2013 07 20 - Junsu Incredible Concert in Bangkok Part 1
This is all pre-concert, please go to part 2 of post for concert recap
We were surprised and a little frowny when news of Junsu’s second album hit us because that meant that JYJ’s album would be delayed again... ah but then, Junsu is Junsu, and we knew it would be an incredible album - even before news of the album’s title hit the fandom.
Luckily for us they also announced the concert dates almost immediately, with the first one in Bangkok! Yippie!
We met Junsu's Mum at the concert
This time we didn’t do a Malaysia-Thailand for Viva Korea again, but got a girlfriend (new Yoochun fan) who has a Thai sister in law to help us book the tickets. The Thai sis in law has gone for concerts before, so she was a quite amused and bemused by how anxious we were that she camps in front of her laptop the minute ticketing opens to book the tickets. They were also wondering why there were no announcements on ThaiTicketMajor about ticket sales (in fact, ThaiTicketMajor only had the announcement up one day before ticket sales open… not cool man! So half hearted in promoting the show!).. in any case, the girls all decided to join us for the concert so we’re 6-strong this time! (Me, Phinea2009, Fruitline, Friend, Friend’s Thai Sis in Law and her sister).
Thai Ticketmajor only put up this notice a day or so before the event!
Oh, and girlfriend told me that despite her sis in law’s best efforts in cyber camping for tickets, she got us row 10 in the center block. She was astounded by the response! I imagined that it would still be very good seats, and I was very pleasantly surprised..
Although I was counting down to the album release, I was really busy in the weeks leading up to 15 July (in fact I was overseas for work when the album was released, so I didn’t have time to have a looksee at the MV). Luckily I managed to have the album on repeat for the whole of Friday 19 July, and checked out translated lyrics to psyche myself up for the concert… also managed to watch the Loen showcase a grand total of ONE time, which is still one time more than sis did.
Initial feels for Incredible MV was not great - just a summery breezy song, but after having it on repeat - 12 songs on repeat for 10 hours means at least 12-13 times each..whoaaaaa… I really really like this album! Despite my love for Tarantallegra, I think this album has more mass market appeal, and more variety, though many of the songs seem to say how hot our Duckbutt is with the ladies.. Killer Killer anyone…
At the airport - Fruitline took a look at me and asked.. are we going to the same place? She was wearing a khaki shorts jumpsuit. I was wearing a jersey maxi dress..er, stretchy long dresses are comfy? Phinea laughed at us, she was somewhere in the middle - in capris and a t shirt.
Phinea2009 booked a room in Novotel SiamSquare for the 3 of us (Phinea2009, sis Fruitline and myself) and I must say, it is actually the most ideal hotel to book if you watch a show in Siam Paragon. Phinea2009 even went as far as to MEASURE the distance between Novotel-Paragon and Kempinski-Paragon, and decided that even though Kempinski is attached to Siam Paragon, it is a further walking distance. Amazing fan-girl neh?
I guess lots of fans had the same idea because there were a lot of Japanese fans who checked into Novotel. During our check in, I saw 2 japanese ladies, one of them wearing a Junsu tarantallegra t-shirt, with a black suede fringed vest, so I said hi, and said “Junsu concert”? magic words to make friends with. She nodded excitedly and showed us her manicure - Incredible manicure; as in, every fingertip had a different Incredible album or icon nail art! I bumped into them again at the venue later, and they had zone A row A! I personally felt that that although it was front row seats, zone C was better - Zone A mainly got a view of Junsu's back (incredibly delicious back,but still..) since he spent a lot of time at the extended T Stage.
After a hodgepodge lunch of all kinds of delicious junk food in Paragon’s foodcourt, we went up to level 5 where the Royal Paragon hall was. Happiness is seeing Junsu’s concert posters at the base of elevators.
There was a large backdrop with Junsu Incredible Concert , plus concert details in the hall, flanked by 2 larger than life Junsu buntings which were being groped by fangirls taking photos with them, then another 2 buntings near the concert hall entrance. No board for messages, but there was a table where fans left presents and flowers. Friend was suitably impressed, I don’t think this is the done thing in other concerts (well, those that she has attended anyway).
There were not many fans in the waiting hall this time, and we were about 15 in line for merchandise. It was really lovely to hear the songs being played while we were queuing. There was an exasperating 25minutes wait while the counter staff took a break..erm, they don’t know what’s “take turns?”. Even so by the time we got to the front of the line, the t shirts were sold out and I only got lightsticks.
Tshirts were nice, but all sold out. We got 2 free posters, very nice quality
Phinea2009 as usual got nearly everything there is to buy, and both of us EDUCATED my obtuse sis on the importance of buying an official lightstick for concerts..
Fruitline: I told hubby I’ll not buy stuff, lightsticks just clutters up the house! What am I going to use it for after the concert?
Me: You must buy lightsticks! It’s part of the concert experience! you must buy the lightstick for every concert!
Phinea2009: Yeah that’s the absolute minimum you must have for concerts!
Fruitline: but but but
Me to Phinea2009 : Let’s ignore her. We’re all getting lightsticks..
Ahhh… so nice to be the eldest sister.
We tried to take some photos with Junsu’s posters but I think they turned out a little blur. Some Thai fans actually made the flower hats that Junsu wore in the Incredible MV, they looked so cute! Some Japanese fans were walking about with small yellow duck plushies… many of the fans had XiA Incredible temp tats on, I wonder where they got that done. Overall, there were definitely less people compared to last year, they didn’t even have to move the rows of chairs out of the hall.
After a quick shower and change of clothing at the hotel, we went back to Siam Paragon and luckily there were more fans this time. It felt so good to see so many people carrying Xia’s posters and we all smiled at each other... it’s a friendly fandom!
5.15pm, a tad anxious that Friend hasn’t surfaced yet - we needed the tickets to exchange the plastic ticket cards and posters! Phinea and Fruitline saw Junsu’s mum coming up the escalator and excitedly called me over, but I was still very distracted looking out for Friend. By the time we got the posters and tickets sorted out, Junsu’s mum was in a corner looking like she wanted to hide from the fans who surrounded her, so we aborted our original plan to ask for a photo with her.
Got into the venue and we were in Row 10 in the center block, with neeearrrrly center seats. It was really close! Much better than the seats we had last year. Friend, Thai Sis in Law and her sis were kind enough to let Phinea2009, Fruitline and I have the better seats, and there were 2 empty seats in next to me, and nearly half a row of empty seats in front and behind us, we think there were seats reserved for the media.. ah well, our lightsticks will be super visible. .
View from our seat and the fan support project
Fans had left the fan support posters, light sticks and instructions on each chair (CUSHIONED chairs, praise the lord… ok, praise the organizers, l think we had plastic chairs last time.. ) I was trying to read the scraps of papers when…..
Tadaaaaaa….. someone alerted us that Junsu’s mum was seated in the row behind us! Ahem, she looked a bit reluctant when we asked to take a photo with her, but she still said ok, and Phinea2009 got a brilliant smile out of her when she told her that she looked very beautiful and junsu is very cute.
As usual, Junsu’s mum was in a baker pink sheath dress, and there were some fan girls from Junsu’s fan club who seem to know the parents. They had very nice pink and special Junsu towels, and they also passed us some paper fans like what Junsu's mum was holding.
A Korean guy wearing a C-Jes Press pass asked us why we took photos with Junsu’s mum, as she is not famous - not in korea. The way he asked was quite rude - it’s as though he couldn’t fathom why we would want to take a photo with a non-famous personality, all of us, even Friend who was not really a fan, felt like whacking the rude reporter on the press. However, we are peaceful upright law abiding supportive fans, who just told him, all Junsu’s fans know and like Mrs Kim, she interacts with fans quite frequently.
We were surprised and a little frowny when news of Junsu’s second album hit us because that meant that JYJ’s album would be delayed again... ah but then, Junsu is Junsu, and we knew it would be an incredible album - even before news of the album’s title hit the fandom.
Luckily for us they also announced the concert dates almost immediately, with the first one in Bangkok! Yippie!
We met Junsu's Mum at the concert
This time we didn’t do a Malaysia-Thailand for Viva Korea again, but got a girlfriend (new Yoochun fan) who has a Thai sister in law to help us book the tickets. The Thai sis in law has gone for concerts before, so she was a quite amused and bemused by how anxious we were that she camps in front of her laptop the minute ticketing opens to book the tickets. They were also wondering why there were no announcements on ThaiTicketMajor about ticket sales (in fact, ThaiTicketMajor only had the announcement up one day before ticket sales open… not cool man! So half hearted in promoting the show!).. in any case, the girls all decided to join us for the concert so we’re 6-strong this time! (Me, Phinea2009, Fruitline, Friend, Friend’s Thai Sis in Law and her sister).
Thai Ticketmajor only put up this notice a day or so before the event!
Oh, and girlfriend told me that despite her sis in law’s best efforts in cyber camping for tickets, she got us row 10 in the center block. She was astounded by the response! I imagined that it would still be very good seats, and I was very pleasantly surprised..
Although I was counting down to the album release, I was really busy in the weeks leading up to 15 July (in fact I was overseas for work when the album was released, so I didn’t have time to have a looksee at the MV). Luckily I managed to have the album on repeat for the whole of Friday 19 July, and checked out translated lyrics to psyche myself up for the concert… also managed to watch the Loen showcase a grand total of ONE time, which is still one time more than sis did.
Initial feels for Incredible MV was not great - just a summery breezy song, but after having it on repeat - 12 songs on repeat for 10 hours means at least 12-13 times each..whoaaaaa… I really really like this album! Despite my love for Tarantallegra, I think this album has more mass market appeal, and more variety, though many of the songs seem to say how hot our Duckbutt is with the ladies.. Killer Killer anyone…
At the airport - Fruitline took a look at me and asked.. are we going to the same place? She was wearing a khaki shorts jumpsuit. I was wearing a jersey maxi dress..er, stretchy long dresses are comfy? Phinea laughed at us, she was somewhere in the middle - in capris and a t shirt.
Phinea2009 booked a room in Novotel SiamSquare for the 3 of us (Phinea2009, sis Fruitline and myself) and I must say, it is actually the most ideal hotel to book if you watch a show in Siam Paragon. Phinea2009 even went as far as to MEASURE the distance between Novotel-Paragon and Kempinski-Paragon, and decided that even though Kempinski is attached to Siam Paragon, it is a further walking distance. Amazing fan-girl neh?
I guess lots of fans had the same idea because there were a lot of Japanese fans who checked into Novotel. During our check in, I saw 2 japanese ladies, one of them wearing a Junsu tarantallegra t-shirt, with a black suede fringed vest, so I said hi, and said “Junsu concert”? magic words to make friends with. She nodded excitedly and showed us her manicure - Incredible manicure; as in, every fingertip had a different Incredible album or icon nail art! I bumped into them again at the venue later, and they had zone A row A! I personally felt that that although it was front row seats, zone C was better - Zone A mainly got a view of Junsu's back (incredibly delicious back,but still..) since he spent a lot of time at the extended T Stage.
After a hodgepodge lunch of all kinds of delicious junk food in Paragon’s foodcourt, we went up to level 5 where the Royal Paragon hall was. Happiness is seeing Junsu’s concert posters at the base of elevators.
There was a large backdrop with Junsu Incredible Concert , plus concert details in the hall, flanked by 2 larger than life Junsu buntings which were being groped by fangirls taking photos with them, then another 2 buntings near the concert hall entrance. No board for messages, but there was a table where fans left presents and flowers. Friend was suitably impressed, I don’t think this is the done thing in other concerts (well, those that she has attended anyway).
There were not many fans in the waiting hall this time, and we were about 15 in line for merchandise. It was really lovely to hear the songs being played while we were queuing. There was an exasperating 25minutes wait while the counter staff took a break..erm, they don’t know what’s “take turns?”. Even so by the time we got to the front of the line, the t shirts were sold out and I only got lightsticks.
Tshirts were nice, but all sold out. We got 2 free posters, very nice quality
Phinea2009 as usual got nearly everything there is to buy, and both of us EDUCATED my obtuse sis on the importance of buying an official lightstick for concerts..
Fruitline: I told hubby I’ll not buy stuff, lightsticks just clutters up the house! What am I going to use it for after the concert?
Me: You must buy lightsticks! It’s part of the concert experience! you must buy the lightstick for every concert!
Phinea2009: Yeah that’s the absolute minimum you must have for concerts!
Fruitline: but but but
Me to Phinea2009 : Let’s ignore her. We’re all getting lightsticks..
Ahhh… so nice to be the eldest sister.
We tried to take some photos with Junsu’s posters but I think they turned out a little blur. Some Thai fans actually made the flower hats that Junsu wore in the Incredible MV, they looked so cute! Some Japanese fans were walking about with small yellow duck plushies… many of the fans had XiA Incredible temp tats on, I wonder where they got that done. Overall, there were definitely less people compared to last year, they didn’t even have to move the rows of chairs out of the hall.
After a quick shower and change of clothing at the hotel, we went back to Siam Paragon and luckily there were more fans this time. It felt so good to see so many people carrying Xia’s posters and we all smiled at each other... it’s a friendly fandom!
5.15pm, a tad anxious that Friend hasn’t surfaced yet - we needed the tickets to exchange the plastic ticket cards and posters! Phinea and Fruitline saw Junsu’s mum coming up the escalator and excitedly called me over, but I was still very distracted looking out for Friend. By the time we got the posters and tickets sorted out, Junsu’s mum was in a corner looking like she wanted to hide from the fans who surrounded her, so we aborted our original plan to ask for a photo with her.
Got into the venue and we were in Row 10 in the center block, with neeearrrrly center seats. It was really close! Much better than the seats we had last year. Friend, Thai Sis in Law and her sis were kind enough to let Phinea2009, Fruitline and I have the better seats, and there were 2 empty seats in next to me, and nearly half a row of empty seats in front and behind us, we think there were seats reserved for the media.. ah well, our lightsticks will be super visible. .
View from our seat and the fan support project
Fans had left the fan support posters, light sticks and instructions on each chair (CUSHIONED chairs, praise the lord… ok, praise the organizers, l think we had plastic chairs last time.. ) I was trying to read the scraps of papers when…..
Tadaaaaaa….. someone alerted us that Junsu’s mum was seated in the row behind us! Ahem, she looked a bit reluctant when we asked to take a photo with her, but she still said ok, and Phinea2009 got a brilliant smile out of her when she told her that she looked very beautiful and junsu is very cute.
As usual, Junsu’s mum was in a baker pink sheath dress, and there were some fan girls from Junsu’s fan club who seem to know the parents. They had very nice pink and special Junsu towels, and they also passed us some paper fans like what Junsu's mum was holding.
A Korean guy wearing a C-Jes Press pass asked us why we took photos with Junsu’s mum, as she is not famous - not in korea. The way he asked was quite rude - it’s as though he couldn’t fathom why we would want to take a photo with a non-famous personality, all of us, even Friend who was not really a fan, felt like whacking the rude reporter on the press. However, we are peaceful upright law abiding supportive fans, who just told him, all Junsu’s fans know and like Mrs Kim, she interacts with fans quite frequently.