My blog is about the stuff I have done, whether it be drawings or events I have gone to. Life is about what you do with it and I'd like to share my adventures with you, share my opinions with you, and share my work with you. I'm a sharing kinda person, see.
I've been listening to KPop since 2008. My first SHINee song blasted through my ears in 2009 with "Ring Ding Dong". If you told me that in 2011 I'd see them three times in one year, I'd have laughed in your face and probably tell you to go do one.
But, it happened.
First off was the incredibly amazing SMTown concert in Paris on June 11th, and then SHINee at Abbey Road Studios June 19th. In fact, my videos of SHINee at Abbey Road are still growing by the day and so far I have over 75,000 views altogether.
Then...SHINee came to London to perform for the London Korean Film Festival. The news only came about a week before the concert was due to happen so it sent everyone in the UK into a huge frenzy. Such a huge frenzy in fact, that Shawols crashed the Odeon server and was down for hours, making the SHINee concert more popular than ticket sales for Harry Potter, Odeon said.
And why wouldn't it be more popular? With under 900 seats available, this would make one hell of an intimate concert, practically a once in a lifetime opportunity to see them so close. And my God was I astounded that my friends managed to nab us tickets in Row C!!
The concert started at 4:30pm which is like, the best concert time ever. No super late night with problems with public transport!! I was pleased that they'd perform for an hour...but in all honesty that hour flew by far too quickly and barely felt like it was five minutes.
As we entered the Odeon the atmosphere was buzzing with hundreds of Shawols already starting to fangirl. The auditorium was amazing - the stage was so friggin' CLOSE. I felt so lucky to not only be in the same room, but to be so near as well. And for the third time!!
SHINee came on stage to the sound of deafening screams. And who can blame these girls and boys? They've waited a long time for a Korean concert to happen and lo and behold - we finally got one. SHINee are the first Korean popstars to perform in the UK.
They started off with Ring Ding Dong. I think they may have been a bit nervous during the first couple of numbers because their personalities didn't really come out on stage until they performed their solos. I took several videos of the concert - the best ones being their solos because they all stood still (minus Key) and I got tons of beautiful close ups.
My favourite performances were Jonghyun and Taemin. Jonghyun has a gorgeous voice, and that smile and twinkling eyes of his...wow. You can tell he just loves being on stage. And those high notes! Sublime! He hits notes higher than me and I'm a girl...
But Taemin really surprised me. I always just considered him as the dancer of the group and not much of a singer because he never gets many solos. But whoa. Boy can sing and he can sing good. But he's also transitioning between boy and man...he's really starting to grow up and he's becoming less "cute boy next door" and more like "handsome young man."
Last week sometime I was on my way to work - another boring, dull predicatble day at work - but as I made my way to the top of Southend highstreet towards the cinema I heard a really amazing, strong, adult sounding male voice.
And that's not it, folks - the guy was singing "I Can Go The Distance" (The Michael Bolton version, I might add) - the classic song from one of my all-time favourite Disney movies "Hercules".
I quite simply had to check it out and was rather surprised that this brilliant voice was coming from a young boy round about the age of 14, or so it seemed. Luckily I could spare a few minutes before I started work, so I filmed him (it's camera phone quality, sorry guys, but the audio is pretty decent).
Unfortunately it's not someone I could oggle over, but the teenage girls seemed to love him. A cute boy of 14 with a brilliant singing voice? I don't blame 'em to be honest. Why, if I were their age again I'd probably be screaming like they were too.
Oh well, back to drooling over Mika again, it is!
Have a listen and be marvelled. He has a great vibrato.
Sorry for a really unimaginative title, but I didn't want something cheesy like "MY MAGICAL DAY", so "straight to the point" it is.
Anyway, after a pretty disasterous morning and travel to London, I finally made it to Oxford street. My friend Laura was already there, so I rang her and asked her whereabouts HMV was, as I was outside TopShop. She asked me if I could see H&M, which I could, so she said she'd meet me there.
What I didn't know is, is that there are in fact TWO H&M's. I went to the one on my left, though I was meant to go to the right. Outside both H&M's are stalls with T-Shirts with "I <3 London" over them, so I rang her and said "I'm outside H&M by the stalls" to which she replied "Really? Me too..." So we both ended up going round these stalls - in different areas - moaning "I caaaan't fiiiind yooooou."
Funny. Stupid, but funny.
We eventually met up and we went inside...what we didn't know was that you had to BUY the DVD first, you couldn't just meet them and have a picture taken. I originally thought they only had it on Blu-Ray which would have been pants if they did, because nothing in my house can play Blu-Ray, but it came with Blu-Ray, Digital and DVD all in one package. Awesome.
We waited in the queue for about an hour and we finally met them all. My DVD was supposed to be a Christmas present to my sister Joanne as she is also a fan of Harry Potter, but I accidentally told them my name instead of my sister's. Sorry Jo, at least the thought was there. xD
Anyway, a day out wouldn't be the same without a V-Log! So here it is. Hope you enjoy it!
A lot of people have been to gigs, right? You're going to see someone famous and it's pretty exciting stuff. You watch the show, you're marvelled (hopefully), and you go home in good spirits.
But if you're a Super Fan, it's kinda different.
The person you're seeing is not just a famous person. They are someone who have helped shape your life for the better because of their music, and because of the opportunities and love - yes, love - they give you.
Some famous people can be such arseholes and, while I'm sure Mika can have his arseholey moments, he certainly isn't to his fans. He's so patient with us and if he has the time, he does have a conversation with you. He's so genuine and endearing, how can you NOT like him? Seriously. Loathe his music if you like, I don't care, but you can't say he's an abolute prick.
So, going to Mika gigs, for me, isn't just about the music. It's about the whole package, and boy does Mika deliver everytime.
After waiting in the cold for several hours (and having met Jimmy for the first time who recognised me because of my scripts and shook my hand), we were let in the Union Chapel with no fuss (they let people in small group by small group, there was no rushing or panicking) and I ended up being 5 rows (pews) from the front and in the centre. Jackpot. I had a lovely view.
The first act was Daisy Dares You and barely 16. I quite liked her, she seemed really sweet. The act after was a Robert Pattinson look-a-like named Alex Gardner. His music was good but acoustically, it did sound a bit samey.
Jo Whiley announced that Paloma Faith had pulled out because she lost her voice. I was a bit gutted to be honest, because I've never heard her stuff but was told that she was good live, so I was looking forward to her. But there's always a silver lining in every bad news you hear: MIKA would be performing an extra long set! BONUS.
Mika and The King's Singers came on (they're a group 6 men who sing acapella) and they started off with Grace Kelly - a great way to warm the audience up! It was fun and upbeat, new and different. You could see that Mika was really concentrating and really trying to take control of what was happening on stage, almost acting like a conductor.
Mika was also quite happy to talk to the audience about things and was definitely in fine spirits, laughing and joking away with the odd swear word here and there (and in a Chapel too, I say, Mika!)
It was a fantastic gig with a fantastic atmosphere, and I have to say that Mika needs to do seated gigs more often. The vibe is better and there's far less hassle.
The songs that got me the most were Over My Shoulder, By The Time, Rain and We Are Golden.
Over My Shoulder was sheer perfection, the notes were spot on and crystal clear. It was his best performance of that song ever, and the best thing about it? Everyone shut up and listened. I mean, I know I don't often contain myself vocally when it comes to gigs, but when it's a song like that you don't join in. It's kind of like an unwritten rule.
As for By The Time, it was practically acapella all the way through and it was the first time anyone had heard it live. It's not my favourite song on the CD (though I do love it) but live...it was stunning. I think I would preferred female vocals, but maybe I'm just used to Imogen Heap. ANYWAY, the song was a complete surprise and it was beautiful. There are not enough superlatives. I think it's my favourite performance from the night.
What I liked about Rain was that it started off as a ballad, but about halfway through there was a beat behind it that funked it up slightly, yet still making the song mellow and it sounded really...organic. There was energy: Not too much, but enough to get into it.
I love We Are Golden. Full stop. I love it live because it's like everyone's sticking by each other whilst shouting "WE ARE NOT WHAT YOU THINK WE ARE, WE ARE GOLDEN! WE ARE GOLDEN!" It was a more mellow version, but I think it's still powerful enough to be empowered by it, personally.
Mika was so well received at The Little Noise Session, there's so much love for the guy. Seriously! I've been a supporter since the beginning and I've seen his career rocket, and will probably (hopefully) continue to do so. He has so much extraordinary talent and if people don't recognise that, then they're missing out. He has a lot of charm and wit, friendly yet cheeky, and a musical genius. There's no doubt about it.
I describe Mika like a Jewellery Box. It has all sorts of compartments filled with different types of Jewellery and colours. You're always surprised at what you find and you're always marvelled at how it glitters and shines. (That wasn't intended to kind of rhyme, by the way). Every box you open, there's something new and different.
Basically, Mika has many tricks up his sleeves and - like the great Wizard he is - has us all under a spell. He has us on a string and he's the master puppeteer, he knows what strings to pull to get us going. He is a Master. There's no question about it.
The thing about meet and greets is that they could be so much nicer. There was a small group of people on either side of the door, and there was a large space in between us so that, when Mika was outside - he'd have enough room.
But no, as soon as Mika comes out people crowd him. WHY? If you were sensible, Mika would come round to you, but if you're gonna hassle him it's gonna make things difficult, isn't it. Honestly! People don't make things better for themselves.
I managed to give him the Astroboy poster and he seemed genuinely pleased with it! However he couldn't roll it back up so I did it for him while he was signing things, but because people mobbed him it was difficult to get the poster back to him so I had to follow him all the way round just so I could hand back his present. Seriously, he was almost halfway in the car when he got it back.
But the job was done and the night was brilliant. Here are my vlogs which capture the atmosphere of the day, plus snippets of the gig AND the meet and greet and the end. Enjoy.
Check out Mika getting my gift at 6:40. It's an awesome reaction.
