'We won’t leave until we drive you crazy,' and so they did

It was the day after Christmas last year. I decided to join my friends in going to a K-pop concert. The destination was Bucharest, in Romania, and the concert was of the Korean pop band 24K on Jan. 14. I was really wondering whether to go or not, because from my home in Sofia, in Bulgaria, it was eight hours by bus to Bucharest and the weather at the time was awful. The week before the concert, all the long-distance buses in the country were stopped. I bought my ticket at the very last moment, saying to myself, "It’s time for an adventure." I knew no more than two or three songs by 24K, and I wasn't really prepared for what awaited me there. 

After eight hours spent talking, watching variety shows, sleeping and moaning about why it’s taking so much time to cross the border between Romania and Bulgaria, around nine in the morning on Jan. 14 we reached the Filaret Bus Station in Bucharest. We were so tired that when we got to the hotel we slept almost the whole day. When we woke up, we started buzzing around: getting dressed, putting on makeup. All of us were so into it, as if we were the ones to perform on stage at 7 p.m. 

A friend of mine and I left early for the venue. I knew the venue, since I've been there for two other K-pop concerts. History performed in February last year, and Myname in September. At about 5 p.m., a huge crowd was already waiting outside the Palatul National al Copiilor, the National Children's Palace. I really don’t know how to describe what the feeling was outside the venue. There was the happy humming of the fans, an atmosphere right before they enter to meet their favorite artists in person. It was fascinating. At 5:30 p.m., the doors opened for signatures and autographs, and I had to wait another hour before the general admission started. Although outside temperatures were close to 0 degree Celsius, the fans were dancing, singing and talking to each other. The time had come and my other friends joined me. We entered the building. Inside, the atmosphere was even more bubbly: fans taking pictures, walking around the several stands of merchandise and goods related to Korea, putting on their branded T-shirts.

If I have to be honest, I went to this concert without any expectations. I didn’t have any idea who is who in the group. What's certain, however, is that I left as a fan. At first, when the band came on stage, I was wondering what was the point of starting a concert with your most recent hit. It's like using your special trump card in the first hand. It turned out that the guys had prepared more than enough good material for this performance, and the aforementioned song was only a warm-up.

I was greatly impressed by the words of the leader of 24K, Cory. "We will not leave until we drive you crazy," and so they did. The show was about two hours and a half, during which I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage. The playlist was arranged so spectacularly that it neither loaded nor bored the audience. During the breaks, in which the artists had to go change their costumes, there were special short videos projected onto the stage. The light effects and smoke machines were a great addition that put a nice finish to the atmosphere.

The stage performances were thought out to the last detail: vocals, dance moves, communication with the audience. It was really a wonder how the guys managed to coordinate so well with each other, considering that this group had multiple changes of members. There are currently seven guys in the group, and only two of them are original members. However, the stage was filled with amazing chemistry. It wasn’t like looking at people just doing their job. It was rather like a group of friends having fun together.

There were several elements that diversified this awesome music event. There were several dance solos, one of which introduced us to a boxing match in the form of a dance, and also a performance of the hit "Bang Bang Bang" by the group Big Bang, which caused the entire room to get up and dance. For probably around 15 minutes, there was a special game with the audience. 24K split into teams of two or three people, and each team chose a person from the audience. They had to learn part of the choreography of "Bingo," the last song of the group. The game was great fun, and, at the end, the audience clapped to determine the winner. The final solo and duet performances made the audience clap vigorously once again. The time had come and the band had to leave the stage. After about one minute of shouting, the boys from 24K returned for an encore. At that point, I was so hyped that I don’t really know how I managed to get through the last song. 

Two hours and a half. At least 20 songs. Five costume changes, and so much positive emotion. Finally, the 24K concert came to an end.

That was the fourth K-pop concert that I've attended in Romania, and it was worth every drop of effort, despite the terrible weather. The overall organization of the event was much better than the previous one, and 24K was amazing. The group really occupied the stage with incredible charisma, stage presence, music and dance skills. In my personal opinion, this was the best concert of a K-pop group in Romania to date.

You can see what the concert was like in this video. 

By Yana Ilieva

Korea.net Honorary Reporter

Photos: Yana Ilieva, Nikoleta Georgieva, http://www.iconcert.ro
Video: Yana Ilieva, Alex Taseva

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