Sunday 18 October 2015

151010-12 Berlin for Infinite Effect

as usual, this is a personal travel account, not an ordinary whatever that means fanaccount, so if you just wanna read about the concert, there's like 90 percent irrelevant stuff.


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last night we came back from a three day trip to Berlin to go see Infinite on their 2nd world tour, Infinite Effect.
it was a..strange trip, filled with so many mixed emotions.. but fitting cos the entire process have been odd this time, and before we left I had only told two people about it.



ticketing was hell, as usual, but oddly enough not for the usual reasons.
this time MyMusicTaste stalled on ticket info for like, five days and made everyone pissed, to be honest, and I had to go out of town (and out of wifi range) and thought I was gonna miss it.
I didn't, but then came the prices. 180€ ($205) for Category 1, and that included nothing except front pit, so basically just Early Entry.
now, I know Infinite are not cheap, I've been to OGS twice, but this was seriously ridiculous to me. no hitouch, no special merch (we at least got that for OGS), nada.
for the few days between the info release and the ticket release I was seriously wrestling with whether or not we should go at all at that price. Bangtan is coming back any minute, but more importantly, our savings for Korea next summer is not yet big enough that the trip is guaranteed, and at the end of the day, Korea > Infinite.

what settled it in the end was the pit sections.
if you know me, or have read my other fanaccounts, you'll know that I hate pits. I always get pit tickets, but I also always hang back so I don't have to spend my time getting pushed and shoved and fighting with people. I like to be able to enjoy the few precious moments with biases uninterrupted, and I can just concentrate on what goes on onstage, and getting my pictures and videos.
however, due to my horrible eye sight, this also means that I am never (except for Bangtan in Berlin, and the Infinite in Paris goodbye moment) close enough to actually see people with my own eyes. I mean, I can see them, their persons, and like, big expressions, but I need to be within 10 meters or so to be able to see faces clearly.
for Bangtan's RWeL8? security had been super strict and had me delete everything on my SD card and warned me to about getting kicked out, and that had definitely scared me, and I was worried about not being able to use my camera and also being far back.
so in the end, the thought of being able to buy my way into a front pit where I wouldn't get pushed by the rest of the crowd, and where I could hang back and STILL be so much closer than I would ever otherwise be, made me just throw whatever amount at MMT that they wanted.

the ticketing itself went surprisingly smooth in comparison to previous experiences.
it was through this weird site, and you could only pay via bank transfer. cue stress, cos you didn't get like a confirmation email or anything, and after having emailed back and forth with the sales places, they said that tickets would be distributed in the order that bank transfers cleared.
since we were obviously an international transfer it wasn't hard to figure that we would be at the back of the cat. 1 line, and I couldn't figure out if we were even guaranteed a cat. 1 ticket cos there was only supposed to be around 200, and what if there was 200+ domestic transfers? would we be pushed to cat. 2?
in the end I found peace in the fact that if we were lucky, we would get the cat. 1 tickets, but overall we were definitely in.
tickets arrived about 5 days before we were leaving, and as the sales places had announced, they're these really cool picture tickets, and a nice memory to have instead of just a printed pieces of paper.

as soon as the tickets arrived we could confirm that, yay!! we had actually gotten cat. 1 #163 and #164! HUGE relief ㅠㅠ




but as soon as it sunk in, also huge stress.
I am not some huge snob who's too good to rough it in the pit with the rest of the crowd, I'm somewhat claustrophobic, and the thought of going into the front of a huge crowd of fangirls made me wanna puke.
I knew it said the pits would be divided, but how well? would people stay in their cat. pits? would security be able to handle the crowd?
cos the thing about pits is, you never know. I've been in some really nice crowds, but I've also seen disgusting crowds /coughOGSLondoncough and there is just no way of telling beforehand which means there is also no way of calming my nerves beforehand.

so even though I did count myself lucky to have my cat. 1 tickets (I saw people on twitter looking for cat. 1 daily) the stress was eating me up, and in the end I don't think I ever really looked forward to the concert? cos thinking about it just overwhelmed me with feels about the pit and people and ugh, so in the end I just blocked it out as much as possible in my head (which wasn't much), and I didn't talk about it at all which is how I ended up going to see a bias group's solo concert without anyone knowing until the night before. but that's just how I work.

fortunately, one thing that gave me a little peace was the weather report cos even though the temperature suddenly dropped almost 8 degrees that weekend to only 5 degrees, it was guaranteed to stay dry when I checked one last time the day before we left for Berlin.



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we got up at 4am on Saturday, left at 6am, and after long but nice drive, we easily found our hotel and checked in at 2:30pm.
the hotel was only a few minutes walk from the venue which was the reason we picked it, and.. let's just say that was the best thing about it....
don't get me wrong, everything was clean enough, and the mattresses were actually really nice and firm, but the whole place was just so ugly? like, nothing matched, not colour or decor. it was one of those places, you know, where no one had bothered with hanging stuff level or use a single strip of tape when painting the 8 different colours of everything.
we're used to picking hotels based on price, and sometimes location, so it's not like we're used to or expect much, this was just bad.
and the whole places smelled like old smoke even though it was (now?) a non-smoking hotel.


we were on the 4th floor (2nd from the top) on the left. the balconies right, above the hotel are apartments.


. . . . . .


but at least it was clean, and the shower had good water pressure.


lots of people don't like it because of the noise, but I love street view.

but it was close, and cheap, and even the people who checked in before us were Inspirits. don't ask me how I know, but fangirls, even when they're not fangirling, are just easy to spot. the whole hotel were full of Inspirits which was confirmed after the concert when we were all drifting back, but I could already point out several when we were down for breakfast on Saturday.

it was windy and not exactly warm, but we spent the rest of the day sightseeing a bit. it was supposed to have been a lot, but I was stressing out even more now that we were so close, and I didn't even have an appetite.

we started by going to the venue to check it out.
at first we thought it was Columbia Theater cos its sign just said Columbia, and we were a little shocked cos it looked about as big as house. I knew they had down-graded capacity since OGS, but still, this looked crazy small.
hubs wanted to go explore the old Templehof airport that's been closed and are now used as recreational area. it's located right across from the venue so we walked on and just happened to pass by the actual venue. it was slightly bigger, but it still looked intimate.
no one was there, only an info page was glued to the door.






we walked around the huge fields of Tempelhof for a while. despite the temperature, there were loads of people here, and thanks to the fresh winds and long flat runways, people were kite-skating and board-windsurfing, and the air was filled with kites.











the area with the old buildings were fenced off, and for a moment we thought they were having driving school in there cos the area was littered with these little cones and there were water sprays in some places and there were like 20 cars, all the same, driving around one after the other.
turns out it was some Mercedes driving event company. if I had attended I would have been seriously disappointed, though. sure, you get to drive a huge Mercedes, but the speed was like 35km/h..




it had been our original idea to go back to the Korean restaurant where we ate last time when we went to what we now call Bangtan's bridge. it's real name is Oberbaumbrücke, but it's where Bangtan had their photo shoot for Now 2 so.
but I was still felt like puking at the thought of almost everything, so in the end we scrapped that idea and instead took the U-bahn to the new (at least to us) Mall of Berlin, a huge new shopping center by Postdamer Platz.
according to a brochure at the hotel, they had a big food court and we love those cos different selection, low prices, and food court food in Germany is generally really nice quality.

on the way there we doubled back past Columbia Halle, and now there were about 10 people or so hanging out. none looked like they were gonna stay overnight, though. of course I don't know if they did, but none had any kind of sleeping-outside-in-zero-degrees stuff with them, so I hope not.

anyway, on to Mall of Berlin.



after having circled the food court three times (we're those kinds of people who can never make up their minds if there are more than one thing to choose) we finally settled on Thai food. there was a place with almost the same menu as our fave place by Alexander Platz, though no japchae, so I got bun cha and hubs something similar.
the lady promised me no fresh coriander and, as usual, there were still bits of it on top along with the Thai basil.
I had a bit of the meat and noodles, but after about a third I was done.


bun cha on the left


by now it was around 9pm and the whole getting up at 4am and driving for 6 hours (I drove most of the way) thing was starting to take its toll on me, so we just went back to the hotel and I watched Bangtan V app videos for the rest of the night.



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D-DAY.

we went down for breakfast around 9am, and this tiny Korean or Japanese guy shuffled around making coffee and clearing tables. I don't know if they were family, but all the staff we saw at the hotel were Kor/Jap which seemed like an amusing thing for some reason cos the area was not like, the Asian area or anything but we just happened on a hotel full of them on a trip to the city for kpop.
I was even more high strung than yesterday with this being The Day, but managed to force down a mouthful of scrambled eggs and half a roll before I was done.

after breakfast we went over to the venue to see if anyone could give us a clue as to when we would need to line up.
around 25 people or so were already hanging out, but none in any organized queues yet.
two girls with clipboards were bundled up in blankets under the info poster on the door so we went to talk to them.
turns out one of them was the same nice fanstaff that also ran the Bangtan showcase queuing.
we thought we had to get signed up to avoid waiting in line, but she told us cat. 1 was just going by the ticket numbers so sign up was only for cat. 3. we were scheduled to be let in at 17:30 so we could just come back whenever we felt like before that since our spot in line was already determined.
hubs asked her about cameras and she she said that officially cameras were not allowed. .../shrugs and smiles excessively wide. gotcha.


we didn't have any plans for the daytime hours, and in the end we just ended up staying in our room, napping and watching Bangtan's Dinner Show on V app.
hubs didn't mind or complain. decades have taught him that if things are bad enough for me not to have any appetite, it's best to be lenient cos then I must really be suffering.


and then it was time to go.

in the end I decided to bring one of the cameras. I had this little flat pouch purse thing, and we took the camera out of its cover and put it at the bottom and then stuffed our passports and phones on top. I could barely zip it up, but when you opened it and looked, my huge ipod cover completely filled out the purse as if it was all there was. I put the extra battery in my bra, as usual.

I had put on my concert sandals, and of course I almost took a tumble as soon as we had crossed the street outside the hotel.
I managed to grab on to hubs so in the end it just looked like a very ungraceful stumble and only my pinky toe suffered.

we arrived a little to 5, and by now there were lots of people, and it looked really confusing with no clear signs as to what queues were where so we shuffled around for a bit.
we finally found cat. 1 and with our numbers we were almost at the end. turns out there were around 220 cat. 1 tickets judging by the number of people behind us.
we had about ten noonas behind us, and oddly, the two girls directly behind us turned out to be Danish, too. odd cos ticket numbers had been issued according to bank transfer clearance so what were the odds of 2 Danish transactions coming through right after each other with all the foreign buyers?! ..okay nevermind, I just thought it was odd.

for some reason waiting was less boring than usual? I had been dreading it cos of the cold and for Big Bang I wanted to stab myself five minutes after we arrived, but time seemed to go by really fast?
we got free lightsticks, and a couple of girls came down the line with a huge German flag that people could sign. I assume it was somehow being delivered to the boys? I didn't sign it cos meh, and besides I'm not German so that part also felt irrelevant.

I was looking at noonas, and for some reason, just like it's easy to spot fangirls, it's also really easy to tell Korean Koreans and foreign Koreans apart. I was a little surprised at how many of them were clearly actual noonas cos Infinite are no spring chickens anymore. I mean, we're talking my age or close. for the noonas, not Inpi.

several of them were selling goods and/or handing out packs or fans for free. so much Seongyeol and Myungsoo everywhere while I saw no Gyu :(
in fact I hardly saw any people with Gyu merch or sign boards so I was really happy that both the cheers for him and the chant for his solo were so loud ㅠㅠ


I think we were about 30 mins late getting let in?
we got our black wristbands (cat. 2 got gold, and I assume cat. 3 got none?) and on to bag check. it went as expected. she squeezed the purse, asked me to open it, looked at the top of the Hello Kitty cover and waved me through.
we checked our coats and then went into tHE SUPER CLOSE TO THE STAGE CAT. 1 PIT!!!!!

of course, since we had high ticket numbers, our pit seemed pretty full. we went as far in as we could at the back, and I think we landed at about the middle of the right side? so about 25% off center stage, but it was still only 7th or 8th row so really close to the stage for me ㅠㅠ
and we could see that people were standing relatively far apart for pit, and some were even sitting down, so we figured that once the show started, we would be able to get even closer.

we still had a lot of waiting to do, but just like for OGS Woollim knows how to do waiting. they were playing MVs on the big stage curtain and it made time go so much faster and got people excited and chanting.





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as usual, this will not be a super accurate play by play of the concert cos my memory is AhaHA, and not necessarily The Truth, but just bits and pieces of what and how I experienced everything.





actually, the first thing I wanna mention is about the noonas. I've seen several negative accounts from London, and while I didn't experience anything close to that in Berlin (and I was right in the middle of a lot of them) I can see why they can come off as somewhat inconsiderate. rudely generalizing here, I am aware.
lots will push and shove and not really care who they block as long as the can get their shots, and I was plenty pissed at OGS in Paris.
for Berlin there was loudness and a bit of shuffling to get as center stage as possible, but other than that everyone I saw behaved just like everyone else overall, and the Yeol noona right next to me was really careful with her lens.

so, as far as I'm concerned, there were no noona problems, or, actually, crowd problems in general.
when the show started people gathered closer to the stage and we were able to move further ahead, but it was not more than a step or so. people stood close, but throughout the night I saw no excessive pushing or anyone from both pit 1 and 2 getting pulled out.
as the show moved on we were slowly able to get closer and closer and ended up in 5th row for about the last half or so, but we had no one behind us, and the two Danish girls on our right had the entire end of our pit to themselves and danced around.
my concert sandals once again came in handy and I could easily see above everyone's heads.
before the concert started I was a little worried the girl with the balloon would be a problem, but she must have drifted left or just gotten tired of holding it up.
but obviously, another upside to being this close is that there are a lot fewer people in front of you to block your view with hands and fans and banners. the people in front of me for this were extra nice, though, cos fans and banners were only held up in short intervals, and most waved their lightsticks towards the stage and not from side to side.

but holy shit, this whole closed off pit thing was so worth every penny and every moment agonizing before the concert. if you ever get the chance I highly recommend. I COULD ACTUALLY SEE THEM. SEE GYU. AND HE COULD SEE ME ㅠㅠ
from the second the curtain dropped, so did my jaw cos we were so close.

obviously from after the concert, but that was like my actual spot! maybe I was even a bit further towards the middle? 


IT WAS SO. CLOSE.

I don't know if I'll ever get a chance like this again, but if not, I'm so happy I got to experience it with Gyu and Inpi ♥

as happy as I was, I could clearly feel that I was a lot more calm than for OGS. it turned out to be a big help cos I was able to focus more on taking it all in, take Gyu more in, instead of just being all akjdhkshf and then coming out afterwards and not being able to remember a single thing. so for a concert where there was no cameras allowed it was nice.

and it was nice to feel that despite Bangtan ruining me, Infinite and Gyu definitely still have a big piece of my heart.

the actual concert was perfect with the exception of the no camera policy. I know there are so many noona pictures, but those women are crazy pros cos security was super strict about enforcing the ban!
that doesn't mean I didn't see at least 3 noonas get dragged out, and even people using phones got warnings.
I only managed to get one picture before I was warned, and since it just happened to be of Gyu and looked like it came out decent, I decided not to push my luck and keep taking pictures and have it end like it did for Bangtan's showcase.
instead I just settled for making audio recordings.
later I did wonder if the promoters in Berlin (/Germany? I don't know) are a lot stricter than UK/French promoters cos I have personally never had problems in those places, and my friend told me that a girl in front of her in pit 1 in Paris had practically filmed the entire concert.
so even if Berlin is closer, maybe it'll be worth it to go to London or Paris or just somewhere else for TRB after all, if possible....

the show lasted about 2 hours and 15 minutes or so? hubs thought it felt long, but I thought it felt fast. and not the I'm-so-high-asjhdjsf kinda fast, but a little rushed almost..?

there were weird sound issues, or like, weird stuff with their mics? sometimes they were so low that I had to see who had the mics up to their mouths to know who was singing. but it wasn't consistent, and it was just weird even though I'm clearly not explaining it well right now.

speaking of the sound, I had that experience again of being close to passing out several times.
we were almost right in front of the speakers on the right side, so obviously the noise level is gonna be louder than what we're used to from in the back.
it's when sounds were extra loud, but it's not in that fuck-this-is-loud-my-ears-and-head-hurts kinda way. it's like the sound hits a certain wave-length that just strikes something in my head and suddenly I feel light-headed, and unless I shift focus and concentrate on staying awake I will just topple over. it's really weird. or is it? I don't know, I've never heard of anyone else having the same experience, so a little weird?
fortunately it didn't happen, but I did come away with what I now fear could be a permanent hearing damage cos it's been 5 days and my ears are still not back to normal..

they changed/almost reversed the standing order so for all ments Gyu was on the far left instead of right ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

when will they stop with the whole smoke on stage thing. they kept pumping smoke, but it was so stupid. it didn't add anything dramatic or whatever they were trying to pull, it just came off as annoying fog.

I liked their outfits tonight. it wasn't casual look, but it still seemed a lot more casual and not as costume-y as usual for concerts?

the amount of songs I didn't know was embarrassing...

they performed a new song which I've seen people call For You, but in my head they just introduced it as "here's a new song for you"? I guess we'll see when they come back.
it was okay. I wasn't disappointed, but it also didn't rock my world.

they had all new solos!
Namu was first with a song he wrote himself called.. Everyone? Every Day? no..? I clearly can't remember, and if it's not a new song but just me being behind, I apologize. I liked it, though! it was slightly rock-ish almost, and he bounced around, and it was the exact opposite of greasy ballads which is all I ever wanted from him, so HAPPY.
then came Inpi H. they did a rap..song, is that what you call it? I assume it's on their latest album, but I didn't know it. I also wasn't particularly fond of it, it's not the style of K-hiphop I like. but after that they did 예뻐 which I really like.
third was Gyu ㅠㅠ I knew he was gonna do Kontrol cos I had listened to a live stream of the London concert, and I was already biting my hands before he even came on stage. I love the song so so much. I never understand why it had so much less popularity compared to 너여야만 해, but that's another story. he was just standing with his mic at the back of the stage, there was no dancing and I don't understand why he didn't come out to the front, but I didn't care much cos his voice still ripped me apart. I hadn't felt like crying at any time up until that point, just really happy and excited, but when he hit that high long note after the bridge goosebumps just erupted all over my entire body and I just sobbed into my hands. he has a tone to his voice that just shoots directly to my core and shakes my heart. it's what brought me to Infinite initially, and it's what'll keep me with Gyu for as long as he chooses to make music.
last was Inpi F. hubs asked what F meant, and I still have no clue. they did 가슴이 뛴다 and it was my first time listening to it and seeing the MV cos after having seen the teaser I stayed away. for several reasons, but one being that that kind of cutesy is not for me. I was actually expecting to be cringing, but apparently having them perform it live, and well, made it a lot more fun. that, and the fact that it seemed to have been a big hit among the fans cos the crowd was super hyped and singing along. they had these baskets of little dolls and they threw them out to the audience, and because we were at the edge of the crowd so not many to fight with, hubs was so close to catching a bear from Sungjong. unfortunately he throws like a girl, it was worse than me. so it was impossible to predict in what direction he was throwing, and he was just hurling them out, not throwing them nicely so they were easy to catch. so instead it went to the girls beside us and that was fine, they needed it more by the looks of their reactions. a guy in front of me also got a doll from Sungjong which made me happy cos he had a Jongie fan and 4기 lightstick and was so into the concert. the doll was by chance, but after their last song, right before he left the stage for good, Jongie came to our side and waved and bowed, and he deliberately threw his towel to the guy. how sweet is that?

I forgot what song it was, but at one point they had these baskets with paper planes, and I really REALLY wanted one, but the one that came closest was one from Dongwoo and it actually flew directly through hubs' fingers, and got snatched up by the two girls I assume. so close.

speaking of hubs and Dongwoo, during his ending ment Dongwoo was going on about how much he loved tonight and Berlin ladies, and then he looked at hubs and said "I love my brother!" LOL

as mentioned, Kontrol broke me, but the only other time I cried was suddenly during 추격자. I was watching Gyu doing one of my fave songs ever, and it suddenly hit me that this could very well be the last time I see them like this. of course no one knows how Korea will go, we might end up seeing them for something there, and they might make a 3rd world tour, but chances are this could be the last time I'll see them and it just broke my heart.

speaking of tears, I did also get teary during 함께 but other than that it was an unusually dry concert for me.
and same for Infinite. it looked like Yeollie got a little glassy eyed during 함께 too, but it could just have been my eyes deceiving me. other than that no one looked even close to tears. indeed they're pros at touring by now.

they thanked the band this time! I was really happy about that, and as you can hear, they got a huge, well-deserved applause.


I made it a point to give all members special attention since I knew I wouldn't be able to look back on pictures and videos, and if I hadn't I would just have been staring at Gyu for 2 hours.

Yeollie surprised me a bit, though not necessarily in a bad way? I think I just expected him to be more lively and silly and interacting more since it was a smaller, well-behaved, enthusiastic crowd, but he was very quiet. he did whisper and laugh with Gyu at times during others' ments which gave me the impression that it wasn't like he was in a bad mood, he was just having a quiet night.
he was totally "on" during Inpi F's performance, smiling and waving, throwing the stuffed toys, and in general he danced hard and sang really well. I said it after OGS, too, but he has such a nice voice and he should get more parts.
as usual he had so much support from the crowd, cheering, clapping, and singing along specifically for his parts, it was really heart-warming.

someone who did disappoint me, sad to say, was Howon. knowing how he can be and how he was during both OGS stops I attended, I was really looking forward to seeing him again.
this night, however, he seemed strikingly different. because of his injury he had to sit out on all the performances with choreo and having done so for all the Euro stops (I think he sat for Warsaw, too?) I can understand that it must be a little boring and regretful. what I can't understand is that he wasn't better at at least putting on a show for those few hours.
he sat on a stool right in front of me, so I had plenty of time to get a good look at him, and at times he seemed like he would actually rather be somewhere else. he was quiet and  seemed bored, and since he had so much time between his lines, I think I expected him to sit and interact with the crowd or sing along or do something, anything to be part of things, but no. all of that was at a minimum, and I actually asked hubs about this after, and he said he had also been keeping an eye on him, and he had barely smiled a handful of times throughout the whole concert.
during Inpi H he was "on", but it still wasn't in the bubbly, goofy Howon sense.
same with his ments. he had lots of sincerity in his words and his apologies for not being able to go full out, but it was still delivered in a bit of a lackluster way.
I know it probably comes across as a really mean and negative review of him, but I had such high expectations and in the end he just gave a really anonymous impression overall, and I am only disappointed cos I've seen what he is capable of.

Jongie had a bit of a night like Yeollie for me. not bored, but still a lot more quiet than expected, and he also didn't have that much fanservice.
he sang really well - for the parts we could hear cos we all know he doesn't have the most powerful voice so his mic could have been turned significantly more up.
this time he was really striking when it came to singing and dancing, though. he had so much power and intensity and sharp moves and intense eye contact, there was nothing girly or timid or insecure about any of it.
and for his second outfit his tshirt was so short that he sometimes bared like, half his tummy.

Myungsoo was a joy. he was happy, smiling, waving, laughing, making cute faces. he was goofing off with Gyu during performances, and overall he seemed like he was having a good night.
his voice was surprisingly on point, and it grated a lot less on me than usual. there were a few times where I think there was something up with his mic cos while he was in tune, his voice sounded baby-voice-ish? like aegyo voiced? it wasn't much, but enough that I noticed. for 가슴이 뛴다 I thought it was on purpose, but then it happened again during other songs so it definitely wasn't on purpose. it was really strange. it still didn't deter from my overall impression of him singing so much better than for OGS.
I don't know if they had arranged that he was the one who was gonna mention it, but he was the only one who commented on the banner project from the audience in his ending ment.

Namu. first off I was really happy that his blonde hair looked so much better in person than it has done in pictures. he actually looked really good and I was not prepared for that. damn him.
he also seemed in a really good mood. smiling, engaging, lots of fanservice, but the good non-greasy kind, just lots of smiles and waving and eye contact. of course there were also hearts but not to a gross degree.
I was so proud of him for making his solo song. it was so not what I would have expected him to make for himself, so I was really happily surprised.
and not that it's was a surprise or anything, but he sang and danced so well. his voice was so on point. I was really happy I got to experience it one more time.
during his ending ment he said that he had broken or sprained a toe so he was so worried he wouldn't be able to perform as well as he wanted, but you couldn't tell at all, and if he hadn't said anything, no one would have had any reason to suspect that he wasn't on his A game.

and then Gyu cos you can't say Woohyun these days without saying Sunggyu. I don't know if it's them not living together anymore that's made their hearts grow fonder or what, but after almost a couple of years where they seemed closed to ignoring each other, there is so much Woogyu these days and I wanna cry.
there were so many smiles and giggles and goofing off during songs I was biting my hands. that's one of the few things I wish I had video of cos it's just impossible to convey in writing.
but in general Gyu seemed like he had a good night, too. he has that..that no-nonsense-chopchop-let's-keep-things-moving thing about him when it's his turn to speak that can come off as slightly..un-invested or give him a let's-just-get-this-over-with feel, but that air is one of the things I like about him. as cute as he is when he's flustered and rambling, I like when he's in on top of things, in control.
and of course it's not how he feels cos when it's not his turn to speak he was happy and smiley and waving at or talking to people, giving so much fanservice. he was whispering with Yeollie and a couple of times they were pointing out at fanboards (there were some really funny ones in pit 1) and laughing, and he was laughing so much with both Myungsoo and Namu during performances.
I'm so happy I got to see him like this again ㅠㅠ
and I'm so happy I got to see him dance again. I know he's always the butt of the dance joke on variety shows, but look at any of their dance practice videos, and fact is that he is a great dancer.
he had some really funny ments talking about drunk!Infinite. apparently they had gotten wasted in Paris, and during his ending ment he was like, "thanks for coming, get home safe, we're gonna go get drunk now BYE". GYU.
speaking of ments, he made everyone laugh again during his ending ment by getting the translator all flustered. one of his sentences got so long that she had problems remembering it all or something? it took her a while trying to formulate the German in her head, and Gyu looked back over at her, all nodding like, "...go on....." and he told her she was right as encouragement to go on so he could go on. and cos I know some Korean I could hear that for his next sentence she just boiled it down to five words and didn't give all the details he had, just to get it over with lol
also, Kim Sunggyu has the most gorgeous sensual hands. if you're a Gyu stan you've already seen the pictures, but holy shit, being close enough to actually see them for myself was mesmerizing. his fingers are so long and beautiful and perfect, and the way he rolls his hands and spreads and flexes and curls his fingers was so hot. in my opinion. ... anyway.

last, but definitely not least, in fact maybe the opposite, Dongwoo.
if you look up how to concert perfectly, there will be a picture of Jang Dongwoo from Berlin, October 11th 2015.
he was so happy and hyper, but not in an over the top way. he was so cute and you couldn't help but laugh with him every time he laughed at his own jokes or language mistakes, it was so freaking adorable!
he was like their main MC slash spokes person this time, so every time there were ment breaks he was just yapping away. they all said things in horrible German, lots of which hubs couldn't even understand (not that he's German, but he grew up really close to the border and it's practically his second language), but Dongwoo also said a lot of stuff in English. it was really good, but most of it in that Dongwoo way where its not necessarily correct English, but you still have no problem understand what he's saying. I should remember that for when I have to speak Korean... but yeah, he had so many funny moments. at one point he got serious and talked about trees and fruit and sharing that fruit and a blossoming relationship between Inpi and German fans..or something, but that was his point.
he sang really well. I didn't expect him not to, but, maybe except for Gyu who has been on point all 4 times I've seen them now, it was like they all had improved a lot since OGS. I can't remember anyone going off key and everyone was just consistently solid.
but maybe more so than his singing, his dancing was off the charts. he really stood out, and of course with Howon being benched, Dongwoo had all the solo dance breaks to himself and he really took advantage of that, showing so much strength and skill and passion. he was teasing so much, and during Inpi H's first rap he shrugged off his jacket and he looked so hot in just his white tank. those arms, man... ugh
he looked really good in general, though. he hair was so fluffy, I was in heaven.


this was such a good experience, I'm so glad we went.
I wish everyone would separate the pit like that even if it means it's easier for security to spot cameras, but it was just so nice, for everyone I assume, to be able to enjoy the concert without being pushed and pulled by everyone from the back.
and so much safer, I'm actually a little surprised it's not done all the time instead of only letting people in in intervals, but then still bunging them all together once inside.


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after the concert, when they boys left the stage, they didn't turn the house lights back on on full, and they kept the ending world tour image on the back screen, and for that reason people just stayed put cos it seemed like they would maybe come out for a final goodbye moment, just like for OGS.

in the end they didn't, and security started to usher people towards the exits. they weren't in our faces about it, on the contrary, they just said it was time to leave and then let people take the time they needed, only taking one step forward when people took one step closer to the doors and decreasing the open area like that.

we got our coats, and bought cheap big bretzles on sale on our way out cos now, with all the tension gone and only the high left, I was starving after having hardly eaten for 2 days.

people were still waiting at the driveway for the backstage meaning that they hadn't actually left yet. I had figured that the whole uncertainty about whether or not they would come back out on stage was created to keep people inside so they could leave in peace, but apparently not.
I contemplated for a second if we should wait, but nah. we had no way of knowing how long they would be, and although we waited for Bangtan at their showcase, standing around for god knows how long just to see a bus with curtains drawn drive away didn't seem too appealing.

instead we just went back to the hotel, grabbing snacks and lots of cold drinks on the way, and talked about the concert and made notes until hubs fell asleep.
I was too wired to sleep and made more notes and watched Infinite V app videos and cried over Woogyu until 3am.


Monday after breakfast we checked out along with all the other fangirls, and settled in for another long drive.

we weren't home until 8pm cos we did some border shopping on the way, and by then I was exhausted and emotional and high on Infinite, but at the same time the fact that it became Jimin's birthday at 5pm suddenly made me unexpectedly heartbroken.
I dunno, like I said in the beginning, the past days have been a strange mix of emotions.


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for the pics and cams it's the usual drill.

please, DO NOT RE-UPLOAD my cams without my permission, but feel free to spread my youtube links around, preferably with a "do not re-up" note.
and DO NOT crop, edit, vine, gif, or whatever else you can think of that would alter my original material. not that that will probably be an issues with these ones lol

as far as the pictures are concerned, feel free to share if you find them good enough for that, but DO NOT crop my watermark, DO NOT edit, and please re-up in full size. please credit.

other than that I hope you enjoy, and as usual, thank you if you actually read through this entire post



the very first glimpse of them, right after the curtain dropped.

성뀨야 ㅠㅠ
I'm really glad I didn't sacrifice this picture for the possibility of maybe more or better pictures.



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Gyu flustering the translator ㅋㅋㅋ











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