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the time before we left for Paris, I was so super stressed, I barely had time to look forward to it. it was mostly a million other life things so I only had a little energy left to worry about the area we were staying at and how it would turn out to be. and if I would even be able to see anything from how far away our seats were at the concert.
overall though, I was honestly just happy to be going at all.
our schedule was a bit tight this time around. of course, it helped a lot that everything was seated so we didn't have to worry about queuing, but our flight was still in the middle of the day and there was no direct airport bus to the area of the hotel.
fortunately, hubs was introduced to French Uber on a business trip a couple of months ago, so we decided to just do that. it was fast and door to door and would cut down stress by a lot, so worth the extra money.
it worked like a charm, and we got a really nice driver who didn't speed, so we could enjoy the drive instead of fearing for our lives.
except for the fact, that we couldn't get seats next to each other on the plane, the whole trip was uneventful.
when we got to the hotel the lobby was full of waiting fans, and we had to join the hoards cos our room was also not ready, despite it being past the announced check-in time. so we parked the luggage and went to a little park nearby.
we played a bit of Pokemon Go, ate some sandwiches we had bought at the airport, and generally just worried about the weather cos it was really cloudy and at one point it actually started to rain. it passed quickly, but it was still windy with lots of clouds.
after a couple of hours we could finally get into our room, but then started the elevator wait. the hotel had two small elevators, but because they didn't run on the same system, getting an elevator took forever. every time someone needed an elevator they would, of course, press for both which meant that even though one stopped for them, the other would also still stop at their floor, so every time we had to go up or down we made sooo many unnecessary, empty stops.
had we known what awaited us at the 7th floor we might have been less impatient to get there. the room was small and reeked of industrial strength lemon scented cleaner which was weird cos it wasn't all that clean, to be honest (we both didn't wanna shower there), and definitely not worth a cent more than the $75 we paid. but at least it was on the 7th floor so away from street noise and smell and we could even see the venue in the distance, but best of all was the mattress in the clean bed. super firm and perfect <3
at this point hubs' arm was hurting. he crashed twice on his mountain bike 3 days ago and we had a fun afternoon in the emergency room. fortunately, nothing was broken (not even his mountain biking spirit), but his arm is in a sling and his entire body is full of bruises and scrapes. but he still wanted to go to Paris, so we did.
anyway, he needed a proper break at this point, so we ended up napping for a while.
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for their other concerts in Paris, with a 10-12k capacity venue, we've usually lined up 4 hours before? and that has meant that we usually only have less than 20 mins inside before showtime. this time we had seats but it was also a much bigger place, so we figured if we needed almost the same amount of time, probably.
so around 4:30pm we got an Uber and went to the stadium.
we got dropped off a little ways away cos the police had closed off all roads up around the stadium. it was really nice cos it spread people out and made things less stressful.
a million people were milling around, but everyone was so relaxed cos the concert was all seats. no one was in a hurry, no one had camped out for a week, the place didn't look like a pig sty..
there was music, and people doing flash mobs and dance performances, and sooo many people in (unofficial) Bangtan merch/clothes (China must be making a fortune off of the boys), and just generally a really nice atmosphere. and nice weather! it was sunny and a little windy, but not cold at all.
we got dropped off at what turned out to be the exact opposite side of the stadium of where our seats were, but in hindsight that was actually good cos that meant we got to stroll through it all. there were the official banners on the light posts all around the venue, and by some weird stroke of luck, the only two ones I saw were Jikook.
we went in through the gates, and, as usual, no one here gives two shits about our cameras.
once through, we immediately spotted the line for one of the merch booths cos it was only like, ten people long. the ones outside were all ten times that, at least. I had never imagined I would be able to get anything if I didn't camp out for days, but since the line was so short, we just thought it would be fun to see what was even left.
there were actually several kinds of hoodies and t-shirts left, but of course Bighit had only provided the simple, most popular ones in M and L and in sadly short supply, so I ended up with the least bad one they had in XL.
and then when we had to pay, hubs couldn't find the wallet. dun dun DUUN...
cue panic and a lot of 멘붕. so either he took it out and emptied the coins out of it before we left the hotel (he did do that) and then just also left the wallet itself, for some inexplicable reason, or it got pick-pocketed, or it fell out of his pocket with zippers in the Uber. in any case, since we didn't know for sure, we felt we had to close our cards immediately.
the Visas had to be totally shut down, but for the Mastercard you could choose to just close it to certain areas (or all areas), and then just open the areas again when/if the card was found, so just in case it was in the hotel, we would still have that card to use. if it wasn't, we were pretty fucked cos we didn't have any cash for food, we only had half a bottle of water left, and we definitely didn't have enough cash to get to the airport the next day, by bus or let alone Uber.
edit: in hindsight I will definitely try to remember that I actually do have a good friend in Paris who would come rescue us and give us money in a heartbeat if I asked.
but besides closing the cards, we couldn't do anything more about it right now, cos security wouldn't let us leave and check the hotel and then come back, so we just went and found our seats.
THEY WERE LITERALLY TOP ROW OF THE STADIUM. I WAS DYING IT WAS SO FUCKING STEEP I nearly had to crawl up there on my hands and knees holy shit. the stairs were so steep, my stomach lurched just watching other people go down them.
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| our actual view from our seats, so you'll have to forgive the quality of our pics and cams lol |
anyway, in the nearly two and a half hours we had to kill, we learned two things.
1: up at that height, the wind will freeze even me to a popsicle, and if you know me, that's saying something. I wear flip flops in the snow. but this was cold after two hours.
2: out of all the people there, the two girls next to me were Danish. what are the odds!!!! so we gathered up the courage to ask them if they had any Euros to spare, and then we would transfer them Danish Kroner instead via this Danish bank app. they were super nice and gave us €30 without blinking, but then when we tried to transfer it got rejected cos apparently the app was also somehow connected to hubs' Visa. but they didn't want the money back and told us to just transfer whenever we got our cards opened again. so nice! ㅠㅠ it literally saved the trip cos now we could at least buy some water and still have enough to get to the airport!
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and so with friendly neighbours we were free to enjoy the concert and we really did!
it was pretty amazing to experience them on this scale, with an audience of this size. we're used to seeing them either in small, in-door 10-12k capacity places or at stadiums in Korea at joint concerts where far from everyone is a fan. it does something to the general mood of the crowd when people just sit down and look at their phone when it's not their group up on stage, where as here, even this high up and this far away, everyone was having a party (especially the girl next to hubs, who actually managed to out-"sing" them in several of my videos..).
going home, though, we did muse that we felt lucky to have seen them in Berlin back in the day, with no barrier in front of the stage and only a few people between us and them, cos not many have had them this close.
Namjoon had a more relaxed night cos there was a French translator, and as usual, I understood more of the Korean than the French. I don't know if French people aren't that great at English, but it always puzzles me just a bit that ments in Paris are always only translated into French. yes, I realize we're in France, but no one is naïve enough to believe that the audience isn't more international than French at these things, just like other Europe concerts.
so they all just spoke Korean or their rehearsed but cute French. for some reason Tae rhythm his French in a way that sounds to me like he's speaking some sort of African or with a heavy African accent LOL
but they all tried so hard, as always. it was commendable <3
Namjoon did speak a bit of English here and there cos I think, sometimes he just felt like it was faster/easier to say stuff in English instead of waiting for the translator (and now that I think about it, I don't think their English got translated into French..? so why couldn't they just have..). and maybe he could imagine that there was at least some of us who weren't French. during impromptu speaking throughout the concert they also just spoke English or Korean without it getting translated.
all their solos were the same. I don't know, this fool had been both too busy with life and too hell-bent on no spoilers, that I hadn't realized this was basically a Love Yourself repack tour, so everything was mostly the same, just with a few additions. so since solos were the same, they had sorta spruced up the performances. or, well, some of them had.
I don't think Namjoon changed, but his is basically just him twirling around stage, singing "사랑 사랑 사랑" to begin with, so nothing much to change lol. I also don't think Yoongi changed..? Hoseok felt a bit different but maybe that was just cos the stage lay-out was different? I don't know, I'm not sure.
Jimin did the bubble thing, and Tae started out on a bed with a close-up camera directly above him so he could properly eye fuck the camera while on a bed. it was perfect. he is perfect. I love Kim Taehyung so so much, and every time I see him in person it reaffirms that love. he never looks happier than on stage, and I feel like he's matured into this much calmer person, so to see this much happy and energy and box-smiling from him just makes my heart swell.
and the baby flew ㅠㅠ and I actually cried a little cos he just looked so damn happy and free, gliding through the air, singing his heart out, so I just lost it a little :'(
I later learned that he hadn't flown the night before, due to too much wind?, so I was SO relieved we came on day 2.
as I expected, Yoongs, Tae, and Seokjin were a bit calmer in comparison, while 3J just bounced around with endless energy and talked so much, with Namjoon just trying to keep everyone in check. HE WORKS SO HARD, POOR GUY.
but in general they were all in a really good mood (maybe part excitement about going home soon lol) and I'm full of cute, funny, touching memories <3
Jimin poured water on Yoongi's head, and Jeongkook, Seokjin, and Namjoon poured water on Jimin's head. 95line going down the slide together and Tae throwing confetti on Yoongi's head. the way Jikook always smiled after locking eyes when they sang, several times. the expression on the baby's face after he sang Les Champs-Elysées. Tae on Namjoon's back, Seokjin and Jimin throwing water at each other, and Jimin randomly koala'ing people. I was even okay with Seokjin's hand kisses. Jimin's smile. Hoseok's smile. Namjoon saying we'll see each other again :'( Jeon and Hoseok giggling together. Jeon and Seokjin twisting each others arms during the ending bow cos they're dorks. Seokjin opening Namjoon's pants lol. Jeon's puzzled expression when the floor lift malfunctioned at the end so they had to run off stage instead, and Seokjin herding maknae line along. Tae kneeling in every direction :(
and I don't know why, but the image of Yoongi waving goodbye will stay with me.
the group hug ♥
and Tae's "보라해!!!!", and the way Jimin kept yelling "너무 행복했어!!!!!" and "사랑해!!!!!" all night ㅠㅠ and the way he always makes sure to really emphasize "진심으로 진.심.으.로. 사랑해!!!!!" ㅠㅠㅠㅠ<3
and the way the baby just jumped around, burning 200 percent energy every second on that stage, both cos when does he ever not give 200 percent, but also cos he felt sorry to Europe and like he owed us an apology for being injured last time around. HE'S SO STUPID, I SWEAR TO GOD ㅠㅠ like he could ever owe us. the only thing he owes me is to stand more still so it'll be easier to get good pictures of him. the boy is a fucking blur 99 percent of the time. but I'm okay if he keeps owing me that.
also, the only upside to being up this high was, that I could see down into the hole when they were waiting to get raised up out on the extended stage. before Anpanman they were all kneeling or crouching down in there, and Jeon took out his phone and started filming or taking pictures, raising his phone up to right below stage level and Hoseok was dying of laughter. then maknae line, like the chaotic bunch that they are, decided to lie down on Namjoon in a row on top of each other (okay it sounds weird in writing lol you'll have to watch my video) instead of standing up when they got raised up to the stage.
they had all new outfits for the entire concert, I think? which I appreciated the effort of. come to think of it, was it Chanel? or Dior? I read something, but I forgot who it was, of course, but some big high fashion brand who's never done anything like stage outfits before were gonna dress them for this, or part of this, I don't know.
whoever it was did a damn fine job, cos Jeon in that white suit.. Big Yes and Thank You Very Much. I'm so used to skinny jeans or sweat pants, but damn, those loose bottom pants really did it, too. and Jimin's shirts are just forever loose and short and flashing on purpose, I'm certain of it and you can't convince me otherwise.
Dionysos was the perfect opening song, except they had some huge ass blow up dogs or something, that blocked my view of the boys for the first half of the song.
they had a lot of songs without choreo, which I assume was partly to spare the boys and partly cos it's easier to fill up the space when they can spread out and go to every corner of the stage.
they had kept a lot of my fave songs and they also added some great ones from MOTSP. I was so happy to hear them do Make It Right ㅠㅠ and 전하지 못한 진심 is always amazing, and I'm definitely glad they kept Tear, but to me, it did lose a bit of its intensity in such a big place. or maybe it's just cos it's the most memorable performance from LY concert last year (I've never wanted Jung Hoseok more), so hard to top, to be honest.
not speaking of Hoseok, but people sang happy birthday to him?? and I'm just ???? I don't understand..??
also, my camera. I had bought a new camera, and because of life, I had only gotten it a few days before the concert, so I had had zero time to get acquainted with it. note to self: let's not do that again. it turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.
a blessing cos 40x zoom was barely enough at this scale, and so the old 20x zoom was even more inadequate.
and actually, it wasn't even so much a curse or the camera's fault. it's more that you aren't supposed to see them from this far away, you just aren't. too much beauty gets lost, and to my naked eye it could have been whoever down on that stage I wouldn't have been the wiser. and even with 40x zoom they still only took up about 1/3 of the screen with their entire body, so it still looked far away.
and I don't know if you can imagine, but free holding a 40x zoomed in camera is an impossible task, especially when your muscles start to tense up or when ten thousand people make even concrete balconies shake, and for Fake Love I just completely gave up and stopped recording cos I wanted to vomit from motion sickness after 30 seconds. IT WAS SO HARD AND HORRIBLE LOL
upon closer inspection on a big computer screen, after we got home, several of my cams are unfortunately not for public viewing this time. I got a literal headache from watching Outro: Wings AND THAT'S ONLY THE 3RD SONG. so tragic.
we focused mostly on videos this time, but we did get some pictures, too, and out of those there was so much blurry trash, there was nothing to do but laugh.
but it was a learning experience. I had also bought a spare battery cos we often needed that even with the old camera. but holy shit, this new camera uses power like nobody's business, so even though I didn't even film all I had planned (which wasn't even everything they did), the first battery was done after only 5-6 songs? and I ran completely out of battery halfway through the encore stages, so the last videos are recorded on the old camera which we had brought as a back up, THANK GOD.
so in conclusion: new camera needs an army (no pun intended) of back-up batteries, it has some auto-focus issues I need to look into to see if it's something I can adjust to correct, and I need to not be this far away from them ever again.
other than that, I really REALLY hope I will get to see them again ㅠㅠ 진.심.으.로. ㅠㅠ
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the concert started pretty much on time and ended at 10:45pm, and how almost three hours can fly by in the blink of an eye like that must speak well for the experience.
after that, it was back out to the reality drama of The Lost Wallet. we ended up walking all the way back to the hotel. it was definitely a rougher part of town, but it turned out to be not scary at all, and with the money situation, we didn't know if we had Uber money to spare. plus, it was traffic chaos a mile around the venue, so when we had cleared that, we were too close to the hotel to bother finding and paying for transport.
back at the hotel there were swarms of other fans, but sadly no wallet to be found. thanks to the borrowed money, though, I knew we would be able to get to the airport, so I only food grumbled a little.
as a long shot, hubs tried messaging the Uber. turns out the app has a whole messaging system for that cos apparently people often lose their shit during transport, and the driver called him right back AND SAID HE HAD THE WALLET YAY!!!!!! the first customer after us had just sat on it, but the next one told the driver that there was a wallet lying around in the backseat.
we got the receptionist at the hotel to talk to the driver cos he didn't speak English and it's been 25 years since we had French in school, so. he wanted something like €50 to come by the hotel with it, which greatly outraged the receptionist on our behalf (merci beaucoup), but we agreed cos that was still cheaper than if we had to replace all the cards, and this way we could get the Mastercard back and have access to money again right away.
it took a couple of hours, but by 2:30am we could finally die in bed, everything sorted. SUCH AN EVENTFUL DAY.
*in the end we had to order new bank cards anyway. because they had been out of our control (where Uber guy, or whoever in theory, could have written down our card info and just returned the cards), if our bank guy just re-opened the Visas and there appeared fraud later on, we would be held responsible, so today, Tuesday, we ordered new ones, just to be on the safe side. until they arrive we are using the re-opened cards, so fingers crossed nothing's gonna happen for the next two weeks until we get the new cards :|
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Sunday we called the bank hotline first thing to get our Visas re-opened, but due to a national holiday, the customer service center was closed, so we had to make due with the Mastercard. which we could, it just meant that we couldn't transfer the money back to the Danish girl yet.
then we packed up and checked out and Ubered to Place du Trocadéro. hubs had been there during his work trip and I, despite my 6 or however many trips to Paris, had never seen the Eiffel Tower, so we went there in search for brunch.
after, we walked down through Jardins du Trocadéro towards the Tower.
I did notice a lot of fans around, and several of them were carrying these red plastic bags, but it wasn't until we were all the way down to Quai Branly that it hit me. it was from the Bangtan pop-up store! so I quickly checked the screenshots I had of the location. I have no idea why I had kept them, cos I hadn't ever imagined we would be in this part of town, but here we were.
it turned out to be up back in the neighbourhood by Place du Trocadéro, so we walked all the way back up to look for it. we did find it, but we also found the queue that snaked around two blocks and took like two hours of waiting, so we scrapped that idea and walked all the way back down to the park by the Tower.
we walked around for a bit, but by now hubs' shoulder needed a serious break so we left the masses and strolled the streets of the 7th arrondissement. a lot of places was closed (cos it was Sunday, I assume), but this was still much nicer than the Eiffel area.
we were just gonna find something to drink and sit for a while cos it was only 3pm, but we found a nice place and their menu looked good, so we did end up having a very early dinner.
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| "앙~!!!" |
after that, even though it was only 4pm and our plane didn't board until 9pm, we just Ubered to the airport. hubs' body wasn't really in a condition for endless strolling, and so we just wanted to go find some nice seats with an electric outlet, and that would be plenty to kill time until we had to fly home.
after the usual thorough rub down at security (I don't know why French airport scanners are so sensitive to bra wires, but it's certain every time) we did find good seats right by our gate, and time did go by fast.
so did the plane ride, thankfully, cos we sat all the way at the end (again not together) along with a whole class of mostly young guys, coming back from some school trip. I don't know where they had been, but I assume somewhere without running water, and if not the guys must have just chosen to not use it cos the whole plane reeked of sweat. it was so much that I heard several of the other passengers talking about it when we walked through the airport towards baggage claim. some way to end the trip.
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for pictures and videos, please remember our seats before you judge the blur and shaking and the number of big screen shots lol and bear with the excessive amount of rainbow crowd pictures. it was pretty /shrugs.
also, I realize that sometimes it looks like picture and sound is out of sync, but that's just cos we were so far away.
besides that, for pictures and videos 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, gif, or whatever else you can think of that would alter my original material.
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 ♥
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| the lights during encore was so pretty |
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| when people turned on their camera flash for Mikrokosmos |
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