Yeah, this post is late but my brain won’t let me skip this episode of my life so I have to blog it, for the mems.
This was my fourth kpop concert, oooh I’m almost getting to five! I didn’t even clock that until just now. Anyway, it was my fourth and it happened at the end of March.
Yes, I know! Procrastination ok!
Also work, I swear it takes away my time and energy to do the things I love, like blogging and learning new languages. I’m working on a new schedule or something so hopefully I’ll get more done.
So, I stayed with my friend in London and the concert was at Wembley’s Ovo Arena. It was actually lucky because my friend lives on the same line as the stadium underground stop AND to the North.
It was really easy travelling to and from the venue. Last time with Ateez it was so busy and just chaotic, especially when leaving. But with Dream it wasn’t bad because no one else, bar like a handful of people, was heading northbound. I was so thankful for that.
I was super hungry though and I didn’t pass a low cost fast food restaurant like I did leaving Ateez’ concert so that was a con. But then again uber eats exists.
I wasn’t able to get time off work, so I went after work meaning I just went straight to my queue when I got there. That was unfortunate because I didn’t have time to buy a lightstick or a t-shirt.
Listen, I am on a mission to collect concert t-shirts! *sob* this is the second concert I haven’t been able to fulfil my dream. (I got one online later. No luck with Ateez though *sniff*).
We were waiting for ages to get in to the venue and as the title states my toes almost died. Deadass. When we finally made it in I could not feel my toes. The one time I don’t wear my winter converses that’s when it’s actually cold.
I was wearing a white outfit in a similar style to their Dive Into You stage outfit, green biker shorts and other lil accessories to really give the Dreamzen vibe but I had a thick ass coat (con of Ovo, no cloakroom). I took care of my core thinking my feet would be fine because it was March, almost April but no… no they were not fine.
My converses were green too and super comfortable. My legs did not die as they did at Ateez’ concert. Also, after dancing around a lot my toes warmed up.
I had trouble getting a ticket but people on twitter (like two people) encouraged me to try again and I did. I got Golden Core… Golden something tickets. So I was next to the stage at the right hand side. However, as I wasn’t able to get there early and I will never sleep outside for no artist, not even Michael Jackson, I wasn’t right next to the stage. I was in the back of that section.
I still had really good views though, it was mad like wow they’re really out here in front of me. Also, Chenle makes sure to engage with everyone he can and I swear he looked dead at me. Me and the girlies in the back of that section, we weren’t left out. Same with Mark and Jaemin, they have a way of looking at you that makes it feel like they see you.
I had doubts, like can they really see me? What is the view like on stage? Because aren’t we in the dark and the light is focused on them?
Anyhow, they made us feel seen.
Jeno never stayed still, the energiser bunny right there. He popped off hitting them dances. Renjun, adorable, I honestly was so surprised by how cute he was. It’s not even in an aegyo way like man wasn’t even trying, he was just cute. Jisung, I felt like a proud mother, look at you all grown up, so tall. Haechan, man goes off. He is great at everything he does. It is funny to me when hyper members are the most sane at concerts. This is the same that happened with Wooyoung. Ooh London went crazy for Haechan. He was a lot of people’s bias it seems.
I’m so glad I got to see Mark’s long blond hair moment. He was serving. He looked good. He looked ethereal, it was a moment! And Jaemin with black hair. I was blessed.
It felt like they sang their entire discography but they didn’t. That’s how packed the set list was. They made sure to get as much of their hits as possible and then some. It was so good! When we, as an audience, realised My First and Last was next, we got so excited.
My favourite songs got performed, not all of them but enough of them. I mean I’ve seen We Go Up live… I have lived. Irreplaceable! Come on now.
It was seamless, they really planned it well.
Honestly, the only con was the wait time. They started late and waiting around in the cold is not it.
It was lovely seeing all the Dreamzens in their neon green. We all understood the assignment!
Ah, it was a good un.
Ps: It’s been great to see them live out their dreams and do a world tour. They really look like they’re having fun at each stop. They said they’d come again for two days. So, yay!
P.P.S: OMD the funniest moment was when they asked us if we were good at the wave we had just practised whilst they were on break and we all answered no.
Giftie Speaks 
Amahoro, Gift! Amakuru na unaendeleaje? That sounded like a fun concert. That’s interesting about buying concert T-shirts because I used to buy band shirts all the time when I was in my teens and college years where I went to a ton of shows. Sorry to hear about your toes, but I’m sure they are fine now. One could say that concert had a superhuman quality if everyone was doing well with singing and dancing.
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Muraho, mese neza. Nawe? (disclaimer: I never actually wrote in kinyarwanda when i lived there, I went to an English school then moved to England shortly after so my spelling and anything written related with kinyarwanda, you’re probs better than me)
Yeah it was a memorable night for sure aha
It must have had a superhuman quality and good vibes. I was so fresh when I got back to my friend’s despite all the standing and that.
Omd you must have a lot of t-shirts then. Honestly, the dream for me. I never got to go to any in my teens and I only saw Blue in college so I’m catching up aha
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Nanjye meze neza. Murakoze. To be fair, I’m a lot better at Swahili since I only know a few basic words and phrases in that language and Kirundi although I’ve noticed some words with similar etymologies like ingoma compared to ngoma for drums or when my mind was blown when I randomly discovered the word inkovu and found out how eerily similar it was to Swahili let alone how a certain fictional feline’s name made perfect sense even if Japan made a character like that first. Hahaha! Do you know Swahili, too?
Anyway, I’m glad you appreciated the NCT pun. I know a few of their songs even though I’m not knee-deep into K-Pop. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I do have a lot of T-shirts, but some of them I gave away to charity or Goodwill. I’m sure you’ll do just find in finding the right concerts to go. For me, I mostly went to shows with underground bands, but I did see some bigger names at various shows or festivals. It still blows my mind that I saw Jack Antonoff’s old band Steel Train and how he would be in Fun, Bleachers, or how he would eventually write/produce songs for Taylor Swift, Lorde, or The 1975 to name a few.
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Omd that’s so cool! I actually love to find bands in their small phase. It sounds super hipster of me to say but it’s just so fun to watch someone grow as an artist or writer. It’s also nice to enjoy the small concerts and intimate atmosphere before someone becomes big. I’ve experienced both and small concerts don’t get hyped up enough I feel. As they cost so much I deffo being picky about the groups I see. Sitting here like… do I love them enough?
No, I don’t know Swahili. I know a few words here and there because growing up we tended to mix them a lot in Kinyarwanda to the point where I genuinely thought some Swahili words were Kinyarwanda (till my Granddad corrected me). It’s a language I want to learn though, as it serves as a lingua franca for East Africa. It’s so cool you know all these languages. It’s one of my passions. Language.
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Thank you so much! It’s great when you see that happen. Don’t worry. You don’t strike me as a hipster anyway. Hahaha! I’ve also noticed that with anime and my interest in indie BritWres (yeah, I know it’s a random interest) where I knew who Makoto Shinkai was over a decade before Your Name came out with the former example. I hear you about concerts. It’s either my friends who are still musically active, a band I like, or a band I have listened to but never seen live.
Okay. I was just curious. Interestinlgy enough, I used a Swahili word in the first comment (Unaendeleaje) mixed with Kinyarwanda. There are some similarities or have similar roots. This goes the same with Lingala which I tried to learn a few years ago right after I found out I’m part Congolese via DNA test, but Swahili is still relevant in that culture since it’s one of 5 official languages in the DRC. That would be great if you got to learn that language. I’ve been learning on Italki which has been affordable to hire online tutors. Interestingly enough, my Swahili teacher is of Rwandan descent and she teaches Kinyarwanda, too! Thanks and I’m trying especially with Swahili and Japanese at the moment.
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Omd how many languages do you speak all together? And I thought I was learning a lot. My mom did learn a lot of the languages from that region like Lingala, Swahili, a language from Uganda and ofc Kinyarwanda… and more. People don’t hype up African languages as much but it always amazes me when people tell me how many they can speak. And you say it so casually too!
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Mainly 1 with English or 3 if you count my re-learning of Japanese and learning Swahili in that specific order. I know a few words and phrases in Lingala, Kinyarwanda, and Spanish, but I’m not at the conversational levels there. That’s cool how your mom knows those languages. For Uganda, was it Luganda or something else. Exactly and they should be respected a lot more. There are too many Americans who can only name Swahili or maybe Zulu in terms of indigenous African languages are concerned, and they assume every country speaks them if they don’t believe Africa is a country [facepalm]. Thank you so much. It’s something I’m passionate about not just as a geography nerd, but also to see positive representation of the African culture at large.
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Yes, it was Luganda! Oh yeah people do tend to think we either speak the same language or as you said those two languages.
I love to see it! The more we embrace Africa and put forward positive representation the better
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