TVXQ Hong Kong 19 Jan 2013 Concert part 1 of 3
I’ve been reading about “TVXQ will start their 2013 world tour in Hong Kong” for ages, salivating at the thought. In early December 2012 we started hearing rumours about ticket sales. I wanted so much for the ticket sales to be done on HK Ticketing because Urbantix website was so unfriendly. When the venue was announced, I went to Asia World Arena and HK Ticketing sites on an almost daily basis .. and the result of my nervous anticipation, impatience and fear of not getting tickets was.. ladies and gentlemen, yes, I double booked the tickets again… ended up with 4 tickets when it was just my sis and I going (not going to bore you with the miscommunication drama :D ). The good thing is, hubby likes Hong Kong, and we have friends there, so he agreed to go for the concert with me and I gave the other spare ticket to my girlfriend in hong kong (we saved a lot of money on accommodation by bunking in with her!)
In any case, I want to note that the HK Ticketing site is really easy to use, and in fact I got pretty good seats - Block 14 row R seats 3 and 4 (which I gave to hubby and my friend) , while my sis and I took Block 3 Row L seats 15 & 16. Asia World Arena has fixed riser seats - rows A to M are the front block so we were the second last row.
Concert day arrived and we went to IFC mall where they have the Airport Express station. The train takes less than half an hour to get to AsiaWorld Expo, and if you show your concert tickets you can get a special same day return ticket for only HKD52 (normal price would be approx double that amount). I saw lots of fans at the Airport Express station, all holding the yellow tickets and queuing up to get the special fare train tickets, I was so happy to see so many like-minded people and apparently they were happy to see us too because we kept smiling at each other.. it’s a big happy smiling family of fans J.
Short short walk from the train to the event venue, my girlfriend was surprised at the wide age range of fans - proud moment again. We quickly ate our sushi which we packed from the Airport Express station (reasonably priced, wide variety, but long queue). The concert venue was quite full and we shared a table with 2 pretty girls - Japanese fans. The one we chatted with was accompanying her sister who was the fan - she was using crutches and looked very demure but excited.
We finished eating very close to the start of the concert, so didn’t have time to get any merchandise. The whole entrance of the halls was decked out with TVXQ’s Catch Me tour posters, a fangroup also did a small photo area where 2 standees of Yunho and Changmin stood behind a red chair, lots of fans took turns to sit on the chair for photos but I didn’t get a pix of that.
Sis and I skipped into the venue and took our seats - hubby and friend were in the block directly across us so we just waved at them, smug that we got better seats. We were surrounded by Big East fans, so polite, and they were very happy when we helped them take photos.
We were effectively in row 12, and the view as not bad at all. There is an extended stage that was quite close to us.. even though we had pretty good seats, the girls behind and next to me had binoculars.. they told me that they prepared them specially for Yunho’s hunny funny bunny solo hehehehe. Their binoculars were small and light, I really need to get one of those!
The main mosh pits before the concert started was a sea of red, i was so happy to see it
left part is the middle stage, right part was the end stage where nothing much happened until the second half of the concert
view from my seat, not bad right :)
am glad the mosh pits were not overly full, i dont think anyone fainted
The show started quite punctually, around 8.15pm, I was pretty happy about that since some other concerts I went to before made us wait for quite a long time. A VCR was played, showing how TVXQ was born from the sun - I never really know how to react to that - as a fan I liked seeing stuff like this, but I can imagine my hubby and gf who are kpop muggles going wtf is that at the opposite side of the block.. Fans started screaming and if I recall correctly, all the lightsticks were turned on.
First song was Rising Sun, and I remember being really seriously super happy about that because it’s the perfect performance song, so energetic. I initially had a lot of worries because Rising Sun sounded so perfect, I thought they were lip synching (like they did during SM Town Singapore). The entire rising sun performance was on the main stage, imagine how far it is for the audience who were in Block 9. I think those standing in Block C woulding be able to see very well either. Second performance was Getaway - I couldn’t recognize the song, only remember I was very amused by their headbanging - Changmin was on our side of the stage and they went on cranes on either side of the stage. Changmin’s crane was shaking quite badly and I recall my heart skipping a beat coz I though he was going to fall.
Changmin was obviously having a lot of fun
i've been distracted by this pix of yunho. i thought he's supposed to be bumless, why is a pert lil butt peeking out??
i'm not sure who this crotch belongs too, but hey, it got my attention so it may get yours too :D
There was a fanservice moment in Hey (Don’t Bring Me down), this time they were on the extended stage directly in front of Block C standing zone. I could only see their backs so I didn’t notice it - they were singing with their foreheads together just saw one glimpse on the big screen, the foreheads were really TOUCHING. I thought since the night was still young, there will be more fanservice moments but alas, that was the only one.. nevermind, lots of photos from fans. All I can say is, Yunho was very serious during this song, but Changmin was smirking like crazy.. also, NO sexual tension at all. I think Changmin is straighter than a ruler, but.. Yunho is still suspect.. we can only hope…
see the smirk, see the smirk,....
note Yunho's serious face
changminie is amused
After this song, my memory of the flow is zilch, so I’ll just comment on the bits and pieces I can remember.
Like a soap - For me the song is nice, just very lighthearted, and I prefer charismatic tvxq so the song was just so so (nice nice, but so so nice) for me. The stage was cute though, sis and I laughed at the dancers dressed as insects - bugs, bee (very persistent bee), butterfly (he hugged Yunho, and Changmin hugged him) - bugging Yunho and Changmin. The 2 tried their best to shoo them away but only succeeded after Changmin (finally) hit them with a racket and Yunho waved an insect repellant soft toy at them. It was a funny stage, reminded me of balloons . the boys have a thing for soft toys.
Journey - again a not very charismatic song but they went up in toy helicopters so that audiences at the far end could see them (it’s about time! I remember feeling so sorry for the audience at the far end because the concert was in the front half of the hall, they could hardly see anything). I remember enjoying Journey far more when I just listen to it on my ipod, but I guess with all the charismatic songs on offer that day, it was just a little bit simple..
