I still can’t believe that I was able to go see VAV live.
I’ll admit, I am a new fan. I was only going to this concert so that a friend of mine would have someone to go with. I love all groups, but I just didn’t have the time to look into every single one, so I just catch concerts when I can. I knew all their songs, but I was still trying to remember names and I didn’t know any of the inside jokes.
I showed up to the concert around 4:30. I thought that they were going to let us in, but we ended up not even walking in till around 6 or 6:30. This was a standing concert so I just had to get used to standing up, but it was definitely tiring. Luckily, a woman in an ice cream truck came around to sell water, snacks, and ice cream! It also wasn’t too hot out, but I hope they get this situation straightened out at the venue before winter. I am not standing outside in below freezing weather for an hour and a half.
I paid 180 dollars for a free album, fansign, front area “space” to stand, hi-touch, and group photo. Honestly, for any group, this is a steal! I paid almost the same amount to sit all the way in the back and get a poster for Day6, and to sit all the way in the back and get a hi-touch for Astro. If this is the typical prices for this venue’s concerts, I don’t mind standing. Honestly.
The fansign went really smoothly. They gave us nametags and wrote our names in Korean while we were standing on line, so all of the members of VAV were able to read my tag and say my name as they were signing my album. It made it quite personal and sweet.
After the fansign, we got into our spots to stand for the concert. A really awesome group came and did dance covers to some of VAV’s songs! I was able to find a video of it, albeit not the best quality. One of the girls in the video, with the pink hair, is only 10 or 11 years old! She is in a separate group, and I found her Instagram. Please support them, they are really talented.
https://www.instagram.com/jamiethecute/
https://www.instagram.com/aurora.0fficial/
Also, the guy in the white shirt is part of a new group too! Here are links to support him:
https://www.instagram.com/jaychang63/
https://www.instagram.com/reimagineyourimage/
Then the concert started, and every time the group took a break from dancing to do an activity, they turned the spotlights on the VVIP area! All the group members were interacting with us, waving and pointing at the signs that some people had made. It was really sweet.
Then, the best thing happened! I got invited on to the stage! I was able to take a selfie with ACE while on the stage, and that made me feel really special.
They performed a bunch of songs, and it was their first concert in the US EVER, so they were nervous about some things. In particular, Ayno rapped a song from his mixtape, and he said that he was really nervous about rapping in the US as it is kind of sacred rap ground. He did amazing though, so he really had nothing to be worried about.
Here’s a link to one of the performances, and if you go to the channel of the uploader, you will find videos of almost every single performance that night! I’ve been having phone issues so I couldn’t record myself, but I am glad that someone kept a high-quality record of the fun that night.
As they are a fairly new group, they didn’t have tons of songs to sing. They also covered quite a few American songs, which was a lot of fun as everyone sang along. The only sad part was that a girl got sick during one of the songs, I think she fainted and might have hit her head on the stage? The members of the group really care about their fans. One of them saw the girl faint even before the security did, stopped singing, alerted the security, and tried to signal for the sound people to stop the music. Eventually, other members joined in, and then the crowd moved apart so that the girl could be escorted to the lobby. One of the fans was even an EMT and ran to the front so that she could administer first aid. The entire time, the guys looked like they wanted to jump off the stage and help the girl themselves. It is so sweet how much they care about their fans, honestly.
Everything went smoothly after that, and the concert was over too quickly. Then, we all remembered that we still needed to get our group photos! The staff worked hard to keep things orderly, escort the GA people out so that they could get their pick a pose tickets, and lined up the VIP and VVIP people for the hi-touch and group photo. The bar even gave people free ice water, as some of us had been standing for 4-5 hours at this point. It went by quickly, and then it was over.
I literally have nothing bad to say about this concert. Even the fans were supportive of each other! Most of us were multi-fandom, and so we stood in line talking about the other concerts we had been to. Some of us had gone to the same ones! Even the older fans were appreciated and included. It was just such a positive experience, unlike how toxic some fandoms of bigger groups can be. It almost felt like being in a big happy club.
I will definitely be supporting VAV from now on, and I will be going to their next concert when they come back to the US. They had best come back to the US, I miss them already 🙁
The next concert I am going to is DPR in October! While at the VAV concert, Studio PAV teased that they would be bringing another KPOP group to America in December. I also saw on Twitter that ACE plans to come to America for a tour in December, so if they are coming, then I will definitely be going to their concert. I will keep you all updated! Thanks for reading 🙂