Tag: seoul

How I became a DAY6 stan and my GRAVITY tour experience

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I’ve decided to start a new blog series to just share how I slowly was infected and became a fan of my current top stans. Starting my series with DAY6!

First introduction to DAY6

My MYDAY journey started long before the creation of DAY6. In 2012, I became a huge fan of a new kpop audition show, K-Pop Star (Season 1). So many talented young artist in the program but one in particular caught my eye and his name is Park Jae Hyung (Jae).

Jae during kpopstar with not the best hairstyle you’ve seen but it was the trend back in 2012

To be very exact, it was his performance of Jason Mraz “Butterfly” that made me go “ooph, boy can sing” and he did sing, and he sang it sexily even. I put the link to the performance below and he started singing at around 1:06 mark.

I became a fan at the time and though he didn’t win the competition, he was later signed as a trainee under JYP Entertainment. I however was not the most loyal one though since I’m not one to keep track of trainees 😝

3 years after the audition show in 2012, we were finally blessed with a debut! Jae finally debuts as part of DAY6 in 2015 with the song “Congratulations”

DAY6 debut!

The song was and still is one of the most amazing debut song. I remember replaying the song so many times and loving it ❤️

I am guessing I was not much in touch with my kpop fandom side in 2015 so I didn’t keep up with further releases after the debut. I still wonder up to this day why I wasn’t a fan much sooner.

A fateful every 3 years reunion with DAY6

I am now convinced that my fate with DAY6 intertwines every 3 years, because in 2018 they made a comeback with the song “Shoot Me“.

However it was not the song that reintroduced me back to the fandom, but rather a 100sec medley live on Youtube that started with their hit “You Were Beautiful“ that made me went “Oh my god, it’s DAY6! How did I miss this release and they are just 1000x better now”.

Watch the 100sec live on Dingo YT channel below and be blessed by just pure talent. The song featured in the clip in order is You Were Beautiful, Congratulations, Letting Go, I Like You and ends with Shoot Me.

Although DAY6 greatness cannot be summed in 100sec, the live performance is a great start and it just showcases the amazing vocals and hook of their songs. Thank you Dingo for reminding me of DAY6!

As per my usual personality, I’m not one to binge watch Music Videos. I am very much a live performance junkie. Came across an acoustic performance of the song “You Were Beautiful” and I was awed hearing it live in it’s full version glory.

This performance cemented my wish to attend their concert one day!

Final journey before becoming a full fledged MYDAY

At the point of me loving their songs, still the only member I recognised by face and name was my 2012 crush, Jae. In 2018 they embarked on their 1st World Tour, Youth but sadly skipped my country (Malaysia) and our nearest neighbour (Singapore).

Picture is not mine and sourced from Pinterest

By 2018, I have started attending overseas concert since I’ve slowly learned how to purchase tickets for concerts in Korea/Japan. I repeatedly tried to purchase tickets for their Seoul concert starting from their 2018 Christmas Concert to their Youth encore concert in 2019 and failed miserably. Both concert was sold out!

In 2019, DAY6 finally announced a concert in Singapore for GRAVITY tour!

DAY6 GRAVITY Tour dates

Not only that, I checked the Korean ticketing website by pure chance and saw that the tickets to their 1st day Seoul concert was not sold out!

I told myself that I should just wait for the Singapore (SG) concert but since the concert will be held at a performing theatre and not a stadium, I decided that going to Seoul was the best choice (Yeah, I’m crazy like that and also cause I was still an airline staff at the time, so flight ticket was not an issue). I would go to Seoul and skip the SG date.

And so there I was, at the time I still called myself a fake fan since I only really know 3 of their songs to sing along and still couldn’t recognise all the members. I tried my best to study for the concert despite not knowing the setlist since I was attending the first concert date for the tour.

I took the red-eye flight right after work on the 8th August, arrived in Seoul on the concert day itself at 6am. Worst thing about August is that it’s peak summer so it was not the most comfortable experience. I went on some shopping at SMTOWN Store before heading over to Jamsil Indoor Stadium which is located around 3 bus stops away from COEX.

I was seated on the 3rd floor courtesy of the last minute purchase I made. The ticket is purchaseable on the English website of Yes24.

They started the tour with the song “Best Part” and I’ve never been so attacked in my life. Because during my potential setlist study time, the song had became one of my main favourite!

They just didn’t disappoint at all. The concert atmosphere was just crazy, everyone was jumping, having the time of their life. Honestly, I’ve attended a few concerts in Seoul and some of them at seating doesn’t stand up during performances which I think is really just suck the fun out of the concert (personal opinion though don’t shoot me). Not MYDAY though, everyone stood up and it was like a huge stadium party.

This is the only video I dared to capture just before the concert ended

After the concert I just couldn’t have enough of them and how I wished I bought additional dates for their Seoul concert.

The start of the real stanning of DAY6

Why stop at 1 concert when the tour just started right? So yeah I know I said I was gonna skip SG concert but damn do I miss them.

I became a bit obsessed with the band after attending their Seoul concert. Finally started recognising them slowly by names and decided you know what, let’s just try to get tickets to their Singapore stop too.

I am never one to do things half assed, since there will be no extended stage I felt that anything that is not CAT1 will just not be worth it. So despite being more or less broke due to constant travel and concerts, still I decided to splurge anyway.

By stroke of pure luck that will probably never ever happen again in this lifetime, my sister managed to snag a seat on the 1st row at Zone B! The SG Star Performing Theatre seating for concert starts from Row C and we initially thought that we got the 3rd row. This never happened like seriously what kind of luck is this!

This SG concert up to this day is still my top no 1 concert experience in my life. The view was just DAY6 in front of me 100% of the time and who would’ve thought the lack of extended stage became such an advantage. I sadly didn’t win the hi-touch pass but that’s fine.

It was also on this fateful day, I decided on my DAY6 bias, the beautiful Young K. I was seated right in front of him and I just couldn’t take my eyes off him. Bring me back to this moment pleaseeeee!

My ultimate fangirl moment with Young K

Another double wham right here is my sister and I captured in the official concert photo! After the concert, I became a full fledged MYDAY.

To more adventures with DAY6

Since then I’ve attended the hi-touch and fansign event in Tokyo, Japan.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7qoOxIljaw/?igshid=1r47kpcwwsm12

The GRAVITY tour in Jakarta, Indonesia.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7qvxrRl_0c/?igshid=1wajrl9poyivg

And the 2019 Christmas Concert “The Present”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B78WMTPlKpx/?igshid=1gst277x76d2f

It was a 7 years journey from hearing a boy from the states singing his heart out, to seeing all 5 of them perform in front of thousands of adoring fans. I might not be there throughout their journey but hoping for many more years with DAY6!

Baekhyun Birthday Party 2019 – Event review & trip summary

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It’s 2020 now and this post has been in progress close to a year. Due to COVID19, there was no EXO event to attend and I guess I finally found the time to finish this post.

I had immense regret over deciding not to buy Baekhyun’s Birthday Party Global Package back in 2017 due to the price because really what is money when it comes to love right?

Baekhyun, despite the busy schedules never missed holding a birthday party and true to his promise, held the birthday party at a bigger venue housing 2,000 attendees. Birthday events are usually held at the SMTOWN COEX theatre which is way smaller so this is the biggest venue for a birthday party.

  • Date: 3rd May 2019 (Friday) 8PM
  • Venue: Sejong University, Daeyang Hall
  • Ticket price: 33,000KRW
  • Duration: Approximately 2 hours
  • Event is only for EXO-L ACE members

Ticketing method

SM GLOBAL PACKAGE

I decided to go the path of crazy rich asian fan and bought the famed SM Global Package. Ticket is also available for purchase for ACE members worldwide.

This is not my first experience with SMTOWN TRAVEL as I’ve previously attended ElyXiOn Dot in Seoul using this travel package. Before I proceed further, I’ll just explain some background over SM Global Package here:

What is SM Global Package?

This is an official tour package ran by SM Entertainment themselves under the name SMTOWN TRAVEL. The travel package are mainly for concerts and fanmeets for SM Entertainment artists. They sell not only events in South Korea but global events as well.

Additionally, they sell admission ticket to MNET Mcountdown liveshow (not inclusive of pre-recording for comeback show). Due to the fallout few years back, no SM artist visit for any performances or comeback show on Mnet. Out of the Big 3, only JYP artists still perform at MCountdown.

Where to buy and am I eligible to buy the package?

The package can be purchased online here and are only available for non-South Korean passport holders. Yup, international fans only. The only payment method accepted is Paypal.

Is ACE membership required to purchase this?

Yes Birthday Party are a fanclub-member only event. At least since they’ve introduced ACE to the world.

Global Package purchase and pricing

Different from concerts packages, where you get to choose from Economy, Superior and Deluxe package type, birthday events offers only Deluxe Package (Single/Twin) which is usually the most expensive package.

The price was a whopping $718 for twin package and $319 for single package. Actual price of the entrance ticket was KRW33,000 ($33) so we were effectively paying $652 extra for 1 night hotel and transportation for twin. Expensive? Immensely. Was it worth it? Yes! Absolutely!

Official Merchandise Pre-Order

For SM GLOBAL PACKAGE participants we get to pre-order the merchandises before our arrival in Seoul. The MD was then given to us at our hotel during the tour booth operating hours.

Pre-order is done online and they will send the details via the notice board on SM GLOBAL PACKAGE website for package participants only. You’ll get a special link and unique ID/password. If you are a twin participant you’ll get one ID/password EACH.

The pre-order website looked like this and make you select the correct store at the Select Store option

There is item limit even for GP participant and for this event, we can only buy 1 of each item offered.

I actually didn’t expect there were gonna be special merch for this event. I mean it’s a Birthday Party! But our boy is nothing but dedicated to bringing the best to all his Aeris so we were presented with merch just as cute as him. As a sucker for cute things, I bought all of the merch cause why not right? Plus there’s only 4 items.

The merchandises can be purchased at the venue (regardless you’re attending the event or not). I didn’t personally see the line but I heard it was very long with people queueing from the day before. After the event, they announced that the merchandise would go on sale on SMTOWN & STORE (limited quantity) and was sold out immediately online upon release.

Item 01: Badge
Item 01, 02 and 03: Badge, keyring, pouch
Item 04: Pop-up card + photocard
Special merch only for SM GLOBAL PACKAGE participant, a Baekhyun Magnet

Arrival in Seoul and hotel check-in

I arrived in Seoul on the morning of the event itself. Since I went all rich, I even rode on Malaysia Airlines A330 business class for the trip (courtesy of my airline staff discount). Flat bed is pure win everytime.

Great in-flight meal aboard MH66 from KUL-ICN

I reached Incheon International Airport at 6.30am and after the immigration check headed straight to the hotel assigned by Global Package, Intercontinental Seoul COEX at Bongeunsa Station. The all-stop train took approximately 1.5 hours with 1 transfer required, and cost only 4,250won.

I recommend downloading the app “Subway Korea” so you can access the subway map and route your way even offline. Android

I had purchased this cute cashbee card, official merch from Universe era and I just reloaded this to be used as a transportation card. You can buy various cashbee designs at SMTOWN COEX as well (based on availability).

As this package is a Deluxe package, we were placed at the 5⭐ Intercontinental COEX Seoul. As the name suggest it is connected to the COEX Mall which houses the biggest SMTOWN Artium.

We took the Twin Package and was placed in a twin room. You don’t need to wait for tour booth to open to check-in as long as it’s within the hotel check-in hours. Just approach the front desk and let them know you are a GP participant and they should already have all your details (Picture credit to hotel)

I do love the location of the place, walking distance to COEX? Sign me up for that! You can refer to my blog here for some information on what you can expect in COEX.

Baekhyun Birthday fan advertisements

We had a bit of time before the birthday party so we head down to hunt for the Happy Baekhyun Day advertisement all around Gangnam area. If you don’t want to miss anything it is better to research beforehand on twitter. In 2019, he hashtag was “Baekhyun-ah Happy Birthday” in Hangul. Not sure if that’s being use every year. In Hangul it’ll be this #백현아생일축하해.

One of the most popular advertisements billboard in Seoul for EXO would be the ones located at Samseong Station. This is also the nearest station to SMTOWN COEX. There was a 3-screen advertisement board just outside the entrance gate showing birthday message from @ChanBaekBar614

Just beside the same advertisement billboard above, there is a walkway filled with advert as well (pictured ones). There are also some near the stairs and in other locations of the stations. It’s crazy how many advertisements board for Baekhyun and other EXO members just in one station.

The birthday advertisement are all over Seoul actually and according to @popo19920506 there’s 105 Birthday Ads for Baekhyun along Line 1 of Seoul Subway from 11 China Fansites.

Oh hello there
Damns he’s hot here

China Baekhyun Bar put up an a huge long birthday ad in one of COEX Mall screen and it looks really cool.

However fansite CANDY CRUSH took it one step further by putting out ads at CGV Cinema!

Yes, that’s really a cinema hall door with Baekhyun’s face on it
Even the elevators at CGV were decorated with Baekhyun’s picture
Another cinema hall door by @glareheaven

At another CGV Cinema location, Baekhyun’s Birthday Ad were being shown at the ticketing machine courtesy of BAEKHYUNBAR. Probably one of the coolest ad I’ve seen so far.

Baekhyun Birthday Fan Cafe Cupsleeve events

In other countries you’ll see 1-2 cupsleeve event that probably held over 1 day. In Seoul however, there were a lot of cupsleeve events going on at the same time and it is held over a span of a couple of days. So you won’t see a crowd building up in any of the events like in Malaysia/Singapore. Good thing is no lines, but it also means no freebies to collect or give out.

We had limited time and capacity to take on coffee so we had to pick and choose which one we want to visit.

Our first choice was the one by @chiotblanc_B because unlike other cafes, they were selling Baekhyun tin ade drink with the cupsleeve and it looked super cute.

They will give the photocard and cupsleeve as freebies for every purchase
Decoration is of course a must

Spotted this cafe in COEX Mall with a cupsleeve event by @kyoongdal1006
Just outside of SMTOWN COEX Artium, a cupsleeve event at T-Cup by @buttercream506

Baekhyun Birthday Party at Sejong University

SMTOWN Travel sent a detailed schedule of the day via Notice Board on the official website just 1 day before the event. They don’t have a notification system for the website so you’ll have to keep logging in and checking the notice to know the schedule.

We had a ticket draw at the Tour counter in the hotel during check-in at 3pm and got a seat on the 8th row! Although it was a twin package, for the fanmeeting they did not assign side-by-side seat to participants. I am guessing it is to be fair to other ACE fans who were allowed to buy 1 ticket each and thus making it impossible to get side by side seat with their friends.

They announced that bus will depart at 6.30pm for the 8pm event. We reached at around 7pm at the venue.

Entry into the venue is only allowed after strict ID check which consist of making sure your ACE ID matches your Photo ID and the physical ticket you have is issued to your name. This differs from concerts in which no ID check is done.

As global package participant, the ticket is of course not issued to any name but the staffs already noted this as we came together with our tour guides. They did still perform an ACE membership check by checking our LYSN app digital membership card.

Before the entry into the venue. Went pretty fast despite the ID check

Upon entry the staff gave us a message card that’s accompanied with a limited edition photocard of Baekhyun (not purchasable anywhere) + a balloon. I thought we’ll need to use the balloon somehow but then nobody was holding it so I followed the crowd in not doing so. Such a pity though.

Message card + photocard (front view)
Message card + photocard (back view)
Birthday balloon

I didn’t take any picture from my seat (was too scared I’ll get kicked out). I only took a shot of the place after the event ended.

I was seated much closer than this and my view was wow. 2 hours worth of staring at Baekhyun

The event lasted for two hours and was split into 3 sections. That’s based on my memory by the way and it has been a year.

First section: Quiz time

So the first session was a quiz in which Baekhyun have to guess some of fan’s fav moments of him. The session was done fully in Korean by the way so you do need to know a Korean to be able to follow. I only understood around 50% of what’s going on too.

It was a very interactive session where Baekhyun frequently asked questions to the fans. There were I think punishments if he were to guess incorrectly in which he would randomly draw a seat number, and the person seated can let him know what is the punishment.

Most memorable fan request was obviously a fan who asked for a short performance of “Ringa ringa ring” as punishment for Baekhyun.

The people who were chosen were quite interesting and Baekhyun were obviously entertained by their reaction which varies from dancing and screaming their heart out 😂

A twitter thread here have nicely did a summary of all the information revealed during the session.

Second section: Game time

Baekhyun split the hall into sections and played a game with each section for us to “win” the snacks he prepared. We all know he was gonna give it to us either way but played along.

There were a variety of games from rock, paper, scissors, missions like did anybody bring an EXO doll today and even a guess what Baekhyun drew corner.

My section lost our first game with Baekhyun and he said he was not gonna give us snacks. But then made us beg with a “Baekhyun, please (jebal)” so we can have another round. He really do love it when people say that to him since he keep laughing loudly when fans were asking him that.

So he gave us another try and I remember our mission was that if somebody brought more than 1 lightstick to the venue, we will win. I’m not sure somebody did have that but a girl in my row was collecting lightsticks from her neighbour and be like “yes, I brought 4 lightsticks!”. Pretty sure Baekhyun did that so we’ll start talking to our neighbours anyway so it all ended pretty well.

3rd section: Performance time

It is Byun Baekhyun so of course he won’t let us go without letting us hear his sweet voice. He performed a cover of Every day, Every Moment by Paul Kim.

After-event unofficial send-off

After we exited the venue, we saw so many fans were just waiting at the roadside forming an unofficial send-off party for Baekhyun’s car. I do love how respectful everybody were, they were just waiting at the curbside not blocking the roads even without security there.

I didn’t expect Baekhyun would actually past by but waited anyway. He actually did! He was even recording and waving to the fans that waited.

Overall thought on the event

Overall it was a very memorable event especially since it has been a bucketlist of mine to attend the birthday party. As far as I know, Baekhyun has been the only EXO member so far who have sold Global Package for his Birthday Party.

It would’ve been nicer if SMTOWN Travel would provide a translation receiver. Which they did for Xiumin Xiuweet Time which was held just 1 day after this Birthday Party. Weirdly they didn’t offer the service for this package. Not being able to fully understand what was being said was a bit disappointing. However, as there’s never any full session videos for birthday parties it does feel special to be part of the small number of people that was able to attend.

(CLOSED) SMTOWN Store & Cafe @ SM Entertainment Communication Centre

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This guide will cover the SM Entertainment Communication Centre in Cheongdam, Seoul which is also the office and headquarters of SM Entertainment.

There are a total of four locations of SMTOWN &Store (official merchandise) in Seoul as follows:

  • SM Entertainment Communication Centre (SUM Store & Cafe) – Refer to this post for more details
  • SMTOWN COEXArtium (SUM Store & Cafe) – See my guide here
  • Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) – See my guide here
  • Gimpo Airport (After Security)

Location and how to get to SM Ent. Communication Centre

This attraction is the official HQ of SM Entertainment. It is located in Cheongdam, which is part of Gangnam district that houses SMTOWN COEX. As this is where the SM practice rooms are, there has been a lot of random sightings of SM artists at the public area here.

  • Train access via Line 7. Stop at Cheongdam Station, Exit 6
  • Direct access from SMTOWN COEX via bus (Samseong Station Exit No 7 bus stop). Bus no 401, 4419, 301, 2415, 3414 – Get off at Jinheung Apartment bus stop.
  • Opening hours: 10am to 10pm daily
  • Links to location: Naver & GoogleMaps

I have tried walking from SMTOWN COEX, it is doable but would take at least 30-40minutes on a slow walking pace. Not recommended as there’s not much things to see along the way.

What can you find here?

#1 Limited time decorations at the SMTOWN &Cafe

This is the pioneer SMTOWN Cafe in Seoul with the second one located in the SMTOWN COEX Artium. This branch however have some amazing limited time decorations, usually dedicated to a specific artist comeback or releases.

EXO themed decoration in May 2019 for the release of EXO Present ; gift

The theme changes at a non-fixed interval, so not every artist gets a specialised display like the ones EXO got. No announcement online whatsoever on what theme is being put on display. I usually gets my daily dose updates via twitter from my mutuals. During EXO’s OBSESSION comeback, decoration was changed to these beauties but I didn’t get a chance to visit 😭

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ymBMApy-X/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

#2 Chances for SM artist sightings

As this is the HQ with office and practice rooms in the top floors of the building, most random SMTOWN artist sightings occured here. Most of them caught buying coffee at the cafe here.

If that doesn’t convince you, this location has been featured multiple times in variety shows as follows:

EXO x Stranger Things Love Shot dance practice

EXO x Workman – Daily Manager episode

The scene after the radio show and they were shown arriving at an office. That is the SM Building.

Yunho met BoA during I Live Alone filming

Scene starting from 1:30 mark

#3 – SMTOWN Restaurant

Hungry? No worries as this branch not only have a cafe but also a restaurant! I had a chance to try out the food here as part of SMTOWN Global Package participant during EXO ElyXiOn dot in July 2018. I can’t give raving reviews as the food was quite mediocre in my opinion.

The place however was quiet and would be perfect for an evening lunch hangout.

There’s no special artist themed food served at least during my visit in July 2018. Restaurant are mostly empty aside from the time during concerts when Global Package participants often visit as part of their concert package.

#4 – SMTOWN &Store

This is the official store of SM, similar to the shop located in COEX Artium but on a smaller scale. I love this branch as there’s always lesser visitor here and more availability. I saw items like keychains and even lightstick that was sold out in COEX, still available in this branch.

I visited not long after the release of Chen’s solo and there were display cases filled with Chen goodness
Main display in shop

The shop is at the Basement level of the building. There is a stair to go down to Basement from main lobby would be just on the right side of the cashier. There is also a direct entrance into the shop from outside the building.

There is a spacious reading area at the basement level, perfect to rest your feet before moving on to your next Seoul searching.