On Oct 27, I arrived around 4.30pm at
Stadium Merdeka to a carnival-like atmosphere, with people hawking their wares
of food, drinks, lightsticks and Big Bang merchandise. The massive crowd of
fans already queuing to enter the stadium, seemed never ending, snaking their
way all around the stadium.
Everyone seems exhausted and sweaty, since
there was a downpour earlier, but nevertheless, excitement was in the air. With
another half an hour to the time the gates open (the organizers informed that
gates open at 5pm), everyone was scrambling to collect their tickets, chow down
some early dinner and drinks, and shop at every mini-stall for unofficial
merchandise.
Official merchandise from YG were on sale,
but my brother only bought the Big Bang collectible badges at RM40 as he deemed
the others too expensive (T-shirts were going for around RM100) or not
attractive all.
We waited at our entry gate (not so many
people were there although it was already 5pm) and suddenly there was a light
drizzle. Some put on their raincoats like myself, but after a while it stopped.
Meanwhile, we could hear some background music from inside the stadium,
especially G-Dragon’s new singles 'One Of A Kind' and 'Crayon' being repeated
played.
At around 5.45pm, the gates opened and
there was a ripple of ‘Ahh...’ going through the crowd. Finally we’re going
in!! After checking our tickets and bags’ contents at the gate, we were allowed
through. It was mayhem, but in an orderly way.
Everyone was running to get the seats or
standing positions with the best view. It was only 6pm but already the stadium
was fast filling up. We chatted and people-watch, trying to conserve our phone battery
life (no cameras allowed in!) till the show starts.
I observed many things: people of all walks
of life came all the way to see Big Bang, a Korean boy band. Coming from
Malaysians, I would have thought that only a really big international star or
Chinese singer could achieve this feat.
A
little girl around 10 years old was accompanied by her father, both dressed in
Big Bang T-shirts. It’s so touching the way her father shielded her from the
pushy fans, even the fact that he’s here for the night is great enough. A group
of ahjummas around my mother’s age were also cool enough to show up among the huge throng of youths.
At around 7.30pm, with half an hour to starting time, the heavens poured. And my, it did poured cats and dogs! Everyone scrambled for their raincoats, yet still unmoved in their seats. It started to slow down around 10 minutes to 8pm, and the crew rushed to wipe the stage down. The crowd started cheering when the finished their task, and the excitement grows!
At 8.10pm, suddenly the stadium lights went out. Everyone screamed like crazy! Then 'Still Alive' started playing and the big giant screen showed a video of a spaceship which lands on the stage... and wham! It's Big Bang!!
The boys started singing Tonight and when they finished, they made small talk with the audience, pumping up the crowd's excitement. What I loved most was how the members interacted with the crowd in English, without the help of a translator! G-Dragon handled most of the show on his own, with the occasional chip-in by the others.
The most memorable quote from Seungri was "No rain can stop us tonight!", which got a huge roar from the crowd. And no rain came down after that, really!
Highlights of the concert was the hugely successful blue LED ocean when 'Blue' came on, and the Happy Birthday song for TOP which was planned by the fans after they sang 'Haru Haru'. G-Dragon even joined in the fun and sang along!
Even the part where G-Dragon rapped a short medley of 'Crayon' and 'One of A Kind' with TOP as the beatbox master really blew my socks off as I never knew they were this talented! My favourite solo performance was definitely Daesung's 날개, as he was very interactive with the crowd and everyone was having a real good time singing along.
I came as a fan of K-pop and Big Bang, but I went home as an even bigger fan of both! Rest assured that I will try not to miss another Big Bang concert or any other K-pop concert in the near future!
Picture credits: Big Bang's official facebook page
The author is now a huge fan of Big Bang. Lately 'Crayon' is on repeat on her playlist!
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