There was a concert held last night at the Sydney Opera House, the Korean Immigration Concert.
Myself? I have never heard of it before Sunday... Until my friend, Chris, called me in hysterics:
"Dave man! BoA is performing here tomorrow man!"
"Shut the f*** up dude"
"I s*** you not man, I swear on my mother's grave, BoA, Hyori Lee and Shinwa are gonna be there! I can't remember who else coz I got too excited!"
Current status on Sui: What the f***?
Now... my friend Chris, I would say, is close to obsessed with Hyori and BoA.
Me? I love them too, I love their style, their moves and their voices. But hearing this news didn't really excite me as much as I thought it would.
And for those who don't know, Shinwa, BoA and Hyori Lee (or Ly) are pretty big names in the Asian pop scene, more specifically Korea and Japan.
(Also note: none of us are Korean )
So we went ahead and purchased some B Class tickets for $100 each and proceeded to wait for Monday evening to hurry itself along.
Current status on Sui: Happy
Monday
So there I am at work, typing away, waiting for the day to pass, listening to some Korean music trying to hype myself up.
What do you know... the network goes down at 4:00pm
Woot! I get to leave early! :woot
So off I go to my mate's house, we chilled out for a little while before heading off to the city at around 5:00pm.
Current status on Sui: Still happy
We got to the city around 6:00pm and parked on Kent St, deciding to go for a little walk to the Opera House.
When we reached Circular Quay, our eyes were met with an invasion of Koreans!
Now, about this time, is when the adrenalin in me starts pumping.
Just reaching the driveway to the Opera House, we saw a limo pull in. But alas, we were disappointed by Korean officials!
Current status on Sui: Jumpy
Inside the doors at 6:30pm, picked up our tickets and proceeded to head into the concert room.
On our little headspinning journey there, we ran into an old school buddy that works there. And was backstage with the artists at 6:00pm!
In our jealous state of mind, we continued walking to Door 14 of the concert hall.
Current status on Sui: Excited
Nothing really excited happened between then and the dimming of the lights. So fast forward until the kids come on stage.
First Half
2 kids, started the show off, following them were Baby Vox, and the crowd goes wild.
I was pretty excited by this time. The short starter finished as abruptly as it started, following them were the hosts for the show.. I have no idea who they were
The show continued with singers who I have never heard of, but the crowd still continued their hectic cheering.
Towards the end of the first half of the concert, this dude sang the theme song "I Believe" from My Sassy Girl (arguably the best Korean movie released).
And the crowd just hit the roof! The atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable! :thumbup
Current status on Sui: Heart pounding
Second Half
Now by this time, I was really anxious to see some of my favourite singers come onboard.
And what do you know? Our eyes were greeted by the beautiful sight of Hyori Lee!
If you got the impression that the crowd was going pretty wild in the first half, that was nothing compared to what me and Chris experienced when she hit the floor.
Although she's still a great singer, I wouldn't rate her live singing that high compared to the others, but her style and the way she moved on stage was just A Class brilliance!
And the best thing of all... we had her entire performance on video camera!
Needless to say, we were awestruck! Breathless! Speechless!
To see her face up close.. the exact way she moves on her video clips, the way she flings her hair...
And the crowd agreed throughout the entire show!
Current status on Sui: Halfway to heaven
Some other acts followed, then on came Baby Vox, a group of 5 beautiful and talented females.
COLOR=DarkRed]Current status on Sui: [/COLOR] Dazed, excited, high
And finally... one of the biggest moments of my life: Enter BoA!
Current status on Sui: Out of this world, head swimming, heart pounding, blood rushing, HEAVEN!
Current status on Crowd: Possibly the same as me :yes
Now, for those who don't know BoA, she is only 17 this year, started her muscial career in early years of her life. Hit the lime lights in her early teens, and has continued to storm to the top ever since.
She also performed her hit song No. 1 at the Fifa World Cup in 2002 hosted by Seoul.
This song became a link from her to the World Cup, through to the world, and is now a well known trademark of hers.
Critics around the world have only praise for her ability to sing live (no lip synching) and dance, and last a lot longer than some of the most professional dancers.
And if you haven't seen a live clip of hers, I strongly suggest you find one. Her routines are INCREDIBLE! And her live acts are absolutely amazing!
Before last night, I've only witnessed this on VCDs, DVDs, and video clips off the net.
But to witness this with my own eyes...
The young beauty that she is, the amazing dancer, the charisma that radiates from her, and the adoring fans.
Happy factor: Heaven!
Ok, on with the concert!
Some combining acts came after which were rather comedic and gave all of us a good laugh.
And the last group to perform. The number one male pop group in Korea. Shinwa, a group of 5.
Now from the descriptions of the crowds mood I've been giving you through this post, put that in your head. Now multiply that by 10..
Seriously... I have never seen an audience go this crazy.. I'm rating this against a Michael Jackson crowd and their hysteria! Now THAT'S how much the place went off!
Shinwa as a group pull off some of the smoothest choreographies I have seen, and I rate them as dancers, above ANY western male group.
As individuals, their voices are clear and awe inspiring.
As a group singing, just look (or listen) to the crowd!
And as all Korean concerts finish it off, they have a group song, where every artist who performed, come together as a group and belt their hearts (and voices) out to their loving fans.
Current status on Sui: Heaven
Ok, so the concert is over, me and Chris head out.
And all of a sudden everyone's screaming and running out the doors!
So we decided to join the gang and we see the stars leaving!
Scene reenactment
*Push*
*Shove*
*Get out of the way b*****
*F*** you, move*
*OMG*
*Screaming*
etc, etc
The first singers exit the staging area.
Exit: NRG
The fans go crazy as they enter the Tarago. The fans start banging on the windows and shaking the cans. The bouncers try and control the crowd without any luck. Tarago drives off almost running over some people.
Police are called in to try and handle the crowd.
Crowd settles down a bit as no singers come out for a few minutes.
Front row of people start screaming and pushing, camera start flashing.
A rippling effect is created...
Exit: BoA
Everyone goes crazy!
I was standing behind the front row of people that were right next to the window and could see BoA's beautiful faces. And she was within 50cm away from me!
My Lord, I was in ecstasy!
As their Tarago drove off, I had that urge to run after the van as did my friend Chris..
Oh well, that was our night, full of excitement. Joy, natural highs!
And off we went back for a fair bit of walk to my car.
We were still that excited that we couldn't remember the way back to the car!
We walked around 2 blocks before realizing that the address of the car park was on the ticket.
Then off we went home to watch whatever footage we got... and got excited all over again!
So here I am at working, smiling like a maniac and typing like a speed demon.
Still excited.. and wanting to share the news with anyone who would have loved to go but couldn't make it
I also just got news that a friend of mine was backstage taking photographs. So anyone that's interested! 200+ photos will be posted on Sir3n.com soon.
