My Big 3

Before coming here, I knew I wanted to go to K-pop performances and events, but I never thought that I would actually be able to experience as much as I was able to.

All of the concerts I went to so far have been purchased through Global Interpark, since foreigners are unable to use Korean Interpark as they don't have a Korean passport. For Enhypen, Seventeen, and TXT, I purchased their Weverse membership, which allows you to get pre-sale access to tickets. All of these groups had different timelines in which the time between the intial announcement, ticketing, and concert date, all varied; for example, even though Seventeen announced their tour earlier, Enhypen's ticketing was earlier. I went to a PC bang for all of my ticketing because they are known to have better and faster internet, even though I wasn't able to get VIP tickets for any of them...(I'm still grateful to go though 🫶)

Both Enhypen and Seventeen's concert was at Goyang Sports Complex, which was the same place as the soccer game during the Yon-ko Games, so I ultimately went to Goyang for three weekends in a row. I have heard many people say, because Goyang is so far away and the concert is going to end late, you would need to book an overnight stay at a hotel or another accomodation since public transportation stops running. However, this was absolutely unnecessary as the concert typically ended before the bus stopped running. On bus, Goyang Sports Complex is about an hour away from SK Global House.

Enhypen Walk the Line Tour

Enhypen is my favorite group, so when they announced they were having a tour, I was ecstatic. I was fortunately able to go to both days for Enhypen's tour! With most K-pop groups or artists, they almost never come to Hawai'i, so I justified going to both days because I don't know when I'll have another opportunity to. Although, I do believe tickets here are relatively cheaper to purchase here than in America since they were about $120-140 each. I do want to note that local Koreans here do not scream or stand like in America. In fact, they stay seated (except for when the idols tell them to stand up), so you will see them glued to their phones recording most of the time. This makes it a bit more awkward to scream personally, but I screamed and sang my heart out regardless. This was my first ever concert and it was an unbelievable, crazy, unreal, amazing, and beautiful experience <33

Seventeen Right Here Tour

The next concert I went to was Seventeen's and it was the weekend after Enhypen. Despite being almost 70k in queue, I was able to secure general seats. There was a huge contrast when it came to the crowd for Enhypen and Seventeen; Seventeen is extremely popular in Korea, so it was interesting to see the differences with the amount of people, the fanchants, and noise in general. I was really debating on purchasing a lightstick, but I ultimately did not. I was also planning to buy merch on the day of the concert, but they sold out of most of the clothes, so I had to go back to venue to buy it in the morning the next day. (I essentially spent 3 weekends in a row at Goyang 😭)

As this concert was right before their comeback, we were able to see them perform some of their new songs before it was even released! Also, unlike Enhypen's concert, Seventeen went around the stadium in carts; they were tiny, but it was still cool. My highlight of this concert was definitely the encore since we Aju Nice-d for at least 30 minutes straight, and I can't believe I did in-person because it was something that I only saw online.

TXT Act: Promise Tour - Encore in Seoul

TXT's concert was (thankfully?) not at Goyang, but instead, it was at KSPO Dome. Something that was weird for TXT was that the standing sections that were closer to the stage were general seats, whereas the seated sections that were farther were VIP seats (there were also general seated seats, but they were just even farther behind VIP). My friends and I opted for standing seats near the front, which meant that we were behind the main stage, so we watched some of the performances from the back; however, they still occasionally performed and interacted with the audience on the side! This was my first time standing for a concert and I was able to see the members so up close that I couldn't believe it.

Post-Concert

From going to zero concerts to four in total so far, each and every concert felt so incredible that the emotions are hard to put into words. It is actually unreal how my top three favorite K-pop groups held concerts during my time here, and I am so so grateful. The post-concert sadness hit very hard, but these are memories and experiences I will definitely cherish in the future. These moments will undoubtedly be highlights during my study abroad here.