It’s Not Yet Too Late To Love Yourself [2019 BTS World Tour Love Yourself in Singapore fan account]
All along ever since I met BTS in 2014, I thought I’m sure I’ll see and meet them every single year. It all changed in 2018 when LOVE YOURSELF tour commenced and it’s as if life is teaching me exactly what it means to “love yourself.”
2018 has been a struggling year for me. To be honest, up until now I am not sure how I was able to survive it but yes, I did survive it. There had been too many instances wherein I was on the verge of giving up both on being a fan girl and to my duty irl as my 90% of my plans had either been cancelled or rejected; and there’s no in between. That included my plan since 2017 of going to Korea for BTS’s next concert after The WINGS Tour. We’ve all been there, planning on seeing them in Korea as that’s THE ultimate fangirling goal but, you know, life happens. Even if you are an official ARMY, if the ticket is not for you, it will just show you how the tickets are slowly getting sold out without letting you in the server to buy them.
What actually happened to me is that my application for a major document that I needed in the country I’m in got rejected, and the only way to “pass” it is to get a license in my home country which meant I needed to take an exam. I graduated in 2014 and the gap between that year and 2018 is too big to not enroll in a review center and so that’s what I did. For 4 months since June until the very last day of September, I worked on weekdays and Saturdays, and review for the whole day on Sunday. It was very exhausting and what made the whole experience worse was that there was a point from August 17 wherein I had to be hospitalized and I was in so much pain. I even thought I’d had to be admitted and had surgery. I think I was lucky to be sensible enough not to undertake the surgery even though the doctors had been adamant about it.
Imagine, in 2017 I was planning to be in Korea in BTS’ next concert tour which happened to be on August 25, 2018 but instead I was in the 3rd hospital having my 3rd opinion on the matter. But because of that issue, I have started to learn how to love myself by eating vegetables, and ISTG I ate a whole lot of vegetables for that whole month alone than in all my 25 years of living. I also ate lesser salty food and went back to exercising.
Fast forward to the results of the exam which were released in December, I was lucky to pass it especially since the passing rate of all takers were just in 48%, and my actual rating even surpassed my expectation. Loving myself by focusing on my exam and taking care of my health paid off.
Now what?
Love Yourself Singapore’s ticketing actually happened 17 days after the Asian stops had been announced on October 10. I was still in the Philippines back then, taking my 5th opinion in my motherland’s hospitals when it was dropped. It shocked me of course, but I was happy that I would’ve been back in Thailand when the ticketing happens.
TICKET SELLING
Compute rentals are hard to find in Thailand but I was lucky enough that there’s one about 2km away from my house. I would’ve used my phone but I wasn’t confident since I haven’t tried booking from SportsHubTix yet. So what happened then was that the ticketing opened at 9am BKK time. I arrived at 8:45am but the computer rental’s keeper was still asleep and I was the only one there so I wasn’t sure if I should wake him up or not. But my will to try to buy a ticket was stronger than my shyness so I woke him up and man are his eyes red! And the computers’ startup was slow as heck which made me be able to sit down only at 8:55am.
Come 9am, the ticketing limbo happened. I wasn’t even able to log in as the queuing was already upfront when I opened SportsHubTix. The whole time I was in the limbo, all I thought was, “I won’t be expecting anything like I did in Seoul stop. If it goes through, I’m happy, but if not then it’s fine. I’ll just go for the BKK stop for sure.” I only paid for an hour worth of internet and so I wasn’t really sure if I’ll be able to get it; the blinking dot as the only indicator of the page didn’t help at all. But then at 9:40am BKK time, a ping was heard and it said it’s my turn to buy the ticket. Man! I was hysterical in my mind! I was shaking the entire time! I wanted to go for Yellow 2 but the only available standing areas left were Blue, Red and Orange. I took a video while I was choosing seats and all the time I was saying “I’ll go for Red 2.” But my fingers clicked “Blue 2” and I was like… meh whatever! If I cancel this, who knows if I’ll have to go back to the queue and so that’s how I got Blue 2 ticket. I didn’t know my queue number until I paid for it and maaaan! It was queue no. 119! Not bad at all! I was actually really happy since LYSG will be happening on 190119 and then I’ll have 119 as queue no. It must be fate!
We had 83 days to go after ticket selling and it was crazy how LY BKK’s ticketing happening in December most especially since its 2nd show was announced only 3 days after 1st day’s ticketing. But that’s a story for another day.
Everything seems to be in place for this concert tour for me especially when this airline I booked has an in-flight light show and the sequence of the colors was the LOVE YOURSELF color scheme: orange-pink-purple-blue.
LIVE NATION SG AND ONE PROD ISSUE
On the week of LYSG, there was an issue on how One Prod apparently gave out free tickets to non-ARMYs. And then suddenly, tickets had been released back into SportsHubTix and that included Purple and Yellow zone tickets. I was so angry since I had been holding on to my Blue 2 ticket since it’s been sold out on the 1st ticketing day, and now they’re telling me that my desired zone, Purple and Yellow 2 are suddenly available 2 days before the concert? HA! *eye roll* It worsened when they announced the standing queue cut off time which is way early in my opinion then.
CONCERT DAY
I arrived in Singapore late in the evening of Friday after “escaping” and going half-day at work. Nobody knew I was going to SG except for my family and Poppy who has been my host in my whole duration there.
On Saturday morning, I was the only one who travelled from Poppy’s place to National Stadium via MRT since she and her younger sisters all have seated tickets. Although it was my first trip by myself in SG, I didn’t get lost at all.
It took around 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the Stadium from Poppy’s place. Upon arrival, I was already overwhelmed by the humongous place and amount of people in the area. I was also anxious because I had fan packs to distribute and claim as well. For the entire morning, all I did was look for the fan packs I ordered, and contact people to claim their fan packs from me. All I have to say is that it’s better to just do giveaways than people buying from you especially if they’re trash talkers. I don’t want to call them that but I saw them tweet on concert day but not reply on my DM. Only 12 out 20 buyers turned up – it’s that bad. Hay. Charge to experience na lang.
Then I wandered around. It’s cute how people think I need help since I am by myself but, like, the only help I needed was when I needed someone to take a photo of my back while I hold my Kim Namjoon slogan up. LOL. Anyway, it was a nice way to meet acquaintances especially with the 6 other people who sat at my table at talked to me like we had been friends for a long time. Too bad it didn’t get too deep to ask for each other’s Twitter or IG accounts.
Queue cut off was at 2:30pm and I arrived there at 2pm. It was the same queuing system as the one used in Thailand and so I already knew how things will go such as when cut-off time has arrived, they will “close” the queuing by using some kind of easily-removable barricade, and then we will be asked to stand up and compress. That was it for Thailand but in Singapore, after we were asked to compress, we had to stand up for the whole duration until they let us in at 4pm for ultimate compression since they were adding the >5000 ticket holders into the queue.
Although I said the queuing system (with the cut-off time) is the same as Thailand’s, let me tell you the differences I experienced.
In IMPACT Arena in Thailand, all the numbers of each zone are crammed up in one area. (I want to say this will be updated in LY BKK but I realized we won’t have standing in LY BKK so I’m comparing to older, arena concerts). But in Singapore, the standing areas are divided into < 5000 and >5000. For us <5000, we are to queue up by the very gate of our zone. Meaning we got to hear the soundcheck for free. And then what happened to the >5000 queue ticket holders was that they were placed inside Singapore Indoor Stadium. Pretty neat!
In Thailand, it’s queuing up and then checking your bags right before you enter the venue. In Singapore, it was bag inspections first before you queue up and then you enter the venue.
In Thailand, you are given plastic, credit card-like tickets but a hole is punched by the checker as you go in the venue. In Singapore, you have cardboard tickets but it doesn’t get punched or even cut off.
In Thailand, the checker by the gate scans your ticket for verification. In Singapore, it’s you who will scan your own ticket and if it’s verified, the turnstile gate will be available and you can get in the venue already.
In Thailand, the fan project is distributed by the local fanbase staffs while we are in the queue. In Singapore, it was done by one of the members of the logistics team, and it was handed down right before we scan our tickets.
For us in BLUE 2, we entered from the backstage of the venue and had a long walk going to our desired places. To be honest, up until that moment I was confused whether to go for the one near the main stage or go to the one near the extended stage but thinking that I already have 2 BKK tickets that are closer to the extended stage, I opted for the main stage and voila; I still managed to get barricade near the main stage! I ranted about probably not being able to be barricade at a BTS concert anymore in 2018 but 2019 slapped me in the face. I guess I was also lucky that most of the other ticket holders before me went for the extended stage.
From 4pm, the gates opened but concert started at 7pm. In those 3 hours of waiting, I made friends/ acquaintances with the people around me. I activated my PR mode and humored them. I also gave out my 2nd freebie which is the “Jimin is 8500 Days in LYSG” hologram stickers. I think it made the mood around my area much better since unlike the usual wherein people pushed me when concert started, they were actually careful not to do so much damage? There were still pushing especially at the start, but not as bad as all the other times I was in standing. Maybe it’s a Singaporean thing or maybe it was the giveaway doing its magic. *shrug*
As mentioned, we standing zones were let in at 4pm whilst the seated zones were let in at 5:30pm. When it was only us standing zones, we were quietly chanting along to the MVs being played. I and the girls behind me even formed an impromptu choir and sang along to all of the MVs being played. When seated ticket holders were let in, hoooo boy did the loud cheering started.
As the sun sets by the Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Flyer, it signaled the start of the concert.
CONCERT PROPER
I thought my shock at the difference between Thailand and Singapore concert will end at the self-scan of tickets but nope, I was wrong. Maybe it was because it’s now a stadium tour but minutes before the concert started, there’s this guy who sells water bottles but he opens the cap in front of you. I asked for the cap so I could go on standing peacefully but he said it’s not allowed so I drank it all off so that I won’t get wet because of the opened bottle later (what an innocent goer I was). I think giving us the cap isn’t allow because he has to bring it back to make sure he really sold it? But yeah the fact that there were water bottles being sold inside a concert is a whole new experience for me!!! And that’s not even the end!!! During the concert, there were ushers who would go around, hold up a water bottle and a triangular paper cup, ready to give it someone who needs it for free!! TMI but man, the last time I went to a toilet that day was at 1:50pm and for them to give it out freely, and me taking it every chance I got because I was out of breath and voice because of leading the fan chants? Man I'm lucky my adrenaline kept it all in!
Ah I almost forgot to mention this but even though I was by the barricade near the side stage, I was still far away from the side stage simply because there were water cannons/ jets installed right at the foot of the stage. There could still be 4-5 rows of people in that place but I guess it’s okay that they put the barricade farther since I still felt the heat of the fire from my place and that would be dangerous if I was nearer since I was wearing contact lens!
Finally, BTS appeared on stage. Man, I really missed the feeling of seeing them and hearing and watching their performances live! Since I was in BLUE 2, I was so far away from them but I don’t know why or how it felt like they were still near me? The magic of going in standing zones I guess?
Most of the time, I watched them from the big LED screen. Sometimes I watched them from the main stage but they looked to small so I go back to the LED screen. There were not much songs wherein they go to the side stage near us but one of them was Magic Shop. Hoooo boooy here we go! I teared up both for Magic Shop and Euphoria which is funny because Magic Shop is only the 4th song that they did? Add the fact that initially, I didn’t like Magic Shop but there I was tearing up just on the 4th song of the entire 3 hour show!!!!! After reading the Save Me webtoon released that week and the theories behind it (yes, I caved in) it’s a no-brainer why I teared up in Euphoria. I was like, damnnn they’re really playing with our feelings like this?? It’s such a dark song and yet??? The song is so upbeat that they make it seem like??? It’s really??? fun??? Like no, stop playing with my heart?????? Oh but wait, before I teared up, I actually told off the people around me who were chanting that annyeong haseyo thing that they were ruining the song! Good thing they were sensible enough to listen and stop chanting. And then that’s the time I actually teared up. LOL
The only other times they went to our side of the stage were during I Need U, So What and after Answer: Love Myself as they were saying goodbyes. Yup, only 4 songs.
The main highlight of the night was probably these cannons I already mentioned beforehand. I am not one to watch fancams before going to concerts as I prefer to be surprised, and bijj, how surprised I was!
On that week, I saw that the weather forecast is 90% chance of rain on LYSG day. I really prayed that it won’t and bitch I even packed a raincoat going to Singapore, but like what I said above, what an innocent goer I was. I already saw a BTS Crew loading up water on the cannons before the start of the concert but I paid him no mind. I really didn’t think it’ll be fired at all that’s why in my RUN fancam, I was screaming, “I wasn’t informed!!!! I’m so drenched!!!” The second time it happened was during Anpanman and boy oh boy, it helped me tick off the “getting absolutely drenched in a concert” goal. Really, it was the only upgrade I needed in a BTS concert! I remember I also ranted about how I wasn’t anywhere near Suga or Hobi during Cypher Pt. 4 in all 3 The WINGS Tour stops I went to last year so I wasn’t “blessed by the holy water” in that concert tour, but now in LOVE YOURSELF… bijj really told me, “Here’s your mf holy water.” LOL.
This is my 7th BTS concert but there were still a lot of freaking first times. Like the 90% watching the LED Screen. I wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen but watching the LED screen is much more clearer than really looking at them from the main stage and the extended stage so… hahaha… there are some things my eye caught because of being near the LED screen hahahahahahahaha I AM STILL SCREAMING ABOUT IT!!!!!! Hashtag trivia: love *cough*
Amidst the screams from myself and fellow ARMYs, I can still guarantee that they sing 100% live. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love going to BTS concerts. You can easily know if the artist sings live or not and I’m proud to say that BTS has never lip synced in all the concerts of theirs that I’ve attended (and all the other concerts and shows they did as well). I am especially mesmerized with The Truth Untold and, of course, Epiphany. Please don’t bash me when I say this but TTU is too slow-paced for me that’s why I tend to skip it or leave it out of my playlist but then the live version of the song made me appreciate it! It has always been like this for all the songs I appreciate less ever since 2014; the live versions made me look/ listen to it in a different light. Their harmony and Jimin’s improvisations added colors to the song. Likewise for Epiphany! Man! The whole arena sang along in tune and I think that’s beautiful.
While I was watching the boys through the screen, their happiness and shining auras were clearly shown. I guess they also missed their SG ARMYs since it’s been 4 years since they’ve been there. The boys’ ending ment confirmed this. Joon mentioned how it was the happiest day and that the ARMYs in there are “the sweetest, loveliest, strongest, and all the beautiful words”. Jimin sang Promise!!! I’m so proud of him!!! Ah!! The translator translated Yoongi’s words as “It’s been a good night.” but Yoongi corrected him and said, “Not good night; GREAT night!” Then Jin said, “I will visit here again.” Hobi said he loves the reactions from everyone! I love how Taehyung said that he’s happy that we’re part of his memories. Kookie said something about coming back.
I’m still gonna go to the 2-day Bangkok stops so as much as I want to digest everything that happened, I will leave some more things unsaid especially about the other songs still not mentioned. But, yeah, I think my reflective sticker worked again since even if there were only 4 songs wherein they were “near” us, I still got some shots of them looking at my general direction hahaha.
POST-CONCERT
This LOVE YOURSELF Singapore is probably the craziest stunt I ever did in my life. From impulsively buying a ticket since I was able to enter the online system, to booking a plane ticket a few hours after, to asking for a half-day leave without stating a reason a day before flying (on Friday), to spending the weekend in Singapore and then go back to work on Monday as if nothing happened. It’s crazy but it was worth the all the back pain, muscle ache and headaches I got from lack of proper rest! Singapore has clean air that I needed anyways since it’s been hazy in Thailand for the past month. Like what Namjoon said in INTRO: O,RUL8,2?, “Nothing lasts forever. You only live once so live your life, take chances, and never be late to do what you wanna do.” And in my opinion, by doing these, you are loving yourself.
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