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loona-catcher · 1 day ago

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Ateez concert experience - Amsterdam!

Featuring an AMAZING kpop group, but a horrible organiser

I just realised I never wrote my concert diary out on here, even though I had been writing about it in my notes app. So while it's late, time for a concert recap from Ateez Amsterdam 2025!

(Low quality pic of high quality men)

There's a lot written, but feel free to just skip the reading to watch the video(s) and look at the pics I took!

Part 1: Queueing outside

Me and my friend Lisa left in the VERY early morning to queue. The concert was in Amsterdam, but as we both live in Southern Noord-Brabant, we had to take a train for a few hours. Taking the first available train, we arrived at the venue at aroun 7:30am, only to see about 500 people already there (even though we were told queueing wasn't allowed before 9:00am lol)

Luckily, we had VIP tier 2 called Atiny vip, meaning we could pass most of the people in line, only having to stay behind those with VIP tier 1 (called Ultimate).

In the queue we ended up meeting some new people, all lovely people from around our age too. One was called Lisa too which was a little confusing sometimes haha.

At some point we were split into queues per VIP type, and one for general admission. I, being a mom friend, had brought a roll of 50 trash bags to hang up around the queue, to try and keep people from lettering too much. Which... Kinda worked? I left my queue spot (with my friend Lisa keeping my spot for me), to hand out all the trash bags. And by the time we went inside, I saw literally all of them used and full! But there was still a lot on the ground, so really... 50 trash bags wasn't enough. Good to know for future reference I guess, but at least I did something.

Part 2: Queueing inside as VIP

Okay fast forward to when we go inside. It was about 1:00pm by the time my VIP section was let in. Bags were checked, tickets were scanned, and into the venue we went. And we couldn't leave again. Which... We wouldn't have to, right? Except we were only allowed to bring 1 "small snack" in, and no food could be bought inside until AFTER the show already started (meaning you'd have to leave your VIP spot to get food, and end up all the way in the back).

I personally snuck in 4 extra granola bars, meaning I had 5 snacks in total, and I had a MASSIVE lunch before going inside. Just to try and keep my blood sugar high enough.

And then we sat, for hours, in a hallway. People were chatty, it was a vibe. BUT, also hot as hell, bad air circulation, and ofcourse no real food and also barely any water (1 water bottle without a cap was allowed inside. Meaning a lot was spilled).

At some point I also accidentally ripped my jeans around the crotch. Wonderful...

About 2 hours into queueing inside, medics showed up and carried someone away on a stretcher. I guess they hadn't prepared for the heat + dehydration + starving as much as we did. Very unfortunate, cause I wonder if they ever got back, and if not, if they got a refund for the missed show... I'd cry myself to sleep if I paid €500 for a show only to miss it in its entirety...

Part 3: Soundcheck

It was 5:30pm, and suddenly we were allowed into the actual crowd area of the venue. Time for the VIP benefit I was most excited for: seeing Ateez perform with only our smaller crowd, for a more intimate experience, and with all lights on so they can also see us have fun and sing along.

And it was awesome!! I stood very close to the barricade, only 3 people in front of me. Tho I am short, so I couldn't see as much even while that close. I was on the right side of the extended stage, meaning if they were on the main stage I could see everything from a distance in full (if I was taller), and I could see them from the side if they were at the extended stage.

Here's a little video of soundcheck:

Let's pretend my gibberish rapping along was actually fluent Korean...

Part 4: The wait

And then soundcheck was over after 3 songs, the group left, and we had to wait again until the rest of the fans were in the venue. Which took an hour and 30 minutes. That whole time we had to stand on our squished spot with people trying to push to get a better spot. Some succeeded, as withouth me noticing that happened, suddenly there were 4 people in front of me. But whatever, still a good spot.

According to the organisers this is when we should have gotten stuff to eat. But again, that'd mean leaving your spot at the stage, and you'd end up in the back (as general admission was now also walking in, and the VIP section wasn't barricaded off). Thinking my granola bar dinner was enough, I decided to stay in my spot. Worst case scenario I could go to the back later during the show. How wrong I was...

Part 5: First half of the concert

Okay so the concert was AWESOME!! Almost all my favorite songs were performed, I got to see the members up close, I filmed a lot (also cause tall people in front of me made it impossible for me to see the main stage unless I lifted my phone up and looked at my phone screen instead). But yeah, overall a wonderful experience. But I could also tell I was getting exhausted...

I was gonna put more videos but you can only add 1 video per post? Okay rude, thanks Tumblr. I'll link my instagram highlight here then which has all the videos in it:

I hope this works...

Part 6: Collaps

All the pushing, all the screaming, the heat, the hunger, dehydration, pain in my legs and feet from standing for so many hours, it was getting too much. I thought I would be able to push through it for the entire show, but at about the halfway point, I started to fall through my knees. I informed my friend Lisa, and together we walked back out of the crowd to find a security person to help me out of the concert hall. I really needed to sit down, get some air, water, and recover. By the time we reached a security person I had started to lose vision, seeing black spots and overall more blurry. I was close to fainting for sure. The security lady and my friend Lisa practically dragged me through the end of the concert hall, and through the hallway. But not to a medical emergency area, cause it was full... (Yeah so many people were fainting due to the bad conditions we had to queue in for hours, the medical area was literally full at halfway into the show).

The security lady, bless her heart, got me some water, and my friend Lisa gave me some of her food which she snuck in and had kept in a pocket. After some time I was able to recover enough to go back into the concert hall, but we decided to stay all the way at the back (not that we had a choice anyway), but also kept a few meters between us and the people in front of us. Basically standing by the exit so we had breathing room. Physically I missed 4 songs, however I don't remember being in the concert hall again for another 5 songs. Meaning I missed 9 songs in total (if we include blacking out mentally).

Part 7: post collaps concert experience

After we got back we did honestly have a decent view. Since we kept a distance between us and the people in front of us, we could diagonally look over their heads to see the stage and the screens. It wasn't as up close obviously, but the view was actually kind of better, which is ironic.

I still got to see my favorite song at the end of the concert, sang along to the last 2 songs, and then the concert was over. And we left, asap. Got our merch out of the lockers, and got on the train as soon as possible (though it was so busy, we couldn't fit into the first train and had to take the second). We weren't able to take the train all the way back home to my city, but my mom and her boyfriend drove to the city we were stranded in and picked us up there.

Final thoughts

So the concert was an emotional rollercoaster. It was a dream come true to see my favorite singers live, especially so up close, and to have some interactions with them from the crowd. I'll never regret having gone to the concert.

That being said, it is by far my worst concert experience ever. I emailed the organisors actually about how badly it went and how so many people, including myself, fainted or almost fainted and had to be taken out of the show. And they just blamed the Kpop company KQ (even tho every other show of the tour went well and the only difference was the organisors...). So based on this experience, I am never getting VIP or a standing ticket for ANY concert of these organisors again. My safety is more important.

I really hope Ateez will come back to The Netherlands again before they start doing their mandatory military service, so I can hopefully see them live for a FULL concert one day. Even if it's seated and far away from the stages.

Anyway to end this off, here is some pictures I took (well... Screenshots from my videos).

Hongjoong (during Matz) & Seonghwa (during Win)

Yunho (during Wave) & Yeosang (during Say My Name)

San (during Dancing Like Butterfly Wings) & Mingi (during Wave)

Wooyoung (during his dance performance) & Jongho (during Everything)

Unfortunately Wooyoung never really came to the right side of the extended stage, so I don't have any good shots of him solo. But the pic from his dance is really pretty.

Okay, that's it. The linked insta highlight is still being updated as I haven't gone through the latter half of my videos yet, but for now it's still pretty ful of concert videos.

Alright, thanks for reading! Much love,

- Thil 🩷

#ateez #ateez amsterdam #ateez tour #hongjoong #seonghwa #Yunho #yeosang #san #mingi #wooyoung #Jongho #towards the light #will to power #concert diary

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