Koffee & Kpop

There are many events in Korea that a kpop fan can attend beyond concerts. One of them is a fan meeting. I’ve been to two fan meetings, both for SHINee’s leader Onew, and attended his most recent fan meeting.

Tickets for fan meetings are released like concert tickets–if you are a fan club member, you can buy pre-sale tickets before they are released to the general public. I’ve been lucky enough to get a floor seat each time. (The first time, I had an outer aisle seat and he walked past me so close that I could have reached out and touched him. I filmed him interacting with the crowd and embarrassingly spoke some Korean to him as he passed.)

So what’s the point of a fan meeting? It’s a chance for the artist to have a more intimate experience with their fans. They will usually sing a few songs, play a few games, and talk to their fans at large about their upcoming plans. It is different from a fan sign, where individuals get to actually interact with the artists.

Fan meetings can be held at small or even large venues. Onew’s was held at KBS Arena.

Outside the arena were several stations, including the ticketing station, a merchandise station, a special Photoism photo booth, a Jjingu (Onew fan membership) booth, and a Fromm booth. I went to the Jjingu booth and received my freebies, which included photocards and a small handheld mirror, took some photos in the photo booth “with” Onew, played a lucky draw game at the Fromm booth, and then met up with some friends.

There was a little cafe nearby where we sat and drank coffee and ate sandwiches. A lot of Onew fans were there, and several of them were passing out freebies. I ended up getting two baggies of candy, a fake hundred dollar bill with Onew’s face on it, a pin-back button, and a small poster.

Freebies are one of my favorite things about kpop fandom culture. I’ve received so many thoughtful gifts from fellow fans over the years. Not only do so many people spend their money on items from candy to custom-made photocards and keychains, etc., but they also have to have the nerve to approach strangers!

About half an hour before the doors opened, we wandered back over to the area around the arena and chatted a bit until people started lining up. Because everyone had a seated ticket, the time you entered didn’t matter.

As we entered the arena, we were handed a mini poster with a slogan for the artist on one side and lyrics on the other side, as well as directions when to hold up the slogan and sing along. In addition to this, we were each given two balloons that we were instructed to inflate but keep hidden under our seats.

We had also been given a small piece of plastic for the balloons but I couldn’t figure out what to do with it, so I ended up inflating one balloon and simply tying it off as usual.

Onew opened up the fan meeting by performing two songs, both of which also included some very talented dancers. Then he chatted a little bit, as well as used a singing bowl and “room spray” to set the mood (in a joking way), before bringing out a MC–JaeJae, who is a popular Korean producer and host. (She had MCed the Stray Kids fan meet a few weekends prior.)

They sat in comfy chairs and the theme was “love counselor” as Onew’s latest release is called “Tough Love.”

After chatting for a bit, Onew sang another song on stage, and then JaeJae came back. They did a random play dance, which is very popular for idols, but rather funny for a veteran such as Onew, who clearly did not know most of the popular dances. There was a large roulette wheel that chose the song, and then Onew would watch a clip of what is called the “point dance” or main, catchy choreography of a song. He would then try to recreate the dance. He showed off his charm and humor by hamming up the dances, either making it really cute or trying to make it sexy.

After singing another song, Onew had to recreate some old photos of himself. I really enjoyed this, and it’s quite amazing to see how little he’s aged over the years.

He performed “Tough Love” and we sang along before he left the stage and everything went dark before the encore.

After a little bit of silence, we all started chanting his Korean name, followed by “I love you.” He came back out, performed another song, took a group photo with the audience, and then the fan meet was over.

It can be a bit nerve-wracking to go to fan meeting if you don’t understand a lot of Korean, but it’s worth going if you can secure a ticket. Being in a space with an artist where they aren’t strictly performing and will sometimes step off the stage to walk through the crowd is a different experience to a concert.

For example, Onew threw a giant metallic red heart balloon into the floor seats and we had to keep it afloat while a timer counted down. Someone accidentally popped the first one, but staff immediately brought out a backup. While this was happening, he was walking around the perimeter of the floor section, causing many attendees to focus more on filming him walking so close to them than keeping the balloon afloat.

After the fan meeting, I had to get back to Seoul Station to catch my train. Initially, I was going to take the bus but more people got on the bus than I’ve ever seen in Korea, so I decided to take a taxi.

Because I hadn’t used the small piece of plastic, I couldn’t easily deflate my balloon, so I was just… holding it in the back of the taxi like a five-year-old. I didn’t want to take it all the way home so I ended up popping it in the bathroom (sorry to anyone I scared when doing so).

Perhaps my favorite part about going to the fan meeting was not actually going to the fan meeting, but teasing my student the day before. His name is Onew as well, so when I was asking them about their weekend plans, I told them, “Well, I’m going to Seoul and I’m going to meet Onew.”

“NO, YOU’RE NOT!!” Onew shouted.

Now, nearly a month later, when I asked them what their weekend plans were, Onew looked at me and shouted, “TEACHER! Are you going to SEOUL to meet ONEW… AGAIN??!!”