2008 Korean Music Festival
I don't want to bore any of you with anything insignificant (what I ate, who I was with, what time I got there...), so let's just get right to it:

This is my fourth time attending the Korean Music Festival, and this is definitely the biggest crowd ever. I think 99% of the seats were filled, including the cheapest ones at the very top. I was somewhere in D section. If you were in that area and noticed some loud-talking college students in the middle, I was one of them.

The Crenshaw Choir: They're amazing. They sang America's National Anthem, and then JunSu -in a suit- came out for the Korean National Anthem. It was really unexpected, so fans were screaming really loud. But they hushed up when JunSu started singing. His voice is so soft and husky at the same time.

Then the choir sang some really upbeat songs, both in English and Korean. I can only recognize Oh Happy Day (we were singing along) and correct me if I'm wrong, Arirang gospel style. It was a great opening; they got the people really pumped up for the show.

MCs: Ock Jo Hyun and Brian Joo introducing themselves, greeting everyone, and thanking the sponsors, then introducing Super Junior T.

Super Junior T: They came out wearing their green outfits, with yellow feathers at the end of the sleeves. Rokkugeo first. HeeChul is so charismatic; he has great stage presence. He did the usual hip-thing with Shindong, and crowd went craazzy. HyukJae is so skinny, but he was all smiles. Then they introduced themselves, both as a group and individually. HyukJae said, "Nice to meet you." in English. Cute. Next was Chotcha. HeeChul took off his jacket, then picked it up after singing his part. I don’t really know why he did that. After that they introduced YehSung, and they sang Haengbok. YehSung was taller than I expected; he seemed shy, too. He sang a lot of parts in this song.

Chae Yeon: She's so sexy, and gorgeous. She was wearing a blue, halter dress. When the intro for Two of Us came, people stood up and started screaming really loud. Then they (us, too) sang along to the Na na na na... part. Chae Yon would yell "Na!" and the audience would do the rest of the Na na na na. Then she introduced herself, and one of her dancers came up and fixed the back of her dress. I don’t know if it was falling off or what, but she was holding it in place for at least half of the second song, so she wasn't dancing much. She was holding a long glow stick for her third number.

Hee Jun: I loved his performance. I'm ashamed to say that I knew none of the songs that he performed, except that there was so much energy and he sang live all the way. At one point, he was doing some popping moves that suddenly remind me of their H.O.T. days. His movements are still so fluid, and his speaking voice was so different from his singing voice. There was this lady in front of us, banging her head and doing the rock on sign with her fingers, and yelling 'I love you Hee Jun!'

SNSD: Oh so, so short skirts. Only eight performed; I don't know which girl was missing. I think they lip synced Kissing You, and then sang Girls' Generation live. The first one was so cute; they were holding lollipops and doing cutesy dance moves. Tae Yeon has a strong voice. She could have carried out the whole performance by herself. Soo Young's legs go on forever. Some guy sitting on the box seats kept yelling Tiffany's name.

Chung Hoon Hee: I don't know her at all. She sang some ballads. A lot of people stood up to go to the restrooms, get drinks, and what not when she was performing. But you can see the older crowd singing along with her. She performed three songs and for the last one, Jessica of SNSD joined her. They sounded good together.

Choi Baek Ho: Again, I'm not familiar with his music at all. Between his performance and Chung Hoon Hee, the people were just about to fall asleep. I think we spent our time talking about finals when he was performing.

Shin Joong Hyun: The audience recovered! He was so great. So much energy. The older crowd was really rockin' to his performance; you can even some see the younger ones singing along (including some of my friends). I don't remember how many songs he performed, but his was the longest. He was joined by his sons; they played the guitars, and I think the one on the drums is the youngest. He was joined by SNSD for the last song.

M: Bump! He was trying to get the audience to participate, by doing the old "Say Yeah! Say Ho!" chant. I was touched when he yelled, "Say Shinhwa!" first, before "Say M!" And as always, he did lot of dance breaks. The audience went really wild when he took his shirt off!

Fly to the Sky: I knew FTTS was coming up, because when they shone the spotlight on Ock Jo Hyun, Brian was missing. I think a lot of the people knew too, because they started screaming way before FTTS was introduced. And it was L-O-U-D. They're amazing live performers; they hit their high notes perfectly and their voices blend really well. They performed a slow song first (I think it's new), and during the talking part they promoted their US concert. And Brian said, "You guys are coming, right?" After that, Sea of Love! Everyone jumped up and stood on their seats! It was amazing! I was screaming myself hoarse. That was my jam, er, a long time ago. It was really great to see it being performed live.

Yoon Hyung Ju and Kim Se Hwan: All their songs sounded so familiar, but for the life of me I couldn't place any of them. Are they Korean covers of American songs, or what?

SG Wannabe: Oh the screams! This group never disappoints. They’re great live performers, and the crowd was singing along, too. Their lead singer moves his whole body when he’s singing; they even made fun of it in Star Golden Bell. But it was really amusing to see him doing it live. They were joined by Ock Ju Hyun for the last song. Her black and white dress was so pretty, and she sounded well with SG Wannabe. I always thought she was the only one in FinKl who can actually carry a tune.

Son Ho Young: He is sooo handsome! At one point he told the audience to "GET UP!" So we did, and there was so much energy all around. People were clapping and jumping on their seats, and waving their light sticks enthusiastically. And Ho Young was lying/rolling around on the stage, doing some retarded dance moves, it was amusing! But he really got the audience to participate.

Dong Bang Shin Ki: What can I say? Watching them on TV or computer is nothing compared to seeing them perform live. They lip synced Rising Sun and Purple Line, but Tonight and Balloons were live. The screams were deafening! Junsu's tummy kept showing, and JaeJoong's shirt was sleeveless; the other three were looking a bit hot in their outift, and I mean that literally. Not fit for the LA weather. JaeJoong's arms are HUGE (so is his head), in fact, his upper body is well-built but he has really thin legs. I don't know how that happened. ChangMin on the other hand is so skinny (I swear he'll disappear if he turns sideways), but oh so tall. He was wearing tight-fitting, uh, everything.

Rising Sun: Is amazing live. My favorite would be the "Slow down..." part. YunHo's dancing is really powerful, and the attitude. The way he moves just makes you want to pay attention. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. The hip-thrust at the very end was just...*dead*. And ChangMin! The fans were so loud when he did his scream. It was lip synced but what the hell, I was screaming too. I can imagine the brat having a little smirk on his face after that.

Tonight: They can really belt those high notes. JaeMin pawned this song. For a very long time I've been wishing to hear JaeJoong's Tonight voice again; I hate that nasal voice that he uses in their Japanese songs. Oh boy, did he deliver. He's got this amazing falsetto. ChangMin hit his notes, but his voice is too loud in some parts. It was so amusing to see his little, diva hand gestures when he's singing. And then there's JunSu's head tilting when he's hitting high notes.

Purple Line: The kung-fu pose at the end of the song was funny. They were so energetic and confident during the performance. The audience was singing along, and there’s this girl in front of me who was screaming ”ChangMiiiin! ChangMin-ah! Saranghaeyo!”, but she was wearing a shirt with YunHo’s name and face on it. YooChun's "I really wanna touch myself" got a lot of screams, as expected. JunSu slid on the stage floor on his knees when he sang the ggeuti anirago malhae jweo line. Dramatic, but boy, he knows how to work the stage.

Balloons: After Purple Line they went backstage, and Brian asked us if we wanted an encore, so of course we started chanting "Encore! Encore!" and then the intro to Balloons came, and then the boys came out with SNSD and Super Junior T. Brian joined them, too. I couldn't hear ChangMin in the beginning of the song; I think his mic went out or the volume was really low. And when he was talking to SungMin and Yehsung, he almost missed his part. No HyukSu nor Horella moments. In fact I did not see HyukJae or HeeChul at all during this part.

During the talk part, YunHo yelled, "Say Dong Bang! Say Shin Ki! Say Dong Bang Shin Ki!” I think he did that two or three times, then “Everybody screaaam!” and then, "Are you ready!?" Leader-sshi, such a dork.

JaeJoong got the loudest screams when they were introducing themselves individually.

YooChun did not say anything in English. I was hoping he'd say something, maybe introduce himself in English, but all he said was "Yeah!"

They sang three or four songs at the end. One of them was Let’s Go On a Holiday! JunSu stood with SNSD and HeeJun, YunHo was everywhere, while JaeMinChun were on the right side together. Sometimes Yehsung, or one of the Suju T would come over, and then leave. But the three DBSK members stayed on that side until the very end. JaeJoong had his arms around ChangMin (shoulders, waist, back), while singing. ChangMin was just happily clapping along. Then he probably found something amusing in the audience because he was pointing and laughing and told JaeJoong something.

All in all, it was a great concert, and definitely a great way to have spent my weekend, especially after finals week. Last year may have the best line-up of performers, but this one has the biggest crowd. There were a lot of DBSK fans, but sad to say that I did not get to meet any of them because I stayed with my friends the whole time. I think I only took three or four fancams of DBSK and all of them are ChangMin-centric, but I tried to get all of the boys a much as possible.

I did not like taking fancams because it's so different watching what's going on onstage instead of watching them on the LCD of your camera. So, after taking a very short fancam of Rising Sun, I put it down and watched the stage instead. Still, I managed to capture some moments, but I'm sure a lot of people have better fancams. I don’t know if I’d be able to put them up this week, but I’ll try.

Miscellaneous things:

-the ladies at the TVXQ Sea of Red Project booth were really nice. I was having a hard time tying the strings to my glowsticks (I was holding a gazillion of free stuffs in my hands), and one offered to do it for me.

-a JunSu fanboy wearing his shirt proudly.

-cute girl wearing a red shirt that says ChangMin is my Rising God of the East. Oh baby!

-a lady wearing a MAX tiara on her head

-so many JaeJoong/ChangMin/YunHo glowsticks.

- When DBSK was performing Purple Line, I was spinning a red glowstick when the little cap at the end snapped from the string, and it flew and hit someone. So if you were that person, I apologize.