110608 - 110611 In Paris for SMTown

NOTE: Yes, this became a very non-personalized standardized account because so many people have asked and because I don't have time to write this a million times. But, as you will probably recognize, it's plenty personal nonetheless.

Not sorry if you get bored to death. You asked, I answered, and you know I can't do anything "in short".

It's more of a Paris account, so if you only came for the SMTown part you can skip to the line of ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

And hellooo~ to the people who doesn't know me but just happens by this blog :)

Let's start with a BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: 

You should know that this was originally a private email to people who know me well, and I therefor speak without my usual sense of PC language that I normally well, almost apply for public posting, so even though you might feel like judging either me, Mads, Paris, SMTown, Taemin, hip-hoppy looking guys, subways or shoe boxes let me say this: Don't.

This is just my thoughts and feeling at this moment in time. Give it time and it will probably change, and nothing in life is as one-sided as a single blog post - no matter how long. Especially me.

It's probably because this is my first blog post EVER and because I'm not used to publicly baring my soul like this and I feel pretty vulnerable at this moment, that I felt the need to say that. I'll try to be more confident in the future, you know, my tree house and all.

 

So. 1st time in Paris and where to start? Because there really isn't enough bad things to say about my first Paris experience. Now, I'm sure you're thinking "Well, it couldn't be THAT bad. It's Paris!" and I agree. My expectations were anything but what we got. I wanted French charm and bistro food and macarons (what happened to the bloody macarons?!) and people watching on benches in the warm sun. I totally wanted the Carrie Bradshaw Paris experience. What we got was a little different...

Not sure what was worst... The screamingly expensive hotel room (almost the most expensive one we've stayed in everrr), the size of a shoe box? We had to push the beds up against the wall to get around it - and the price was sans breakfast I might add. The toilet too small to fit either of our asses? - and so close to the wall you couldn't even fit an arm in between it and the wall, meaning it was impossible to sit properly on the seat. The small, overpriced room on the 3rd floor that STILL got rattled every minute or so (literally, we counted) when the subway passed by underground? 

The anything but romantic Parisian neighborhood with all immigrants and no whites other than hubs? And I mean that not in the racist sense, but purely cos walking around we might as well have been in Turkey or Africa somewhere. The Döner kebab was outstanding though :)

All the rain or the semi-cold temperatures? The fact that I'd been so stressed that I'd forgot any kind of sweater, cardigan, jacket, long sleeve anything, and only brought tops!? The streets covered in vomit and spit/loogies? The place was So Filthy. The unsafe feeling you had walking the streets after 10pm?

THE FACT THAT WE DISCOVERED AT THE AIRPORT AFTER CHECK-IN THAT WE HAD FORGOTTEN THE SMTOWN TICKETS AT HOME?! Do you know what going numb feels like? 

I could go on really, but no, wait! The all time #1 had to be the robbery less than an hour after we sat foot on French soil. Yeah, that probably also tainted the rest of the trip I'm not ashamed to admit.

I'm also don't give a damn how it sounds, but I was frustrated to hell and back by having my prejudices (YES, I SAID IT) confirmed by the fact that it was a well thought out, tried-and-true trick robbery done by these two young Arab hiphop-ish looking dudes.

Coming into a random station, one passed innocently by pretending to drop his phone and money right by our feet, and us being the caring helpful people that we are, of course turned our attention towards him to help him pick up. In the meantime the other reached over the back of our seat and grabbed our backpack with the laptop and other stuff. Fortunately I noticed it out of the corner of my eye and as a knee-jerk reaction yelled out and set out after him. No one else in the train batted an eyelash (merci beaucoup, Frenchies) and luckily he dropped the pack inside the train before they took off.

Needless to say I was in shock (this guy could've floored me with his pinky finger if he wanted to). Not so much at the time. At the time I was PISSED OFF. And kicking myself for falling for it. I had noticed the first guy in the little space between the two train carts (we sat at the end of a cart) and thought to myself "What the hell is he doing?? Why is he just standing out there? I bet he's gonna pull out a gun in a second and come in and rob us all". Turns out not all of us, just us!

And even in the airport train station I noticed these small groups of black/Arab hiphop-ish looking guys just hanging out and I was like "What are they doing here in the airport???" Apparently scouting for easy targets.

And then on the crowded subway we were completely surrounded by "types like this". Sorry, I don't know how to put it nicely. I know it sounds completely awful, and I'm not labeling ALL and judging books by their covers blablabla, but we were just mugged, okay. I think I'm entitled to a little non-PC leeway here.

Making it clear, it's not so much a matter of skin color as of the type of..look. Hair, clothes, attitude..

Anywho, as I said I was just mad about it that day, but the next day we were planning on going out to see the city, and just the thought of having to go on the subway again made me freak out. I was mad as hell and frustrated to no end that these assholes had managed to take away my sense of safety and security (I'm a chicken to begin with) and ruin my first Paris experience this way UGH.

We did end up going out (back on the horse and all that), and maybe it was the time of day or the fact that we went on a different line than yesterday, but it went fine (of course) - even if it didn't made me feel more safe - and we got to see Sacre Coeur.

I'm pretty sure I won't go back to Paris anytime soon though.....

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But besides all that this was without a doubt THE BEST TRIP EVER!!!! To see Taemin up-close like that... OH MY FUCKING GOD. I swear I'm still high. 

Actually the first encounter was kind of a chance meeting. 

On Thursday after Sacre Coeur (and after we had been back at the hotel for a while so this popsicle could defrost a bit!) I had wanted to go check out the concert place, Le Zenith, so we would know where to go and how long it would take to get there on Friday.

It was easy enough to find, and we weren't surprised to see several fans already lurking around. A lot were obviously planning on sleeping outside the gates (we sent a warm thought to our shoe box, being way too old for that crap) and some were just snooping around like us.

We could hear that soundchecks were in full swing already, but other than a lot of bass, there were no signs of the impending glory.

It was around 5:45pm and I just wanted to give the place a quick glance and then head back to the safety of the shoe box. Hubs, on the other hand, INSISTED on scoping out every single inch of the place, even around back. He dragged me along like a pouty kid...

Turns out I should freaking kiss the ground he walks on. Because around the back, by the back entrance was this small group of and gathered, and the music we had heard turned out to be the first song of the soundcheck and it was SHINee!

The weather was actually okay (I had bought a random thin knitted sweater thing five sizes too small (what's a fat girl to do?!) so I wasn't cold anymore), we had brought the DSLR along and since we didn't have anything better to do we stayed to listen. You could clearly hear every song they rehearsed from the outside, and I was kinda excited already.

They played nine (9!) songs, and in the meantime we moved up onto this bridge where we had a better overview of the backdoor where the artists would enter and exit. At the time we didn't know SHINee was the first group, but over the next three and a half hours f(x), SNSD and Super Junior came (don't know why DBSK didn't rehearse. We know they came over with f(x) and SHINee), rehearsed and went back to the hotel. Super Junior and Victoria had barely landed in Paris at this time and they came straight from the airport to rehearse.

I know three and a half hours sounds like a long time to just wait around, but honestly time flew by. We had great music to listen to and something was going on all the time. People getting interviewed by various TV crews, chatting with other fans, guarding the door. It went by so fast.

And I couldn't believe how many song SHINee did omg. After 4-5 songs I was sure they would be coming out soon, but then we heard Hello and 아.미.고. and Onew's opera and and and! They just kept going and I was getting more and more excited about the concert with that much SHINee in sight.

We got to talking to an American dude, who were going both nights and who had also been to SMTown in LA. Nice guy and big Sone apparently. At least he found it funny that we couldn't tell them apart.

And this girl from Spain (Hi Eva, if you're reading this!) came up to us and asked if she could see our SuJu pics. Of course she could and she and her friends were going crazy, and she was taking pictures of our camera to show to her friends. We told her that if she sent us an email when this was all over, we could just send her the pictures. She was very happy. Sorry Eva, you'll have to download the ones you want yourself lol

My fabulous steady-handed boyfriend very much enjoyed playing the paparazzi and took pictures of a million random stuff. I kept telling him to cut it out and keep an eye on the door because SHINee was bound to come out any second.

And I was right!! So he clicked away while I was busy going OMGOMGOMGOMG and failing at controlling my blood pressure because, people, TAEMIN LOOKS THE SAME IN REAL LIFE AS IN THE PICTURES YOU SEE ONLINE ♥

And it's not like I expected him to look like a troll, but how can he possibly look like the pictures?! That shouldn't be possible. That hair and that smile ㅠㅠ 

Jonghyun's hat mad me laugh. It's such a grandma hat over here, but I admit he pulls it off very well. And all of Onew's bowing :)

Initially I just thought it would be fun to stay and see SHINee, but by then we were sorta caught up in the whole thing, so we ended up staying to see them all off with just enough light by the time Super Junior left as last men standing.

Mads took like 400 pictures but we still had to get dinner, so when we got back to the hotel we were too beat to sort through them all - I didn't even get around to check the Taemin ones. The excitement, first over the whole subway safety thing and then the unexpected soundcheck had worn me out, and we knew there was another long day ahead of us the day after, so we just went to sleep. The pictures weren't going anywhere anyway.

(Besides, I was my usual self and secretly thought the pictures would turn out bad for sure because I couldn't possibly be lucky enough to not only see him looking gorgeous in person, but to also get it on pictures would just be too much. I'm not that lucky. So I held out so not to get my expectations confirmed. I know.. I suck)

And then there was Friday and the concert itself - I laughed, cried and screamed my head off.

We had decided we wanted to go back to the Zenith at around 1-2pm. I wanted to be there plenty ahead of time, but I also have this, uhm issue with not being very good at holding it in when I have to pee (someone's not doing her exercises..), so we couldn't just get there at 10am, because we hadn't seen any toilets the day before and I pee often.

I had read about a welcome-to-Paris flashmob at 2pm by the Zenith and thought it would be fun to see, so we tried to make it by then. We got there at around 2pm and when we got on the subway the weather had been fine. Not sunny but okay temperature. I would be fine in my thin sweater. The subway ride's literally two stops and when we got out it was pouring down! There were short breaks, but it pretty much didn't stop raining until 5:45. We were let in at 6.

So let's just say the flashmob may have been rained out or something. We didn't see anybody where it was supposed to be and in this weather we didn't hang around to wait either. We just went straight on to the Zenith.

The crowd wasn't too big yet and we could easily move around. I was actually a bit surprised there weren't more people by now. But good for us. When you have to stay in the same spot for hours it's nice to at least be able to shift your weight from one foot to the other.

The line of people waiting were pretty much covered in a layer of umbrellas for most of the time. Now, that might sound dry, but it was extremely wet! An umbrella only keep what's directly beneath it dry (and mine didn't even do that. It was leaking like crazy, I was afraid my eyeliner was gonna smudge (who puts on waterbased eyeliner when they're going to see Taemin anyway?! I know...*shakes head*)). Around the edges all the water pours off. In a sea of umbrellas you're also covered in edges... At least the shield of umbrellas held onto the heat of the group a little and gave shelter for the wind cos once we got wet, it got cold.

We got let into the goodie stand area in small groups. It was supposed to open at 1, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't until around 2:30-3 before they let the first people with the expensive tickets in. We wanted to buy now instead of after the show so not to risk them selling out. We had didn't know if it would be possible to pay with credit card so we had brought 200 Euros. I swear I didn't spend it all....

Also while we waited, the crowd got shot by numerous photographers and filmed by at least 10 different TV crews, some of which had some pretty funny guys who were able to get the crowd going even in the pouring rain.

But other than that it was the longest wait I have ever done, and I have been to a lot of these kinds of concerts and waited far longer. This was just a pain. Of course I've never been so impatient to see a concert EVER either so that might have done something to my sense of time and patience...

Surprisingly one of the bright spots while we waited were the ELFs (Super Junior fans). I hear Alaina yelling right now. Now, I love Super Junior, but I'm no ELF, and frankly I've been annoyed by more than a few of them and their one track mind and lack of respect for others on YT, but I have to say that it was amazing to experience their dedication and kindness. They were passing out Donghae banners (we passed) and treats and water and glow sticks to everyone, not just other ELFs.

I already forgot, but I remember it as if they also passed out the red glow sticks we did end up taking which apparently is DBSK? (Sorry, Minnie, I can't remember) Anyway, the red was purdy so we took some of those.

We had also brought our blue (which I think turned out to be more SuJu than SHINee blue, but *shrugs*) glow stick head bands and SHINee light sticks, courtesy of the most wonderful girl in the world, 최영리! ♥ We thought the light sticks weren't allowed so I spent four and a half hours with two light sticks stuck in my bra. Thank god for saggy boobs. You couldn't even tell they were in there.

Turned out security sucked ass. We could've brought all the glow sticks and DSLR cameras we wanted. They barely looked in our bags. I'm annoyed that such strict rules were being advertised if not followed. Then it just ends up being a stick in the fandom wheel. It would have looked so much more amazing if everyone had been able to bring light/glow sticks in the colours of their own choice, but I'm sure people were discouraged because it was supposed to be against the rules. Or am I the only one who's intimidated by rules..

We did get to bring in our two bottles of water and boy, did they save both us and two girls next to us later!
Oh, and their high-tech only-the-first-one-with-this-bar-code-scanned-counts-so-you-can-'t-just-print-a-million-e-tickets-and-get-all-your-friends-in-for-free scanner consisted of five burly looking dudes that just tore the bar code off of the tickets. Fail. 

Anywho. I got let through first and as fate would have it, security decided to hold up for a while right after me with hubs second in line, so I had to wait around for nearly 10 minutes on the inside of the gates. Frustrating, but of course it didn't make a difference in the end because we still needed to go through the line for the ticket check.

It gave me time to change my shoes though. I had flipflops on (good choice since 30 minutes into queuing this girl decides to dump an entire BIG McD Coke on my feet - without apologizing. Bitch) but I'd brought my only boots with heels for inside. Yes, people, I might be tall in Korea, but NOT in France. I nearly didn't get the damn things on because my feet were so swollen from just standing around for hours, but I did my best evil-Cinderella-sister impersonation and shoved the damn things in there.

And FINALLY we got inside. The first things we noticed was:

1) The air was so foggy! I thought they'd been testing something for the show, but afterwards I couldn't think of anything that would've produced that amount of lingering smoke. It was annoying and made even clear pictures look slightly out of focus.

2) They had built the stage out into the venue after all and not just kept it at one end. This meant that now we had to decide where we wanted to stand, what angle would be best and so on. Did I ever mention I'm not good at thinking on my feet?! 

We just decided to stay put. The entrance was at the opposite side of the venue from center stage, so if we had moved to either side we would've been closer to every part of the stage, but we would also have had the artists with their backs to us lots of the time. This way we were dead on the entire time - unless they turned their backs to main audience...like Taemin..

3) I was short even with my boots on. Bloody tall Frenchies. I couldn't even see that the stage was built out. I thought there were 30m of people in front of us, but actually there were no more than maybe 5m from us to the built out part. So close.

But unless they were out on the extended stage I had to watch them on the big screen or if people happened to part their heads.

Of course I had to pee once inside, and afterwards we got our stuff ready. We assembled the headbands and luckily none of the glow sticks had been cracked in the bag and begun to glow so they were all fresh. I fished out the lightsticks and we tested the cameras, and we were good to go.

The entire place was buzzing with that kind of anticipation and joy and excitement as only these kinds of crowds can. I love tangible happiness like that and you can't help but being swept up in it.

That short wait inside felt SO long because we just wanted it to start right now! People passed the time screaming and chanting and singing and doing a huge Mexican wave that just went around and around and around :)

At one point a voice came on and announced that the show would start in two minutes. Woot woot!

Then we waited for fifteen.

And then the lights went out and the screams lifted the roof~

The adrenaline rush was immediate and we were screaming like crazy for the opening act who turned out to be f(x). To be honest, we knew practically nothing about them, except for their Lollipop feat. SHINee. Although to be fair, I've only been listening to the all SHINee version. Speaking of, why didn't they perform that one since they were all there?

But f(x) did good throughout the show. Cute girls, catchy tunes and OH MY GOD the screams every time Amber opened her mouth. Who knew the chick was that popular over here?? I only knew about her because her and Jong couldn't look more like each other, but she was great and she was the only one out of all the artists who was CHEERED every single time she got the mic anywhere near her face. Sure, Taemin and others were loved but nothing like this girl. Impressive.

They did Lachata, the light faded out...

..and then out of the blue there was SHINee. SHINee and Taemin in the yummy flesh.. 5m away.. as I lived and breathed..! I WAS SO EXCITED!!

Well, I barely breathed, my eyes must've been the size of saucers and my hands were shaking SO bad I could hardly get any good pictures (the #%&/(&%"#¤ auto-focus on my camera was no help). Thank god hubs was doing the recording because that would have been some shaky cams.

They started out with Stand By Me, and it was so weird to be singing along not to, but with them LIVE!

Then it was time for their introduction and THANK YOU GOD, they stayed out on the built out right in front of us. 

They introduced themselves in French and then switched back to Korean. Of course Key had to be outstanding by saying "Je m'apelle.." instead of "Je suis.." like all the others.

The upside to them and the others speaking Korean was that because no one understood what they were saying, people were really good at shutting up when they spoke and when it was translated afterwards. There were a few glitches here and there with the artists and translator talking over each other, but all in all it worked better than any other live trans I've seen.

Of course they only translated it into French so I still had no clue, but on the other hand I didn't need a translator to get anything Taemin was saying. Somehow you just get bias regardless ♥ 

He felt so close, my gOD like I could've reached out and touched him, right...there. I couldn't, believe me, I tried.

Not really sure I cared that much for his outfit (I will never be an animal print lover), but the colours were great with his hair, and by now I've come to love SHINee for all the C.R.A.Z.Y. shit they show up in. It wouldn't be contemporary if they looked like everyone else.

But he looked so beautiful. The hair, his nose face, those eyes and lips. And oh my god that skin.! BB cream, what are you doing to me. I just wanted to touch his face..

Very SMTown un-related sidenote: You know how we all have different things that appeal to us, preferences, fetishes if you will. Well, a huge one (no pun intended) for me was is? Taemin's nose. He had the most gorgeous profile ♥ I loved that his nose curved slightly at the end. Yes, I believe he had something done to it (/sadface), but I'm learning to ignore love it. But I do miss his old nose and that's why I might comment on it. 

Anywhoo, bonjour, Glade Løve and then it was straight on to 누난 너무 예뻐, my all-time fave ♥ The Japanese version took me a while, but then I was like "How can Taem getting more lines be anything but good?!". 

The built out stage seemed a little small for the choreo, but of course they made it work and look effortless. The amount of live hip thrusting disappointed me greatly though, especially since we've all seen he was more than happy to do it later.

I loved him in Get Down, being all gangsta and YO. When he's free-styling he's just too adorable to be badass. A little too much shoulder wiggling and almost jazz hands to be legit, but when he's doing his routines he just tears shit up.

And 줄리엣. I love that dance, but again with the weak thrusting tsk tsk. 

Anyway, by now my mind was already gone and I was in happy fangirl Lala-land so I didn't notice at the time.

Later came Ring Ding Dong, le remix version. This was the only song they did entirely at the back stage, so I didn't get to see much of it in person but mostly through my camera and the great cam hubs got of this.

They did a special remix dance break which I liked, and Taemin did a little solo dance. I think it was the one he did at the SBS Gayo Daejeon last year during the Maknae Circus performance? Or at least something very similar, but I don't mind. I've got more than 60 cams of him doing Lucifer so it's not excatly like I mind repetitiveness.

His hair wasn't straight anymore...and it seemed redder?? And OMG I totally want his red and black boots.

Hello was actually mostly at the back too, but I think I was too busy fangirling over the fact that they danced to this again to care much. I've missed that routine so much. It's such a cute song/dance but still he gives 100%.

And I love the cam hubs made. It takes me right back at the Zenith, only 20cm higher up than on the actual day.

They went straight into Ready Or Not. Obviously another favorite of mine, or did you not notice the name of my tree house? It does have this sad note to it, I think, which is probably why I like it, but hubs thinks I'm strange every time I ask him if he doesn't think it's a sad song. 

They continued with a very rocked out version of 아.미.고. I like the choreo for 아.미.고. so I would've liked to see them do that instead of just bouncing around, but I supposed this fit the remix better. As usual I found it more adorable than hardcore to watch Taem rocking out, but he was very into it and the singing was flawless (at least to my ears and I'm not the kind of fan that won't admit off-key). Pfff! Sub vocalist my ass.

And he had the shortest wire trip ever, but it was all good.

Their final song was the remix version of Lucifer. Now, I love love LOVE Lucifer (you did hear me say more than 60 cams) and since I don't do well with change it took me a while to come around to this version, but now I don't mind it.

Stellar performance as usual, and HOSHIT. Tae obviously thinks the equivalent to being badass is biting you bottom lip. I'm not gonna say anything..

Key and Minho also did a rap version of A-Yo with Eunhyuk and Shindong where they started out from amongst the the audience. Talk about people going crazy! Security had the hardest time keeping things under control.

Key opened and I was going crazy! Hubs tried to point me towards the others as well, but I didn't give a crap. I love his distinct voice (off key moments all included) and he kicked ass. I love the diva, but for me Key's got no problem pulling this image off, too. Minho's a little like Taem for me. I find it so unusual to see this reserved guy - although he has been talking up a storm lately (wth is with that?!) - bouncing around being all YO DUDE. It's like his Dream Team face, if that means anything to you.

I'm not quite sure how to describe what this whole experience was like. Somehow COMPLETELY AMAZING and THE BEST NIGHT EVER doesn't seem to cover it. IT WAS SO MUCH MORE. The SMTown part itself was a huge party and a burst of joy and energy and pure positivity. It put the biggest smile on my face.

The Taemin part was surreal. To see this guy for real.. The guy that I've stared at for the past five months on a computer screen, suddenly in front of me looking every bit as beautiful in real life moved me to no end. It put the biggest smile in my heart ♥

And it messed with my head as these things does, and I'm extremely happy about the amazing cams hubs♥ took because to be honest I can't remember much. Just as expected.

I wanna go back. Just as expected..

Obviously one of my favorite parts of the concert was the Dance Battle. Sidenote: I never got why it's called that since there couldn't be less battling involved, but perhaps it's just the fan given name for it?

But Oh. My. Fucking. God. As if watching Taemin move and pop like that on YT videos isn't hot enough, to see it live that close up was like, hoooohmaigaaah.....

How that shy, blushing guy turns into this in an instant I will never know, but I like.

PS. My cutie made me smile when he AGAIN messed up at the end. So freaking adorable ♥

But he did good, just like the others. Hyoyeon and Eunhyuk and Luna, love them! And yeah, sorry, but I was too busy looking at Taemin to notice the rest. I know Donghae and Minho was in there somewhere, but how they did...?

And credit to SM for the music. Pitbull and MJ is Pitbull and MJ, but that special tune is sick!

By the by, of course SHINee didn't perform all those songs in a row, but I couldn't give you details like this about even half the rest of SMTown. My happy fangirl bubble was a SHINee one primarily.

But do ask me about f(x) or SNSD or DBSK or Super Junior. It's not like I remember nothing, and it's not like I only loved SHINee. I loved all of the performances even the songs I'd never heard before - and there were quite a few I might add. I should've come more out of my SHINee bubble to prepare.

But I sang and danced along to Sorry Sorry and Bonamana and Gee and Mirotic and Oh! and No Other and the nanananananananananana part of f(x) and and and! I even payed attention to Onew's opera piece and I think he did soooo much better than in the 1st Concert fancams I've seen, so good on him. Of course I would've rather seen Taem's solo, but oh well. Not everything can be about Taem.

Of course we got everything SHINee on tape (except Onew's solo), but now I regret not just taping the whole damn thing.

Some of the parts of the concert that earned the biggest cheers (apart from Amber) were Heechul dressing up as Lady Gaga and Shindong, Eeteuk and Eunhyuk's version of Beyonce's Single Ladies in short, tight black dresses. I laughed so hard I cried and I kept wondering how something this funny can be considered offensive in other parts of the world. (- and on that note someone should tell the rest of the guys, that Siwon didn't have to be the only shirtless one. It would've been okay) Me no get it. But great that we didn't have to miss out.

And OMG I wanted Heechul's hair bow. So cute! But I guess it would look pretty weird on my black hair.

Generally I was really impressed by all the groups. When you know how crazy their schedules are, the fact that they were all smiles and happy faces and singing and dancing their hearts out and interacting with the fans definitely earns my respect. I know they're pros, but I really do believe they love being on stage, so even if they feel like crap up until they go on, the audience gives them something that makes it all worth it. 

Super Junior was my 2nd most-excited-to-see group and they didn't disappoint. Fun, energetic and obviously pros at the whole fan interaction thing. They didn't seem nervous and there were smiles all around - although Kyuhyun seemed to be napping at times lol. I don't know if he was sick or something, but sometimes he would just be standing with his eyes closed for 10-20 seconds at a time. Smiling, but with his eyes closed. He looked great, though.

Speaking of Kyuhyun, he had one of the best voices live, too, that I've ever heard. It's like..non-sticky honey. Sweet, on the deeper side, powerful and in tune. Doesn't matter if it's a slow or fast song. I loved it.

Him in Bonamana is just asdfghjkl!

But why were there only 10 SuJus?? Like I said, I'm not an ELF but they seem to be dwindling down...?

SNSD were just as expected. Cute, bubbly, energetic with the proper amount of shyness and 애교, and hair and legs everywhere despite the fact that their average height is, what? 160cm? 165?? The art of deception.

I couldn't distinguish the girls, but what else is new. I have learned who Taeyeon is, though.

DBSK. As it turns out I knew frighteningly little about them to be honest. (See?! That's what happens when we spend all our time drooling over Taemin, Tina! I BLAME YOU) But they were definitely a crowd pleaser, if the three failing guys next to us were anything to go by.

Uhm, what else....My brain really is kinda mushed. Hmm....

Well, not that I'm the least bit surprised, but Key KICKED ASS. That guy puts the attitude in DIVA. Summed up I'd totally call him amazing. Confident and bitchy, yet vulnerable and loving and so funny! The personality that I know and love was just as evident live as on YouTube. He definitely earned his place as my inspiration.

Eunhyuk tricked me at first because he had a different hair style than I'd seen before. Yeah, it didn't take more than hair to throw me off, but if you know anything about kpop you know how much hair styles can do.

And Eeteuk. Oh my god. He is so much hotter than I thought. And charming and flirty constantly. That dimple...!

Both SHINee, SuJu and DBSK made good use of the wires to suspend them above the stage/pit, and there were lots of live versions and remixes of songs. I love the original versions but it was fun to get to experience the SHINee remix versions I've watched on 1st Concert YT videos.

I was kinda hoping to get to hear Taemin doing  화살 live though. That would've killed me for sure. The Muzit version's making me come undone as is.

The night flew by in the blink of an eye. When I look at the set list today I can't believe they managed to perform all of those songs. I completely lost track of time. I still have no idea how long it all lasted?

And before we knew it it was bye bye. The house lights came back on and I was left with that weird feeling you get when something out of this world is over and it's back to reality. It's like when you've had great night out, but then the club is closing and they turn off the music and turn on the harsh, industrial strength fluorescent lights and you suddenly see who you've been grinding on. Not pretty.

We'd been told that there would probably be hustlers selling unofficial merchandise outside the venue after the concert, and if they got caught by the police we might get lucky and the police would just hand out their goods. There were tons of guys selling posters (and tickets for the next night), but no police so no free posters. They cost like nothing, so I didn't mind paying. And yes, I know you shouldn't support those people BUT IT WAS SHINee. I am weak :(

But we were both completely high - and hungry! We last ate at the hotel around noon, so we were dying. We were lucky to find a place right by the Zenith - both because we were starving, but also because my feet were killing me MY GOD. I desperately wanted to take off my boots, but remember what I said about the streets of our neighborhood?? Yeah, I would rather suffer than have to walk through that crap barefoot. I had thrown out my coke soaked flops at the Zenith toilets, so my possibilities were limited.

When we finally got back to the shoe box we were pooped, so once again we didn't get to sort through anything. After I finally got my boots off and could relax I barely made it out to brush my teeth. Besides there would be plenty of time the next day before we had to fly home.

So we just crashed - but not before I had a mini melt-down when the fact that I had ACTUALLY seen Taemin in person finally had time to sink in. I passed out with my head band on (it was still glowing!) and eyeliner down my face.

The next day we went to the airport four and a half hours before we could check in, but we were just gonna spend the whole time looking at videos and pictures, so we didn't care where we were sitting. And we actually managed to spend the entire time on the computer, so the day went by pretty quickly.

We were back home around 11pm and immediately got the videos transferred so we could watch them on the TV. Things might look good on the computer, but the true test is how it looks on 46".

I wasn't disappointed in anything - my baby did an excellent job as a photographer. But wow, we definitely have a new-found respect for the people who make great, steady cams because that's A LOT tougher to do than it sounds. Of course conditions can vary, but still, steady pit cams take skills.

The only thing that bugged me was the auto focus on our cameras. Oh my god. Intelligent auto-focus MY ASS! The amount of pictures and moments in the videos that are out of focus is making me want to punch a whole in the sky. That will forever frustrate me when I look at those pics and videos.

But, then I see one of those rare clear shots of Taemin and it all goes away. Basket case, I know.

The whole experience was amazing and only left us contemplating how to get to concerts in Korea. And if SMTown ever comes back to Europe we're definitely there - assuming we can get tickets, of course. But I'm sure SM sees this as a chance to break in to the European market (THEY HAVE TO), so if we're just patient....

I'm still wearing my glow stick bangles....(and yes, I'm wearing them to the wedding if they'll last, so never you mind. My wedding)
Edit: 140111 I'm still wearing one of them, the rest have had to give way to sticks from other concerts.

Anyway, ♥THANK YOU♥ if you actually decided to read through this whole thing. No small feat.

I shall now reward you with the best fancams EVER. Nono, I'm not biased AT ALL!

Yes, they're out of focus at annoying times, people kept waving their crap in front of us, there's a ton of cuts (we'll make more full cams next time. /adds arm muscles to wish list), the camera guy had to change hands from time to time, and he couldn't always find Taemin. Still he did an amazing job ♥

I only shot two videos. I think it's pretty easy to tell which ones... Let's just say that all the excitement didn't exactly help my hand tremor.

There are lots of group action in the SHINee cams, but obviously they're heavy on the Taemin focus. Just like I like it. Same goes for the SNSD stuff and Sunny. Just like the camera guy likes it.


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.

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

Enjoy~

110610 SMTown Paris, f(x) - 라차타 (Lachata) (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, Krystal + Jessica - Tik Tok (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, SHINee - Stand By Me 

110610 SMTown Paris, SHINee -  introductions + 누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay) + Get Down + 줄리엣 (Juliette)

Someone almost dropped his mic....did you see it???

110610 SMTown Paris, Lady Hee Hee - Pokerface

110610 SMTown Paris, Shindong, Eeteuk, Eunhyeok - Single Ladies (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, SNSD - Run Devil Run

110610 SMTown Paris, SNSD - introductions + 동화 (My Child short start cut)

You can hear hubs talking and me laughing when the song begins 

110610 SMTown Paris, Super Junior - introductions + 너 같은 사람 또 없어 (No other)

110610 SMTown Paris, SNSD - 힘내 (Way To Go) (cut) 

Almost a Sunny cam. LOL Hyoyeon scrambling to get off stage in the final seconds

110610 SMTown Paris, SNSD - 소원을 말해봐 (Genie) (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, SHINee - Ring Ding Dong remix

LOL Minho dumps his ginormous horse shoe in the middle! Did you notice?

110610 SMTown Paris, Super Junior - Sorry Sorry

110610 SMTown Paris, Super Junior - 돈 돈 (Don't Don) (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, SHINee - Hello + Ready Or Not

110610 SMTown Paris, 15. SHINee - 아.미.고. (Amigo) remix (2 cam mix)

Yeah, so this one turned into a composite because hubs' battery chose to DIE IN THE MIDDLE OF SHINee! I quickly took over and then he was back for the final shot. We didn't miss much, I think - plus I zoomed in more! (*desperately searching for the upside*)

Minho's scarf at the end gahahaaa

110610 SMTown Paris, SNSD - 훗 (Hoot) (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, Dance Battle

The auto-focus....... Just, don't.. I know....

And the baby messed up AGAIN in the same place! For god's sake...

110610 SMTown Paris, DBSK - Intro (cut)

I called this intro, but to be fair I don't know if it's that or an actual song of theirs...? Anyone??

110610 SMTown Paris, DBSK - 주문 (Mirotic) medley (cut)

Yeah, I always wondered how they would do Mirotic these days. Guess this is how..

110610 SMTown Paris, DBSK - 이것만은 알고 가 (Before U Go)

110610 SMTown Paris, Super Junior - 미인아 (Bonamana) (full) + 갈증 (A Man In Love) (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, SHINee - Lucifer remix

110610 SMTown Paris, SNSD - Gee (cut)

110610 SMTown Paris, SMTown - Sorry Sorry Finale

I've put the pictures in separate posts because, well, there's A LOT! And since this is my first post I don't know if there's a max. number of pics allowed in a single post. 

EDIT: That would've been waaaay too many pics for one post.

Like I said way back at the top this is my first blog post ever, and my first time writing in public without the cosy anonymity of YouTube. I'm anxious so please cut me some slack.


I'm off to post pictures~