Back in Incheon after a long bus ride from Busan, we caught ourselves in the middle of a busy sidewalk, with thousands of university studs racing their way into the open grounds of Inha University.

We didn’t know what all the fuss was about till we saw a large banner/tarp that said, “Inha Autumn Festival 2017.” Ah! The timing couldn’t be more perfect since we had the whole night to ourselves, and we could join in the fun! As our hosts would call it, “free time.”

So I know university-wide events like these are open to the public, and they’d have popular acts as guests, so missing it wasn’t an option. But just a thought, you can actually walk into universities in other countries and explore around freely. I don’t know why in the Philippines, you can’t really do that.

Anyway, as we were making our way to the open grounds, you could already see flashes of light from the stage, hear cheering and shouting from afar. In the crowd of thousands, you can also see so many international students that are actually studying in Inha. We added to the Filipino numbers. haha

“This is it!” we said of our very first authentic K-Pop concert.

The first act that we watched was Bolbbalgan4. They were this all-girl duo. I couldn’t say much about them since we only got to see them on their last song. They were kinda pitchy though, but they looked so cute with their colorful get-up, and all that charisma! They were all about the youth.

The next one who performed was another duo, but both males this time. They were called 4Men. Based on my research, they used to have more members before, but settled with the current 2. Their voices blended so well, and the guy singing the high parts was oh so good! One of the most beautiful musical wailing I have ever heard, while the lower counterpart also held his ground with such sultry sweeps of breathy chest tones. And when they got to their last song, Breakup In The Morning, which was their latest single then, I was so captivated! So was everybody else. I was just in so much awe my mouth was open the whole time! It’s a very technically hard song to sing, and they sang it live. UGH.MA.ZING! I was finally able to live my dream of actually hearing a live performance of a romantic KPop ballad. Just like in the Korean dramas! ^_^

We left the event never knowing who they were. We didn’t even know if they were just students performing, or if they really are popular artists. But our Korean friends saw our Instagram stories, and said they were super popular! They told us their names, and we looked them up on Google. Indeed, they were big stars! Well, we could already tell because all the thousands in attendance jammed along every song, and knew every word. We couldn’t be more lucky to have been there to catch that. And when they become even bigger names in music, I will be so proud to say I have watched them when the world didn’t quite know them yet. (I will be posting some links below)

Like I said before, the K-Pop we hear in the Philippines isn’t all there is (EDM, techno, etc.). I was surprised by the quality of their music (their videos too) while watching TV at the gym in our hosts’ place. There’s so much more to K-Pop than what we know!

Well, there goes my very first (authentic) K-Pop concert experience. ❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SOME – Bolbbalgan4:

 

 

 

 

BREAKUP IN THE MORNING – 4Men:
(Watch other videos of them performing live. It’s breathtaking!)