Seeing A Pink 에이핑크 at MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015

On 12 September 2015, I had the excitement of seeing A Pink performing live right in front of my eyes! On that day, I felt young again. It was definitely an experience to remember for a lifetime. It involved a lot of sweat to seeing these lovely girls in my life, and I don't regret it.

#ApinkinMY #worlstageMY #MTVWorldStage

I shall break my post into three sections: Before, During and After World Stage.



Prior to MTV World Stage

The moment A Pink was revealed as one of the performer for MTV World Stage, I was so excited. The last time A Pink in Malaysia was on 29 September 2012, at that time I was busy with my Honours year in Australia. Knowing that getting international celebrities to my home country is very hard, I made sure I didn't miss this chance.

I followed the link to try my luck winning passes, but I had no luck in winning. Fortunately, a Pink Panda (name for fans of A Pink) offered to help winning passes on other's behalf. I put my name in, but at first I didn't trust a complete stranger to handle my personal details especially my IC number. After seeing others praising her efforts, I gave my details upon her request. She won a pair of passes for me and the rest was history.

A Pink Malaysia Community and Team Apink began doing fan projects to show full support for A Pink. I downloaded a fanchant guide to A Pink's songs and memorized them. Elsewhere on the Internet, I saw people selling MTV World Stage passes.

A day before the actual show, I went to Carly Rae Jepsen's fansign at Sunway Pyramid. She was set to perform at the show the next day, and we exchanged a few lines! She asked me about my age, and she didn't believe I'm actually 26! At last, she asked me to support her during her stage. After that, I went to Joyce Chu's appearance for a contact lens launch.

On the day of MTV World Stage

The weather was hazy due to open burning in Indonesia.

I came in the morning to Sunway Pyramid and met up with the leaders of Team Apink and A Pink Malaysia Community (ApinkMY). A fellow Panda asked if I want to join him in claiming the fan gear by ApinkMY. So we made our way to Starbucks, but ApinkMY got into problems with permission to use space around Sunway Pyramid. So, we were issued queue numbers as the makeshift solution. That still didn't help, and we were escorted in droves to a kerb outside of Sunway Hotel. There I got my fangear containing an instruction sheet, a baloon, a placard and a sticker.

I returned to the entrance of Sunway Lagoon only to sense my low blood sugar. I left my phone number with the fellow Panda and then rushed to buy food. In one go, I ate two doughnuts at Starbucks and a plate of fried rice at a vegetarian restaurant. I reserved an extra serving of fried rice just in case I got hungry at the queue.

By 2 o' clock in the afternoon, I joined other fans at the queue for Normal Pass holders. It will be hours of wait before we got to enter the venue, braving the heat of the sun and taming my upset stomach. Hours I sat on the ground, and chatting up with other fans. I was offered a drink because I helped to buy a drink :) A marshal instructed us to not bring food and drinks (not even water) into the venue, so I had to discard the rice I've bought earlier.

As the moment approaches, the hosts of the show appeared to give a few interviews and entertained us. My heart jumped when the gates were opened. After going through security check, I ran my way to the surf beach with other fans to secure my best spot for the show. People were filling up the mosh pit quickly. It would be another two hours before the actual performance starts.

The first artist of the lineup was Sekai no Owari! I knew nothing about the Japanese band, so I listened attentively to their song and got to know them. The vocalist was good! The band totally blew me away with their standard and earned my respect. A Japanese girl was spazzing loudly like nobody's business, but I can't judge because I'll be doing the same when my turn comes.



The next was... A PINKKKK!!!! At first, the opening of NoNoNo was played, and I was filled with disbelief... why so soon???? I had no time to reason, next was the members lifted onto the stage, and I had to get into action immediately. It felt like six goddesses descending upon the Earth. The moment came - I told myself in my heart that my sole purpose was to give my best to A Pink and nothing else matters, even if I acted like a fool.



My focus was looking at the members and doing my fanchant like any dedicated fan would. I had to tip toe to get a good view because many were raising their hands to take fancams with their smartphones.



Bomi started singing the first line and I threw my "Oh NO!" into the air. As the song ran, I lipsync to make sure I don't miss my part. I started chanting my lungs out, on the top of my voice.

Then came the short talk by A Pink. Their speech was inaudible due to screaming from the crowd, but I didn't mind. Next up was Mr. Chu. The main part was singing "Mr Chu" and chant "Chu!!" right after that.

Then came LUV. The loud army chant of "L-O-V-E LUV!" was so awesome!

The last song was Remember. I was gradually losing my voice from the intense chanting, but I refused to give up. I gave my best "Hana, dul, set" (Korean for one, two, three) when the part came. I knew it was important because I treated myself as part of the performance, I must made the fanchant audible in the actual broadcast as seen in Music Bank, Music Core and the likes.

Throughout the entire span of the performance, there were confetti filled ballons passed among the crowd. Sometimes they ended up on stage, and A Pink had fun with us! Eunji actually kicked the balloon like a boss during Mr. Chu (I only noticed it in retrospect).

I felt the members sounded a little different from what I usually heard. The infantile tone was heavy during live. I bet it must be on the sound system.

A Pink ended their performance and I bid my goodbye with an "annyeong". An intense feeling satisfaction came to me for seeing A Pink in real life, in close proximity. So far, I've only got to see them on screen all these while, by myself. I felt a sense of community because there were so many Pandas sharing my love for A Pink, and we did all of these together. I felt proud giving my all to A Pink.





A Pink stayed a total of 18 minutes on stage. Given their short song list, they came like a wind, and the whole experience felt like a dream.



The mosh pit was an unfavourable place to be, considering that I went for a few hours without toilet and drink. I made my way out after A Pink finished their performance, and did not return to the mosh pit during Carly Rae Jepsen and Jason Derulo's performance. I've seen my A Pink, and I felt done.

The crowd size in the photo above is 20,000, setting the record for attendance in the history of MTV World Stage Malaysia.

To relive the moment, I'd watch this fancam:



After the concert

It was a time for celebration. I browsed through social media to look for news of MTV World Stage 2015. I read fan accounts and found that some fans were doing #ShoppingwithNaeun at Sunway Pyramid (LOL!). The fans decided to give Naeun a surprise so that she and her manager didn't need to spend a penny on their shopping, and in return Naeun treated each of them a cup of ice cream - so kind of her right??? :)

There were numerous fancams, fantaken photos, press photos and news articles lying around the Internet. Pink Pandas collected them all to preserve this precious memory :)

It's now on Malaysia Day that I wrote this. I refused to wake up from this dream of mine.

***
photo credit: MTV Asia

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Related posts on MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015:

Joshuaongys
TianChad
K-popped! [news report]
K-popped! [photos of A Pink]
Naver
Mnet's Mwave
The Rakyat Post
The Star
KpopStarz
Hype.my

My own photo compilation of A Pink on MTV World Stage (Facebook)

A Pink - Remember

I just finished MTV World Stage 2015, and it was fantastic! In my next entry, I shall compile all materials available on the Internet to preserve my precious memory of seeing my idols A Pink in real life.

I have not talked about the song Remember. When I heard of A Pink's comeback for the summer girl group rush in June - August 2015, I was wondering what song would it be. Considering that many girl groups come up with sexy or cute concepts, I really looked for more originality of ideas. I knew their piece would not leave me in disappointment because this song is written by Shinsadong Tiger.

When I listened to Remember the first time, the opening with a music box delivers the nostalgia that's meant to be. The part I felt a little weird was when the transition from Eunji to Bomi takes place. Many fans Bomi's part started with a higher key that made it feels like starting a new song. It turned out that Shinsadong Tiger has a purpose of doing that - Eunji's pre-chorus suggests us to escape to the old times, and the hard transition to Bomi's "Do you remember" pulls us back to the present reality. I was not used to the song on my first few listen, but slowly, I liked it.

They have decided to go for a mature concept at the same time, sticking to the innocent A Pink I have known so well. It is proof that the girls have grown so much during the 4 years since debut, just like what we've seen in Girls' Generation evolution of concept. I see history is being repeated here, and I'm more confident that A Cube Entertainment is able to handle growth in their own way. Oh yes, Bomi's blonde is very gorgeous, and it takes a compliment like "her hair is life" to fit.

Time has passed, and all A Pink wants us to do is to Remember the memories we had.







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Chorus - start
Do you remember, the sun that shone on us
The wide and blue ocean, just like yesterday
In those memories where time has stopped

Verse
Do you remember the day we walked on the white sand together?
Even when the waves came
We didn’t come apart, yeah

(One two three) Now my smile slowly disappeared, without even knowing
(One two three) We’ve gotten so exhausted, we can’t look back or forward anymore

Let’s leave together, in the cool breeze
Let’s forget today and go back to those times
Chorus
Do you remember, the sun that shone on us
The wide and blue ocean, just like yesterday

As if time has stopped, just like we always wanted
REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER

Verse
Do you remember the summer night, the red sun setting
The more the darkness covered the sky
The brighter the stars shined, yeah

(One two three) We kept ignoring the sky and only stared at the ground
(One two three) We’ve gotten so exhausted, not even knowing if it’s day or night

Let’s leave together, in the cool breeze
Let’s forget today and go back to those times
Chorus
Do you remember, the sun that shone on us
The wide and blue ocean, just like yesterday

As if time has stopped, just like we always wanted
REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER

Bridge
You, why are you still hesitating
You, forget everything and come with me
Throw everything away in the blue ocean
Before it’s too late

Do you remember, those times in our hearts?
Moments that we can feel like it’s yesterday

Chorus
Do you remember, the sun that shone on us
The wide and blue ocean, just like yesterday
As if time has stopped, just like we always wanted
REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER

DO YOU REMEMBER

Translation credit: Pop!Gasa

I'm attending MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015! #worldstageMY

I'm super excited for this coming Saturday because I'll be attending MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015!

The main reason I'm attending the show is none other than A Pink 에이핑크!



The moment I heard A Pink will be performing, I was so excitedddd!!! I die must go there because it's very hard to get a K-pop act with such a calibre to Malaysia. The girls are my idol and seeing them performing live is something not to be missed. The last time they were in Malaysia was in 2012, and I was not even home for them.

Tickets are officially not for sale, they can only be won through contests. But, people selling tickets online is no secret.

I tried my hands to winning the concert ticket but no luck. And I don't have the luxury of time to keep trying for one. Thanks to a fellow Malaysian Panda, I am so thankful she won a pair of tickets for me and other Pandas! We're all in this together for our beloved A Pink!

An integral part of A Pink's performance is fanchant!!! This is my chance to show my love for A Pink so I must do it properly. The local fanclub, A Pink Malaysia Community has even prepared a fanchant guide for me to learn and practice.

So, when you see A Pink fans (including MEEEE!!) shout loudly during A Pink's songs, I'm here to assure you they are neither a bunch of mad/crazy people, nor intending to disrupt ongoing stage performances. Instead, fanchants have evolved to become part of the performance - just watch a Korean music show broadcast and the audible chants gives you goosebumps! What's more, the louder the fanchant, the better it is for the artists.

I'm so happy to be able to attend MTV World Stage this year and I'm going to give nothing but the best for the girls! Are you going there too?

#worldstageMY #MTVWorldStage #ApinkinMY