This guest post is by @DongHo_Princess and here is her account of what went down during the U-Kiss Collage Tour 2013 in Jakarta, Indonesia:
As I’ve mentioned in my U-Kiss Singapore Collage Tour date fan account, one of my resolutions for 2013 is to take a photo with DongHo. I’ve travelled around to attend U-Kiss related events but I’ve never gotten anywhere near them. Or it could be like what my friend said, “you just don’t know how to go about it.”
I decided that I will put all my focus on DongHo/U-Kiss in 2013 so when Oppa Oppa Live announced that U-Kiss was going to have a fan party in Jakarta in February 2013, I wasted no time to book my flight, hotel and tickets.
However, just a week before the event, it was announced that the U-Kiss fan part would be postponed because of the flood. I was massively disappointed. Fortunately, Oppa Oppa Live made another announcement that SooHyun and Kevin will still head to Jakarta for a charity event instead. Since I’ve already got everything booked, I decided to proceed with my trip to Jakarta and join them for the charity event.
The U-Kiss fan party was postponed to 26 + 27 April at the Britama Arena Sportsmall Kelapa Gading but once again, on 20 April 2013, it was announced that the U-Kiss fan party would be postponed yet again due to some scheduling conflicts for Hoon.
After some petition and badgering from fans, Oppa Oppa Live managed to turn things around and changed the fan party to happen on 27 April 2013 instead without Hoon. While I felt bad for Hoon’s fans, it sure was better than having the event postponed again or cancelled.
I bought the KissMe Oppa ticket [ie, top tier] which cost be IDR2.750.000 after VAT (~ SGD 350) but since it comes with great promises of time spent with the boys, I don’t mind paying the money if the promise is delivered.
So here’s the schedule for the event:
3.00 pm – 5.00 pm: Fan signing session for KissMe Oppa, KissMe fan sign ticket holders; Dinner + Photo session for KissMe Oppa ticket holder.
6.30 pm – 8.30 pm: Showcase
8.30 pm – 9.00 pm: Charity ceremony
9.00 pm – 10.00 pm: Hi-5 session for KissMe Oppa, KissMe Hi5 & Photo ticket holder.
I arrived at the venue around noon but there was no official queue or any queueing system for that matter. There was only one line and it was formed by fans holding tickets from any category. My friends and I decided not to join the queue and found a spot to picnic instead.
It was stated that we will be ushered in at 2.00 pm but it didn’t happen until about 3.00 pm. I was honestly worried if there would be enough time for all the events.
Fan Sign Session:
I was really excited for the fan sign as it was said that we could bring in a U-Kiss item to be signed. I was trying to decide between asking the boys to sign the photo I took with them in Singapore or my Collage album but at the door, they handed me a piece of white A4 paper and said U-Kiss will only sign that. I wanted to shoot them. Seriously?
Also, we were not allowed to give the boys any gifts personally but I managed to slip mine to DongHo. I don’t know if it was put aside on DongHo’s behalf or did DongHo manage to keep it. Oh well.
Special Dinner Session:
The dinner session was changed to a high-tea instead but I don’t think the fans cared. LOL. Who really cared about the food? However, the fans were not divided equally amongst the tables so some tables have more fans than others.
Initially, I was following DongHo around but I gave up after a while because of the crowd. I went over to a table with lesser fans and that’s when things started to get really fun and memorable for me.
The boys were supposed to move to a different table every 10 minutes but coz I was following DongHo around in the beginning, I missed out on spending quality time with Kiseop. I did managed to spend some quality time with Kevin, Eli, DongHo, SooHyun and AJ because I was the only one at the table who can communicate with them in Mandarin and my passable Korean. Haha. I must add that SooHyun remembered me!
Photo Session:
When they said, group photo, you would think that they’ll let’s us take photos table by table or in groups or 6 – 10 but no. Group photo meant 30 fans per photo with the boys. Whaaaat! As fate would have it, I ended up standing beside DongHo so I shall not complain. And by the way, the official photos were so badly taken. It was blurry!
Showcase:
Doors were supposed to open at 5.30 pm but we were only allowed in at about 6.45 pm.
And like in Singapore, professional cameras and tablets were not allowed but coz the Nikon I was using was bulkier than the usual compact camera, the security kept threatening to throw me out. Idiot.
My favourite performance for the night was “Obsession”. AJ totally blew the crowd away with his charms and slick dance moves. uBeat (new U-Kiss sub-unit) also performed “Should Have Treated You Better”.
There was also a game session where fans were picked to go on stage to play games with them. While it was cool that fans got to go on stage to interact with the boys, it was a little too draggy for my liking.
Hi-5 and Hug Session:
It was supposed to happen after the showcase but it was cancelled because the boys had to rush to the airport to catch the midnight flight back to Seoul. Needless to say, there were many unhappy fans who refused to leave and demanded compensation from Oppa Oppa Live. While I felt a little short-changed too, I didn’t wait around to find out what happened as it was getting late.
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As I went for both the Singapore and Jakarta fan party, I made the following observations:
Queuing System:
- In Singapore, it was systematic and orderly.
- In Jakarta, it was a big mess. There was no system to separate the different ticket class holders. However, kudos to the fans for being patient and not trying to push ahead.
Fan Sign:
- In Singapore, while I couldn’t get my Collage album signed, at least they signed on a nicely printed ticket with their faces on it. I also got to talk to the boys, shook hands/hi-5 and pass them gifts personally. I even got DongHo to write my name. Hehehe.
- In Jakarta, I was totally disappointed. Can’t even shake hands or hi-5 with the guys or pass them anything. Also, what’s with signing on a piece of A4 paper?
High Tea Session:
- This only happened during the Jakarta even and while it is a really good idea and a great chance for fans to interact with their idols, it could be more organized. Some of my friends didn’t even get to interact with the boys because there were too many fans at their table.
Showcase/Concert:
- In Singapore, it was GREAT! We could take whatever fan cams we wanted and everything went smoothly with no troubles for everyone.
- In Jakarta, it was just bad. We were allowed to take photos as long as it wasn’t a professional equipment or tablet but security kept tapping on fan’s shoulders, threatening to throw them out and hit them. Also, the stage was too high and the lighting was too glaring as if it was to ensure that no one can get a good photo or fan cam out of the showcase. Bummer.
Hi-5/Hug Session:
- This also only happened in Jakarta. If they had been quicker with the games, the hi-5/hug session wouldn’t have been cancelled.
- Fans paid good money for the KissMe Oppa and Kissme Oppa Hi-5 tickets so it wasn’t unreasonable for the fans to get annoyed with Oppa Oppa Live. An apology on Facebook wasn’t going to cut it especially since there were fans who flew in from Singapore, Malaysia and Japan for the event!
- I reckon that Oppa Oppa Live should compensate those ticket holders with a CD and/or poster or a BIG discount on their next event. Agree?
I know this is a very lengthy post so thank you for reading it till the end. ^^