My experience yesterday night at the Fly to the Sky "Ready To Launch" concert at the Hawaii Theatre is one I won't forget anytime soon. I feel fortunate that I was able to get tickets to the show, even though at a $100 each for loge seats, they're the most expensive concert tickets I've ever bought in my entire life. What can I say, it was worth it!
Unlike the hours leading up to Lee Junki's special appearance at the same venue, I felt strangely calm for weeks before the concert. The realization that I was about to see my all-time favorite Korean duo live on stage didn't really hit me until I sat down in my seat.
But before I get into concert itself, I want to mention how amazing it was to actually meet fellow online fans in person! But first, a little background info: I was a member of the Heavenly Sent Forum (a fan forum) for quite some time before too many forum relocations and too much school work kept me away from actively participating in forum activities. Even though I eventually stopped visiting the forum, my love for Fly to the Sky persisted. Anyways, imagine my surprise when I met up with Maria (the administrator) of Heavenly Sent and a few forum members at the concert. I shouldn't have been surprised to see Maria though. A lot of people may claim to be Fly to the Sky's #1 fan, but Maria actually walks the talk. She flew in all the way from Florida just to see them! She owns the largest collection of Fly to the Sky memorabilia (a large portion autographed, by the way) that I know of. She runs a online fan forum and organizes elaborate fan projects to send to Fly to the Sky for every special occasion you can think of. She knows things only Fly to the Sky's closest friends would know. Talk about dedication! Since I can't afford $300 VIP tickets (for both me and my sister) we didn't sit anywhere near each other... but as a fellow fan, I did know that she was freaking out somewhere on the first floor along with everyone else.
The first song Fly to the Sky performed (after an opening show by local dance crew, 24/7 Dance Force) was "My Angel." The screams from the crowd were so loud; I couldn't hear my own screams. They did such a beautiful job... I wanted to cry. "Habit (Seubgwan)," one of my all time favorites from their 4th album came next. It's an entirely different experience listening to a song from a CD versus listening to it live. It was brought to life. It blossomed in a way that's indescribable. My sister commented that she almost didn't recognize the song when she heard it.
Fly to the Sky coming to Hawaii had a lot to do with the fact that Brian’s older brother, Jason actually lives here. Brian called his brother up to the stage to introduce him to us. He was a little shy and didn’t say much, much to Brian’s chagrin, but we all have him to thank for convincing Brian and Hwanhee to come here. Brian’s parents were at the concert as well! It was incredibly sweet.
The next song they performed was Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting.” The composer of “My Angel” actually showed up on stage to play the piano for this song. I thought that was really cool. Brian requested that everyone sing along, and of course, I gladly complied. I mean, who doesn’t know the words? If I could make a list of the greatest love songs of all time, this song would definitely make the list. I actually have a video and audio file of them performing this song on my computer. And I must say! They did an even better rendition of it here in Hawaii than what I’ve seen before. The last song that Brian and Hwanhee sang together as a group before they moved on to their solo mixes was “Namja Dabge” from their sixth album. This is the song with the music video with the controversial kissing scene. Again, the audience got really LOUD during this song. Whew!
Next, the MC explained to us we would play a game in order for
Fly To The Sky to get closer to their fans since they didn’t feel the VIP signing session (which I didn’t go to… argh) was enough. What could he possibly mean? A large board covered balloons and a box with all the seat numbers was brought on stage. Seat numbers were drawn from the box and one by one audience members (eight in total) were requested up on stage. The MC explained that each balloon corresponds to an autographed prize except for one. Brian and Hwanhee will then pop the balloons with darts and reveal the prizes for the lucky fans on stage. Brian is such a joker, he had some difficulty popping the balloons so each time he had to pop one, he’d inch closer and closer to the board. At one point, he stood right in front of the balloon and just poked it. But wait! It’s not that easy! Before a prize can be given out, they must also successfully pop a balloon via hug by placing it between themselves and the lucky fan. They had difficulty accomplishing that as well. So much that Brian and Hwanhee had to do lift-up-off-the-floor-and-squeeze-really-hard types of hugs in order to pop the balloon. The last girl found herself sandwiched between Brian
and Hwanhee. Needless to say, I was felt extremely jealous watching the entire scene. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time they called out the seat numbers. When they called “LD 127,” I almost fainted. I was sitting in “LD 124.” My sister was “LD 122.” Even numbers are on the right side of the theatre and odd numbers are on the left. They also called “L 122” messing with my sister’s mind! The whole ordeal was very stressful, to say the least. By some miraculous stroke of luck, a classmate of my sister’s got called up (the one who participated in the singing contest at the Korean Festival which I wrote about in "Wax & Lee Ki Chan LIVE" post). It was completely unfair! In the end, she didn’t get an autographed prize, but a dozen roses and a box of chocolate instead (since Valentine’s Day is approaching)! *sigh* Well, whatever. I think I would have preferred the autographed stuff instead because flowers die and chocolates melt if you don’t eat them.
Brian’s solo mix consisted of “Kajima,” “First Date,” “Shinsa” and “Dalmagagi.” He also performed “Saranghaji Anheuniggayo” separately. My sister was afraid that there might not be much dancing during the concert, but her fears were ill-placed. There was lots of choreography prepared for Brian’s solo mix as well as Hwanhee’s. The stage wasn’t very big, but they brought four back dancers with them. Fly to the Sky promotes themselves on the basis vocal talent rather than dance skills, but let me tell you, they do pretty well in both departments! The dance bits were extremely fun to watch. They were after all, trained by SM.
It’s a great thing that Brian speaks English since he’s from the States. It was incredibly easy for him to interact with the audience, whereas, Hwanhee needed some translation help. Brian revealed that his English is a bit rusty since he’s been living mostly in Korea for the past nine years, speaking Korean and eating Korean (but not driving Korean cars… LOL). On the topic of embarrassing moments, he told us that during a interview in Washington D.C., he seemed to have forgotten how to speak English… and they were like, “dude, do you really know how to speak English!?” I think it’s funny because he has absolutely nothing to worry about. The boy has perfect English.
Brian hinted that Hwanhee had a special treat for all the ladies toward the end of his solo mix performance. I was curious but I didn’t think to deeply about it. Hwanhee’s solo mix consisted of “Tomorrow,” “Geuriungun Uhjjulsoo Eopsseo” and “Kabyeoun Sarang” from the Over the Rainbow OST which he also starred in. I think Hwanhee’s solo choreography was even more high energy than Brian’s. He did this really cool slick chair routine and gave a chair a swift kick to the back of the stage. It was really smooth move! And guess what he did at the end? He ripped his shirt off! Haha. So that’s what Brian meant! While Hwanhee disappeared quickly into the shadows, Brian came out and joked, “Hwanhee is now fully naked!” Oh goodness! I bet you can imagine the kinds of screams that one comment elicited. Of course, he wasn’t fully naked. He just had to go put a shirt on. Tsk tsk, Brian!
To end things, the duo came together again to sing a few songs. The first thing they performed was a mix “The Girl Is Mine” from their sixth album and “Man 2 Man” from their seventh album. The dance number they did for it was really cute. It was kind of complex, actually. There was a lot of back and forth stylized sparring. The point was that they both had eyes on the same girl and hated each other's guts. Then, they did “Sea of Love” and “Missing You” (from their third and fourth album, respectively). "Missing You" is my sister's favorite Fly to the Sky song so she really enjoyed that. They reminded me why they're my favorite Korean vocalists. It was superb. By this time, the audience wasn’t shy about singing along. We were pretty loud. The fact that we knew the Korean lyrics kind of surprised Hwanhee which made me smile. The last song the performed was “Kaseum Apado” from the Fashion 70s OST... one of my favorites! They got a few goodies from the fans: teddy bears, flowers, leis, and little signs.
It was over really fast. The concert was supposed to start at 7:00 PM, but started around 7:30 PM instead and ended at 9:30 PM. I fully enjoyed the experience but I wished they stayed longer and sang a few more songs… especially a few more songs
together! What about "Condition of my Heart," "Good-bye," "Gravity," or "Rest of My Life?" They didn't perform any of my absolute personal favorites. The balloon game and the interviews took up a lot of time and I just wasn’t ready to leave the building! But other than that, I was satisfied with the concert. I’m just crossing my fingers that they’ll come back again. The next time they come... if they do, I’ll be smarter. I would definitely buy my tickets earlier. If it’s over $100 for first floor tickets, I’ll pay it. If it requires $300 to be VIP, that’s what I’ll pay.
Labels: ballad, live, pop, rnb
Pink Garden Bunny was made during the break too... I just didn't have a picture of her at the time. Isn't she cute?
Here is Frog (a San-X character as you might recognize) enjoying his milk and doughnut!
Here are Frog & Leroy relaxing at a tea party. There's no tea, but there's plenty of cake. I'm starting to make a lot more mini items like the milk, doughnuts, and cake. Larger items require too patience and I don't have the time. Small stuff = instant gratification. You can turn them into cellphone charms too. <3
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