After watching PSY perform at the Singapore Social Concerts back in 2013, I thought that I should go and watch PSY’s concert in Seoul at least once in my lifetime. He was so damn good live!!
When one of my fave K-Idol group Astro announced their concert in Seoul on 22 & 23 December 2018, I found out that PSY was also having his “All Night Stand” concert on 21 – 24 December 2018. Without thinking too much, I bought a ticket to the opening night of PSY’s “All Night Stand” concert on 21 December 2018.
However, after I bought the ticket, I went to look for more details about the concert and that’s where I got a shock. LOL. The concert would start at 11.42 pm KST and there was no end time nor duration. Bloody hell. PSY actually put on the concert event page that “the concert would last all night, kind of”.
I panicked coz how would I go back after the concert? I would have to fight with like another 10,000 people or so for a taxi. Also, it was winter. I’m going to freeze. And the temperature could easily be at minus at that point. I would be going to the Astro “Starlight” concert on Saturday so how could I make it all work out?!
I contemplated if I should cancel the PSY concert ticket for a while to be honest. Coz I would most certainly die in the minus temperature if I were to wait for the first train to start… but I don’t know what time the concert was going to end so I don’t know how long would I need to wait in the cold.
Then I thought, whatever. I’ll figure it out somehow and decided to proceed with attending the PSY concert.
Outside The Concert Venue
I arrived at the concert venue at about 11.00 pm KST. The place was super crowded and had a bit of a carnival feel to it with all the tents they erected for the standing pit people to queue in.
Also, they were giving out free coffee to all the concert goers because it would be an “All Night” concert.
They also put up 2 PSY blow up balloon dolls which added to the festive feel of the place.
I wanted to buy the official light stick because it was cute but since I cut the time too closely, the queue for the concert merchandise was too long so I gave up and went straight into the venue instead.
Inside The Concert Venue
I was hit with a wave of hot air the moment I stepped into the gymnasium. They weren’t kidding about making the concert hall feel like summer inside. It was stated in the PSY concert event page that “it would be summer inside even if it was winter outside”. It was hot in there but I was in my long sleeve for the winter outside and I started sweating soon after.
The venue was packed; supposedly about 12,500 people that night. It was also clear that everyone came ready to party except me; they had lots of drinks and food with them. Clearly, I was a PSY concert noob. Looking at what the others have on them, I don’t think I know what I got myself into. LOL.
11.42 pm KST
Right on the dot at 11.42 pm KST, the house lights went out and the opening video started.
Within seconds, everyone was on their feet! Even before PSY took to the stage. He opened the show with a rock rendition of “Champion” and followed it with the ever catchy “I Luv It”. It was just hit after hit after hit and high energy performances from PSY.
It was so insane! I’ve never been to a concert which is so high energy from the start till the end and after. Also, everyone was singing and rapping every single word along with PSY! Not just singing, they could do the rap as well! It kinda felt like people are singing the national anthem or something.
The concert also features 3 guest performers like Zico, Heize and Epik High on the first night.
I must admit that I was quite irritated with the song “New Face” previously but now that I’ve heard the song live, I changed my mind. “New Face” is absolutely bonkers live! SO DAMN FUN. Along with “Gentleman” and “Gangnam Style”. Can’t talk about a PSY concert without “Gangnam Style”. It was no doubt his biggest anthem.
That said, in the whole set list, I have to say that “아버지 (Father)” is probably PSY’s best song; the words are so beautiful.
3.00 am KST
The concert was supposed to end around 3.00 am KST but the crowd kept on going and so the encore happened. It was a cover medley with songs like Jinusean featuring Jung Um Hwa “말해줘 (Tell Me)” and Turbo’s “Twist King” among others.
By the time, the encore ended it was almost 4.00 am KST. However, there was no public transport out there right? So nobody left! LOL. And everyone just keep yelling “ENCORE!! ENCORE!!” even when the house lights came on.
Then 5 minutes later, PSY came back on stage and they switched off the house lights for the second encore. Hahaha. And when the second encore ended, still, no one left! The house lights came on once again and people just kept yelling “ENCORE!!” and kept cheering. It was nuts!!
So PSY came back out for the third time and asked everyone to sing “Gangnam Style” for him. LOL. So we did.
Mind you, this clip was taken at about 4.15 am KST; that means it’s been about 4.5 hours since the concert started. You can see that PSY is just sitting there on stage with the dancers watching the insane crowd still all high and going on.
It was somewhere at this point, for the first time ever in my life, I was hoping for the concert to actually end. LOL. Most times, it’s like “I WANT MORE!!” and you don’t want the concert to end. But with PSY’s “All Night Stand”, I was like, “OMG, please end the concert! I’m so tired! And my feet hurts!!” I was standing most of the time even though I had a seated ticket.
4.30 am KST
The concert finally ended after the third encore and I stepped out of the gymnasium at about 4.30 am KST. This puts the entire concert duration at a whopping 4 hours and 45 minutes approximately. The longest ever Super Show I’ve been to is about 4 hours and 30 minutes. And even so, I wasn’t jumping along to so many songs during Super Show!
Post Concert
I walked away from the crowd to a less crowded place and tried to call for a cab via the Kakao Taxi app. After about 5 minutes, I eventually managed to get one. By the time I got back to the hotel, showered and slept, it was 6.30 am KST. LOL. And I had another concert to attend in less than 12 hours time. Good luck to me.
That said, I ultimately ended up with a sore throat when I woke up and sadly, I did fall sick. When I came back to Singapore, I went to see a doctor and found out that I have throat inflammation + flu. LOL. “Throat inflammation”. LOL. Bloody hell. I must have been singing along and screaming too much without realising it. LOL.
Still, I have no regrets and I would do it all over again. It’s just too fun and too amazing an experience! Can’t wait for his next concert!
Do you remember what section and seat you were seated? I’m watching a concert in KSPO Dome and wanted to know the approximate view from the seat. Thanks!
I was in section 3. It was on the right side (if you are facing the stage).