inspirations.

In 2011 the Japanese version of Replay was released and I discovered there was a boy group named Shinee. I became interested in finding out more about them and it didn’t take long for me to learn their names and figure out their personalities. I was a shawol before I even knew what a ‘bias’ or ‘shawol’ even was. About a year later I made this tumblr blog and dedicated it to them. If I had told myself back then that one day I would see the five boys who continually inspired me, made me laugh and were a source of joy during some of the toughest moments in my life as I grew up… I probably wouldn’t believe it. It makes me feel sad and nostalgic to realize I don’t have the time to run this blog as I once did but I know that despite having a job and finding myself in a different place from back then that I’m still 100% committed and addicted to being a part of this fandom. Despite being more of a shawol amongst friends or twitter rather than tumblr I thought that it just made sense to put up my fan account of seeing Shinee live on here. I think that when you discover a musician or artist, the ultimate goal is having a chance to see them in person and the fact that I really was able to makes me feel so grateful and overwhelmed with emotions. This recollection of the event is as much for anyone curious as it is for me to remember. Somehow it just feels like everything came full circle and I feel so content.

Welcome to my experience of seeing Shinee live in Toronto at the 2016 Hallyu North Event.

For a slight bit of context, the actual Hallyu North was extremely unorganized and behind schedule. Despite the fact that the concert began, to my knowledge, an hour later than it was supposed to Shinee was totally themselves and didn’t comment on it or act upset by it at all. If anyone would like me to talk about the convention, let me know but this will be exclusively the short fanmeet. Let’s begin.

Any quotes that I have of what they said means they said it in English and if something was said in Korean, it’ll be pointed out.

After finally getting into the venue and finding my place (at the back of Zone A because I was worried people might push so I didn’t try and make my way closer, I just stuck with the area that I was able to access once I was finally in. I should add that I did not witness any shoving or bullying while at the convention or concert).

We waited a long time for everyone to finally get into the venue and into each zone (roughly 30-45 minutes). While this was going on I noticed to the left of the stage there was a curtained off area and a light blue balloon was being tossed in the air from behind the curtained area. I told people beside me but they didn’t really see what I did and probably thought I was crazy but I kept seeing it (and unfortunately wasn’t really able to take a picture). I am pretty sure it was Shinee because of where they later came out and entered the stage.

After waiting forever, the MC came on stage and started talking to us. He acted as a messenger and apologized on behalf of Hallyu North before saying that he was waiting for the signal that Shinee was ready (since Shinee had probably been waiting for us for a while they probably needed to get ready again with final touches etc.).

We were all so loud and it made me really happy. We would yell for them and the MC said the first line of Replay and then we all carried on singing and it makes me happy to know Shinee heard all of that (video of this on my twitter). Once Shinee was ready, they came on stage all serious and cool and began to perform Sherlock (video of this on my twitter).

I lost my mind.

This was the first album of theirs or any kpop artist that I had ever bought and it’s an era that I hold really dear to my heart. Since this was the first song it really all sort of feels like a blur to remember as I was full of emotion at the fact that it was suddenly all becoming real that I was actually seeing them live.

Jonghyun and Key had their moment in the song where they sang to each other (video of this on my twitter). I think I noticed almost immediately how much Taemin was smiling, he was smiling so much and looked so happy. Right before the open legs part near the end of the song Taemin counted (and I think said ‘Go’) as an ad-lib *actually I think he said “Toronto” and it makes me cry.

Once Sherlock ended, Key told them to turn the instrumentals up in his earpiece (video of this on my twitter) and I’m pretty sure that meant that we were all yelling so loud he couldn’t even hear the music. They all looked amazed at how loud and excited we were, honestly they seemed pretty blown away and a bit surprised - almost shocked? Like it was hard to believe. Key introduced Beautiful (video of this on my twitter). It was then that they went into Beautiful and did lots of dancing, clapping and smiling. It felt like they were partying with us and right before the chorus each time, Key would tell us all to sing ‘beautiful’ (areumdawo) together (video of this on my twitter). They danced cutely and moved around the stage so that I could see everyone almost equally and it was just, they looked so happy honestly (I’ll probably keep saying this).

The MC came on stage and talked to them, Key did most of the talking even though there was a translator. There was a cute moment when the other boys all introduced themselves and said things and then the MC asked if they would come back and it went quiet after someone (Jonghyun or Minho, I think it was Minho — they were standing next to each other but if I remember correctly Jonghyun didn’t really speak until later and it was Minho who said something) spoke and Key basically said ‘yeah we will’ and the translator just said ‘yeah’ and it made Key laugh (because the translator did zero translating). I think it was around this time that Key asked if we all remembered to check his Instagram and for some reason I hadn’t (shame on me) but when I got home I saw that he posted seven instagram pictures with captions dedicated to us.

The next song they sang was Everybody though and they brought tons of energy and the fanchant for this was especially loud. I could hear everyone trying to do the Everybody fanchant and I continued to notice how much Taemin kept smiling, HE SERIOUSLY SMILED SO MUCH I SWEAR. You can see it in some of the footage that I filmed and put on twitter.

After this they had another little break, I think. In the second talking part it was just them on their own on the stage (no MC or translator) and they just looked so surprised and shocked at our energy they were also shy about speaking so Key said ‘I’m pretty sure you guys can just talk in Korean and they’ll understand’. This sparked the other four to start talking.

Taemin kept smiling and he said something in Korean. It was a little hard to hear (and I’m also not fluent in Korean by any means) but I think he said he loved us. Onew said ‘So amazing. Nice to meet you.’ before continuing to speak in Korean. They looked so happy and overwhelmed by our energy and cheering. Jonghyun waved and Minho clapped. Minho said ‘Thanks for coming today.’ and then he said ‘I love you guys’.

Jonghyun then started talking in Korean and sounded really calm and so quiet that I couldn’t really hear what he said. He looked so sweet like a little kid and he seemed shy (although I’m not sure if he actually was, he was probably just a bit quiet and talking like when he is on the radio). Key spoke after Jonghyun and I’m not sure if he was adding to what Jonghyun said but he said in English that they will come back and ‘Thank you’. He also said (in English) that they are only staying for two days in Canada and will come back for sure (this was repeated multiple times throughout the show which gives me hope that they really will). Afterwards Key laughed, he didn’t know what else to say, no one did they were so cute.

Near the end of the talking, Key asked what song we want to hear and we all yelled and then he said we’re gonna perform -insert song title here-. I’m sorry but I’m not sure for which song it was that he said this - it was either Everybody or View. *actually this was before Everybody, I think.

The last song before the encore was View (video of this on my twitter) and it was amazing. It felt like I was at a club and I danced around and jumped a lot. I couldn’t get over how much they all looked exactly like you’d expect. Throughout the entire show it felt like I was inside my computer, they really all looked as great as they do in videos and photos. After it ended they said bye and waved and walked off the stage. It was during this time that people began yelling for encore and I managed to write down some (slightly delirious) notes:

Taemin seriously smiled so much like he is smiling so much and key is so intense (why is this in my notes)

They are so intense

They look like my computer

Theyre so hot

(they are) So happy

(they are) So excited

(they are) so happy to be here I think they honestly were blown away.

We yelled lots and they came back for the encore. When they came on stage we were still yelling encore and Jonghyun started dancing to us saying encore (he looked like he was dancing to trap or hip hop music) and then Key introduced Replay (on my twitter here, here, here, and here). Replay was another special song for me since it was the song that led me to finding Shinee and joining this whole fandom. I managed to get quite a bit of footage of this song (I saved some room on my phone just in case this was sung — I went into this show with less than 1GB of space on my phone I was worried every time I filmed which is why I didn’t film the entire thing. I also wanted to let others film and just have my moments to watch and enjoy everything and be present in the moment which I remember trying to do – and I think thats why I didn’t film anything during Everybody.)

In my notes I have, “JONGHYUN DID A BODY WAVE DURING REPLAY OK” and this makes me laugh. I remember him doing it, he seemed very much like the most performancy member, if that makes sense, throughout the whole show. The most cool and collected. Key was very much trying to get everyone to join in and all party together, I did see him smiling in my direction at one point too (though I doubt he was actually looking at me). Onew and Minho had a mixture of smiling moments and being cool moments and then Taemin smiled 80% of the time which is why I’ve mentioned it so much here.

Minho and Onew smiled so much at the end of Replay and then it was time for them to leave. Minho said ‘See you again.’ and then they all waved and said bye.

After that the MC came back on stage and said we want Shinee to come back to Canada and we all yelled (in my notes I wrote ‘but they didnt come back for a second encore cries myself to sleep.’ which makes me laugh).

My overall experience was amazing and I think that the only reason I feel a bit sad is that I had so much fun I wish it could have lasted longer than 5 songs. Obviously their set was always arranged to be 5 songs and I’m not complaining but it’s just that feeling of trying to hang onto a moment but it slipping out of your grasp because so much is happening and you’re overwhelmed and it ends so soon. Someone asked me if it was worth the amount of money I paid and I truly feel that it was. It was a dream come true. In fact, seeing Shinee is something that I would have put on my bucket list if I had thought it was possible but in my heart I really didn’t think it was. I truly feel really grateful to be able to not only see them in real life but perform as well. I’m also feeling grateful for all of the fans that came to the event, from what I saw we all behaved really well, were loud and supportive as well as respectful.

For the fancams I filmed/videos I uploaded to twitter you can follow me @ahnhani92s

If any of this is inaccurate please know that I tried my best to piece it all together with the help of my fancams, random notes and memory. It was often hard to hear what they said because of screaming but I’m sure you all understand.

If you read all of this, thank you and feel free to come and say hi on tumblr or twitter. You’re also welcome to reblog this so others can hear about the concert (I personally love reading fan accounts for things I couldn’t attend) or ask me questions.

Thanks for reading,