Currently straying away from my Rome posts for now, but don't worry I'll be back! But first, let's talk about the recent MYNAME concert held at O2 Academy Islington in London on the 10th of September. Why is this so significant? Well, to a fellow K-Pop fan like myself, it wouldn't be right to not talk about my experience working backstage and behind the scenes of the concert! Let's get started...
For starters, I did not expect to be running around as much as I did, but in a way that's my exercise done for the month aha! I was already in London for 9-10AM to meet the concert promoter, the staff and other people at the hotel. Who would of thought that as soon as I walked up to the hotel, the MYNAME members would casually be standing around outside the entrance. What did I do? Casually walk in through the entrance and sit down and wait for the concert promoter to meet me - I actually arrived early for once haha! After, we finally met, the members went off to London with the photographer to complete a photoshoot whilst I went to meet the staff with the promoter. I got to meet the concert agent I met from the HISTORY concert in February - I was so surprised he recognised me! He asked me if I knew Japanese, as he knows I don't speak Korean, but I could only say I understood some (thank god for anime, Japanese dramas and Korean dramas).
TIP #1 - Knowing multiple languages can draw to your advantage
(From my experience, I've learnt that it's quite difficult to do a job like this when you're limited to speaking the language which is why I've decided to start learning Korean and possibly Japanese.)
After breakfast, everyone began to get ready, whilst I ran to do some small jobs. I won't go into too much detail because well... Let's just say it's not too necessary ahahaha... But anyways, I ended up taking a bus later to Oxford Circus as the Japanese staff were interested in shopping in Oxford Street. We later returned to organise where to eat lunch, and sort out the timings for the day.
Let's say the food plans didn't go as well as they should have... The MYNAME members were very interested in watching the football match so they ended up going to a pub by the hotel to watch Manchester United play Manchester City. Most of the Korean staff stayed with them, whilst the Japanese staff and the photographer joined me to eat lunch nearby.
TIP#2 - Make sure that if you separate as a group, that you know whereabouts everyone is located
(Not going to lie, I was slightly worried because I didn't want to lose track of the members however as it is a foreign country it was unlikely they would go off to places they don't know, so they more or less stayed by the hotel which was handy!)
As everyone returned to the hotel, I had to work out the best time to call the cars so we could arrive at the venue at a reasonable time so the members could do sound checks and get ready. Whilst using my limited Korean, I managed to converse with the staff and members - I did stress out in a way because I was worried people wouldn't arrive on time, and some of the Japanese staff came down quite late. Originally, we were meant to split into 2 cars, all staff in one car, whilst I accompanied the MYNAME members to the venue however... It didn't work out that way... Fortunately, we managed to get there all in the right place.
TIP#3 - When struggling to communicate, attempt to use hand signals to assist you
(I found this quite helpful when I was trying to direct the Korean staff to certain places or explain certain situations. I have to thank some of the MYNAME members, such as Insoo for speaking some English to me to help me out aha!)
I'm going to be honest, when you don't know what to say it can be quite awkward... I was sitting in the car thinking what I could say, and I ended up just conversing with the driver. The driver even played the radio to fill the awkward silence. One thing is for sure, I was most worried about the members arriving at the venue in one piece. From my previous experience, we've had K-Pop fans run over to the members, so I made sure to stand in front to help assist the situation and lead them. I totally felt like one of the those managers who take the lead, with my umbrella - trust the British weather...
Once we arrived, I've never felt so relieved. I was exhausted but the day had barely begun. We still had the concert to go and we had a lot of preparations left to complete. Seeing my friends/family working alongside me definitely gave me a boost considering I was mainly working independently throughout the day. Thanks to Tracey and Aneeqa for the hugs! Before I went in, I decided to check out the queue line to see any familiar faces and meet my friends, Shirley and Jacky who were assisting with queue management. The queue was quite long considering the concert didn't start until 7PM and we arrived around 4PM.
Finally, I went in and it was good to be able to return to a familiar place. Despite the promoter telling me I could rest, I couldn't keep still and decided to go help out with the merchandise stand and much more. We only had a few hours left till the show started, and the members were settling in before going to perform sound checks.
The volunteers were assigned different jobs, whether it was to assist the member's needs, to completing runs (getting food, drinks etc.) to queue management to merchandise. Some people were busier than others, but we were more or less reunited by the end of the day.
TIP#4 - Always be on alert
(You never know where someone might require your assistance. Even if you might not be doing anything for a while, there are cases where you will be needed so try not to get distracted - Even if it means leaving the sight of your idols aha...)
TIP#4 - Always be on alert
(You never know where someone might require your assistance. Even if you might not be doing anything for a while, there are cases where you will be needed so try not to get distracted - Even if it means leaving the sight of your idols aha...)
As we got closer to the concert, I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of the members. Insoo was probably the most confident in English since he was requesting me for certain things when I was walking past their dressing room. Although, I believe my longest conversation was with Chaejin, alongside Stevie. We were talking with the Japanese stylist, Coba and assistant, Natsu too. Using Stevie's Japanese (which he had learnt for 2 years) with my minimal Korean and Japanese along with English, we managed to form somewhat of a conversation. I think it was hilarious talking to Chaejin. We were talking about ages, and found that Chaejin's birthday is the 26th of December (born 1995) whilst Stevie's birthday is the 12th of January (born 1996) - so they were like "친구 (friend)" aha! Then, there's me as the "막내 (maknae aka the youngest person of the family/group)". After that, Stevie and Chaejin got super close, close enough to be able to take a selfie together after the Meet&Greet.
Our conversations ranged from K-Pop groups in general to ideals, we were talking about whom Chaejin was friends with for starters, and how Stevie likes VIXX but Chaejin seem displeased to hear that aha! We also talked about the prettiest girls in K-Pop, Chaejin seems to highly approve of After School's Nana. Personally, I'm a big fan of Ailee, I adore her voice and her personality seems great! This conversation only proceeded to the talk of the prettiest girls after Chaejin said that he really likes London, and thinks that British girls are very pretty - To think, Stevie and Chaejin could of switched positions aha! This all happened whilst Chaejin was casually eating KFC aha...
Unfortunately, we had to cut our conversation short as we realised it was time for the members to get ready for the concert, whilst everyone else got into place. Stevie went to do some last minute drink runs whilst Aneeqa tagged along with me as I got ready at the front of the stage for the photography. Being right at the front of the stage always gives me great closeups of the members that's for sure, and I'm thankful for the opportunity.
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| Someone threw the Union Jack flag onto the stage, signed with various messages from MYGIRLs and Insoo held it up whilst he was talking to the audience, |
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| Seyong is probably one of the most charismatic members, he seems like a member who seems rather like a casanova aha! |
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| Insoo's voice is amazing live, just like the other members. His rendition of "See You Again" with JunQ was probably one of my favourite English covers from K-Pop idols. |
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| Okay, let's be honest here, I was literally right in front of him when he was performing his dance solo to "Sex You" and when he stripped his shirt, I was mentally nose-bleeding. I mean who wouldn't if you saw a sight like this less than a metre away. |
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| I couldn't help but capture many pictures of Gunwoo. His smile was definitely a winner in the fan's hearts and he definitely a bright character, he seemed to always be smiling even when I saw him before the concert. |
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| JunQ, what can I say, his rapping skills are definitely on pointe. Two of my volunteer friends, Shirley and Aneeqa definitely fell in love with this guy by the end of the concert that's for sure. |
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| Chaejin is probably the cutest member. His actions to the crowd was just undeniably adorable. Whether it was putting a rose in Seyong's hair or just making cute actions to the audience members. The set list for the night is listed below: Intro: Get Ready Just That Little Thing Baby I'm sorry Message Day by day Hello and goodbye 잠을 너무 못 잤나봐 My Love SEYONG SOLO Insoo&JunQ - See you again 끌리짆아 EDM Luvtaker EDM Reason 너무 very 막 Just Tell Me Summer Party We are the night Personally, loved so many of the songs, I came back singing "Day by Day" and after the concert I couldn't stop listening to MYNAME. After the concert, we moved onto the Meet&Greet session. This meant assisting with the fans making sure they got a handshake from each member and then in groups of 10, a photo was taken with the fans and group. There were so many gifts given, so it was hard to keep track, and unfortunately we couldn't let fans take up too much time at the Meet&Greet session. After we finished with all the fans, the concert agent allowed us all to get into a photo for ourselves which was super sweet!
As we got ready to leave, we took a couple more selfies, but who knew that members of MYNAME would end up accidentally photobombing our selfies aha! I remember JunQ's reponse when he realised he had accidentally got into the photo, the mere "oh" response made me laugh. However, we ended up inviting him to join our selfie, which he kindly accepted... But then Seyong ended up photobombing our second picture aha! Overall, despite how stressful and tiring the day was, it was indeed worthwhile! I hope you guys enjoyed reading the post, and how it can be somewhat relatable as a K-Pop fan. But one thing is for sure, if you want to gain opportunities like this one, create a name for yourself! Don't be afraid to ask about these opportunities, it's always worth trying out. What's the worse that can happen? You get rejected? That's life! Good luck to you guys if you try out for these opportunities, and I hope you tune into my next post. Thank you! PS: Don't forget to check out the photos taken of the concert. You can check out photos on my FB page, along with pictures taken by KIUK! (Just click on the KIUK picture and you should be able to go through the pictures by using clicking left and right). UPDATE: Don't forget to check out Stevie's video on his MYNAME concert experience! It's a super interesting video, and definitely worth a watch! Check it out below: |
