg, who is in a wheelchair. Meg fell 6 floors from her dorm about 2 years ago & fucked herself up against the concrete. Thank god she did too & I'll tell you why. After a few hours of waiting, one of the security guards for the Hammerstein comes over & says that about 30 min before the doors open, they'll come get us & let us in first to get her settled. -insert extreme fan girl squeal here- So we get pretty excited cause we were all thinking we're going to have horrible spots on the floor & not be able to see anything. Needless to say, we were peeing our pants. We start talking to some of the other girls standing in line to help pass the time, but after standing up all freakin day, there's no distraction for the amount of discomfort our feet were in. People were constantly walking by & asking what's going on, so after a while, Christina started telling people that it was for Kanye West or Beyonce or some ridic shit like that. It was pretty funny though. We did get to talk to Shane Yoon, who MC'd the show. He chatted with us for a bit because we were crazy as cat shit. Meg told him about what happened to her & how the necklace that was designed by Jae, that she was wearing the day she fell, broke her jaw in 6 places. We kept making jokes about how Jae thinks western women are unapproachable & making fun of Chunface's English skills. He's a pretty funny guy.
Finally, it's about 6:00pm & we were wondering if we had been forgotten. Tiernee asks the guy what we needed to do to get Meg in & he says he'll take us up to the first barricade until they start letting people in. So they open the barricade & we get out to go & some of the girls we were talking to tried to come with us. The security guard saw the number of people & said he would only take Meg & one other person. So we're like "We are in a group together. We came together & we have to leave together." He said that he couldn't take that many people. I wasn't about to let this shit go down so I said "Look, originally it was us four & Meg." He looked at us & said "Ok, you 4 come with me & the other 2 have to get back in the barricade." I felt bad but I wasn't about to let them ruin it for the rest of us. We get to the front barricade & had to wait for a while longer. By this point, we were getting a little worried because Meg has the tickets of 2 of her friends that are driving in from Maryland & got caught in traffic on their way to the concert.
It's about 6:15 or 6:30 before they come get us to go in. We had to wheel Meg up the ramp in front of all the other fans and I'm not gonna lie.. it felt pretty damn great to get to go in before everyone else. Anyways, I digress. So we wheel here up the ramp & get inside.. & I can hear Junsu singing! AHHHH! I know! They were still doing the sound check. We couldn't see them because the doors were closed to the theater but we could hear them perfectly. We all were getting excited about the concert when Meg's friends showed up. So we all get to know each other & start chatting. Tiernee got to go in while they were still doing the sound check to figure out where to place Meg so she wouldn't get hurt. They decided to put her on the opposite side of the barricade at the side of the stage. She came back & was practically flailing over seeing the boys. It was pretty funny. The sound check ended & they opened the doors to the ballroom space for the concert & it's pretty spacious. The staff people came out & were waiting on the other side of the room from us. A little while later, the security people let us go in first. When I say first, I mean even before the staff got to go in. We didn't run but we walked rather fast to the barricade. We were front & center. I'm talking prime spots for optimum concert viewing. There was about 4 ft between us & the stage. I couldn't have asked for a better spot. A few minutes later, I turn around & all the staff were running towards us. I do mean running. They all crowded around us & soon I feel people filing in behind us. The next hour & a half I can't really explain.. it was like heaven. One thing I will tell you is that during the Q&A, I was holding up my Dolphin glowstick that said Xiah on it. I was watching Junsu almost the entire time & when I saw him smile in my direction, I died. The girl standing next to me tapped me on the shoulder & was like "He sees you." I squealed on the inside but remained rather calm on the outside. However, I was thinking "Let's make big ass babies together."
My pictures & cams:
Stage screen before the show.
Shane Yoon & Julie Chang - MCs
JYJ
Fierce Jaejoong
Pretty Jaejoong
Thoughtful Jaejoong
Get out of my camera, Jae
Cute Chunface
Tatted Chunner
My Junsu~
The audio on these cams kinda sucks cause I used my EVO but the imagery isn't too bad. I'll see if I can get my friends cams up too cause they are a lot better.
Empty
Be My Girl
Q&A
Chajattda
Empty Remix
Favorite pictures from Christina
Favorite pictures from ladidadidodida5
Favorite pictures from tierybm
After the concert, we made our way out to the street. There were tons of people hanging around outside & we had to wait on Meg's mom & friend to get there so we could take her back to the hotel. Meg said bye to her friends from Maryland & we walked about 8 blocks to get to her hotel to pick up our stuff before going back to Chinatown to catch the bus back to Philly. We got there, picked up our stuff, said goodbye, went downstairs to charge our phones for a minute & then took the subway to Chinatown.
When we got to the bus stop, there were other people waiting outside. It was our understanding that the last bus left at 12:30am but apparently it left at 11pm & no one knew. So we tried to figure out what the hell to do. We decided to try Greyhound since it would only be about 20$. We took a taxi to Penn Station but when we got there we found out that Greyhound doesn't leave from there due to construction but no one knew where it left from. We walked across the street to Hotel Pennsylvania to see if they had any rooms available, which they didn't. Then we went back to the New Yorker & they don't have any rooms either. We tried one other hotel before we gave up & went to find something to eat. It was about 2am & all I'd had to eat that day was a bagel & some chicken nuggets. We went to Sbarro's on 7th, got some pizza & like 3 drinks each. Charging my phone, I call my aunt to see what she thought we should do. I tried calling my cousin, that lives in Brooklyn but he didn't answer. My aunt gave me my cousin's ex boyfriend's number, who lives in Manhattan, but again no luck. After that there wasn't anything else she could do for us so she said to go hang out in Time Square because they have benches. Honestly, I wasn't that upset about the situation. I think the other girls were upset but I had lived through a lot worse things so I pretty much just let it roll off my back because there wasn't much that could be done. Tiernee called her sister & had her check around online to find a hotel near us that had a room available. She came through & found us a hotel in Ktown that was just a few blocks away, which is awesome because that's where we wanted to be in the first place. We got there around 3am. The check-in guy felt sorry for us, I'm sure, because we had been carrying around luggage, & had been on our feet for about 16 hours so I'm sure we looked like shit. We check-in at 3am but we have to check-out at 12pm which sucked but we had to have somewhere to sleep. I texted Marc, who I decided to take with me to the Secret Concert, because she couldn't go to the showcase due to school. She had to get on a bus from Philly to NY in a few hours & also bring the other girl's luggage because they had to head to the airport later that afternoon. We all passed out at about 4:30am.
November 13th.
I think we all got up around 10am. Marc left on like the 8am bus from Philly, so she arrived around 10:30am. We showed her pictures & video of the night before. She was probably sad to miss it but she was getting something better in return, I think. After getting ready, it was time to say goodbye to the other girls because they had to make it back to the airport in Philly to go home. We checked out, said our goodbyes & went our separate ways.
It was a little after 12pm & we had to be at the venue by 1pm. The venue they held it at was the Rebel. We got there & there were already about 20 or 30 people waiting in line. We took our spot & soon after more people started showing up. The staff came out & gave us the wristbands & release forms to sign. The lady that gave me mine told me she remembered me because my name sounded like it belonged in anime. I guess the whole MM thing. I dunno. Anyways, a few minutes later there was a guy walking by with a camera. I thought he was just taking pictures of the event but then I noticed the mic attached as he was interviewing people. When he walked by & asked if anyone wanted to say something, I have no idea what made me do it, but I said I would. /facepalm You guys, I made such an ass out of myself.. and it's on film. Now I will never be able to get away from it. So the interview ends & he goes on down the line to talk to some of the other girls. My feet were starting to hurt again after all the standing we did the day before. We end up waiting in line about 2 hours before they took us in to check our coats & bags. We were supposed to leave our phones in our bags, but being as untrusting as I am, I kept mine in my pocket but turned it off. We had to wait in this hallway before going in. People were walking by asking what was going on. The staff were coming by to make sure everyone had checked their coat & to give us the rules. Yes there were rules. Rule No. 1: Do not mention anything about TVXQ or you will be removed. No brainer, but still it had to be mentioned. Rule No. 2: Do not push or shove once the boys enter the room. Rule No. 3: Do not sing along or clap until you are told to. Weird but hey, their rules not mine. So they finally let us into what I could only describe as a really small club. Like really small. Bar to the left, with an open dance floor, stairs leading up to what I would assume would be a VIP area & room in the back for coats & what not. There were red curtains lining the walls & another set of stairs toward the front of the room but they didn't lead to anything. We all filed in, Marc & I ended up by the stairs to the VIP area, just standing there looking around at everything. A few minutes later, one of the staff cames over & said that we needed to move back from the stairs to make a walkway.. & I'm like "Walkway.. walkway for who?" When she said the boys.. I almost died.. JYJ in my face.. inches away. I shit you not, I had one of those I can die happy moments. People kept walking up & down the steps. When there was a guy at the top everyone would strain their necks to see who it was.
After all that waiting, their translator came down & said they were ready. Soon after, there was a resounding gasp that passed through the room as 3 godly beings floated down the stairs. I can't tell you what it was like seeing the three of them so close in front of me.. probably surreal would be the best word. They were so perfect. Yoochun was first looking like an ajumma with that long sweater, Jaejoong was second wearing a black shirt with some weird looking broach on it & then Junsu pulling up the rear with his big rear, lookin fine as hell. After they passed by, we all filed in behind them to get a good spot to see. I envy the people at the front that got to see them without being hindered by moving people or cameras. So I find a spot next to the wall where I have a clear view of Yoochun who is in front of me & Junsu who is on the opposite side. It was so weird watching them. Like going to the zoo & seeing your favorite animal in it's natural habitat & watching it interact with it's mates. Bad analogy but whatever. They get situated & the camera guy does a sweep of them & the crowd, then the music starts.
They did acoustic versions of Be My Girl & Empty. Yoochun had a cold, he was coughing & sneezing throughout the entire thing. Someone's mom was in the crowd & when Yoochun sneezed she said bless you & he said thank you into the mic. It was rather cute. They didn't speak to anyone in the audience only to each other or the staff. I stood next to the wall on the right & Marc was in front of me. We used each other as a stabilizer while we stood on our toes to see the three of them together. I was standing next to this really tall guy that was part of JYJ's staff, I think. He was talking to a guy from MTVk & he mentioned that in Korea they don't do acoustic performances because their management controls everything they do & that this was there first time ever. I was like "Wow.. This is one of those history-making moments for their career & I'm living it." Very heavy stuff.
Anyways, so they do two versions of each song & because Chunface's English is the best out of the 3, he got elected to introduce the next song. It took him 6 takes. He kept saying "This next song called Be My Girl." I'm like.. there's something missing from that sentence. He was such a dork. He covered his face & was leaning back on the stool with an embarrassed smile on his face. Jae was laughing his ass off. He was leaning over the mic with a huge smile on his face. Finally, his manager came over & was like "Is called." You could hear Chunner repeating it over & over before he finally redid the take & got it right. Stylists came & did touch ups to hair & make-up. Between takes, it got pretty quiet. Everyone were just looking at them, smiling & waving. On girl near me yelled "YunJae" & thankfully Jae smiled cause if he hadn't, locks of love would have been paying her a visit. From the roots! After that, it went pretty smoothly.
When it was over, they told everyone to move back again to make the same walkway so the boys could get by. I was pretty psyched about getting to see them walk by again. Chunface walked by first, & I noticed that he was shaking some of the girl's hands. I was like "Whaaaat? Touch them? Me? Fuck yea!" I reached out & shook Junsu's hand when he came by. He didn't have a very firm handshake.. Not a good sign by western standards but maybe because I was a girl, he didn't think he should. Then Jae came by, & best believe I was all up in his hand as well. He had super soft skin, but he squeezed my hand before he let go. It was magical. I bet the MTVk staff were laughing their asses off at all us girls squealing about touching them. 2 out of 3 isn't bad. Would have liked to see what Chunner's handshake says about him, but it wasn't meant to be.
After they disappeared upstairs, the other fans were getting their coats & taking pictures. Some of the fans brought gifts for the boys. The same guy that was doing the interviews outside, taped what they gave them & asked a few questions about the gifts. They asked some of the girls to say something about the show & then we all did a shout out to JYJ & MTVk. I held out my Xiah light stick & he brought the camera up close & filmed it for about 5 seconds. I hope Junsu sees it & knows that he has a lot of fans in the US even though his English is appalling.
A momento from the concert
Marc & I got our stuff & left the venue. There were a few fans waiting outside that weren't invited to the concert but found out the location from a friend that got invited, I assumed. By the time we left, my flight home had already taken off. There wasn't a damn thing I could've done about it at the time so we decided to go grab something to eat. I tried calling the people at Delta, but they were no help because I didn't have the information about my flight so that he could look it up. I decided to wait until I got back to Philly to figure it out.
We made our way to Chinatown, I bought a one way ticket to Philly & found a spot to charge my phone before the bus came to get us. We had to wait about 30 minutes before it arrived. We got on & it was pretty packed. They definitely made a profit on those buses. So anyways, Marc & I sit behind this white woman who was taking up both seats with all her stuff & some black lady came by & wanted to sit down. The woman that was already sitting there told her she gets claustrophobic & that she needed to go sit somewhere else. The black lady that wanted to sit down told her that she didn't pay for 2 seats & she just sat on the white woman's bags. So whitey got pissed, tells her to get the fuck up & acts like she's gonna hit the black woman. Black woman said she was gonna call the cops. Whitey said she was about to stab black woman if she didn't get up. Black woman refused & wouldn't even let whitey out so she could go sit somewhere else. Asian bus driver comes over & tells black woman to get up before whitey goes ape shit. Finally after the whole bus started yelling at the two, the black woman got up, called the white woman a bitch, a drunk person & numerous other things in another language. They cussed back & forth at each other for a while before finally some guy behind us told the black woman to shut up. Marc & I were sort of shell shocked. I don't know what I would have done if they have started fighting. After the bus ride, Marc & I took the subway back to campus.
Once there, I peeled off my clothes & got into something comfortable. I called Delta to figure out what to do about my flight. The person I talked to told me that I would have to purchase a return flight because my original ticket was not changeable. The cheapest fair they had for the next day was 450$. I said hell no & hung up. That was double what I paid for a round trip ticket. After checking around on every site known to man, the cheapest flight I could find was for 250$ at 8:10am that next morning. So I booked it. I had to take the train on campus to get to the airport roughly around 6am because I couldn't remember how long it would take me to get there but I failed to check the train schedule first. Thankfully, it started running as early as 4am. I packed all my stuff & fell asleep quickly since I had to be up in about 5 hours.
November 14th.
I woke up, got dressed, woke Marc up & we made our way to the train station. I was still rather tired at this point, so I made Marc walk with me. I would have gotten lost & missed it if she hadn't. The train arrived & we said goodbye. The train ride to PHL was quiet that early in the morning.
Once off the train, I hauled ass to the check-in counter. It was a little after 7 once I got there so I had to hurry to my gate. Thankfully, it wasn't that far from security because they stopped me for the water bottle I had in my bag. Unopened too. Oh well.
So I got to the gate & waited until it was time for me to board. The plane was larger than I expected it to be, because we were just going to Chicago, where I had a 3 hour layover. I've heard horror stories about O'Hare but I thought it was a very nice airport. I think people go in there not knowing the layout so they get lost. I studied the picture in the back of the magazine on the flight so I knew where to go. There was a charging station a few gates down from mine, where I spent most of my time before my flight to DFW. Thank god for my EVO, otherwise, I would have been bored to death. I watched a lot of fancams & looked for any new pictures of the boys.
Finally.. after all that, I arrived at DFW where my aunt was waiting to take me home to my apartment.
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It was a long time coming.. but then I had a lot to say and I didn't want to miss any details. This is a very accurate fan account of what happened. If anyone that was actually there has anything to add or changes, please leave me a comment. The videos & pictures that I took are labeled as such & the ones taken by my friends are separated. I hope you guys enjoyed the story & it made you feel like you were there if you couldn't go.
MTVk, if you happen to read this for some bizarre reason, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity to share time a space with a gifted trio of fantastically talented, charming & out-of-this-world good looking men.
JYJ, I doubt you will ever see this, but you are a breath of fresh air in what has become a very stale music industry. Even though it'll be tough to break through the stereotypes & general US bigotry, I wish you all the best. Never change & always do what makes you happy. I'll always be your fan. <3 Mandy
To anyone who wishes to post this on another site, feel free. However, do not just repost the pictures, especially not the ones from my friends. If you're taking anything out it has to be as a whole not just the pieces you want.
We arrived at PHL to meet up with my friend Marc, who goes to school at Temple. She agreed to let us stay at her dorm so that we didn't have to spend a lot of money on a hotel.
When we got there, she met us halfway to the school to show us around. We dropped our things off & headed to get something to eat while she went to a meeting. It was typical college, kids being loud & retarded. We ate & discussed what we wanted to do until Marc was done & came back to get us, then we went on a walk around Philly's Center City. It was really nice. Not so busy but definitely not quiet. We made a stop at a few places & took some pictures.
That night when we were getting settled in the dorm, we were looking online for any info about the boys & what they were up to. Apparently, fans had figured out where they were staying based on a picture that Junsu had posted on Twitter. Being the seasoned stalker fans we are, we decided to get a room at the New Yorker since we were going to have to be at the Hammerstein early anyways. So we book the room & pack our overnight bags since we'll be coming back to Philly on Friday after the show. With visions of JYJ in our minds, we all drifted off to sleep.
November 11th.
We get up early, get ready & take the subway to Chinatown in Philly & take the 2 hour bus ride into Manhattan. I charged my phone to make sure I had something to do while on the way. I decided to search for any news about JYJ & came across the MTVk Secret Concert. Even though the concert would require me to be there from 1-6p on the 13th & my flight was at 4:45p on the 13th, I did it anyway. We arrived in Manhattan & hop on the subway to head over to the hotel which took about 15-20 min.
When we got there, about 30 fans were waiting outside & 10-15 inside. As soon as we walk in the door, the door man asked us for our key card. I'm like "Dude we still have to check in. Can't give you something we don't have yet asshole." As it turns out, earlier that day Jae came down solo & the fans swarmed him. The revolving door is on a motor so it rotates constantly. If you get too close it stops, which it did, & he was stuck in the middle of all the fans so the security guard pulled him back & kicked out all the fans without a room.
We got checked-in & head up to our floor which is the 33rd & dump our stuff. Tiernee & Jessica decide to go look around because we saw someone that looked familiar get off on the 24th floor. When they came back about 15 minutes later they were practically squealing that they saw Magenta. At first, I was like "What?" & then they said that they saw magenta hair, meaning Junsu. So Christina & I were like "w.t.f. let's see the autograph!" I am disappointed to say they didn't get one. Didn't even ask.. I wanted to smack the both of them. Who goes stalking & does not have their markers & shit at the ready. Best believe if it had been me, I would have gotten an autograph & a picture. The boy was alone in the hallway with no fans around. Such a waste.
After we got everything in the room settled, we went downstairs to meet Bobz, who I met in LA for KMF, & her friend that came with her. We decided to go to Ktown to see what they had to offer. Due to construction & stuff it took a little longer to get there than planned, so it was dark & cold. Damn NY weather. Anyways, we stop at Koryo Books because they sell kpop music & magazines. It was nice & warm inside so I wandered around looking at different stuff. It had changed since the last time I was there. The entire left side had been turned into a cosmetics place. Very strange but whatever. After the girls spent several hundred dollars, we made our way over to this Korean buffet style restaurant. There were tons of people in there but it was cheap & the lines were moving fast so we go in. I wasn't really that hungry so I just got a little kimchi, japchae, kimbap & dukbokki. Walking around to get drinks, I noticed that they have soju on the shelf. So I bought a little bottle along with some banana milk. The idea was to give the soju to Yoochun or Jae if we happened to run into them because they are alcoholics, haha. The trip back to the hotel was a lot quicker. Bobz & her friend were going to go camp out at the Hammerstein so we said goodbye & headed up to our room to watch a little TV while we eat our dinner.
It was probably about 8 or 8:30 at this point & my phone starts ringing. From looking at the number, I thought it was a friend of mine from Philly. I didn't want to answer because I was really tired but I hadn't talked to her in a long time so I decided to pick-up. I answered the phone & there was a guy on the other end asking if I was Mandy & I said yes. He said that he was from MTVk & he wanted to let me know they were inviting me to the Secret Concert on Saturday. I kinda sat there for a second & was like.. "Are you serious?" They said that I was the first person they called. I was a little shocked. I had no idea what to say. There was a lady in the background saying congratulations. I think I mentioned to them about having to miss my flight. I'm sure they thought I was crazy. Anyways, they gave me the info about the event & told me I could bring a guest. I wrote everything down & after I hung up, reality sets in. I have 3 people with me & I can only bring one person. I'm not even going to go into the whole fiasco that followed. It involves pointy objects, stabbing & band-aids. haha j/k The band-aids were for my blistered feet, but everything else was true. I decided not to worry about it & just get some sleep. We all ended up going to bed probably after 1 or 2am.
November 12th.
So the day of the concert arrives. We get up & decide to check with Bobz to see how the line is doing. She said that there are a lot of people there but there is no line separation. Meaning, since JYJ decided to make it a free concert, anyone could go ticket or not. So we all haul ass to get to the Hammerstein which is right around the corner & down the block. There are already barricades up blocking off the area to stand in so that people can still get by on the sidewalk. Each barricade probably held about 200-250 people. By the time we got there, we had to go to the third one.
We got there at about 9:30am & the concert doesn't even start til about 7 or 8pm. Christina & I get in line to hold our groups spot while Tiernee & Jessica go get Tiernee's friend Meg, who is in a wheelchair. Meg fell 6 floors from her dorm about 2 years ago & fucked herself up against the concrete. Thank god she did too & I'll tell you why. After a few hours of waiting, one of the security guards for the Hammerstein comes over & says that about 30 min before the doors open, they'll come get us & let us in first to get her settled. -insert extreme fan girl squeal here- So we get pretty excited cause we were all thinking we're going to have horrible spots on the floor & not be able to see anything. Needless to say, we were peeing our pants. We start talking to some of the other girls standing in line to help pass the time, but after standing up all freakin day, there's no distraction for the amount of discomfort our feet were in. People were constantly walking by & asking what's going on, so after a while, Christina started telling people that it was for Kanye West or Beyonce or some ridic shit like that. It was pretty funny though. We did get to talk to Shane Yoon, who MC'd the show. He chatted with us for a bit because we were crazy as cat shit. Meg told him about what happened to her & how the necklace that was designed by Jae, that she was wearing the day she fell, broke her jaw in 6 places. We kept making jokes about how Jae thinks western women are unapproachable & making fun of Chunface's English skills. He's a pretty funny guy.
Finally, it's about 6:00pm & we were wondering if we had been forgotten. Tiernee asks the guy what we needed to do to get Meg in & he says he'll take us up to the first barricade until they start letting people in. So they open the barricade & we get out to go & some of the girls we were talking to tried to come with us. The security guard saw the number of people & said he would only take Meg & one other person. So we're like "We are in a group together. We came together & we have to leave together." He said that he couldn't take that many people. I wasn't about to let this shit go down so I said "Look, originally it was us four & Meg." He looked at us & said "Ok, you 4 come with me & the other 2 have to get back in the barricade." I felt bad but I wasn't about to let them ruin it for the rest of us. We get to the front barricade & had to wait for a while longer. By this point, we were getting a little worried because Meg has the tickets of 2 of her friends that are driving in from Maryland & got caught in traffic on their way to the concert.
It's about 6:15 or 6:30 before they come get us to go in. We had to wheel Meg up the ramp in front of all the other fans and I'm not gonna lie.. it felt pretty damn great to get to go in before everyone else. Anyways, I digress. So we wheel here up the ramp & get inside.. & I can hear Junsu singing! AHHHH! I know! They were still doing the sound check. We couldn't see them because the doors were closed to the theater but we could hear them perfectly. We all were getting excited about the concert when Meg's friends showed up. So we all get to know each other & start chatting. Tiernee got to go in while they were still doing the sound check to figure out where to place Meg so she wouldn't get hurt. They decided to put her on the opposite side of the barricade at the side of the stage. She came back & was practically flailing over seeing the boys. It was pretty funny. The sound check ended & they opened the doors to the ballroom space for the concert & it's pretty spacious. The staff people came out & were waiting on the other side of the room from us. A little while later, the security people let us go in first. When I say first, I mean even before the staff got to go in. We didn't run but we walked rather fast to the barricade. We were front & center. I'm talking prime spots for optimum concert viewing. There was about 4 ft between us & the stage. I couldn't have asked for a better spot. A few minutes later, I turn around & all the staff were running towards us. I do mean running. They all crowded around us & soon I feel people filing in behind us. The next hour & a half I can't really explain.. it was like heaven. One thing I will tell you is that during the Q&A, I was holding up my Dolphin glowstick that said Xiah on it. I was watching Junsu almost the entire time & when I saw him smile in my direction, I died. The girl standing next to me tapped me on the shoulder & was like "He sees you." I squealed on the inside but remained rather calm on the outside. However, I was thinking "Let's make big ass babies together."
My pictures & cams:
Stage screen before the show.
Shane Yoon & Julie Chang - MCs
JYJ
Fierce Jaejoong
Pretty Jaejoong
Thoughtful Jaejoong
Get out of my camera, Jae
Cute Chunface
Tatted Chunner
My Junsu~
The audio on these cams kinda sucks cause I used my EVO but the imagery isn't too bad. I'll see if I can get my friends cams up too cause they are a lot better.
Empty
Click to viewBe My Girl
Q&A
Chajattda
Empty Remix
Favorite pictures from Christina
Favorite pictures from ladidadidodida5
Favorite pictures from tierybm
After the concert, we made our way out to the street. There were tons of people hanging around outside & we had to wait on Meg's mom & friend to get there so we could take her back to the hotel. Meg said bye to her friends from Maryland & we walked about 8 blocks to get to her hotel to pick up our stuff before going back to Chinatown to catch the bus back to Philly. We got there, picked up our stuff, said goodbye, went downstairs to charge our phones for a minute & then took the subway to Chinatown.
When we got to the bus stop, there were other people waiting outside. It was our understanding that the last bus left at 12:30am but apparently it left at 11pm & no one knew. So we tried to figure out what the hell to do. We decided to try Greyhound since it would only be about 20$. We took a taxi to Penn Station but when we got there we found out that Greyhound doesn't leave from there due to construction but no one knew where it left from. We walked across the street to Hotel Pennsylvania to see if they had any rooms available, which they didn't. Then we went back to the New Yorker & they don't have any rooms either. We tried one other hotel before we gave up & went to find something to eat. It was about 2am & all I'd had to eat that day was a bagel & some chicken nuggets. We went to Sbarro's on 7th, got some pizza & like 3 drinks each. Charging my phone, I call my aunt to see what she thought we should do. I tried calling my cousin, that lives in Brooklyn but he didn't answer. My aunt gave me my cousin's ex boyfriend's number, who lives in Manhattan, but again no luck. After that there wasn't anything else she could do for us so she said to go hang out in Time Square because they have benches. Honestly, I wasn't that upset about the situation. I think the other girls were upset but I had lived through a lot worse things so I pretty much just let it roll off my back because there wasn't much that could be done. Tiernee called her sister & had her check around online to find a hotel near us that had a room available. She came through & found us a hotel in Ktown that was just a few blocks away, which is awesome because that's where we wanted to be in the first place. We got there around 3am. The check-in guy felt sorry for us, I'm sure, because we had been carrying around luggage, & had been on our feet for about 16 hours so I'm sure we looked like shit. We check-in at 3am but we have to check-out at 12pm which sucked but we had to have somewhere to sleep. I texted Marc, who I decided to take with me to the Secret Concert, because she couldn't go to the showcase due to school. She had to get on a bus from Philly to NY in a few hours & also bring the other girl's luggage because they had to head to the airport later that afternoon. We all passed out at about 4:30am.
November 13th.
I think we all got up around 10am. Marc left on like the 8am bus from Philly, so she arrived around 10:30am. We showed her pictures & video of the night before. She was probably sad to miss it but she was getting something better in return, I think. After getting ready, it was time to say goodbye to the other girls because they had to make it back to the airport in Philly to go home. We checked out, said our goodbyes & went our separate ways.
It was a little after 12pm & we had to be at the venue by 1pm. The venue they held it at was the Rebel. We got there & there were already about 20 or 30 people waiting in line. We took our spot & soon after more people started showing up. The staff came out & gave us the wristbands & release forms to sign. The lady that gave me mine told me she remembered me because my name sounded like it belonged in anime. I guess the whole MM thing. I dunno. Anyways, a few minutes later there was a guy walking by with a camera. I thought he was just taking pictures of the event but then I noticed the mic attached as he was interviewing people. When he walked by & asked if anyone wanted to say something, I have no idea what made me do it, but I said I would. /facepalm You guys, I made such an ass out of myself.. and it's on film. Now I will never be able to get away from it. So the interview ends & he goes on down the line to talk to some of the other girls. My feet were starting to hurt again after all the standing we did the day before. We end up waiting in line about 2 hours before they took us in to check our coats & bags. We were supposed to leave our phones in our bags, but being as untrusting as I am, I kept mine in my pocket but turned it off. We had to wait in this hallway before going in. People were walking by asking what was going on. The staff were coming by to make sure everyone had checked their coat & to give us the rules. Yes there were rules. Rule No. 1: Do not mention anything about TVXQ or you will be removed. No brainer, but still it had to be mentioned. Rule No. 2: Do not push or shove once the boys enter the room. Rule No. 3: Do not sing along or clap until you are told to. Weird but hey, their rules not mine. So they finally let us into what I could only describe as a really small club. Like really small. Bar to the left, with an open dance floor, stairs leading up to what I would assume would be a VIP area & room in the back for coats & what not. There were red curtains lining the walls & another set of stairs toward the front of the room but they didn't lead to anything. We all filed in, Marc & I ended up by the stairs to the VIP area, just standing there looking around at everything. A few minutes later, one of the staff cames over & said that we needed to move back from the stairs to make a walkway.. & I'm like "Walkway.. walkway for who?" When she said the boys.. I almost died.. JYJ in my face.. inches away. I shit you not, I had one of those I can die happy moments. People kept walking up & down the steps. When there was a guy at the top everyone would strain their necks to see who it was.
After all that waiting, their translator came down & said they were ready. Soon after, there was a resounding gasp that passed through the room as 3 godly beings floated down the stairs. I can't tell you what it was like seeing the three of them so close in front of me.. probably surreal would be the best word. They were so perfect. Yoochun was first looking like an ajumma with that long sweater, Jaejoong was second wearing a black shirt with some weird looking broach on it & then Junsu pulling up the rear with his big rear, lookin fine as hell. After they passed by, we all filed in behind them to get a good spot to see. I envy the people at the front that got to see them without being hindered by moving people or cameras. So I find a spot next to the wall where I have a clear view of Yoochun who is in front of me & Junsu who is on the opposite side. It was so weird watching them. Like going to the zoo & seeing your favorite animal in it's natural habitat & watching it interact with it's mates. Bad analogy but whatever. They get situated & the camera guy does a sweep of them & the crowd, then the music starts.
They did acoustic versions of Be My Girl & Empty. Yoochun had a cold, he was coughing & sneezing throughout the entire thing. Someone's mom was in the crowd & when Yoochun sneezed she said bless you & he said thank you into the mic. It was rather cute. They didn't speak to anyone in the audience only to each other or the staff. I stood next to the wall on the right & Marc was in front of me. We used each other as a stabilizer while we stood on our toes to see the three of them together. I was standing next to this really tall guy that was part of JYJ's staff, I think. He was talking to a guy from MTVk & he mentioned that in Korea they don't do acoustic performances because their management controls everything they do & that this was there first time ever. I was like "Wow.. This is one of those history-making moments for their career & I'm living it." Very heavy stuff.
Anyways, so they do two versions of each song & because Chunface's English is the best out of the 3, he got elected to introduce the next song. It took him 6 takes. He kept saying "This next song called Be My Girl." I'm like.. there's something missing from that sentence. He was such a dork. He covered his face & was leaning back on the stool with an embarrassed smile on his face. Jae was laughing his ass off. He was leaning over the mic with a huge smile on his face. Finally, his manager came over & was like "Is called." You could hear Chunner repeating it over & over before he finally redid the take & got it right. Stylists came & did touch ups to hair & make-up. Between takes, it got pretty quiet. Everyone were just looking at them, smiling & waving. On girl near me yelled "YunJae" & thankfully Jae smiled cause if he hadn't, locks of love would have been paying her a visit. From the roots! After that, it went pretty smoothly.
When it was over, they told everyone to move back again to make the same walkway so the boys could get by. I was pretty psyched about getting to see them walk by again. Chunface walked by first, & I noticed that he was shaking some of the girl's hands. I was like "Whaaaat? Touch them? Me? Fuck yea!" I reached out & shook Junsu's hand when he came by. He didn't have a very firm handshake.. Not a good sign by western standards but maybe because I was a girl, he didn't think he should. Then Jae came by, & best believe I was all up in his hand as well. He had super soft skin, but he squeezed my hand before he let go. It was magical. I bet the MTVk staff were laughing their asses off at all us girls squealing about touching them. 2 out of 3 isn't bad. Would have liked to see what Chunner's handshake says about him, but it wasn't meant to be.
After they disappeared upstairs, the other fans were getting their coats & taking pictures. Some of the fans brought gifts for the boys. The same guy that was doing the interviews outside, taped what they gave them & asked a few questions about the gifts. They asked some of the girls to say something about the show & then we all did a shout out to JYJ & MTVk. I held out my Xiah light stick & he brought the camera up close & filmed it for about 5 seconds. I hope Junsu sees it & knows that he has a lot of fans in the US even though his English is appalling.
A momento from the concert
Marc & I got our stuff & left the venue. There were a few fans waiting outside that weren't invited to the concert but found out the location from a friend that got invited, I assumed. By the time we left, my flight home had already taken off. There wasn't a damn thing I could've done about it at the time so we decided to go grab something to eat. I tried calling the people at Delta, but they were no help because I didn't have the information about my flight so that he could look it up. I decided to wait until I got back to Philly to figure it out.
We made our way to Chinatown, I bought a one way ticket to Philly & found a spot to charge my phone before the bus came to get us. We had to wait about 30 minutes before it arrived. We got on & it was pretty packed. They definitely made a profit on those buses. So anyways, Marc & I sit behind this white woman who was taking up both seats with all her stuff & some black lady came by & wanted to sit down. The woman that was already sitting there told her she gets claustrophobic & that she needed to go sit somewhere else. The black lady that wanted to sit down told her that she didn't pay for 2 seats & she just sat on the white woman's bags. So whitey got pissed, tells her to get the fuck up & acts like she's gonna hit the black woman. Black woman said she was gonna call the cops. Whitey said she was about to stab black woman if she didn't get up. Black woman refused & wouldn't even let whitey out so she could go sit somewhere else. Asian bus driver comes over & tells black woman to get up before whitey goes ape shit. Finally after the whole bus started yelling at the two, the black woman got up, called the white woman a bitch, a drunk person & numerous other things in another language. They cussed back & forth at each other for a while before finally some guy behind us told the black woman to shut up. Marc & I were sort of shell shocked. I don't know what I would have done if they have started fighting. After the bus ride, Marc & I took the subway back to campus.
Once there, I peeled off my clothes & got into something comfortable. I called Delta to figure out what to do about my flight. The person I talked to told me that I would have to purchase a return flight because my original ticket was not changeable. The cheapest fair they had for the next day was 450$. I said hell no & hung up. That was double what I paid for a round trip ticket. After checking around on every site known to man, the cheapest flight I could find was for 250$ at 8:10am that next morning. So I booked it. I had to take the train on campus to get to the airport roughly around 6am because I couldn't remember how long it would take me to get there but I failed to check the train schedule first. Thankfully, it started running as early as 4am. I packed all my stuff & fell asleep quickly since I had to be up in about 5 hours.
November 14th.
I woke up, got dressed, woke Marc up & we made our way to the train station. I was still rather tired at this point, so I made Marc walk with me. I would have gotten lost & missed it if she hadn't. The train arrived & we said goodbye. The train ride to PHL was quiet that early in the morning.
Once off the train, I hauled ass to the check-in counter. It was a little after 7 once I got there so I had to hurry to my gate. Thankfully, it wasn't that far from security because they stopped me for the water bottle I had in my bag. Unopened too. Oh well.
So I got to the gate & waited until it was time for me to board. The plane was larger than I expected it to be, because we were just going to Chicago, where I had a 3 hour layover. I've heard horror stories about O'Hare but I thought it was a very nice airport. I think people go in there not knowing the layout so they get lost. I studied the picture in the back of the magazine on the flight so I knew where to go. There was a charging station a few gates down from mine, where I spent most of my time before my flight to DFW. Thank god for my EVO, otherwise, I would have been bored to death. I watched a lot of fancams & looked for any new pictures of the boys.
Finally.. after all that, I arrived at DFW where my aunt was waiting to take me home to my apartment.
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It was a long time coming.. but then I had a lot to say and I didn't want to miss any details. This is a very accurate fan account of what happened. If anyone that was actually there has anything to add or changes, please leave me a comment. The videos & pictures that I took are labeled as such & the ones taken by my friends are separated. I hope you guys enjoyed the story & it made you feel like you were there if you couldn't go.
MTVk, if you happen to read this for some bizarre reason, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity to share time a space with a gifted trio of fantastically talented, charming & out-of-this-world good looking men.
JYJ, I doubt you will ever see this, but you are a breath of fresh air in what has become a very stale music industry. Even though it'll be tough to break through the stereotypes & general US bigotry, I wish you all the best. Never change & always do what makes you happy. I'll always be your fan. <3 Mandy
To anyone who wishes to post this on another site, feel free. However, do not just repost the pictures, especially not the ones from my friends. If you're taking anything out it has to be as a whole not just the pieces you want.