Music Core [15th June]

First off, excellent directions/hints/tips for MBC Music Core can be found at Korean Codex, here.

Warnings; extremely long post and lots of fangirling.

I'd decided to buy CD's for MBLAQ's fansign in Ilsan and as a friend was going to MuCore anyway there on Saturday, I decided to join him and see them at the music show as well. I went up to Ilsan on Friday night and crashed a friends place for a few hours before getting up at stupid-o'clock in time to get to MBC around 6am. They just started taking names for the list, and I ended up being 18; Corey came a few mins later and got 22.

Took me a minute to work out that this was actually an "18"...

We just sat there talking until it got to 8.30 or so, when we lined up again to take our actual numbers and for fan staff to check our things. Luckily, Corey had told me what I needed and I'd spent an hour on Friday night  trying to deal with iTunes and my friends glacially-paced laptop in order to print things. We had to have;

1) Photo ID - I used my ARC (Alien Registration Card) but I saw others used their passports.

2) A physical copy of the Sexy Beat album.

3) printed proof of the bank transaction when I sent them money to become an official member (the 3rd season A+ membership cards haven't been sent out yet).

and 4) printed proof of an online purchase of Smoky Girl song (I used iTunes which was fine, usually you have to buy from a Korean music site like Soribada or Melon, and I have absolutely no idea how to use them).

Most international fans would be able to sort out 3 of these (especially with being able to buy the single on iTunes), but I think not having official membership will put you way down the list, after official fan members (but I don't know for sure).

The MBC studio building is actually quite pretty!

Our time for pre-recording meant we actually queued up almost straight away and we were inside around 9.30 even though MBLAQ's pre-rec wasn't scheduled until 10.30. Sistar were currently filming, and we also saw Rainbow too. As the girl groups finished, all the fanboys in front swapped over with us in the standing area - it was a mad rush for no reason, and my bag got caught between other people, which was a bit nuts. Corey managed to go straight over to the side in the corner, and there was loads of room at that side. The fans next to us were there for Shinhwa, so they let us come right to the front in that corner and there was room for everyone and I could put my bag down too.

One OK Rock concert, Osaka [1st June]

Yet again, I flew over to Osaka for the weekend for a concert (previously, I went to see Daesung in Kobe). I was up at crazy-o'clock on Saturday to get the bus to the airport... but it was lovely and quiet in the middle of Gwangju at 6am!

A very quiet Gwangju

I met up with Jess at Incheon and we flew together. Sam had caught a slightly earlier flight, so we were able to meet up with her in Kansai Intl instead. We had a hotel very close the venue, which was really convenient so we could drop our things and go straight to Osaka Castle park.

By the time we arrived at the venue, there was quite a long line for merchandise, but luckily it moved quickly and we weren't waiting all that long in the end! We had a lot of stares from others in the queue, especially as it doubled back on itself. No-one was brave enough to talk to us though everyone was clearly curious about us... ^^;

Osaka-jo Hall

We all bought tour t-shirts and slogan towels! Someone kindly took a quick photo for us~ We went in the venue fairly early because we weren't sure where we had to go as we had 'block standing' tickets and entry numbers. It turned out we could go in straight away, which was good as we could stick together easily. Our tickets were for standing up at the top, behind the seated rows so our view was of the entire arena. We were able to find one of the last spaces without standing behind other people along the side and towards the front. This was fine until the girls in the seats in front of us came along and one was really tall and right in our line of sight..! Typical~

Jess, Me and Sam outside the venue

We managed to each find a spot where we could see the stage at some point, usually by leaning forwards or going and standing behind some guys to the right of us. It was actually nice to be in standing but still have room to move around, where we could jump about and have fun. We also had plenty of space behind us, so we didn't get squashed.

C.N.Blue concert [25th May]

I first saw C.N.Blue back in September in London last year. Before then, I have to be honest that whilst I'd heard their songs, I wasn't that much of a fan. Seeing them live converted me, and I really wanted to see them again in Seoul. I missed their concert in December because the tickets sold out so quickly but this time, I managed to buy tickets myself for me, Sam and Hanneke.

Humongous poster outside Jamsil Indoor Stadium

 The afternoon was ridiculously hot and humid, but we took time to grab some photo's in front of the boards;

Me and Sam~

Whilst we were hanging about, we didn't realise until a little too late that a staff member wasn't just taking our photo but filming us for the DVD.... He didn't actually tell us he was filming so we all thought it was just for a photo *rolls eyes* Here's hoping that doesn't make the cut because it was a bit rubbish... I'd have liked to put the stuff down in my hands and then I would have happily done hearts and shouted 사랑해 etc. and they'd have some useful footage instead!!

Me and Hanneke~

They also were raising money for the new school they want to build in Africa. Donations from fans has already contributed to building one school, and they want to raise enough to build another. We spoke to the people fundraising for a little bit, we had our photo's taken again and they let us mess around with the cut-outs;

Sam wanted to steal the Yonghwa cut-out (don't we all?)

We finally went in, climbing all the way to the top on the 3rd floor. Next time at this venue, I won't settle for not having 2nd floor seats... We were so high up! Plus, people on our floor didn't stand up and jump around really like they were lower down, which was a little disappointing as me and Sam wanted to be a little more active.

View from our 3rd floor seats

Anyway, the concert itself was brilliant. They had tons of energy and Yonghwa in particular had about 10 times more confidence being in front of a home audience (than in London, I mean). He definitely played to the crowd,  with cute little dance wiggles every so often, making us scream even louder. They all seemed to have a fantastic time, with huge grins on their faces throughout.

It felt like they played heavier rock versions of their songs too! I came away feeling up-beat and with Love Girl stuck firmly in my head for the following week.