I've been a kpop fan for a while and while the people around me went to watch SEVENTEEN, TXT, NCT, ITZY and RedVelvet, I was happily at home watching fan cams and music show performances. Why stress over buying tickets that cost almost 1 year of savings, go 5 hours before the doors even open, only to be squashed among the thousands of fans surging to be closer to the idols. That's why I decided to avoid these concerts for the sake of myself and my wallet.
Until... BlackPink.
When they first announced that they would be coming to Singapore, I was so excited. As a Blink, this was my chance to watch them live and go for my first concert! And miraculously someone convinced my parents to get me tickets if I managed to get A for my HCL O Levels. In another miracle, I managed to scape an A2. With the doors now opened, I contemplated whether to actually go for the concert. By this point Blackpink had already performed in some countries and reviews were meh... Also, the concert was in T2W9 so I worried if I would have an exam the next day (going on day 2 of the concert). So for a while, I put this idea away and went on with my life.
But doubt started to creep in. Blackpink doesn't release music or tour often, so this could be my last chance to catch them live. I also had a willing sponsor and I could treat myself to this after studying so hard, so why not? Ultimately it was their performance in Paris that swept me over with their commanding stage presence and great production value. Now the only obstacle left in my way was buying the tickets.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the ticket presales occurred during my J1 orientation. So I turned to my family for help. I taught my parents how to navigate the presale and employed the help of my cousin (who had successfully bought Kpop concert tickets before). In the end, I successfully managed to grab Cat 3 standing pen tickets with a good queue number.
With the two tickets secured, I set out to find a concert buddy. The first person I approached was my cousin who readily agreed. Alas, they forgot that they were overseas and would only come back a few days before, still suffering from jet lag. With only 3 days before the concert, I was desperate to find a concert buddy. First, I asked someone with whom I became friends with after bonding over a shared passion for K-pop. But he couldn’t make it. Then, I asked my classmate who, despite putting up a valiant fight, lived in an authoritarian household where the leader said “no”.
Fortunately, my parents stepped up and offered to accompany me. Unfortunately, they knew very little about BlackPink. My mom could only name Jisoo as she had appeared in snowdrop. But my dad was much better, being able to name 3 out of 4 members. But ever the economics student, I felt that they would not obtain the most utility out of the tickets. And with the long queues and rough crowds, I was not sure if they would enjoy themselves that much. On Saturday, coincidence led me to get in touch with my primary school best friend who I remembered was a K-pop fan. In the spur of the moment, I invited him to join me and he agreed! With less than 24 hours to the concert, we quickly made the arrangements and finalised our plans. Who would have thought that finding a concert buddy would be such a rollercoaster.
On the day itself, we arrived at the Singapore Stadium at 3.30pm to queue up. With luck giving us good queue numbers (12XX), we wanted to make the most of it to get a good spot. We eventually entered the stadium at 5pm and managed to grab a seat just 3 rows away from the barricade. To pass the time, I started writing this article since the reception was very bad and I could not do anything online ☹️. At 6.40, tragedy struck. I had just started walking back from the toilet (rookie mistake, never leave your post) when I suddenly saw everyone get up and surge to the front. I walked as fast as I could and squeezed past everyone but I was still 4 rows away from my friend. With great effort and determination, I managed to shimmy my way back to my spot, albeit with 1 or 2 more people in front of me. But it was still a good spot and I was grateful that I was not forced all the way to the back.
Around 6.55, the music videos started. It was so heartwarming to hear all the fans (try to) sing along. The funniest moment was during Boombayah where the music has an “ololololo” sound effect which was perfectly recreated by some fans, drawing laughs from everyone who could hear it. It was a great way to pass the time and the soundsystem managed to deliver all the nuances with very little distortion or echo. Time passed quickly and before I knew it, it was 7.45.
The performance was scheduled to start at 7.30 but given the sheer number of people attending the concert it was natural that they would start slightly later to allow everyone streaming in to find their seats. After an excruciating 15 minute wait, the sound system suddenly turned up 4x louder in the middle of a music video and the whole crowd went wild. The screens parted and there they were in all their glory, the 4 girls who took the world by storm. As they descended from the platform holding their poses, I screamed and shouted and almost cried. Then, the show began.
Writing this article 3 days later, I can barely remember the details of the performance. All that I remember is that I had a lot of fun and the atmosphere had been amazing. Although the mosh pits aren’t for everyone, I really enjoyed immersing myself in all the hype and enthusiasm of the crowd. There have been some articles commenting about the excessive use of phones to record the performances resulting in people’s views being blocked, and I did experience that to some extent. Fortunately, my relative height to the other concert goers and my position near the barricades did allow me to still see the 4 tiny figures on the stage. But personally, I did feel that it would have been more enjoyable if everyone put down their phones.
All in all, going for the BlackPink concert was truly a once in a lifetime experience that (I hope) I’ll never forget. It was my first pop concert experience and really set the expectations to what a concert should be. BlackPink is the revolution!
BTW, does anyone want to join me for the Twice concert later this year? 👀
