Sunday Night. Screaming. A Bunch of Girls. Loud Music. Dancing in the Moonlight?
Suddenly I realized I was just one of about 3-4 guys total at a concert. What kind of concert? Korean Pop. The chic B1A4 arrived Sunday night November 8th, 2015, on a cold windy night at the Verizon Theatre. Despite being a school night, around 300 fans (commonly referred to as Banas) attended this intimate concert experience.
Who exactly are B1A4? B1A4, named for each member’s blood type, is comprised of leader Jinyoung, rapper Baro, main vocals Sandeul, dancer and lead singer CNU, and maknae (youngest member of a Korean group) vocalist Gongchan. Dallas kicked off their 2nd B1A4 Adventure World Tour, coming to Dallas for the second time in the past two years; their first called B1A4’s “Roadtrip to America.” As a popular South Korean boy band, B1A4 promoted their latest single entitled “Sweet Girl.”
Although he thoroughly enjoyed the concert, Alex Motter ‘16 felt this concert did not live up to the standards of previous concerts by the group. Attending last year’s concert, he stated that the live band and larger audience brought more energy than this week, saying “the smaller setting definitely detracted from the crowd’s energy.” One of the main shortcomings he pointed out was the event’s minimal exposure, “there weren’t many Banas who had heard of this concert” and many of those did not attend because of the high prices. VIP tickets in the $200 range, many fans shied away from the inordinate costs of attending. This was Alex’s third time seeing B1A4 live, and despite the shortcomings he still enjoyed the performance.
The B1A4 members all received cheering and applause as soon as they entered their stage, followed by loud screaming from all of the hormone-raging teen fangirls nearby. The group members performed some of their throwback hits like “O.K” and “Beautiful Target” to thank their more devoted fans. Their performances were all full of energy and the group members even grabbed fans’ cameras and phones to take selfies with the crowd. As a popular Korean boy band, B1A4 put special attention towards fan service and interaction.
I had the luxury of attending the concert with Peter Ju ‘17 at the front of the stage. After finally arriving at the distant venue, we found ourselves surrounded by the loudest group of fangirls at the concert, screeching each time a member would glance in our direction. One of the ridiculous comments we overheard was “Oh my God, he totally just looked at me. His eyes were definitely staring into mine. I feel like we were made to be with each other.” Motter’s seats at the back of the theater had the added advantage of escaping the deranged fangirls which flocked at the state’s rim begging for acknowledgment by their idols. Besides the strange conversations that Peter and I heard throughout the night, the concert was genuinely enjoyable for a first-time performance, each familiar song allowing us to enjoy the live music.
Though, in the long term, we would most likely have swapped our seats to ones in the back since the loud speakers that were adjacent to our seats made sure to damage our eardrums. I would have liked to see the show from a more far back view since I felt really out of place within the more devoted and passionate crowd at the front of the stage. The performances themselves were essentially entertaining as a long time listener of their music but only their “Sweet Girl” performance really stood out as most of their other performances did not possess as much of a choreographic routine nor did they possess as much energy.
Altogether, the concert expected of a Korean pop concert, filled with dance choreography, picture taking, loud music, and girls screaming at the top of their lungs. For a late night performance, with the added effect of basically losing my hearing for the rest of the night, I would say that the performance itself would have been worth it had it been on a Saturday, but a Sunday makes it so much less enjoyable when I realized that I had spent my night at a concert that was intended for a teenage girl audience, with subsequent factors that amplified that, whereas all I wanted was to listen and watch a live performance of a popular Korean pop group.
