The boys from Got7 just finished their first ever US tour for their mini album Flight Log: Departure in LA on July 10^th and 11^th. I was lucky enough to go see them on Sunday. As a newer fan to Got7 and Korean Pop in general, this experience was an amazing one.

I’ve spent months watching performances, funny videos, and music videos from these boys online, and just a few days ago, I was finally able to see them in person, in my home country. This was my experience:

Driving to Los Angeles

First of all, the concert took place almost 8 hours south from where I live. So naturally I made 5 CDs full of my favorite K-pop songs the night before and prepared for car jam sessions with my friend Sam who came with me. At first I thought that the drive would be long, boring, and uneventful, but in reality it went by a lot faster than I anticipated and we had a ton of fun belting out songs and taking in the scenery. (Nor Cal is better, though! Haha). We arrived in LA a little after 6 in the evening and settled into our hotel before venturing out to Korea town for some seriously awesome Korean Barbeque! If you’re ever in Los Angeles, go check out Hae Jang Chon! It was worth the hour and a half wait for sure.

The day of the concert

I was told by a fellow K-pop lover that arriving at the venue several hours early was my best bet at getting a good view. So Sam and I got to The Novo by Microsoft at almost 11 in the morning. The doors didn’t open until 6:45 pm! It was pretty hot on Sunday, and me being my doof-like self, forgot sunscreen. I’m hurting as I write this the Tuesday after the concert. Whatever you do, wear sunscreen.

I also thought that waiting in line would be long, exhausting, and maybe boring, but that wasn’t the case at all. The time flew by because we talked to the people around us! The two girls ahead of us came all the way from Miami, Florida! Talk about dedicated! We fangirled together about Got7, kdramas (Seo Kang Joon is bae!), watched videos together on our phones, and just got to know each other. Turns out one of the girls is attracted to boys with cute ears, just like my bestie Meagan!

As the day dragged on, the line curved around the block and we were pretty close to the front! The two girls ahead of us had P2 passes which meant that they had tickets to the Hi Touch after the concert, which meant that they got to give each of the members a high five, or hold their hand, and thank them personally for coming. Sam and I just had general admission tickets. I wish I could have gotten Hi Touch tickets so badly, but that just means that next time I will have more motivation to get those priority tickets!

As the 6 o’clock hour rolled around, the line finally started moving. The P1 ticket holders were let into the venue extra early and got to wait inside for the entire day and were the first go inside. They were right up against the stage. A perfect view! After they all got inside, the P2 ticket holders were let in. Then it was finally my turn. General Admission was standing room only, so we stood at the back of the venue, behind the pit in front of the stage. Luckily, the Novo is a small, intimate venue, so the view was still pretty amazing. There was also a second level where people were able to sit. I would actually recommend seated tickets over pit or general admission tickets because the view of the stage was fantastic from up there. From down below, some of the dances were obscured by the technology on stage. We only had to wait around 15 minutes after entering the venue for the show to start. As it got closer, they played remixes of Got7 songs to get the crowd excited.

And then the boys came out.

Before we get into the concert, let’s have a little introduction to the members, shall we?

JB – Leader, Vocalist

I have always loved JB’s voice. His tone is unique and beautiful! Until I heard him live, though, I didn’t fully appreciate just how incredibly talented he was.

He is also drop dead gorgeous. Just saying. Seeing him in person made my heart flutter, and he’s not even my bias. I’m not sure how JB biased people survived because that man has a stage presence that could kill.

Also I will just leave this here for your viewing pleasure.

Mark – Oldest Member, Rapper, Los Angeles native!

Sometimes I don’t appreciate Mark enough. Of course I adore him and his personality, but sometimes I forget how talented of a rapper he is. Seeing him live showed how much he takes his position seriously and shows his passion.

Since Los Angeles is his home, this last stop on the tour meant a lot to him, and it showed. The entire time he was smiling from ear to ear. His parents were in the audience, as well as a huge group of his friends. As I watched him tear up at the end of the concert while thanking his family, I knew that this experience was made all the more special because of how much it meant to him to be home again.

Also, being from Los Angeles, the rest of the members teased him into doing the famous sexy dance segment first. Take a look.

Jackson – Rapper, Designated Idiot, My bias <3

Since he’s my bias, I already love him. Jackson is super talented as a rapper as well as a singer. I was thrilled to be able to hear him do both during the concert since the majority of his parts are raps! I also adore him as a person in general. He is extremely kind, funny, and caring. He did not disappoint at the concert at all! All of his best parts showed. He was so grateful to the fans for coming. Watching him interact with his members on stage is one of my favorite things in the world. He is in a constant state of crazy goofy. Let me reiterate the designated idiot status.

During his thank you message, Jackson pulled his typical take good care of your body speech. He is super into health and it means a lot to him to be able to tell his fans that their bodies are worth so much and that they should take care of themselves.

He also thanked LA for giving him Mark. Be still my Markson shipping heart.

Seriously, who doesn't love Markson?

Also, at one point, during the two seconds I looked away from him, he lost one of his shirts. He went from Mr Wild and Sexy in a sleeveless Fly T-Shirt, to J-Flawless in a black tank. I’m pretty sure my soul is still on the floor of the venue. Rest assured I screamed, “WHERE DID JACKSON’S SHIRT GO” at that point. It was too loud for anyone to hear me, but it had to be expressed somehow.

Here's a bonus clip of Jackson doing the Running Man.

Junior – Vocals, Total Savage

Junior… What can I say about Junior… He’s one of those members that I appreciate, but don’t focus on much. That didn’t change a whole lot at the concert, except for the fact that I noticed that he was a lot nicer. That is not to say that Junior is a mean person, because he isn’t, he’s just a little… sassy. He likes to laugh at fans who tell him that they love him.

But, he was in rare form when I saw him and was very lovable and sentimental! I loved his thank you message. He said that even though this tour was only two weeks long, he loved every moment. His interactions with Jackson while teasing Mark were also the best ever.

Youngjae – Vocals, Actual Ray of Sunshine

I adore Youngjae. I identify with him a lot. He’s super sweet, but also really shy. He has a loud obnoxious laugh and is a bit of a derp. We’re pretty much the same person honestly. He’s one of those members who I noticed more for their personality than their talent, but this boy has some chops on him. During his and JB’s solo song he was incredible. He was such a sweetheart during the concert. Youngjae likes to try to speak English when he’s just with the members, but when prompted to speak on stage, he just started giggling like an embarrassed school girl. It was the cutest thing ever. Here are some videos of his beautiful Youngrish.

Bambam – Rapper, Dab King, precious baby boy

Bambam was the highlight of the concert for me. He has so much energy and life contained in his skinny little string bean body. He is in love with the trending dances and the entire concert was full of him and the other members dabing, whipping, running man-ing. He’s one of those guys who are just wild all the time and you can’t help but just laugh at the craziness. Many people tell him to stop dabbing, but that boy does not let the haters bring him down.

He told the crowd to always be themselves and never let anyone tell them not to do what they wanted. I could just tell how much he loved being on stage and interacting with his fans.

Also… he got Mark’s dad to dab. Mark got embarrassed and ran away.

And here he is being a little turd.

Yugyeom – Youngest/Maknae, Dance Machine

This boy is something else. I’ve always thought that he was my bias wrecker because his dancing is just… it’s just that good. He may not be the best singer of the group, but his talent is apparent. I loved watching him dance throughout the entire concert. He is such a sweet heart. His ending message was so sweet. He talked about how LA is Mark’s home and because of the welcome that Mark received he felt that he was coming home too. And honestly, with the excitement that we all felt from watching the boys interact with Mark’s family, I felt like I was at home too.

*Jackson calling security is my favorite thing honestly.*

Oh and here he is dabbing.

The concert

The difference between American and Korean concerts starts at the very beginning of the performance. Instead of seeing the boys immediately, the backup dancers came on stage first, starting off the introduction performance. Then Got7 came out toward the end of the dance. This type of introduction is a lot different from the typical hearing the song start then the performance begins type of concert that is experienced most in America. This sets up the more performance and all-encompassing talent that Korea holds as important in their entertainment industry. It adds to the atmosphere and builds the excitement even more. It is only after the initial dance routine that they sang their opening set.

Thinking back now, the music all blends together. Hearing them live was amazing and it’s hard to distinguish between each experience, but if I had to choose my favorite set it would be when the boys split up into sub units. There were three separate songs sung by specific pairs or trios of members. First were JB and Youngjae with the emotional song 1:31 am. Second was a high energy performance by Mark and Junior with their song Higher. The final song was performed by “The Swag Team” –in Mark’s words—Jackson, Bambam, and Yugyeom with their song Wolo. If I had to choose a favorite out of those three, it would be Wolo. The dance and the beat were impossible to resist. Check out the videos of these amazing performances below!

Another unique aspect of Kpop concerts is the interactive element. Between each set the members would talk to the crowd and have some fun. During the first break they of course introduced themselves. This break was the most tame compared to the others where they did sexy dances. It’s hard to explain, so why don’t you just take a look at this video from the concert! You’re welcome.

The concert lasted a good two hours, so a pretty decently long night with the boys! The encore was really fun! They had a game that they played with the audience. A camera would pan around the venue then land on an unsuspecting victim. The wheel on the screen would spin and choose a song. In order for the boys to come back on stage, that fan would have to perform the dance to the song that was chosen. At one point, Mark’s friends were chosen as participants. Mark is American and from LA, so his friends were a bit… rowdy. They weren’t doing the dance correctly, and we all heard Mark over the speakers say a bit embarrassedly, “Guys, what are you doing?” But there were no worries; they came back whether the dance skills were there or not. They finished out the concert with a long set of songs. My favorite of the bunch was Confession Song which is about confessing love to a crush. The atmosphere was incredible during this song as we all could feel the love the fans had for Got7 as well as the gratitude they had for us.

Post concert

While the music and games were fun to watch and dance to, my favorite aspect of the concert was watching the members interact with one another, and with Mark’s family. It showed how close-knit they all were and how iGot7 (the fan club name) was also included in the closeness.

Now that it has been several days since the concert, the moments are blurring and fading. I wish I could clutch onto the memories and hold them tight so that I never forget, but sometimes it feels like I’m grasping at straws. I know I was there, and I know that I experienced all of these things in person, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. I was in a state of awe that I was actually in the same room as one of my favorite bands. A favorite band which is foreign at that. If I could rewind time, I would so that I could experience it all over again. Even the sunburn! But that’s not possible. All I have now is the memories that I do get to hold on to, and the knowledge that I was able to support a group of ultra-talented boys whom I care about deeply. I’d never thought before that I would love a musician this much, but something about the way Got7 carries themselves just makes me fall in love with them more and more every time I see them. Seeing them in person just made that love grow even more.

And that's it. I'm out.