Same boat as you, and here’s what I can tell you after seeing them:

You know how most rock concerts there can be a stigma against wearing the band’s shirt? Like a, “Don’t be that dude, that’s lame” type of attitude? Complete opposite for K-pop!

Wear that BLACKPINK shirt! Wave that lightstick proudly! Get all the accessories. DANCE. Dress up as your favorite girl from your favorite music video (if you’re a girl ofc). Show off everything BLACKPINK about you! If not, that’s totally fine too!

The vibe is so much friendlier and more fun, and fans are beyond ecstatic about the girls. The moment they hit the stage was magic (even though we were climbing to our seats lol) and the cheers continued each time each girl was on screen. Just an ocean of pink lights across 70,000 fans. That was my experience in LA and I’ll never forget it.

Just have the most fun ever without a care in the world! No one judges, no one cares; they’re all there for the girls!

Also there’s no opening act, and merch lines can be lonnnng, so get there early!!!!

keep in mind the crowd will likely be younger than a metal show.

each of the girls will have a solo stage, please cheer for them equally!!

you might be in a section with some people more focused on recording the show for content rather than enjoying it. these people are buzzkills and you should just ignore them.

lastly, have fun and get a lightstick if your budget allows!!

People are friendly, you'll be ok.

As a side note, if you're taking pics or recording, please remember that you'll block the view of the people behind you if you have your hands up with your phone/camera. So try to keep that to a minimum. Plenty of people don't respect that but it should be common sense.

Get a light stick if you can! The blackpink specific one. It's such a vibe at a k pop concert.

As someone who used to go to a lot of rock and metal shows, people at kpop shows are much nicer and less drunk haha.

Just have fun. Expect everyone to stand up during the show. There aren't any openers and the show will last 2-2.5 hours.

The cheering will be LOUD. Much more loud than any rock show ever will be lol.

Get a lightstick to remember the show by!

this is the correct answer, beautifully articulated. analysing the situation and reading the room should be the first thing one does in this scenario. just wanted to add my own two cents here to further build on your point.

if one does choose to approach and say hello, keep it calm, keep it very brief, and as inconspicuous as humanly possible. if they are not working, don’t turn a personal outing into an unpaid work event for them (because yes, while they appreciate their fans, fan meets and fan calls are things they get paid to do). that means no pictures, no filming, no screaming, no autographs, no posting their whereabouts. do not treat them any differently than you’d treat a stranger whom you’d greet or compliment in passing.

if you are not capable of respecting them as a human being and not an object, which means abiding by these very common sense rules, you should not approach them at all.

(edited to fix some wording & grammar)

I don’t think just greeting them is a problem, not all fans can afford paying hundreds for fansigns or concerts

Edit: I didn’t mean you can go ask them for anything like the things you pay for. I meant that you could just say hi…

Sometimes you can't tell, especially in public. A lot of groups film vlogs when they're out touring in different countries. I've seen vlogs of aespa and itzy members trying to interact with fans who are hesitant to talk to them, it's so cute

I don't think there's anything wrong with saying hello if you recognise them somewhere but it depends on the situation and where you see them. One thing I would say is to be mindful of their location, I see so many fans running to social media to post about meeting/seeing idols and fans asking for the location. If you do want to say something I'd wait until the next day or even until they leave your city/country before sharing, it's just safer and respecting their privacy which they deserve.

I think it depends on the situation AND the idol. I feel like some idols would want to recognised, but others might just want to get on with their day. Because of both possibilities, I don't think I could ever do anything more than watch them from a 1000km radius :)

I don't think i'd see an idol walking around moscow randomly, but if I did, I would probably try to check if greeting them would be interrupting or disturbing them first. Not that i'd be able to manage a hi without dissolving into thin air lol

Totally this. Treat them like a person and read the room. Sometimes they want to be left alone and sometimes they’re open to meeting fans and appreciate the gesture. Check the vibe and if it’s the latter just express your appreciation while respecting their space.

Anecdotally a personal hero was like, randomly standing around when I was at Comic Con and I was like “would I be bothering them?” but seemed like he wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere so figured I’d shoot my shot and say hi & thanks and ended up having an actual conversation. Moreover, a year or so later he remembered me (as in, recalled specific details of the conversation) which floored me.

So yeah, you never know. That human connection can go a long way, emphasis on the “human” part of it.

I watched J-Hope on a Korean TV show and he was in L.A where he was shopping and fans politely asked to take a picture 

Fun fact: most people who dress up at concert in SK are foreigners. You will be fine though cos there are many foreigners there and Korean people are aware of that and don’t really care. Everyone minds their own business so you won’t feel out of place. Have fun!

From my experience going to concerts in Korea while I was studying abroad, many Korean fans don’t really dress up to attend concerts. They just show up in regular clothes and prefer to bring the lightstick and pickets. Me and a bunch of international people I met at a skz concert there were dressed up cuz we find it fun but we saw a lot of fans just in jeans and a sweater basically. Although sometimes the artists will give a dress code like a color and then you’ll see people more cohesive. Like I went to see ftisland and there’s kind of an unspoken dress code of wearing their color yellow so everyone just did it. But especially for things like sbs gayo daejeon that has multiple artists and is quite long, people just dress comfortably. I really don’t think you’ve upset anyone because a lot of people aren’t really paying attention and care more about their individual experiences. They already will know you’re a foreigner and might have some opinions but they’ll keep it to themselves. I’m also white if that makes a difference, and I never had anyone say anything to me. It’s just a different culture.

u can do what u want lol even if theres a “dresscode” for korea events you dont need to follow it. so long as u dont wear anything overly offensive u’ll be fine

I don’t know what you did wrong to be honest. They even write online that there is no specific dress code, but they suggest you wear casual clothes.

Some concert etiquette guidelines:

• Phones, posters, lightsticks, etc. should not be held more than one foot in front of you and no higher than your forehead. Remove all cellphone topper charms during the show as well.

• Respect the concert culture of the country you are attending a concert in, and keep the concert culture in mind when purchasing a ticket. If it’s a country where the majority is sitting, expect to sit. If it is a country where majority is standing, expect to be surrounded by people standing.

I would add, if you’re ill, stay at home. Or at the very bare minimum, mask up.

I went to see Ateez in Manchester and so many people were ill afterwards because a select few went knowing they had flu / covid. And admitted so afterwards on social media

I get that it would be massively disappointing to miss out - but… so selfish

u reminded me of another point i wanna make omg 😭

i get that people get excited when they do ments but like SCREAMING while they are talking and not letting them talk gets real annoying sometimes like ok scream when they firsr appear then let them talk 😀

during one of the events i attended, because of the excessive screaming, it made it seem that the crowd disrupted another member's ment huhu

I feel like I can't comment, I am someone who thinks even having your phone out is annoying. You paid often 100s of $$ to go stare at your favorites through your phone.. "Oh but the memories" No. Respect those around you, the world doesn't revolve around you (You could use this saying against 99% of kpop fans tbh) 100s of people having their phones out vying for a spot in front of each other is dumb.

Your idol would much prefer when looking around to see faces, not phones and flashlights. Especially if they are doing any sort of walking around the crowd that some events allow. At that point, they are putting a show on for the camera, not for you.

I get why IU has rules about phones. Everyone is mature and gets to enjoy it together.

I always cheer for the event staff too. Is that wrong?

omg at my first concert I was doing that for the first few seconds of the songs without realizing cause I love the songs sm lmaoooo and I do that at home, but I caught myself immediately both times and stopped😭 was sooooo embarrassing

Well mot screaming but singing really loud and passionately lmao

If that happens I wouldn’t hesitate to scold them. Wtf.

there are many people who share accounts of their conversations at fansigns on twitter. if you search "fansign" on twitter there will be some from recent fansigns. for example, here is a thread of translated fan accounts that fans shared about taeil from nct from a fansign that happened today. the fans usually ask the idols questions about them/other members/stuff that happened recently, ask for music recommendations, compliment the idols, ask them to say/write down something that will cheer the fans on, etc

Oh god, I went to a fan sign once, and I had practiced saying "Come back again!" (또 와주세요!) in Korean to thank them for coming out to my city, but I got tongue-tied and just said "Help me!" (도와주세요!) which is pretty similar in pronunciation. He was SO CONFUSED.

If you’re Eunji from Apink you scold and physically beat your fans for ditching school.

https://youtu.be/G5g0YwpC_Xw

I planned out what I was going to say at a Twice hi-touch. Didnt matter, Jihyo smiled and said hi, and my brain went "alright have fun! I'll meet you at the end of the stage!" And everything came out as "hi"

Well i for one would be too nervous and starstruck to form a sentence. So id mumble incoherently for a few moments and then walk away thinking it was a fantastic experience.

so, i did this for my b1a4 fansign. i wrote my post-it notes beforehand and when i went, i was told no post it notes allowed so i blanked out. twas great.

Personal experience: freaked out when Ren asked me something and I didn’t hear and answered something completely nonsensical. Asked Aron about tips for learning Korean faster as my mind blanked out on everything I had planned to say. Tried to tell JR that I wanted him to draw me an onibugi because I have his onibugis as discord and twitter profile images and a personal one would mean so much to me, then completely blanking our when he held my hand while drawing. Trying to say something to Baekho and then seeing a video of it online afterwards of him looking extremely confused and saving the situation by giving me a high five.
I don’t think anyone I’ve talked to that has been to a fansign has managed to be coherent enough for a proper conversation. Maybe the fansites who see them more often get used to it enough for conversations, but my personal experience was being too star struck and overwhelmed seeing them.

The Melbourne show tonight was just as bad. I had to leave early because there were quite a few people nearby with with blood-curdling screams (at all times) and another guy who kept screaming at the members while they were talking. I hope that concert etiquette hasn't left for good. 

the chicago show went pretty well, but i am sure someone has videos of the times when they were trying to talk and were being screamed over. keeho even said something like “who was that?” to try to make a joke of it because they were so loud. it sucked too because every time soul or jseob tried to talk they had to keep starting over. like english is already their second/third language, and they’re performing right now, i can’t imagine how much more stress those fans add !!!

Ikr ! The girl who was screaming was standing RIGHT BEHIND ME. She was nearly screaming the whole time but I didn’t have the guts to tell her to calm down but she was deafening me. It was my first concert too so I didn’t know if it was inappropriate to scream all the time I just assumed that it was normal.

i went to their houston show and there were girls behind me doing the same thing plus yelling at soul to speak ????? just obnoxious and rude.

Now that I read this post and those comments, I’m starting to think that Macau’s concert wasn’t that bad….

Fan meetings and fansigns are two different things, so let me explain that.

A fan meeting is typically like a mini-concert/social event where the group talks to their fans while performing songs and playing games. Its a pretty relaxed environment in comparison to a full concert.You buy a ticket and you get in. Fan meetings don't typically have the audience talk with the idols.

A fansign is where fans buy albums and hopefully get into the fansign. You will then interact directly with the idols in your group and you'll receive a signed album out of it.

tl:dr You will not interact with the idols during a fan meeting but you will with a fan signing.

Fansigns are much more expensive to get into because they require you purchasing a large amount of albums. Online fansigns are taking place, but they are extremely expensive because the pool of applicants is much larger (people around the world vs people in Korea) and due to the shipping of the albums. If you're buying like 25 albums, it can easily cost you like $200+ USD in shipping.

Fan meetings are kind of like concerts, except there's less songs and more fu segments where groups play some random games or interact with fans (on online fansigns they might read some comments, or video call fans who have been chosen beforehand after applying for example).

I think you're confusing fan meetings with fansign events - you get to video call idols during fansigns and you apply by buying their albums.

1. Drink Water.
2. Wear weather-appropriate and comfortable clothing.
3. Drink something with electrolytes (Gatorade or Powerade are usual go-tos).
4. Have hearing protection. (Can be too loud even for outdoor concert.)
5. Wear sun protection.
6. Have a rain jacket/poncho in case of rain.
7. Drink Water.
8. Get there really early if you want to buy any merch.
9. Be courteous to those around you.
10. Don’t throw anything.
11. Have fun and enjoy the show.
12. Drink Water.

 

This thread has several fanchants.

Going to my 3rd BP concert during this upcoming tour. I am generally not a live music person and not the most common demographic for their shows.

All that being said, I don’t see a ton of people doing specific chants. Just have a positive attitude, get a light stick from the merch booth before the show, and have fun!

Oh, and don’t scream out the words to all the songs. Singing along is fine, expected, and good! But screaming takes away the fun for others

Does anyone know how much earlier to come for the merch if the concert starts at 8pm? It’s my first time going to a BP concert too

It's been mentioned, but not nearly stressed enough: bring concert grade ear protection.

Regarding how to conduct yourselves, just follow those around you and you'll be fine. Also, you'll likely spend quite a bit of time standing so be prepared for that.

Last time I saw BP was also a stadium show in the summer - make sure you’re prepped for the heat. Saw more than a few people taken away by medical personnel due to heat issues.

Otherwise, just have fun! My greatest kpop concert experience was a BP one - it starts raining just when they start singing “Lovesick Girls”. BP was “why not” and they just walk right out into the rain while continuing to perform. It was just awesomely freeing to be vibing to the music, waving the light stick, wiping rain from your eyes while the crowd around you goes nuts.

usually a group will post all the info on their website (: they‘ll post a time period during which fans can purchase albums and also where to buy the albums to enter the raffle to join the fansigns!

i think it‘d be the same for txt!

so you‘d have to check txt‘s website to see if they‘re doing a fansign and when and where you can buy albums to enter the raffle!! if you have some friends who want albums it’s a good idea to make a deal where you‘ll buy albums for them in that store and get money back later from them (:

then you don’t have to spend so much money on trying to get in!! (or you‘ll just sell the albums later!) good luck ♡

Do you mean fansign? Fanmeets are more like concerts but with more talking, and if that’s what you’re looking for NU’EST have a fanmeet this weekend that’s on sale for 55k won/ticket.

But if you mean the personal sign sessions with limited attendance, then it’s fansigns you’re looking for. This twitter lists all fansigns in Seoul. But be prepared that the chances of getting into a fansign for a popular group is low, unless you buy like 100 albums (BTS, EXO, Seventeen are probably more). So it’s a huge investment.