It's my first time purchasing a VIP equivalent ticket which happens to be a standing zone. I spent RM1,060 on a Soundcheck ticket (the most expensive ticket) during pre-sale and tbh, I wouldn't have chosen this ticket if it weren't for the venue. 

The original venue, MIECC, is literally a hall. Seating zone is too far for my liking, especially since it is a vertically long hall than horizontal. I don't want to see ants. 

But after they announced that the venue is changed from MIECC to Axiata Arena, I was glad but also I did consider to buy a seating zone instead.

During ticketing, I was super lucky that my laptop could access the website almost immediately which causes me to secure that ticket in less than 2 minutes. I secured the ticket in just 1 minute 33 seconds to be exact! I had never experienced such smooth transaction before, it was super unreal!! I could sense that my luck has been really good since the start.

Bcos I secured quiet fast, my queue number was in the 20s which is even more surreal!

So skip to d-day, I went alone. I arrived early and redeemed my lanyards and passes by around 11am. Although I was alone, I didn't felt like I was at all. While queuing to take a picture in front of the concert banner, I talked to the girl in front of me, while queuing to redeem the benefits, I make friends with this girl from Sabah and while eating my bento box provided by the organizer, I made friends with these 2 lovely sisters who I ended up hanging out before and after the concert with. We were even in the same group for group photo with iKON!

I had so much fun bcos of them and I'm so glad Malaysian iKONICS were so nice and understanding.

It was raining that morning and it didn't stop until about 12pm. At around noon, the sun was scorching hot and things started getting tense between the fans and organizer especially when there was no clear instructions provided on how they want to organize both Soundcheck and Hi-Bye ticket holders, especially because we are entering from the same entrance.

Not to mention, the wristband that we redeemed had no numbers written whatsoever so we are pretty much expected to organize ourselves. We later found out that some Japanese iKONICS decided to fake their queue numbers and this honestly wouldn't have happened if the organizers simply write our queue numbers on the wristband themselves instead of fully trusting it on us. They are so annoyingly dumb.

Everything was so terribly managed. I even remember going up to the crews and giving suggestions to make us queue by our queue number in ranges first since at that time, all of us are randomly queuing. I have no idea what they were thinking. They were delaying on giving instructions and there were like hundreds of us. Every single crew and security there were so clueless and useless af. They're worse than high school event organizers.

When they finally decided to announce the time for us to get in queue, only then everyone else started moving away from the sun and wait in the shade. I was literally a shade darker when I got home. All their fault.

Then when it's time to queue, the security guard had the audacity to simply shout the instructions when they could've used the mic that THEY previously set up. They had speakers and all but they can't use it?? I was super pissed that I screamed "Tak dengar! Pakai mic! Orang belakang tak dengar!" and then I can hear some other fans joining me. At the same time, someone else screamed "English please!" bcos they were speaking in Malay only. Padan muka kena sound.

After that only they brought out their fancy megaphones. Thank God. I swear I feel like I can do a much much better job at organizing the crowd than any of the staffs there can.

At around 5.08pm (tentatively it should've been 5pm), they started opening the gate. I only had a Uniqlo bag on me which I stuffed everything in, so it was really quick security check on my end. I tried to pack lightly as I know from experience that bringing too much stuff to a concert can get super inconvenient especially at standing zone. I even refrained myself from collecting freebies just so that I don't have to carry extra stuff around.

I did my research on where my bias mostly go and I decided to go towards the left side near the extended stage. Well, lowkey hated that spot bcos my prediction was all wrong. Chanwoo (my bias) mainly go to the left side of main stage AND the right side near the extended stage. He also prefer to interact with fans towards his front than his back which is where I was (maybe just for that day)! 

I chose a spot near the extended stage and instead of going for the front view, I chose the back view of the extended stage. Reason being is I wanted a good view of the main stage and I was scared if I stand on the front part of the extended stage, I won't be able to see the main stage if the stage is too tall for me. And the reason I preferred the extended stage is bcos of fan interactions. A lot of times idols do fan service at the extended stage more than the main stage, so I was really tryna get some Y/N moments. Isn't that what being at barricade all about? Lol.

For soundcheck, at first, the security told us that we are not allowed to record during soundcheck. I actually didn't mind bcos I know it's pretty normal since I've experienced soundcheck before (blogged about it here). I figured that I can record as much as I want during the concert. 

Well, that was what I thought UNTIL Chanwoo decided to notice me and returned my half heart pose and I didn't get to record any of it?! 

He saw the banner that I made and reacted to it. As soon as I noticed his reaction, I tried my luck with a half heart and he completed that heart! I bet my eyes were at its widest cos I was damn shook at that time. The girl behind me was literally tapping my shoulder and cheering for me when he did that HAHA. It was so funny and unexpected.

I was so happy to get noticed by my bias!! It was literally dream come true weh. But the sad part was, there was no way for me to rewatch that precious moment again. It felt like I just lost such a great opportunity, especially when the security secretly allowed us to record moments after it happened.

When I started to record, Yunhyeong came to my side and I did the trick I learned during my previous barricade experience, which is to flip my phone camera and show it to the idol on stage. It's what fans do for the idols to look at themselves like looking at the mirror, and indirectly fans get to have a closeup fancam of their fav idol. 

Yes, that's what years of concert experience teaches me haha.

They sang 3 songs during the soundcheck which is Love Scenario, Tantara and Rhythm Ta.

After soundcheck ended, we stayed inside the standing zone for the remaining hour and a half before the concert begins. All of us sat down after soundcheck. While we were still seated, I decided to get ready for Maghrib prayer. I left my spot at the barricade leaving behind my bag and stuff. I told the girl behind me that I wanted to go pray and told her to help secure my spot.

Then when I got back, it was 7.45pm, show time is at 8pm. The standing zone was getting really crowded. I was so worried that I couldn't find my spot back or that the crowd aren't gonna let me pass through. When I was looking through the crowd to know where to squeeze in, I literally couldn't see the stage. Just imagining me standing at the back made me super grateful that I got barricade this time around.

After finally squeezing through, I was really grateful that the girl and some of the girls around my spot were still seated while everybody else have stood up with the crowd. It was literally just my area that was still sitting when I came back. I was so touched cos I feel like they were trying to make sure that my spot did not get taken (or it could be that they were waiting for their other friends idk). I felt like it's such a rare occasion for this to happen. Nevertheless, I feel so blessed for having the people I met there.

Throughout the whole concert, my view was amazing. I got a good view of the main stage which to me was all that mattered. When it comes to the extended stage performances, although I mostly get butt views, I still get to admire them irl bcos the stage and the barricade were sooo close.

If I had to be picky, butt views is really hit and miss for your fancams. Most of the time you don't get to see their faces when they're singing. There are times they sing at an angle so you'll get a good view then, but not as often. The interactions however was really nice bcos some members do try to make sure they go to each corner of the extended stage. 

But keep in mind, some of them *cough* Chanwoo *cough* don't really like looking down at the crowd. So most of the time, they look at your direction but not at you down there, if that makes sense. To me who is right at their feet, I was very annoyed, but I get that some fans at the back and above would be dying for them to do that more lol.

Ngl I was very disappointed that Chanwoo did not come to my side almost at all during the concert. I get so jealous of the people at the front right side cos they are so blessed with good Chanwoo fancams and then there's me struggling to get even the slightest bit of his attention.

Despite that, I am very very blessed with other interactions bcos not only did Junhoe looked at my camera, I get to be in a selfie with Yunhyeong and DK! My luck was at its all time high that night. I actually didn't realize I caught Junhoe on my fancam until I went through all my fancams again.

Since the selfie with Yunhyeong was a group selfie taken using a Thai fan's phone, I didn't think I was gonna find it. Plus, I didn't know that I was even in it since that fan told me that she wasn't in, and I simply assumed that I wasn't too. Until I found her video on Twitter and found myself in it - although very briefly. All that matters is the phone quality was very crisp.

I remembered when Yunhyeong came to our side and crouch down to grab the girl's phone, I actually did not register what was happening fast enough. All I remembered was I was being squished on both sides bcos everyone wanted to hand over their phones to Yunhyeong, before I could even react.

As soon as I notice him holding the phone up to record a selfie, I immediately stop looking at my own recording and looked up just before he put the phone down. Or else you're gonna see me just staring at him through my phone and I'm gonna hate myself for the rest of my life lmao.

The selfie with DK was the most luckiest moment imo. Since I was standing near the stairs, I saw Bobby and Yunhyeong coming up from there, but they didn't actually walk past me. I didn't know anyone else came down, until I saw their manager running across. 

From what I notice, whenever that manager run past, it usually means that something was up. Not long after, I instinctively turned to my right and I saw the back of multiple people like the security and manager walking backward towards me. It was DK coming. Immediately I prepared to turn my camera to selfie mode and hold it up.

I was simply hoping that I can get a shot of DK passing by while having me in the frame, but little did I expect, he freaking STOP AND POSE for my camera. Tbh I didn't get to look away from my phone and look at him in person, since I was focused on my shot but bruh, I was speechless. This is the second time the girl behind me tapped and cheered at my back HAHA. She literally witnessed all my luck being used that night.

Then after concert ended, I still have group photo and hi-bye session. For the group photo, it was also unorganized but I ended up with this bunch of Japanese fans. They were the same fans who faked the queue number mentioned earlier. Buat malu kaum je. Now my picture with iKON is tainted with their faces.

Anyway, my group was the first group to go up. I actually planned to write smtg on my hand that says "Cool Changu (Changu is Chanwoo's fandom name)" in Korean. I was so proud writing that in hope I get to be near Chanwoo during the photo session. Unfortunately, not only did he sit on the other end, but I also realized few days later that I spelled "Changu" wrongly... I held up that hand and took a picture with those wrong spelling, but thank God the writing was covered by Yunhyeong's hair!

I remember how I could literally breathe in DK's hair (there was literally no smell tho haha) bcos I was so close eek. The friends I was with gave me so much space with DK and Yunhyeong huhu forever grateful

I noticed later that fans were giving them gifts before and after taking the group photo and they accepted it. I didn't know that we can do that. I wanted to give a letter that I wrote to Chanwoo. So I told myself I'm gonna do it if I have the chance during hi-bye.

Lastly for hi-bye, it was as messy as it can even get. None of the crews have any idea how it was gonna be. All iKON members were already so tired and all organizer care about is preventing fans from recording the whole thing. I tried to record the hi-bye during my turn using the action camera that I sneaked in, but I chickened out on pointing at the members so you can only hear the audio which was pretty useless since you only hear MY voice.

But during hi-bye, I actually managed to pass the letter that I wrote to Chanwoo. As soon as I saw them lining up, the first person was Chanwoo, so I went straight up to him and said "Chanwoo-ya". I remember locking eyes with him as he came forward reaching out to take it. There was a bit of a distance and all of them was actually standing behind a barricade. 

Then after he took the letter, I simply said "Kamsahamnida" and ran to catch up with my friends. I didn't even notice the other members cos I was so shy after giving the letter to Chanwoo. All I remembered was Bobby is the last member. Everything else was a blur.

Thank God someone recorded and posted on Tiktok so now I know who is beside Chanwoo and how is the arrangement. Basically when I called Chanwoo, I felt like the member beside him was looking at me, at that time I didn't know who. But upon seeing the video, I realized it was Yunhyeong. I swear Yunhyeong made me feel really good about myself. He just notices me.

Beside Yunhyeong was Junhoe, followed by DK and Bobby. True enough Bobby was the last member. I also noticed that DK during soundcheck and hi-bye wasn't really energetic as I expected. He was very quiet and a little sulky for some reason. But only during those times tho, during concert, he was LIT af.

After everything ended, I had to redeem the signed polaroid that I won from the redemption counter. I was praying to get Chanwoo and unfortunately I got Junhoe. It was so annoying bcos the 2 people in front of me both got Chanwoo but they didn't wanna trade bcos they wanted Bobby or Yunhyeong which I didn't have. Later I ended up trading the Junhoe that I got with DK bcos there's a girl who really wanted Junhoe and I figured, at least one of us should be happy so I gave in. It was the same girl who secured my spot when I went to pray. Felt like I wanted to repay her in a way. Also bcos I like DK a liiitle more than Junhoe. Other than Chanwoo, I swear I love them all almost equally!

Anyway, as you can tell from reading this, the night was so long yet so much fun. The memories from this night was so precious and eventhough the ticket was expensive, the whole benefit that I experienced definitely worth every sen. I don't think I could ask for more. Everything was so perfect. iKON was so perfect. Organizer... still shitty.

Few days after the concert, I received a message on Telegram with a video. It was from one of the girls who requested for my video with DK. I sent that video on Telegram on concert night. 

She said that someone told her to send this one video to me. I didn't know what video. I thought it was gonna be a different POV of me taking a selfie with DK but turns out... it was the video of Chanwoo giving me the half heart! The memory I thought nobody caught on tape suddenly appeared. 

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I WAS OMG!!! Finally the one time Chanwoo noticed me, someone gave me a proof that it happened. Even better that I can clearly see him reacting to my banner. This video alone literally made my day. Everything else was sprinkle BUT THIS was the cherry on top for me!

This is the banner I made for Chanwoo to get his attention. Nothing fancy

And he noticed me! I just HAD to make this as my lockscreen!

 

People are just so nice. MYiKONICS, y'all are the nicest bunch of people I've ever met! Love you guys so much ahhh

Here are some friends I made that day;

That has been everything that happened. I hope you enjoyed reading my experience. Praying you'll experience a barricade at least once in your life too hehe. Thanks for reading.

Dropping by,