Blogging from the front lines! 2AM LIVE IN MANILA @ The Venice Piazza

YES... I WAS AT THE PIAZZA! YAHOOO!!!

I never really expected to be blogging from the frontlines of Kpop events... BUT I AM! I'm still at the Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill near Bonifacio Global City, having dinner while the album signing part of the event is still happening (so the boys are actually still on stage while I'm writing this entry).

Why am I here considering it's still a Friday and I'm supposed to be at work?

I filed a leave with my boss yesterday when I realized that the 2AM meet-and-greet was today (I earned a couple of extra leaves last week since I worked through the Lenten holiday). My boss knows how much of a Kpop fan I am, and understood why I wanted to go on leave (or at least I think he understands --- right, boss? Hahaha!). I seldom attend Kpop events, but I think this was pretty important considering that actual artists were visiting... and no less than 2AM too!



I'm glad I filed that leave since I can relax right after the event. I haven't had a lot of sleep. I usually wake up for work around 6pm... I had to wake up 230pm to go here early enough to avoid the huge crowd I was expecting.

And I was sooooooo right in going to The Piazza early.

When I got to The Piazza around 4:30pm, there were already a good 100 people in the venue, and the hosts were already playing with the crowd, and videos were being played to entertain the growing crowd.

The area where the meet-and-greet performance was enclosed with metal fences. If you wanted in to see the boys close enough, and if you wanted to get to see them upfront, you had to buy their CD. Well, I already have their music... but it's always good to show support for artists by buying their work, so the Php500 that I shelled out for the album was all worth it to get good pictures of 2AM.

Now the crowd practically swelled from the initial 100 that I saw, to around 400-500 folks in about 30 minutes. It was incredible... some of the girls would just spontaneously scream when they saw the guys pictures on-screen on the stage. It was funny and awesome --- there really is a strong following for Kpop in the Philippines. I felt everyone's excitement to see 2AM, and I felt so happy to be here to enjoy this event with other fans.

The opening act for the meet-and-greet was a female acoustic duo named "Krissy and Ericka" (had to google them out to make sure I spelled their name right... I didn't really know them hahaha!). They were cool singers... definitely talented. They did a couple of covers of some popular songs, and I enjoyed them since they were well done. But then again, they were girls... and they were opening for a group of gorgeous guys... and the audience was predominantly female. You can just guess everyone's reaction when the audience saw the opening act --- practically nobody clapped (only a few did, but I didn't really feel they were that excited for them either). I felt a bit sad for them. What's worse, they tried to be cute. Saying to the crowd that you like Kpop, but couldn't mention any group in particular was a bit off. It was a bit embarassing. I'm glad they were talented... they just need to work on preparing for their audience.

Now when 2AM was called in, and when the boys walked onto the stage... EVERYTHING JUST WENT HAZY IN A CACOPHONY OF SCREAMS! I'm serious... I think the girl behind me just threw her throat to the floor and stomped on it just to get the extra oomph she needed to get herself noticed by the boys!

The boys were shining and fresh... they were gorgeous in the humid weather. I was expecting them to sweat and stuff... but I guess they prepared for that, since they looked so darn comfortable on stage.

They started their performance by singing "You Wouldn't Answer My Calls". I took a video (which I'll be posting --- you'll have to forgive the lack of focus when I tried to zoom in on the guys... apparently I was just too far away), but I doubt I was able to get a lot of the singing since I was in the middle of a crowd of screaming harpies. Everyone was ecstatic when the guys sang their song... of course, that excitement was all in exchange for the sound use of my eardrums. There was some ringing after the guys sang the song... I didn't even realize girls could sustain their vocal chords screaming like that.

After they gave their initial greetings (yes... the customary "MABUHAY" greeting was required... hahaha!), the boys had to give in to some fan service. They played a game with a VERY VERY VERY LUCKY girl from the crowd --- the girl was blindfolded, and she had the chance to HUG AND TOUCH Jo Kwon, Seulong, Changmin and Jinwoon. She would have to guess who among the guys she hugged is Jinwoon. You can just imagine the reaction of the crowd... people were screaming off the top of their lungs! Again... the girl right behind me was screaming, "Oh my God, she's so damn lucky! I WANT TO TOUCH YOU TOO JINWOON!" Of course, I can appreciate the appeal... I wanted to touch Jinwoon myself too (hahaha!)!

When the game started, she started by hugging Seulong. She hugged, touched and pratically squished Seulong's face (ohhhhh... that's just me being jealous... hahaha!). She did pretty much the same thing with the rest of the boys --- Jinwoon, then Jo Kwon, and last but not the least, Changmin. What's wonderful about the guys is that they hugged the girl back... it was sweet! They obviously enjoyed the attention from their fans, and they wanted to give back as much of that appreciation as possible.

They ended their performance by singing "Can't Let You Go Even IF I Die". Unfortunately, I was just taken back and wanted to enjoy the peformance --- I wasn't able to take a video. *sigh* It was a shame, but they did a great job singing their songs live.

The boys of 2AM answering questions and expressing their appreciation to
their fans --- Seulong, Jinwoon, Jo Kwon, Changmin

I realized after this entire experience that these guys are real artists. They sounded so much better live, and the passion in their songs is unbelievable. I've mentioned in my past posts that these folks didn't become stars overnight... they worked themselves to death to master the skills that they're using now to express themselves in song. They're true artists, and I'm truly honored to have seen them in person.

Before this, I just appreciated 2AM's music... but now I am officially a fan of 2AM! But still... I just hope  2PM finds their way to Manila soon. Hehehe!

If you want to see all the pictures I took of the event, you can view the album I created in Facebook by clicking here.

p.s.

Took me forever to upload the pics because they were so high-res. Needed to resize them a bit before uploading the article (or else your PCs might bust just trying to download the darn things! hahaha!). Will have to post the vid early tomorrow morning. Keep tabs on my blog to see the vid!