#fayet rambles

[fayet]

The Kpop Experiment (IV): Thoughts on Dancing (aka Yunho vs. Mingi/up and out vs. low and in)

Part IV of my "I saw Ateez in Cologne and now I have opinions" series. This one is very long. Sorry not sorry (TL:DR at the end).

Disclaimer: I went specifically to the concert to see Ateez dance. I'm also not a professional dancer (though I have done paid stuff as a backup/background dancer), and my main dance background is classical. I'm soaking up some hiphop stuff these days as well, though, and by virtue of spending a lot of time with professional and non-pro dancers alike I've tried almost everyting under the sun.

So this is just some stuff I noticed watching Yunho and Mingi dance, and some of it is derived from an interesting conversation I had with @storkmuffin recently. So, it's just opinions, okay? Everyone has different ones. Cool? Let's go.

So, to be real with you, I went to Cologne to see Yunho dance, and to watch Ateez as a whole performance unit. I have great respect for their performance and specifically for their dance work, because a) their choreos are hard as fuck, and b) they execute them impeccably. That's drill, there's no way around it. They have insanely difficult formation changes (watch "Work", for example) and to pull stuff like that off you need drill. They are also very different as a group, different heights and body types, and to make a formation with different dancers look great is insanely difficult - because everyone has different angles, heights etc. So you can't tell all eight members to lift their foot e.g. up to knee-height, because it wouldn't be symmetrical. Instead everyone would have to lift their foot to the same height in centimeters, and they need to remember the exact spot and so on. There's a reason you cast a ballet company based on very strict height requirements and pick dancers based on limb lenght and things like that. Dancing in groups requires symmetry, and if the bodies are not symmetrical you need to drill to make up for it.

They obviously do that, and they are also conciously aware of it and are able to adjust mid performance. I noticed that often there's either Yunho or Mingi in the back, and both are able to adjust a formation in the progress of the dance, sometimes very subtly, because they are so well trained they can compartmentalise - they can move, sing, but they are also able to check in on the others and get the lines back into shape by adjusting their own position (and they did a few times during the show, which I mostly noticed because I was next to the side of the main stage, so everything that happened on the stage protruding into the arena was visible to me from the back). They also do that outside formations: There was a fun moment where Mingi was really close to me (yes, I was very much in the front), rapping, hyping the crowd, with a foot (in hideous shoes, which was the reason I was staring at his feet to begin with) up on a box in front of the stage, and while he did all of that he kept considering if the box would hold his weight (for whatever reason). But it didn't, it tipped forward, and for some reason he had a lot of fun playing with it, randomly in the middle of a show, but very subtly - I don't think anyone noticed it, he was just shifting his weight in tiny increments to test when/if the box would give before pulling back again. You can only do random pointless shit like that if you're very, very, very well rehearsed, and they obviously are.

I also hadn't thought how obvious Yunho's job as a dance captain is when they are on stage. He's in center a lot (obviously), but when he isn't he tends to be to the side or the back overseeing what's happening, always checking in and making sure. He's very aware of his surroundings and the others, and I thought he was much less "in the zone" than the others and rather constantly thinking, very much aware of where everyone was at any give moment. Even my partner noticed, and picked Yunho as his favorite, calling him "the tall dude who makes sure they dance right", without knowing he was the dance captain.

But also Yunho is a spectacular dancer. They are all great, obviously, but Yunho is fast and light and very precise, and that's a fantastic skill in a hiphop dancer, but also in a tall dancer. He's dancing up and out, pulled up properly (dancers say someone is pulled up if they are pulled out of their hips, with their weight not on their feet but supported by their centre/core - imagine a piece of string coming out of the top of your head and someone pulls you up without lifting you off your feet), but he can also dance down, low in his knees and bouncy, which is very impressive because that man has long legs and getting low requires an insane amount of glute and thigh strenght (the side-ways crab-style edna walk in IOMT - where they go sideways but very low almost on the floor is hideously hard on the glutes and lower back, and also the kees). Incidentally both Yunho and Mingi do the edna walk with ease, because these guys are hella fit, but damn that's impressive.

Mingi is a more compact dancer, and where Yunho dances up and out he goes low and in, his weight more on his heels, but with a strong, yet seemingly more relaxed looking center as well. That makes his dance style look more sexy, especially combined with all the isolations and smooth body rolls. Mingi has a shitton of body control, which is impressive as fuck because it's not an easy thing, and I don't think we've even seen half of what he can do as a dancer bcs their choreos give him very little space to shine.

So up and out and low and in, but that's just technicalities, and my main take-away from all of it was kind of very simple: I think Yunho and Mingi are very much alike as dancers, at least when it comes to the foundations of their style. I think Yunho has a knack for super fast footwork (because super fast movements are really easy when you're "up", because your weight is already away from your feet) and Mingi likes to work tiny body control-demanding stuff, but they are still really similar - they are just choreographed and dressed so it's not obvious.

Because incidentally they also have very similar body types, and most of the differences between them are created for more visual impact. Ateez is visually playing with having eight (up to a certain degree) individually styled people that are easy to tell apart (I think a lot of their appeal with a western audience has to do with that), so there also needs to be some variation in types. Both Yunho and Mingi are "tall dudes", they dance similiarly with slightly different stylistic preferences, so in ordner to still have two different types of guy that could appeal to two different sort of fangirls they are styled to follow a different narrative.

Mingi is a bit buff, of course, but he's also dressed to emphasise broadness, and with an easy trick: he's wearing a shitton of clothes on stage. Everything he wears has layers, stuff that flys out to the side when he moves (e.g. those tassled jackets), longer cut coats that fall mid-thigh or even longer, layers, necklaces - all that stuff moves when he dances, and in combination with the whole "down and low" of his dancing he looks like he's double the size he actually is.

Yunho is dressed in tight fitting stuff that is cut off above his hips, short jackets and shirts tucked in, emphasising his height and long limbs. His clothing sticks to his body, there's no extra movement here, nothing to emphasise his trajectory. Because of that we can see his lines (and if you're a dancer you know how important line is), the precision of his movements, where it begins and where it ends. He can't cut corners at all, whereas Mingi could theoretically hide small mistakes or cut a movement short, and most people wouldn't notice because there's a necklace flying or the hem of a longer coat or something else he's wearing that moves even when he's already finished a movement. And he plays with it, touches his clothes, adjusts his costume, shoves something aside to give a glimps of pecs or abs or something, which Yunho strictly doesn't. He only adjusts his clothing when something isn't where it's supposed to be, but otherwise he rarely touches his own body, something Mingi does (again: up and out vs. low and in). You look at the line of Yunho's movement and the way these lines extend into space, whereas with Mingi your gaze is drawn into the centre of it all, which is his body.

It makes Mingi looks broader (even his - hideous! - shoes are often broad, compared to Yunho who dances in tight leather shoes), but also makes him take up more space horizontally, and I think that's because his job as a dancer is to act as a filler. I said he's in the back a lot and I think besides the fact that he can keep an eye on the formation and assist Yunho in his job as a dance captain it is because he's there to fill up space (again, only as a dancer, bcs as a rapper he's obviously front and centre - but as soon as his parts end he walks away, and again to the back - check the dance practise videos, there's a lot of Mingi walking to the back). He gets his moments but choreographically Wooyoung or San have much more exciting sequences, and are pushed more as dancers (Wooyoung and his - awesome! - Studio Choom, San with that one choreo video - we haven't gotten a video with a solo choreo neither from Yunho nor from Mingi, even though both are dance lines members!). Mingi has some legendary front movements as well, but some of them are because he stole them - consider "Say my name" and the infamous body roll that was not in the choreo (when Yunho does the same movement you look at the direction he's moving in, with Mingi you stare at his hips. In vs. out.)

So, TL:DR: I watched Yunho and Mingi dance and realised that if you strip both of them down you get to very similar (highly skilled!) dancers (with incredible technique!) who for reasons of variety and different fan taste are styled for difference and have different jobs on stage that they fulfill impeccably.

KQ, give those guys solo dance videos. Come on.

[fayet]

The Kpop Experiment (II): More musings on Ateez in Colonge

Hi! I'm back with opinions by popular demand (e.g. three people read my first post and liked it). Read under cut, otherwise move on, nothing to see here.

I'd like to talk about the sound quality briefly first, because I mentioned it to a few people (you wouldn't believe how many people think you're off your rooker for going to a kpop concert but then want to know all the gorey details, it's fascinating) and learnt that some of them had been to Lanxess Arena before and had all complained that the sound quality there is atrocious. One of my colleagues saw Prince (PRINCE!) at Lanxess and said he halfway through the concert took a moment and apologised to his audience for the bad sound, saying they hadn't allowed him to bring in his own sound people and he had to use what was there, which apparently was terrible. Ateez def. had their own sound crew, and they provided us with maybe the best sound I've ever heard at a concert. It was very well balanced taking into consideration there were eight people to keep well adjusted in the mix, all with variable vocal habits and level of sound. Keeping them from sounding "soupy" but at the same time letting them blend together is quite a challenge, and I'm impressed by whoever mixed both Mingi and San into one good soundscape (I think Jongho could outscream Mingi if he truely wanted to, dude can project like crazy so he doesn't count). Mingi is loud, but he didn't seem loud, just powerful, and that's some really good sound mixing.

That being said the concert itself was SO LOUD. I like going to metal concerts. Ateez outdid my usual hearing protection geared towards metal concerts, and if you're louder than a fully flegded metal band with all the trimings you're too loud. No subwoofer, though, which is sad. Guerilla could do with a subwoofer, I feel.

Looking back at the show what remains is the impression of perfection and seamlessness. It was very "korean" in this regard, as in that I consider korean culture to be one striving for utter perfection and complete seriousness in everything, with very high demands for quality (obvs that is a western POV, and not fully encapuslating all that korean culture is in all it's many traits and characteristics. It's a simplification, please bear with me here.). The show was practically perfect. Everything was on point, every entrance, dance formation, timing, light change, the sound and the backup dancers. There was a lot going on and it wasn't boring, but it also wasn't really what I think a concert is, as in the presentation of art by an artist in front of a crowd that may provide feedback in some form, often leaving room for spontaneous developments and the creation of new art or unique moments. That is not a critique! I was perfectly entertained and very happy upon leaving the arena, just like I am watching a musical that has run for 300 shows. The chandelier will crash onto stage when the Phantom of the Opera is there, and Ateez will showcase perfect formations in their choreography. You get what you paid for (I paid a lot, mind you) and everybody is happy. Just don't expect them to play your fav song if it's not on the setlist or to come back after the encore. They won't. The story has been told. Move along.

So the show was perfect, and I came out utterly impressed and also a little bit confused. I had gone in wanting to see Yunho dance and to finally see what everyone means when they say Mingi is such a beast on stage, and I came back with a deep appreciation for Seonghwa, Yeosang and Hongjoong. All three deeply impressed me, but Yeosang surprised me most, because I'd never really thought of him before? But he had so much charisma that I couldn't help but be impressed, I found him so utterly charming whenever he came around and his performance was captivating (and yes, he is that beautiful.). Seonghwa was obviously my favorite for all the flirting reasons, Hongjoong had such a cool vibe, and for some reason I always overlooked Yunho whenever he came to our side.

Mingi seemed to be having an off day or maybe I just couldn't "get" him, but I was surprised when the arena tried to bark for him at the beginning and he just ignored it and bulldozed right over it and in the end thanked the crowd for chanting his name when he rapped during the Bouncy-part. I heard from a few people that he doesn't usually do that because the crowd always shouts his name with him, so I was wondering if he had something going on in his mind that made him do that.

In any case while I couldn't really vibe with whatever was going on with him, but he did deliver one nice example of just how well rehearsed they are: he was standing close to my side of the stage rapping (towards the end of the show, I have forgotten what song it was), with one foot up on one of the black plastic holder that had either a confetti cannon or something else inside - the cannons had gone off already so that was fine. He was hyping up the crowd in the standing area while spitting his lines, very focussed on the text and them, but at the same time trying to figure out if the plastic box could hold his weight (I think he wanted to use it to jump off from it or something, not into the pit but back onto the stage). But the box wasn't firmly attached to the stage and he noticed it wouldn't hold his weight, but he kept on playing with the give it had, bringing his bodyweight forwards again, waiting until the box tilted and pulling back, over and over again - while hyping the crowd, rapping and generally being aware of where he had to be next, where everyone else was etc. I'm not sure if he was even aware of doing it. I love it when people are so well rehearsed they can just split off parts of their brain and let them do something completely pointless while everything else runs on autopilot, muscle memory at this point in time, nothing to think about.

Here's a random sidenote: I told my partner to pick a bias during the concert, and despite Seonghwa working hard to be his forever bias he didn't make the cut. Instead my partner halfway through the concert decided that Yunho was going to be it, because, as he explained later, it seemed to him that Yunho was somehow in control of the dance formations and from the back organising everything. My partner (who also has many years of dance experience) also enjoyed his clean technique and then lamented that Yunho didn't have enough lines in the songs despite being what he called "the most handsome one and he even sings well!". (Yunho is very handsome of course, but watching Seonghwa smile at my partner LIKE THAT made even my knees weak, so I don't understand how my partner could be so nonchalant about flirting with him. How. Why. Somebody explain.) I found it interesting that he spotted the dance captain despite having no idea that this role even exists. I also found it interesting that he did not like Mingi. Like, at all.

Okay, this is getting long again. I had a very interesting conversation with @storkmuffin about Yunho vs. Mingi dancing styles/roles in the group with a brief detour into whether or not San has taken ballet classes (we both believe he has, my conviction coming from a choreography moment where he raised his arms above his head and ended up in a perfect fifth/third position - fyi, numbers vary depending on whether you're russian or english trained as a ballet dancer, the position is the same- with a lovely port des bras, and we agreed that Ateez probably at some point had ballet or at least contemporary ballet training.) I think Yunho might have done more than just a few classes, look at the lines of his body! I wish I could see more of his feet, but alas. Anyway, I don't have space for this here, but let me know if you want me to write that down as well (and maybe Storkmuffin might like to elaborate on my rough ideas). See ya around, or something!

[fayet]

The Kpop Experiment: Musings on Ateez in Cologne

Okay. I think most of you won't care for this, so keep on scrolling for your regularly scheduled posting. This is a very, very, very long wall of text. You've been warned.

Anyway, if you're still here - hi! I decided to write up my musings on my Cologne concert experience, mostly because I was asked to and also to keep a few notes for myself. Here's the disclaimer: I'm a little bit into kpop as part of a sort of sociological research thing. I'm fascinated by Kpop, the structure of the industry, the status of it in the west as a cultural export and part of Korea's soft power, the crossover of fancultures and international ties, the performance aspect of it as a very visual art while at the same time being kind of, well, music, and the status of Kpop artists as a product in a capitalistic society.

I started listening to kpop as a means to connect with a family member who is really into it, and then travelled across South Korea and realised how present kpop is in korean everyday culture, even from what I could see as a stupid tourist. So the spiral began... and here we are. I'm not going to touch on any of that here, but, yk, as a little disclaimer it might not go wrong. I also might have some controversial opinions, so read at your own risk.

TL:DR: I'm not a "real" fan, but I wanted to see a kpop concert and I like Ateez' music. Also they are good looking. And I could get tickets, which is also no mean feat.

As a general side note: the organisation in Cologne was kinda meh. We stood outside the arena for quite a long time, and I felt very sorry for the fans who'd gotten dressed up. A lot of young women wore costumes with skirts or other short clothing items, and a lot of them were very cold. I had seats, so I arrived two hours before the show, but I think others were waiting for a long time and I have no idea how the standing room people fared. It just generally seemed like the organisation could have been better.

I went to the concert for the atmosphere almost as much as I did for the music. And boy was it interesting! Fandom is an interesting thing, and I was very impressed by how creative people were. A lot of people were dressed up to the nines, dressed to fit in with some sort of theme/concept (usually either pirate/bouncy area/IOMT style outfits), but there was so much creativity - a lot of people had clothing styled to show their bias, reconstructed garments, patches and names embroidered onto jean jackets, lots of extravagant cowboy hats, it was really impressive to see. Plus the complicated make-up, hair in all colours of the rainbow, funky shoes and bags, glow-in-the-dark accessoires, people were going all out. There was also a generally friendly atmosphere at least where I was hanging around, people talking to each other, chatting, swapping information that could be useful later on. (Side note: there seems to be a rather large overlap of Ateez-fans and Stray Kids-fans, because a lot of people mentioned they'd be going to the Stray Kids concert to be held this summer).

I've never been to an arena concert, and boy was Lanxess big (and it's not the biggest one around), and packed. I'd always wanted to see the sea of lights from the lightsticks, and it did deliver - it looked fantastic, with the colour patterns and the movement and everything. Do I still think lightsticks are a cash crab? Yeah, I do. Does it look amazing? Absolutely.

Speaking of cash: kpop is a business, and groups tour to make money. I would murder someone to have the numbers behind the recent Ateez tour, how much everything cost, how much stays with the company, how much the members actually get. Seriously, that breakdown would make me weep with joy, I'm so damn curious.

I wager most money comes in via the ticket pricing, but I'd guess the merch sales also bring in a ton of moeny, because people had MERCH. in capital letters. So much merch. The average person I saw had a lightstick, maybe some accessory for it, maybe a t-shirt or a hoodie, some keyrings to their bags, maybe a fan with their fav printed on it, one of these plushies and so on and so on. I checked the prices, and d'uh. I have no idea about the quality of the stuff, but fashion has incredible margins and makes money easily, so they do have that going on for them.

I also nearly had a heart attack when I saw the price of the lightsticks. I'd say the average fan i saw dropped around 150 Euros on Merch - e.g. if you bought one lightstick and a t-shirt you'd be roughly in that price area, and a lot of people bought a lot more. There were long lines with people waiting to buy stuff, and I got told by various people where I could find items that were sold out at one stand (without asking them specifically, everybody just randomly told me where I could buy merch). Besides the stalls at the arena there was also the pop-up store, but I didn't go there. I saw people with Ateez merch all over Cologne the day before, so, ka-ching! Those fur coats are purring, baby.

(This is not a dig towards Ateez, obvs - all bands make money via merch, and I think all big name artists are riding this wave. Munich was flodded with people carrying Adele totes last summer! Apparently Taylor Swift sells light sticks shaped lke stars? I just noticed that there seemed to be a lot of merch sales here, unlike e.g. the concerts I usually go to, where there seems to be a lot less merch.)

So we had no merch and weren't dressed up, which was a little dumb later on because it turned out I had accidentally booked seats very close to the stage (disclaimer: i knew we had good seats and they were very expensive, I just hadn't realised they were this close.), and with very close I mean three rows up, basically on eye height with whoever happened to wander over to this corner of the stage. Which was basically almost everyone (besides Mingi, whom I had specifically wanted to see up close - he passed by a few times and jumped around close to us, but he didn't look at my section. Bro. Why. I came to stare at your incredible face.)

It kind of was nice to be this close, but it also meant we saw the show from the side and not form the front, and everything that happened on the part of the stage jutting out into the arena was basically not in our line of sight. The big screen was directly above us so we could watch there, but it also meant it was hard to keep an eye on the stage and watch the screen. I basically ignored the screen after a while in favor of watching what was happening on the other side of the walkway stage, so I saw most of the formations, well, from behind. And that was super interesting because it showed a lot about the spacing and the synchronisation, but also, d'uh. I'd been looking forward to see the "Say My Name" choreo (because, well, Mingi, you catch my drift), but like this I kinda saw it from behind (and Mingi tends to wear longer costume pieces that cover his backside all the way down to mid thighs, so no staring at that, either. Oh, well.).

Yeah, anyway, the seats were still good because up this close I got to see some interesting choreo things closer up (I have a lot of thoughts on Yunho vs Mingi's dance styles now), but also experience the magic of a kpop group working their crowd. And boy are they good at this, it's incredible. I'm fascinated by the whole parasocial relationships kpop as an industry fosters, but the way the concerts deepen this already existing relationship is incredible.

The concert was clearly seperated into the strictly choreographed parts (songs/dances/interludes) where everybody as focused on getting everything right down to the second, and then the "freeform" parts where they were just walking around, working the crowd. But these are of course also choreographed, and I think rather tightly so. There was the obvious mandate of everyone having to work every side of the stage at some point and they were really good with it. I kept count of who came to my side of the stage to wave at my block, and besides Mingi (who for some reason didn't really drop by, but then I also think he wasn't having a great day at the Cologne concert - incidentally I also watched him to track when exactly they were doing tightly choreographed parts and where they were moving into the more "freeform" moments because it was very obvious when he went from 'I gotta be there do this move look at the camera' to 'okay, chill, hit your mark but otherwise it's fine' mode just by the way his eyeline would change when his focus shifted).

Okay, so since this is getting very long, here's my favorite example of why working the crowd is such a brilliant move, beause it works even on someone who isn't a fan: my poor partner, whom I had more or less forced to come with me despite his dislike for popular culture in general.

He had no former experience with kpop, he didn't know Ateez (I gave him the task to pick a bias during the concert, which lended some fun results). So we were generally not blending into the crowd very well because we did not have merch, no lightstick and we were the only ones in our block who did not have phones out. I took three pictures in total, but then I just put my phone away. But we were also very much in sight of whoever came to the side of our stage, and I could tell we were getting noticed for not performing fandom properly, to the point where clearly at least one member - Seonghwa - apparently started to wonder what the hell we were doing at the show (though we were both vibing, whopping and generally showing obvious signs of having a very good time - at some point I was grooving to the beat and Hongjoong came up and laughed at me, grooving along).

So one time Seonghwa came to our side of the stage, and simply stood there waving - and he didn't stop until my utterly confused partner realised that he was the target of the whole thing and waved back. Then Seonghwa pointed at my partner and made a heart, my partner made a heart back, then Seonghwa gave him a thumbs up and raised an eyebrow, and my partner did some combination of a thumbs-up and a heart to convery that he liked the show, and Seonghwa actually laughed, waved once more and wandered away.

It worked fantastically, on both of us: my confused partner spent the rest of the show manically giggeling (because Seonghwa kind of came over to ask him if he liked the show??), and I was so stunned having witnessed Seonghwa beaming at my dude (like, wtf, how did my man not faint) that I missed half of the next song. My partner was stupidly proud of himself for the remaining evening, and nearly bought a t-shirt on the way out. (He still didn't pick Songhwa as his bias, which will never stop confusing me. After all of that?! I'd also like to add that Seonghwa is really and seriously drop-dead gorgeous.).

Okay, this is getting way out of hand. Let me sum up the remaining thoughts with bullet points: the sound quality was the best I've ever experienced in a concert; please wear hearing protection if you're ever going to a concert of this type; they were indeed singing live, Hongjoong asked us to sing "Lemon Tree" bcs it's from a german band and then was confused when the whole arena started to belt the entire song out forming an impromptu 20.000-ppl-strong choir; I felt like Mingi had an off day and needed some time to get his mojo on; Yeosang is a fantastic performer and while I never been interested in him he really caught my eye on stage because he was so good; San really looks like that (what the hell); I felt there was an interesting dichotomy of those members who were playing to the audience around them and those who were more focussed on the camera (Wooyoung being the latter one, for example); BBTripping were amazing, holy shit; Ateez' english was difficult to understand but I guess they tried.

And everybody kept talking about the energy in the room and I've read reviews of people being amazed, but I thought the crowd was a bit lame (please note that I am old, I have experienced boyband concerts in the late 1990s and I thought I'd once more witness an entire arena loose their fucking shit over some hot guys - but they didn't! Girls and Boys and Queers, what's wrong with you?! Everybody was dressed so amazingly and showed so much creativity, and then? Sure, there was some screaming, but I'd expected more hysterics, more hype, more party? Everybody just stood around waving their lightstick a bit or maybe some jumping, but they couldn't dance because they would have dropped their damn phones and missed out on the twentieth picture of San smiling. Today's youth, I don't get it.)

I also have thoughts on the performance (concert vs musical style) and because I spent an insane amount staring at Yunho's feet and Mingi's arms on those two and their very different dance styles. But this is too long. Let me know if you want a second part, and also, why did you read all of this? You're insane. G'night!

[fayet]

The Kpop experiment (V): Taemin Edition

So I saw another artist (TAEMIN OMG) and now I have more opinions. As always it's rambling about what kpop feels like to a random person, thoughts about dancing and a little comparison between Taemin and Ateez (because listen, I've only seen two shows, I got nothing else to compare, okay?)

So, I got tickets (for some reason?) pretty later after missing out on any in the first ticket drop, considered buying scalper tickets and for some reason snatching some exactly a week ago in some random "final 50 ticket drop". I was seriously so happy.

I was also a little late at the show, but I had factored that in and I wasn't mad - I don't like squeezing myself into crowds, the fight for near-the-stage standing room belonged to the actual fans, I didn't mind. My plan was to stand in the back of the room and stare open mouthed at the screens.

That's kinda what happened. But, let me say this first:

What a shitty venue. I don't understand who booked an artist like Taemin into a 3k mini venue, it just makes no sense. Yes, he brought his own sound people (SO MANY SOUND PEOPLE!) and I believe he had just a big crew as Ateez had in regards to sound and camera, and as such the sound was surprisingly good for such a shitty venue. But. Everything else. Why. There's larger venues in the area, and he could have easily sold out those places considering what went down when the tickets went on sale. I remain confused.

The upside was: it was a tiny place. There were 3k people in there. The stage was 1/3 of what Ateez worked with, like you were standing in the pit in Lanxess and the rest of the arena was just not there. No lightstick-synch or anything, just a room, as small stage with three large screens behind it, and the fans. My ever faithfull companion and me stood in the very back of the standing area, and even like this we were as close to the stage as the people in Lanxess who had slept at the arena. It was intimate (Taemin even said it, after his first part he waved and said "Wow, you're so close to me!"), very small, almost a club concert in style.

And for some reason we got lucky again, because when the concert started security pulled both my dude and me from the crowd and made us stand behind the sound people between the cameras (I don't know why, I think because we're so tall? They also pulled two women who were very short and stood them next to us), which meant I was standing exactly smack in the centre of the room, but apart from the crowd, having the same view as the cameras - it was incredible, perfect spot to see choreography.

And oh my god choreography. Choreography. Yes.

I came to see Taemin dance, specifically because I wanted to see "Move" live (like, once. Just once.) and I got exactly what I wanted. There's a shitton of fanvideos out there going "Who is the best kpop dancer and why is it Taemin", and I'm here, ready and willing to plead the case that yes, it's Taemin. He's incredible, light and fast, perfectly clean and precise, yet so smooth and so fucking elegant.

So elegant, never breaking a line, finishing every movement beautifully, very much in synch with his backup dancers (who were amazing). He had a pretty loud backing track going on, but he did sing a lot live, and is very stable even during very fast choreography (very impressive). I've always been super drawn to Taemin's movement quality because it's very "dancer"-like - not in the way a kpop dancer usually is, which is very hiphop influenced, low, bouncy and very "in", but in the way a traditionally trained dancer is (aka "up and out"), with an emphasis on remaining pulled up, beautiful lines, equisite arm work, very intentional and brutally precise. Obviously he has hiphop in the background, but more the poppin and lockin variety, not the bouncy old school hiphop you see on someone like Ateez' Yunho. There's a lot of contemporary aspects in his choreos, too, and they are really difficult to get just right. He nailed every single one of them, fitting to every single "mood" the songs had, doing sexy and brooding and melancholic and nailing every moment. i didn't see him take a shortcut even once, he's such a professional, I was so impressed by the sheer quality.

What I loved most, though, was that he 100% seemed like he was having the time of his life. Even when he was talking inbetween songs and trying to catch his breath (another thing: it was really obvious how strenous the whole show was, but only inbetween songs when he was trying to get enough air to talk, something the Ateez show completely glossed over - the only ones truely fighting for breath were the BBTripping dudes, for everyone else it was arranged that they could go off stage to catch their breath) he was grinning, twirling around, doing some spins, showing point choreo.

And that really added to the show! Inbetween songs Taemin talked about the song, sang snippets live alone or with the crowd (smart move: it showed off what his voice is capable of, that he can actually sing and only has the backing track so he can lipsynch during harsh choreo parts), showed the point choreo (again, smart move: showing the choreo with lights on to detail the technical difficulty, plus teasing the crowd with a sneaky flash of toned body, genius) or just chatted.

He had a translator so he could switch english to korean and be more fluent, which ALSO was a smart move because listening to Ateez speaking english was painful. I don't know whether he had prompting monitors for his speeches, but since I did see the entire technical setup (because of where the security had placed me) all the time (FASCINATING) and there were no prompts being run I think he might not have had any (whereas Ateez had monitors where every song lyric, but also every single word they said on stage was written down for them to read off - and as far as I know they did not diverge from it with a single word during the Cologne show). He also made a mistake once while chatting (confusing the album the song came from with another, later release), corrected himself, listened to the translator explaining his mistake and then ran up to the translator to comically "chide" him for telling us he made a mistake - it was all very charming and the translator was giggling the whole time, and I don't think it was staged.

The whole "staged" feeling is another thing I'd like to elaborate on (if anyone wants to read it) in comparison to Ateez in Cologne, because boy were those two shows very, very different. Very different. I'd wager that if I had only seen Taemin I'd not have had any idea about kpop concerts (my partner phrased it as "oh, it wasn't even a real kpop concert, it was much better!"), or at least not abut the streotypical kpop concert I wanted to see for this "experiment" (don't come for me, I loved the Cologne show, it was great and worth the hideous amount of money I spent on the tickets.)

Before this is getting any longer some final points about things I loved: Taemin had a crew of five female backup dancers who were SO GOOD, and they had their own little segement where they were introduced with their names on the screen and given a minute or two each to throw it down, and they were amazing - and the crowd kept hyping them, I loved it. I wish Ateez would give BBTripping the same treatment in their shows (if I write a second part I'll explain why I think that's not going to happen). The songs were amazing, and I had read in advance that seeing "Heaven" live is a real experience and OMG yes, it blew my mind. Besides "Move" the best track of the evening, the subwoofer rearranged my guts.

Taemin seriously made a joke about the "Move" choreo and called it "easy, just vibe with the song", and that was maybe the most impressive flex of the evening (becaue "Move" is maybe the most difficult to get right choreo in kpop, and Taemin went on record once to say that he wants male dancers to quit trying it, as they just couldn't get it right anyway, hehe. Cheeky.). He then proceeded to nail it while the crowd completely freaked out, it was fantastic.

ALSO the crowd was great, despite nobody dancing (AGAIN, what's wrong with you kpop people, why do you just stand and stare while waving your light stick around, even in a doom metal concert the crowds gets more active), but they were cheering and shouting and hyping him up. Less fancy dress-up moments in the crowd, though. Also they (the fanclub?) gave us a banner, too, but nobody told us what to do with it so we just akwardly waved it during the photoshoot in the end. And it looks a lot like the Ateez banner they gave us in Cologne, just a different colour. Do kpop banners look like this? Also I kinda wanted to buy a t-shirt but didn't because I didn't like the design, but at least the prices weren't as horrific as the Ateez merch prices in Cologne (random: there were so many people with Ateez merch at the this show, there seems to be an overlap in fandoms here).

Anyway, to sum this up: Taemin is an incredible, highly professional entertainer and a fantastic dancer, but he managed to be very convincingly SO HAPPY to be there that evening, it was adorable. He was so lovely, ugh. But his dance moves. HIS DANCE MOVES. I'm so happy I got tickets, it was maybe one of the best concerts I've seen in my life.

TL:DR: Taemin, oh my god.