a day of kpop and ppop...

so, yesterday i went out after being holed up for almost a week. i wasn't able to get a job last summer, so i have no tuition money to go back to school.

b2st, a kpop group, is in town for a concert this friday, and my sister reminded me a couple of weeks back how i pledged to see them if they ever set foot on philippine shores. lolz.

they had 2 meet & greets, at megamall (last wed) and at sm north (yesterday). see, when i found out about this, i'd saved money to get their album; but i'd been so indecisive that i didn't go to megamall. i slept through it, but miraculously when i woke up, i was all set to see them at sm north. hee hee.

b2st debuted last september, amidst a number of other kpop group debuts. they're kind of a pseudo supergroup, u see. 3 members, gi-kwang, doo-joon, and jun-hyung, have all been featured on previously released music; 2 members, hyun-seung and dong-woon, were almost part of 2 other popular kpop groups; and yo-seob, has been seen dancing for labelmates before debuting with b2st.

btw, b2st is read as beast, as '2' in korean is read as 'ee'. my last semester at school had a soundtrack featuring their music, especially 'bad girl', 'oasis' and '아직은 (yet)'. seeing them was gon be a life moment.

thursday morning came, made breakfast of fried sisig rice and iced mocha, and set off for the venue. i arrived around 2pm, since i had a couple of pictures printed for autograph purposes; there were a good number of fans there already. i paid for the cd, and found out i was number 438. the event was at 6pm, it was just 2pm, and i was already past 400?!?! well. i had a happy breakfast.

meet & greet b2st (beast)!

all sorts of fans were there. i wasn't too happy with some, but what the hell.

then, dreadful news. apparently the local organizers were heartless enough to invite you to meet & greet b2st, but impose house rules including: no pictures up close (you may take pics at certain intervals, from afar. thank your camera maker for good zoom quality), you may not give them letters or gifts (drop them off in the big box up front, where what you put much effort into could end up ruined, or i wonder, if they'll ever see those. i mean, the moment where they see you give them something is sooo busted. major fail), you can only have the cd inlay signed, nothing else (well, there goes the pics i had printed, and to those who prepared special posters? too bad. just too bad). aparently, the group can only be there for an hour. i wonder what else they'd be doing that they can only give the fans who support them so much just one hour? that was just sad.

they arrived, fans went wild, the session started. and new rules were introduced. do not talk to them. do not touch them. heartbreak at its finest! mind you, there are vips occupying a good area in front of the stage, so the closest normal fans could be would be around 5-6 meters away, until you get up on stage. when i finally set foot on stage, there were at least 6 people who herded fans, shoving them, taking things they suspected you'd hand over to the members. 495php for just about 2 minutes on the stage where they'd almost literally push you off to get you out of the way. i'm quite sure some of what i paid for the cd would eventually wind up in these guys pockets, and this is how they show their gratitude.

about 1/3 of the people around are actually organizers that kept herding fans...

i was happy to see them, but it wasn't the best experience at all.

however, God is always good, and here are my highlights for the event. i had 2 banners i made, 'b2st is cool' and 'jjajangmyun is delicious'. of course i wrote them in korean, and it was some sort of joke, cos 'cool' and 'delicious' in korean sound alike. when the cameraman shot the audience, i saw myself in the videoscreen upfront, and the shot cut into one of b2st's videos. so i was wearing cool shades, and the scene cut to one of the members also wearing cool shades! memorable!

top: b2st is cool (b2st meoshissso)
bottom: jjajangmyun in delicious (jjajangmyun mashisso)

when the guys got on stage, yoseob read my banners and got the joke, and told the other members to check it out. yey! jun hyung helped the disabled lady get off stage after signing her cd. nice one! the event photog asked to take my pic twice! thanks to my banners! yeyeyey! and i'm 100% sure yoseob waved at me at one point while i was in line. he's a good guy. =)

so i left still having that hollow feeling. i felt betrayed by whoever came up with those rules and whoever decided that the fans deserve the least time from b2st.

afterwards, i found myself all the way in cubao with local ppop group xlr8. it was such a pleasant surprise, we'd met before, and i was happy to see they remembered me. we had pics taken, though 2 members weren't there. short chit chat, where'd they'd perform next, how my wrist support looks like some fight aid, my gold chucks (tnx mium-jiut, lolz), the never ending question that if i was in a band (almost hehe), and i successfully identified which twin was which. mr. doshite was quiet, but he's nice. lightning kid was thoughtful too!

XLR8 - 6/8

the day ended most nicely with haem listening to my day. i got orders for my small business, and got a ride home from cavs jersey 23.