Tomorrow x Together (TXT) In DC Concert Post

So, over the past weekend, last Saturday, to be exact; I attended the Tomorrow x Together Concert in Washington DC at the Capital One Arena. I flew in early Friday 6/7 to make sure that I would be able to arrive at the concert on time. I saved money on hotel by staying with my brother who lived nearby the venue. Friday went on more or less uneventful, but it was really a nice chill day, rested up for the concert the next day. Fast forward a bit to Saturday to a couple of hours before the concert, I'm finishing up getting ready and we're on our way to the show. I arrived to the concert by 5:15 pm and the concert started at 7:30 pm, gates opened at 6 pm and let's not forget to mention that merchandise and line waiting started at 8 am that morning, and the lines were about half a mile to a mile long, hundreds of people all waiting to see these five men dance and act cute for 2.5, maybe 3 hours, and I was so there for that because I was one of those people who arrived 2 hours before the concert started (I could not do 12 hours) to see these 5 men dance and act cute for 2.5 to 3 hours. 

I will be honest, even though I was expecting the lines to be that way, I was still shocked to actually witness it and, more insanely, actually be in the line waiting to enter the venue. Looking around the lines, it was amazing seeing all of the different outfits designs you could really see how much time and effort everyone had put into their outfits because there is just something about K-pop and boosting your confidence to want to look cute or nice. There were elegant outfits and then there were more grunge outfits like mine that came out really good. Everyone was just feeling themselves in the most positive and uplifting way; it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Then comes the time to start entering the venue. The gates opened  and that place was so full to the brim that we were packed in there like sardines. There were lines for food, for the bathroom and then there were the merch lines...the merch lines reached from one side of the entrance space to the other. 

Keep in mind that merch sales started from 8 am that morning, and there were still these crazy long lines to try and get whatever was left. I got into one of those lines, and low and behold, the main things that I wanted were already sold out. I still did manage to get some things though, thankfully. I got one of the tour route shirts (the state specific shirt had sold out in the morning) and two collector coins (the only photo set that was left by the time I get there was the $120 one that had 10 sets of OT5 cards). The shirt was really comfortable though and the coins were so pretty, I left them in their boxes so that they don't get messed up.

After I bought my merch and something to eat and drink I looked for my seat and it took me longer than I had anticipated (I even had to get up again and search again because I originally had sat in the wrong seat and  the real owners showed up. It was a bit embarrassing), but, after getting to my seat, I synced up the lightstick with the Bluetooth so that it would be ready for the concert and settled in. I arrived 15 minutes before show time to my seat so I had just enough time to eat and get comfortable. The show started immediately on time and I was impressed, I am so used to there being all kinds of delays before show time from going to Western concerts that a part of me thought there would be a delay, even though K-pop is infamous for starting things immediately on time. The light dimmed and the concert began.

The opening song was from their most recent album that came out in April, the title Deja Vu. I followed that comeback, watched all of the music show performances of it, and it was still so different live. Nothing compares to the live in person performances, they always win. As soon as the concert started the atmospheric change was palpable, in a good way. There was something that made the atmosphere magical and it isn't something I would normally feel at other concerts I've been to, and I loved it. OT5 entered from underneath stage and as the center screens rose, they rose with them until they were fully visible. In a blink of the eye "Deja Vu" started and you knew that they had practiced this dance 100 times, the choreography so so seamless, so in sync that it looked computer generated by AI and I wish I had recorded it.

Shortly after they started performing "Run Away (9 and Three Quarters)" and it was my first emotional crying encounter of the night. Run Away is my favorite song by them and I didn't know if  I would ever be able to see them perform it because I didn't know if I would ever be able to see them live, so it was a big deal for me. The song Run Away is about the boys running away to Magic Island so that they don't lose their youth and could live in a fantasy because they don't want to face reality, and for some reason, these days, it is the song by them I relate to the most, it'll probably change in the future depending on what I am going through in life at that moment in time, but that's it for now. After a few more performances it was time to talk with MOA (that is their fandom name, established on August,22,2019). The boys took turns talking to us, thanking us for coming. They talked about how they came to DC last year as well during their last world tour and that they were worried that their DC fans had forgotten about them, obviously we're all yelling no and how Taehyun (Terry) was crazy for thinking we would ever forget them. The members introduced themselves starting with Soobin (leader and one of my two biases [favorite member(s) of the group]) then Huneningkai (Maknae and designated penguin but can be quite savage), Beomgyu (designated prankster, sweetest teddy bear, is really loud), Yeonjun (oldest of the group, most beautiful innocent smile, fantastic dancer) and lastly (but not leastly) the man Terry (Taehyun, Terry is his English name, smartest, best facial expressions and gym rat). As they were going through their introductions and finishing their opening speeches, Yeonjun (A.K.A. Rizz man 5000) finishes his speech by making EVERY MOA (even male fans) melt. Yeonjun ended his opening speech with "MOA, I'm not letting you go home tonight." Let me tell you, those screams, could probably be heard from outside and a few passing cars, and I was one of them (he is my second bias of the group but he was the first bias that never left).

One of the highlights for me (and I 'm sure many other Yeonbin [Soobin and Yeonjun] fans) was when Yeonbin performed "The Killa." "The Killa" is the Yeonbin unit song from their most recent comeback and mini album "Tomorrow" and the lyrics are very sensual and pair that sensuality with how they both usually act together when they aren't performing, it was a DEADLY combination. Soobin and Yeonjun wore black and white sleeveless tops with straps, pleather pants and boots and the choreography was top tier beautiful, I doubt many of us took a single breath during that whole 2.5-3 minutes they were performing the song. Another one of the highlights for me was their performance of the English version of "Cat and Dog." Cat and Dog is the QUEEN of performance songs. The amount of energy that song gives you and is then returned to the boys is insane, and it probably has to do with all of the barking. Yes, we ALL barked at them at the concert. There is a part in the song where the line says "Let's play together, I just wanna be a dog!" and that is when everyone barks along with the background barking of the track. I don't really know how the barking started but it started so early in their career that MOA bark at the part and it just stuck; we even bark at them to encourage them during their performances. Now, barking is just a normal part of a Tomorrow x Together concert and if you are not comfortable barking at the idols, don't go to a TXT concert. They even performed OT5 Thursday's Child Has Far to Go" that I was not expecting at all and I hope they release that version on their next comeback (this was originally a unit song from the "Thursday's Child: Minisode" album that included Soobin, Taehyun and Beomgyu). Other songs they performed were PUMA, Quarter life Crisis, Good Boy Gone Bad and Growing pains. I loved the performances of these two songs and they played it well because they performed them back to back and the bad boy persona that is portrayed in both songs was seen beautifully in the transition and they did it so well. 

As the concert came to the end, after a few more performances such as "Magic", "Miracle" and "Deep Down," TXT brought out the banners and watched their fan messages videos with us there in the background. The fan message videos in K-pop are basically videos of MOA (or whatever K-pop fandom) showing their love and support to the group and encouraging them to stay healthy and not get hurt and to continue to push through the concert schedule because they knew they could do it and it is one of the most emotional times for the groups. During these fan message times their eyes tend to glaze over with tears as they reflect on everything they had to go through and sicknesses they had to deal with during the tour to be able to still show up for MOA, how much they worked to make it to that point, so it is a really big deal for them. During these video messages I had already started tearing up just like I do when I watch the concerts on Youtube and watch the same fan message sharing time, but the closing song got me to where I was basically bawling. I was a part of "Blue Spring." For those who don't know, "Blue Spring" is a fanmade song. Fanmade song meaning that TXT made the song specifically as a gift to us that shows how they feel about us and our journey together and it was the first one that they had ever written so it is a very meaningful song to the boys and us MOA who are there with them and sing the song along with the group as they intended. The final song for the show, after the boys give their final closing statements with tears in their eyes that just haven't fallen yet but are about to, was "Blue Spring" the ICONIC and I was apart of that fan chorus. I started crying as soon as the song started playing. I had guessed that that was going to be the ending song from the moment Taehyun said that he was going to ask us to sing and that they having been asking everyone to sing it at their ends of their shows during the tour. I still don't know how I managed to sing the whole song while I was basically bawling, it's just that that was when everything hit me. It hit me that I was actually there in that very surreal experience of a TXT concerts and not having a dream, I was actually there and I was actually a part of the closing chorus, the fact that the show would be over after this song, how happy I was to be there. It was a lot of things, a lot of big emotions. The person next to me on my right also kept telling me not to cry, that it was ok, but it was too late. I left the concert still processing the fact that I had actually been there and that it was actually over. 

There were a few takeaways that I would like to share from my first K-pop concert experience. 

1. If there is public transportation, use it. Do not drive if you are going to a show in DC.

2. If you want good merchandise, get there as early in the morning as you can (even if it is at 8 am to be there when the first merch stall opens)

3. Expect long lines, ALWAYS, there will never not be a long line at a TXT concert or any other popular K-pop group for that matter

4. If you can afford VIP, get it. (This is my only regret. I did not get to participate in send off after the show because I didn't have a VIP package or meet any of them in person like  would have had I had the money to buy VIP)

5. I understand the need for concert outfits because we want to look nice in case the boys look our way, but make sure to wear practical shoes or, if you are wearing platforms, make sure that they are hella broken in so that you don't get blisters.