MMS Log 14: 131201 Inkigayo

Thanks to my two friends who won two Inkigayo live recording tickets each, I got to experience Inkigayo for myself! Let me give you the reality of a music recording if you haven't read one yet.

1. Fans. So crowd. Much squeeze.

So the deal is that with your tickets, you should arrive at SBS Hall by 2pm. The earlier you reach, the less you stand out of the queue. Each ticket has a serial code that tells you your queue number. With that number, you are supposed to find your place in the queue. The smaller your number, the more in front you'll be. First go to the staff and get your ticket signed. Then go to the 600~ line to queue. Around 2:45pm, the staff start letting you in and separate you into two lines: sitting and standing. If you don't mind moshpits, go ahead for the standing. If not, just sit.
Then there's the standing squeeze. They let you into the hall and then you proceed to the standing pit, where you get squeezed with a hundred(?) other people. Not cool, when you have unfriendly fans around you. My poor friends got shoved, elbowed in the chin, and fashion attacked by a particular fan because… my friend was too close to her? Like what the heck. She's on the first row beside me standing and there's a huge gap between us, but she just stood in that gap so my friend couldn't move forward to make more space for the 5 of us including her. She kept glaring at us too. And when her favorite group came out, she held her banner so high and wide to make sure all four of us couldn't see anything. I feel sorry to the group for having such a fan, coz I really like that group. With her moving left-right-back-forth constantly too, I couldn't help but want to call her "fat". She's healthy build, but she just tested our patience so bad I wanted my friends to push her down. I'm really not that type.

2. Opening performance

I liked my opening performance. It was LEDApple. I practically squealed when they came on stage. Man, Kyumin lost so much weight. He and Young Jun were standing in front of me so I focused on them. Usually, advertisements would air before the show started so we were all waiting for the cue. I decided to wave at them when I saw them looking down towards us with a smile (experience from Simply K-pop has taught me well). I shouted "HWAITING" at them and earned scoldings from my three friends. The reward? Kyumin and Young Jun laughed, bowed, and thanked me. SCORE. lol
Here's LEDApple's performance. FYI Kyumin and Youngjun are the keyboardist and guitarist. I'm actually in the camera at the 0:25 mark lol. I'm that light coated figure near the TV. Sadly, my arms were crossed to save space. (You'll know why.)

3. Live interviews

After the opening performance, the MCs would interview the 1st place nominees and some senior comebacks, like Hyorin's. We saw 2NE1 get on stage and my friends went crazy lol. With our incessant waving and calling, CL looked and waved at us multiple times. Minzy waved too.

4. Half-done performances

The thing about live recordings is that pre-recorded performers do not perform during the live recording. With one live performance done, staff members flood the stage to remove props and set up the next stage. All this while, a group's pre-recording is airing, and the group just stands on stage without blocking the staff. Then after a while, they exit the stage for the next singer to get into place. If you're lucky, some groups will dance part of the song. VIXX so graciously danced half of their song for us HEEHEE. VIXX. Even 2NE1 sang for us even though they had a pre-recorded performance. And she winked at my roomie! Heehee. Tasty's dance stole my roomie's heart lol. Maybe more of the looks but still, Tasty's effort got them somewhere. Poor FTIsland, though. They stood awkwardly on stage without their instruments.

5. Pre-recorded performances

The audience don't get to watch the pre-recorded performances unless you are near the TVs. Here's a tip that I learned from my friends: go to the right side of the standing pit. The TVs are conveniently there because THE MCS ARE THERE. LEE FREAKING HYUNWOO. He's so cute. He made a mistake and he whined cutely about it once the cameras were away.

6. Live performances

Usually, debuts and rookies do the live stage. The same goes for part of the comeback stages. But that's not to say that seniors don't perform live. K.Will and Miss A have performed live, although K.Will's one was a week back. Davichi also performed live although they were pitted for 1st place along with TOP and 2NE1.
Another thing, live performances are not necessarily "live". Some of them were still sadly lip-synching. I mean, come on. 2NE1 can sing live for the live audience even though they had prerecorded. Why can't you sing live? Anyways, I thought Davichi wasn't very good-sounding live. O.O Yeah their voices didn't sound as good as I usually heard them.

7. Rookie performances

Just because they're rookies, that doesn't mean they aren't good. I'm not saying they're FAB, but they're enjoyable. Mandu & Chigi was a cute performance. They've got quirky costumes and cute choreo. MIB was a group I was interested in because they constantly performed in Singapore. Of course, some rookies could use some more vocal training. Erhem Sanchez.

8. Encore performance

After announcing the winner, you are free to leave or stay for the Encore performance. Sadly, 2NE1's encore did not air because they ran out of time. CL did plenty of fan service there too. Bless that girl. Blackjacks surprised all of us when they started yelling the chorus. CL was so amused she laughed loudly until we heard her without the mic.

9. Sending the idols off

After the show, we crossed the road to take photos with Taeyang's promo bus. That bus has been parked across the building for a while now and I think it'll stay until his promotions end.

After almost killing ourselves for some photos, we decided to wait. I sadly missed San E walking to his car :( We waited a while, then moved over to a better spot to look at the SBS carpark.

Just…waiting…across the road...

That's when Mandu & Chigi came out to their car! It was right next to us. They walked towards us and I looked at them. My friends were too awkward to look at them but I still acknowledged them with waves. My friends are more of the support-those-I-know because that's their introvert-ish personality, but I knew how hard these rookies work. So I just showed some support although it was obvious we don't know them. I told one of them that they did well, which earned a talking to by my friends again. But Mandu (or Chigi I don't know) thanked me for my words. It's the little things that make us happy, you know? He was happy with my compliment, and I was happy that he acknowledged and thanked us. Their managers were smoking so the duo had to wait -.- They waved a lot at us after I encouraged my friends to wave at them even if they have no clue. Later on, their fans ran across the road to talk with the duo and I just joined in to take some photos. They were nice, probably because they were rookies O.O
Here's their performance!

I talked to the one on the left

Anyways, while waiting for other celebs, I saw Dara and waved. And she waved back. SCORE. AGAIN. LEDApple also waved to their fans, but from the top floor of the building. They opened the window and chatted down to their fans. Sadly, they closed the window right when I turned on my camera.
There's one thing that I don't approve off: chasing the idols' vans. These kids are gonna get killed some day for running on the roads. Please be safe, guys. Don't do something stupid for idols who might not even know you went to the hospital for them.

10. Etiquette

The fans are pretty self-absorbed. They don't care about anything but their idols. So let me warn you about somethings you should do to invoke their wrath.

• Don't film their passion. Some fans are here without their parents' consent, and some feel insulted to see you filming them like circus animals. I was filmed by some girl laughing, and I'll tell you I wasn't pleased at all. I really felt like an animal being filmed at the zoo.
• Don't stand too close to ANYBODY. That place doesn't have a barricade. You'll just end up falling on top of each other if you push too hard.
• Don't scream incessantly. Just. Don't. You hurt other fans with your passion. They're self-absorbed, yes, but just think about it. You don't want them screaming in your ear, so don't start.
• Don't mention "ugly", "lip-synch", "cannot", or "not good". They might not be fluent in English, but they probably understand those words, especially when "lip-synch" is "lip-synch' in Korean, and that's a sensitive topic.
• Don't… point. I never understood why my friend kept scolding me, until I witnessed another friend doing that non-stop today. Pointing lets fans and idols know that there's something particular about them you are looking at, and most of the time that "something" isn't good. Whether you meant to compliment or laugh, don't point. Just discuss discreetly with your friend. Well, unless you intend to point the idols to their fans, which said friend did for Mandu & Chigi's fans or me for BTOB's fans at Simply K-pop.

Music programs are not all the horror that dear, pessimistic me write them to be. This is just my experience and what I've learnt. Nevertheless, I will continue to love that group despite that fan. And I will continue giving support to groups whose names I barely know, even if that makes me look fake. Just because we're all the support they have.

If you need help signing up for Inkigayo, here's a guide for you! (Credits to Korean Codex for the guide)