Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Infinite One Great Step San Jose Review/Fan Account [Resa]

Do Not Take Out Without Credit.
So now that I'm considerably more calmed down, I will attempt an unbiased fan account and review of Infinite's OGSSJ concert last night. It was my first any concert, and kpop concert at that, ever. So I kinda half guessed things to expect, but yea here goes nothing. :D

Sadly, the venue was big, but for a concert, it was pretty small. In fact there were two sections right up next to the stage that were completely empty, and only half the general admission pit was full. It also seemed like half the audience were parents or more casual friends dragged along by casual (or hardcore) Inspirits. So there was no gold ocean or very wild fans. Which I guess could be good for the sake of safety. I also couldn't hear if anyone actually did the fanchants, though I've a feeling the GA pit fans might have. Anyways, I was sitting in section 9, which was a direct, but very far back view of the stage. You can see how far I am from this photo I took. Security was really lax for me- I was able to sneak in two water full water bottles and my camera. And no one stopped me from taking photos xD.

Enough of that! Onto Infinite! Warning: Not in order.
Edit: Because I couldnt take any fancams myself, I'm making a list of fancams that I found here.
Sooo. They opened up with this BAMass concert intro VCR. I could tell it bordered on lolzy pseudo-spy mission, but they tried really hard. People screamed really hard for Myungsoo. And every time the screen faded or hinted at something we kept expecting to see Infinite and man, that really worked up the tension because we had no idea where they were going to enter from, loool. Hard to describe. Anyways, after more tension blah blah building -BAAAAM- silhouettes on the stage of the Infinite members "chained" up (but it looked more like gymnastics rings xD)! And yep the crowd goes wild. Lightsticks/glowsticks start popping up. One of my friends actually found a glowstick on the floor and I ended up using that the entire night. There was also a live band the whole night.

DestinyRight after the opening silhouette chain thing, they go straight into a dance, and then straight into Destiny. And holy shit WOW their energy and they wow and yea wow. I'm not sure if it's live, but the dancing had serious energy. And like oh my god their bodies were really moving in front of me (I know that sounds weird but I don't really know how to describe it). The live band almost turned this into an awesome rock remix, and I actually wanna hear a studio rock version of Destiny (which would be really cool). I think this and Paradise were the two best group stages that night.

Tic Toc: Yea, this just blew past my mind, even though I was dancing to it in my seat (one of my to-do dance covers). I'm pretty sure this was mostly live and one of my favorite parts was the bridge/ending but... they kinda changed it up from the practice video. And I can't say I liked the change.

Paradise: WOW. This was an amazing stage. So right after Tic Toc (they literally did Intro dance-Destiny-Tic Toc-Paradise all in one row). Right after Tic Toc they went upstage and everything went dark. Then silhouettes again! Except this time -omo- they were -omo- strippiiing. Like literally strip tease-style stripping. (Well, of only their shirts, but still it was pretty hot and sensual removing of just... shirts). Anyways, then they bounced back onto stage in black tank tops and red pants, except Sungjong whose a chicken and stuck with a dumb T-shirt. But wow, this was when I noticed how much of a hyper dancer that Dongwoo was. Fancams and videos don't give him justice! Also, definitely live.

Then they did a little intro talk, all in Engrish. For some reason, Sungjong had a Chinese accent in his Engrish, but that might have been cause his normal speaking voice is higher than everyone else's in real life (omo). Dongwoo, Hoya, and Woohyun spoke the most Engl/rish. And Dongwoo reeeally improved since Sesame Player/Ranking King, lol. And his laugh. Omg his laugh.

Group Ballads: Note- not in this order. So I think they did Wings, Still I Miss You, Entrust(?). I think during these, I noticed how deep Sungjong's live voice can actually go- surprise! They also closed their eyes a lot. And took selcas with fans in GA pit. And waved and fanserviced them. Sungjong and Woohyun reached into the audience a lot and took a couple selcas- d'aaaw. *envy* Also. Sunggyu's high notes. Sunggyu's high notes unf.

So in between sets, they had these plot VCRs with the spy mission anti-music/Infinite propaganda thingy that, in theory, would have been kinda cool if it wasn't so cheesy. (Continuity errors! Fake blood! Lame use of guns!) People really screamed whenever Myungsoo, Sungyeol, or Dongwoo were in solo shots.

Inception: Whooooooaaa! They did the full version of this whooooaaa! It was a chair dance and a reeeally cool chair dance, mostly because of the effects of group swivel chairs, lol. Also, live and one of their more synchronized dances, tbqh.

In the Summer: !!!! Oh man this was so fuckin' awesome! One of my favorite songs and even better- Sungjong was wearing his evil orange shorts ugh. Jk, what was actually really awesome about this was that they ran into the side audience. Sungjong was the first one and he was RIGHT NEXT TO MY SECTION OMG. (Everyone was screaming.) For some dumb reason, I didn't run down to try to high five or anything, but at least I could see how they looked in real life, oh my god. Sungjong ahhh. Woohyun and Myungsoo also passed by my section. I think this is one thing that def trumps KCon or SMTOWN concerts- there isn't all that much idol-audience interaction, and even though there were crazy fans and security guards surrounding them, thats the point of concerts- so you see them IRL outside of your computer screen. As mentioned, I was a bit too far, but yea ehem whee. Is my feels. It was hard to focus on the actual song until they finally got up onto the stage, so I couldn't tell if they were singing live or not. xD

니가좋다/I Like You: (I don't like the English title). Anyways, so this was my favorite song on the Infinitize album and yes they sang this one live! Oh my god. And, yes, live rock version too! Oh my god, loved this... sort of. I think it was starting here that I began not liking Myungsoo's live voice. I have no complaints for Sungyeol last night though, oddly. They also threw paper airplanes into the GA pit. I would describe it as... being a bit too thin and nasally, but not good nasally like BoA or Sunggyu. I also think Woohyun ran out into the audience for a short while during some part of this. xD

Interspersed between stages, they did other Engrish talking segments, including one that featured aegyo and one that featured um Dongwoo stripping (lol jk, just showing off his shoulders) and some bromance, especially Dongwoo, Woohyun, and Hoya. Also, clearly practiced and scripted for San Jose (unlike OGS Hong Kong when they were a bit more conversational attempting with their Cantonese), but good try. Good try! Ugh, Sungjong and Sunggyu are actually so adorable; I could see why Sunggyu stans find him so precious now. Sungyeol and Myungsoo kept having to slip into Korean and while it was pretty clear very few people in the audience knew what they were saying, they still screamed, lol. Typical kpop fans. Also, people in the GA pit began singing happy birthday to Dongwoo like planned and then he chimed in, d'aww. And it was so cool when Hoya did his "I saw 'Ho' you say 'Ya'" thing with each side (squeals). There was an awesome moment when Dongwoo acknowledged the fanboys ("gentlemen!" *points* *fanboys scream* *He's so awesome with fanboys btw*) too.

Sungjong and Sungyeol's solo stage: Lol, no idea what they were doing. If Sungjong wasn't my bias, I would've said Yeoljong had next to no concert stage presence. They had this really fake/weird DJ intro segment thing and Sungjong kept trying to do this weirdass "swag" arms swinging motion that was so tryhard but because he was cute and adorable I couldn't hate it. No idea if it was live.

Infinite H: They did another song and Special Girl. I think if I was a hardercore fangirl of Yadong and a harder fan of hip hop, I would have reeeally liked their stage. Like, they were GOOD concert performers. Hoya was really into the audience, which I think made it extra special. Dongwoo, as I mentioned managed to keep up his hyper energy throughout the whole concert. Their freestyle, as expected, was more natural and better than the other solo stages, lol. Also, wow the hip movements in Special Girl.

Myungsoo's solo: Did I mention I personally was not fond of his live voice? Yeah. Also, he pretty much stayed still on this bench way far upstage, though admittedly, if you were a Myungsoo bias, I'm sure you would've exploded from killing adorable kittens when Myungsoo was all snuggly with the teddy bear.

Woohyun - "Beautiful": ugh greasebucket bastard! I feel like this (and basically the whole concert) could have converted him or Dongwoo into my bias, lol. His solo was probably my favorite ballad that night and tied with Infinite H for favorite solo stage. He was also really awesome concert performer and his live voice is pretty fuckin' DAMN great. He went down into the audience and I could tell it was still live (clear distinction between the ad libs and his real voice and when he was jostled between fans, lol). Including passing by my section and I still did not think of running down for some reason, lol. Also, he was really interactive with the GA pit- including proposing with a rose to someone in there.

Sunggyu - "60 Seconds": Ugh. Two things went wrong with this performance- a stupidass light that was right behind him which pretty much blinded everyone in direct view of Sunggyu (everyone in the GA pit, everyone in the back section), and the fact that he remixed it. It was still light rock, sort of. But there were too way many pauses. His live voice isn't all that bad, though I prefer Woohyun's. I wonder what a duet with him and BoA would sound like. Also, I think theinnocentlam would've had an issue with how often he closed his eyes and how distanced he was from the audience. There was, though, an awesome electric guitar solo (not by Sunggyu).

Bleagh. That was all the solo stages. Pretty fangirl/boy-fullfilling, and definitely copy-and-pasted from all the previous OGS concerts, but not disappointing for the most part. Now onto the rest of the concert in unfortunately random order. I was amazed and kept saying 'wow' once I realized they were gonna run through the entire fuckin' concert without any breaks/intermission except for the VCRs and each other's solo stages for quick-changes. (And now commence loser language).

Cover Girl: Yesh! Another run into the audience! Also, more selcas(warning: screams) with the fans! Random bromance! (Especially Myungjong and Yadong). And jabbing mics at Sungjong's when it was his line. And fans throwing headbands and plushies onto the thrust stage. And Infinite picking them up. There was this absolutely hilarious moment where after everyone already got back onto the stage, Myungsoo RAN offstage and zipped through the audience... and (you troll) he ran into the GA pit and no one noticed him (except everyone in the sections that were screaming their heads off). So he ran right back out and some fangirls ran after him but were stopped by the security, oh lol. Again, another missed chance to high five one of 'em. *sigh* I think this was live and the rock made it pretty cool again. There was so much going on in this stage, I couldn't focus on everything. xD

Nothing's Over: So at this point, I noticed no more of the former 100%-synchronized-Infinite glory~! Like I was so tempted to cringe. But Sungjong still sings the chorus as "sober"- uwaaa so cute. Again, I noticed how much of a hyper dancer that Dongwoo was. Also, whenever it got to Hoya's rap in these next few stages, he ran down the thrust stage like the awesome concert performer he was.

Man In Love: This song totally blew over my head as well, except it looks a lot fresher live and I didn't know how much freestyle this dance included. But LOL the crotch grab chorus man. I was actually impressed(?) they were still able to keep themselves singing live together this long without any breaks.

Chaser: Yup. They were definitely tired out by this point. Definitely tired. But the dance definitely better. By this time, whoever was doing the screen backgrounds was totally making up random shit, too, lol. I was sad when Hoya didn't do his cool figure 8 arm dance move during his rap. I think Sunggyu stripped off his outer layer shirt before or after this song.

Before the Dawn: Wow I think this song got the MOST cheers or something. Like HARDCORE cheers. Like HAAAARDCOOORE cheering. People fuckin' got on their feet (I mean for other songs too)! And I was dancing to it the whole time (but I stayed sitting... until the scorpion like a bunch of other people). And I couldn't hear Sungyeol during the "Why-why-why"s, though Sungjong definitely could. And I just kinda mini-spazzed when he (Sungjong) did the cheek caress during the second "Why's" at the same time I did, lol. I was so glad to be in the live atmosphere- though the scorpion was too short, but hey they were in sync. And, again, awesome rock remix and hyper/flexible Dongwoo.

Be Mine: Ahh, Woohyun didn't do his ab flash. Lol, anyways, this song got a HUGE amount of screams too. I began noticing that Sungjong was really sweating and could see skin through his mesh shirt (along with a couple of the other guys.) Everyone was singing along to this and at last I could hear a bit of a fanchant too. And the fuckin cheers when Hoya did his solo during the dance break man.

For their encore, they did Come Back Again, Hysterie, a thank you talk, and the With. By the way, the whole time, I was seriously like Oh my god. Infinite are actually real in front of my right now. I think that's part of why I had a fuzzy time processing we were in the same room omfg. #Fangirldied

Come Back Again: Talk about a "Everybody"-chorus style repeat of "Dorawa" xD This was probably the only song that I could hear a clear fanchant (next to Be Mine). Don't really know what else new to say about this except lol for Sungjong's three word line xD Oh, but the dance, even though it wasn't as synchronized as they were before, was still pretty fuckin' cool (and def more synchronized than all the other past promotion songs they did.) I think it was a damn awesome debut song. It was also a pretty awesome live rock remix and they'd changed into all-white version of their original tux costume set.

Hysterie: OMG They did the full version of this! I never knew there was a full dance version! And it was pretty neat! Still clearly tired unfortunately, but not bad.

And then their thank you talks. I'm pretty sure there are quotes floating around on the internet. Oh Dongwoo, you are so presh. So so presh. *Cuddles* This time, a translator noona did translate what they were saying in Korean, though, again, what they were saying was clearly scripted. Most of them spoke in Korean and English. Sunggyu's was pretty awesome leaderly and I felt so proud, dunno why. Sungyeol was next- he was ok, but I still felt pretty bad that he had like next to no concert presence. Also, he doesn't look as tall compared to the others in real life, though I'm pretty sure the rest of the members were wearing insoles, lol. Hoya's was pretty good- he definitely spoke more English and yea, pretty good. Woohyun- oh you greasy motherfucker. Is all I'm gonna say. Dongwoo was all in English I believe and it was so cute how he tailored it to San Jose (though it may have been copy-pasted for all the OGS-s of course). Oh Sungjongie. So adorbs. Hoya actually interrupted Sungjong's speech hilariously. There was this Korean guy behind me that actually said "Wow that's so dirty!" at Sungjong's first sentence in Korean, lol. And then Myungsoo was another greaseball.

With: They ended with this song with like streamers and confetti and steam and stuff spewing everywhere. Taking selcas with fans in the GA pit. Random fanservice. Bowing. Yea. Bittersweet ending.

Aaand then, we had to deal with our feels as they bowed and went offstage and we left the stadium.
Later on, my group saw them getting into their cars~! And Dongwoo waved at them!

So yea. All in all? In contrast to, say KCON or SMTOWN, it wasn't a flashy concert at all. There were no backup dancers, no elaborate costumes, hardly any props. I really really wished I had front row seats or even GA pit seats. And I'm still trying not to be disappointed that they were so tired by the time they got to their old song stages. And that, except for Paradise, there weren't any real sexy stages. I also felt like for San Jose, they were a bit more lackluster compared to their OGS concerts in Asia or LA because of either a smaller crowd combined with jet lag and a smaller venue. Which makes me wonder about Washington DC lol.

Anyways, that was a lot of word vomit! I still had a lot of fun nonetheless and glad I got free merch, lol.

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