Being at the Prudential Center with all of my people was so invigorating. Yes, I was nervous and awkward about passing out freebies and I don’t know why because it went so well and my bag was empty before I knew it and I got so many awesome freebies in return.

It’s already such a blur but I definitely would be remiss to not talk about how there was a food truck – Hangry Joe’s or something – parked alongside the arena and one of the employees was walking around the crowd with a tray of chicken samples. I left Henry for less than five minutes while I was passing out my pins and by the time I came back, he was scarfing down free chicken (they were giving out BIG CHICKEN STRIPS, yo) and had a blob of coagulating condiment resting on his shirt. I was so embarrassed!

In fact, I believe what I yelled was, “You’re so embarrassing!” while he looked down and mumbled, “Aw shit,” swiping at the slop with a finger and leaving behind a dark oily spot on his already UGLY shirt (it was some bland baby poop color since he is resistant to any hue even remotely pleasing to the eye).

SO.

EMBARRASSING.

These banners were the product of a local fan project and we ended up accumulating so many of them over two days. Sometimes we go to Kpop concerts and get there too late, so I miss out on the banners but this time we were actively trying to avoid them because there were so many people passing them out!

The doors eventually opened sometime after 6PM and I was about to FLOAT OUT OF MY BODY. Once we were past security and had our tickets scanned, it started to really sink in that we were about to see KWON JIYONG. The actual King of Kpop. Your idols’ idol.

The line for this photo op was nearly as long as the merch lines, which were the longest merch lines I have ever seen at any concert. We didn’t even attempt that, knowing that we would be there the next day too and could get to the merch right after soundcheck and before the doors opened to the general public, but we ultimately decided on just coming down to the Prudential Center the next morning for early merch, which was the right call. I didn’t want to be stressed out during sound check, thinking about running to get into the merch line!

For night 1, we were in section 7, row 6. The next night, our seats were so much closer but this was still GOOD. I’ve been to the Prudential Center a bunch of times (two KCONs, BTS, Stray Kids, NCT127) but have never sat in the lower section so this was a nice switch-up!

People watching before a concert starts is one of my favorite parts of the night. I was obsessed with the three girls in the row in front of us. From what I had gathered, they had all come solo but befriended each other during soundcheck, so they were chatting away before the concert started and I was desperate to insert myself but never did. I LONG for concert friends. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that Henry also likes Kpop and comes with me to every concert but sheesh, to be with a group of girls would be the best. I’m just not good at small talk anymore so anytime I *am* sitting alone at one of these concerts because Henry has a nosebleed seat, I just can never sustain a conversation long enough to get to the “let’s be friends!” portion (except for Pamela who sat next to me at NCT Dream in 2022! We became IG friends but her IG is just for selling/trading photocards and we have no interaction). But these girls were adding each other on socials and squealing over each others’ Kpop concert experiences, sigh. The one girl had a British accent and we made eye contact a few times and exchanged smiles and I was ready to fling myself at her. I’m so lonely, lol.

I love that GD had guitar picks made for each stop of his tour! Everyone got one as soon as tickets were scanned and I am already wearing mine as a pendant, in case you were wondering.

Henry’s stain can be seen here. I sent this to some friends who were like “he looks thrilled.” :( Look, I can’t help it that he always looks like this. Maybe it’s the “being around me” part of these things that makes him look miserable. Because he likes G-Dragon,  I know that for a fact. (OMG a man liking Korean music, HOW WEIRD.)

I needed a beer so bad before this started because MY NERVES. This was my check-in picture of Untappd but you can see the British girl in the background who I realized later reminded me of Grow With Jo whose YouTube workouts I love, so it’s no wonder I gravitated toward her!

OMG. A smile. Sort of.

I had two guys sitting on the other side of me – they were both there alone and it was the first time in history that I was actually sandwiched by men at a Kpop concert. G-Dragon is just different though. I would say it was almost an even split between men and women – and not just boyfriends and husbands being dragged along by their partners. G-Dragon has FAN BOYS. And they are actually more rabid than the girls! There were so many times throughout the night when you’d hear masculine, guttural roars of “I LOVE YOU!!!!!!” from the guys and it would make GD crack up every time. He is just truly on another level.

I think I’m going to end this here and then recap the concert portion separately because you know me and how I love to drag shit out! But I will just end by saying that I legit felt like puking and my legs were shaking uncontrollably while waiting for the lights to go off! KWON JIYONG!!!!!!

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