Seventeen's Be The Sun Tour: A newbie goes to her first K-pop soundcheck
For fans of K-pop, it could be the best (and only way) to see and interact with your faves up close
As an avid concert goer, I’ve never really cared where I sat or stood in a stadium, arena or club.
I’ve always bought the cheapest nosebleed seat. But recently, I took a chance at buying VIP floor seats for the K-pop group Seventeen. Now I fully understand the hype from fans to get as close to their faves as possible.
Based on my first experience doing VIP soundcheck, let me break down the pros and cons:
Ticketing
It came at a hefty price ($665 eek), though it was still face value. That ticket also helped me see the group do soundcheck a few hours before the show.
The reason I caved into upgrading my original ticket (which was in the 100s section) was because I had never done something like this before. With a bit of money saved for a BTS world tour that never happened, I said “YOLO” and clicked purchase.
I would like to add that I was very lucky in coming across these VIP tickets, which sell out within minutes when they are released on Ticketmaster with no warning whatsoever. The only sign that something was happening was because Ticketmaster started glitching. My friend and I started checking periodically every half hour to see if new tickets would come out. A few hours later, they finally showed up.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
The elation of getting VIP tickets were quickly replaced by small pang of regret. Will my wallet come to regret this decision? Then there was the fact that I was going to be sitting by myself, and social anxiety didn’t like it.
After posting a TikTok of me purchasing tickets, it surprisingly took off. I found my seat mate in the comments, and we followed each other. Serendipitously, a friend from journalism school was also sitting in front of me. And on the day of the concert, my friend from Virginia decided to fly to Toronto on a whim to sit elsewhere on the floor after getting barricade seats. In the end, it all worked out!
Line ups
While seats are assigned, we still ended up lining up for over an hour and a half. For soundcheck, we were given a lanyard and a pouch filled with a small hand towel and a compact mirror. When I met my friend in the lineup, he said “We paid all this for these items?” It was pretty funny what we ended up with.
To get inside the venue though, we still had to wait outside and go through bag check. People were bringing in bigger bags than the venue allowed, and we were being told loose batteries (for lightsticks) would be dumped in the trash. Soundcheck was at 5:30 pm and we only got inside with 15 minutes to spare.
Early access to merch booths
One of the big positives of VIP was getting early access to merch. Unfortunately, a friend who worked at the venue told me only 800 or so Carat lightsticks were brought to Toronto, leaving hundreds to thousands of fans without a chance to buy one. Shipping and supply chain issues were probably to blame. But I sure wish there was a room full of glowing lightsticks during the concert!
No cellphone policy
People often sneak a cellphone pic or video from soundcheck, but there is a strict no cellphone policy during soundcheck. I kinda get it.
When the members of Seventeen came out, it felt a lot more intimate between them and the fans. They were able to interact with us a lot more with waves and finger hearts. The boys came out singing “Rock With You” to hype everyone up and went on to sing “Darl+ing” and “Crush.” I was actually shocked how close I was sitting from the extended stage and had a very good view of all the members. While VIP does not include meet and greets or photos, soundcheck is probably one of the closest ways you can get to see your faves.
Showtime!
The show begun with Seventeen’s single “Hot”, and fans filling the stadium with some of the loudest cheers I have ever heard. It was soon followed by “March”, “Hit” and “2 Minus 1”. I have to say how great it was to have all 13 members (OT13!) back on that stage. COVID hit a number of members throughout the North American tour, so some were left to perform their stages on their own. (Poor Vernon was alone in D.C!)
One of the downsides of being on the floor is that it is a bit hard to see what is happening on the main stage, especially when people keep lifting their fanmade signs and phones to get the attention of the members. Thankfully, I did not have to ask people in front of me to lower their hands, but I did sit behind a really tall person (who also wore platforms). I’m not even that short, but I found myself looking over shoulders and tippy toeing just to get a better view. I didn’t like it though, as it made me self conscious about bothering people behind me.
Discovering a new bias?
I went into the concert with Vernon and Mingyu as my faves, but I came out with a greater love for Jun! Jun came out with a ponytail, telling fans he wanted to do something different for us. It certainly delivered. He further won me over when he and his performance unit members (Hoshi, Dino, The8) came out to sing “Moonwalker” and “Wave.”
Both songs are not favourites of mine in their discography but the choreography sold it for me. Jun had great lines and contemporary dance really suits him.
Stages
Seventeen is often regarded as a group who is actively involved in songwriting, choreography and production when it comes to their music. They’ve very much the musical theatre kids of K-pop.
They obviously shine brightest when all 13 of them are on the stage. But they really showcase their individual talents and skills when they perform as units. I’ve already talked about the performance unit, but I also really enjoyed the Hip Hop and Vocal teams.
The moment the rap line came out with “GAM3 BO1” the crowd erupted in cheers and screams. The boys came out in these badass black outfits and sunglasses. It was *quite* sexy. Then they ended off with the ultimate hype song “Back it Up” and the hip thrusts just about sent everyone over LOL. Embarrassing, I know.
The vocal line was a palette cleanser right in between Hip Hop and Performance Unit, with their sweet vocals. It was especially beautiful to hear the crowd singing the lyrics to “Imperfect Love” back to the boys. It’s safe to say Korean isn’t the first language of many people in the audience, but we made the effort to make Seventeen happy.
That being said, the energy is absolutely unmatched when all 13 members return to the stage. From “Mansae”, “Snapshoot” to “Neverending AJU Nice", these are the moments when the boys take time to interact with fans.
Overall thoughts
The VIP experience is very expensive, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you get to have a meet and greet with the artist. But having experienced it, I think everyone should try it once if they have the means! It was amazing to see the production value and choreography up close. I just can’t do it for every show as I would definitely go broke.
Whether you’re sitting on the floor or the nosebleeds, there is never a bad seat at ANY concert — ESPECIALLY K-pop concerts. I say this as someone who saw BTS in the 300s in Vegas and had a great time.
You get to experience the music, choreography and audience interactions differently no matter where you’re seated. The most important part is that you’re there and you get to have the opportunity of a lifetime. So just enjoy it, and forget where you’re sitting.