Febuary 25, 2025

The first time I ever heard of SHINee (which I thought was pronounced as shine) was on the MySpace bulletin boards around their debut. Fast forward to now, anxiously trying to find how to get to my last-minute upgraded seats. Thank you, Kia Forum; you have no maps or directions anywhere! It’s been a long time coming. My upgraded seats may be closer to Godmin, but I failed to remember that we are short as hell, 5 feet and less than 5 feet. I swapped my almost nosebleeds for floor and even if there were seats, everyone was standing up and filming, much to my millennial annoyance. O. was standing on the chair so they could see some. I had to be on my tiptoes in front of a lady with a giant hat… It didn’t matter; the songs reverberated through my heart, his voice heated my face, and the unity and love given and got was equal and beautiful. To share such a tender and intimate display of fandom, fanaticism, excitement, and bittersweetness with 13k people was MOVING. I could hear conversations of other Shawols, how they waited for Taemin for so many years. People younger and older than I. 3 generations of ladies all there pumping their lightsticks in tune to music. Ugh, I love to see people love things, people, and music! It was just as enjoyable as the show! Humanity! Oh, and the performance was great, duh! Taemin was real, yes, I already know this and treat him as such, but he was real IN FRONT OF ME, in the flesh, breathing the warm LA air with me! A few feet away. He was small, pale, and so beautiful. Pictures and film do not do him justice. His real beauty was his grace, his shyness, his sincerity, his smile, and his laughter. Oh Taemin the mortal man! I love you so fucking much! Seeing him smile, genuinely, at us singing, except during one song because a lot of us don’t know Korean, soz babe, the fan project, which was beautiful banners and a video, sent me straight to heaven. It’s nice to know and see him receive so much love in return for the years of entertainment we have received. Payback! Anyways, my life is forever changed, and I can’t wait to see him again, hopefully closer or with large NY DOLLS-style platforms. I will always wait for you, Taemin! Set list, can you believe I HEARD DANGER?????

picdump:

tags:

personal, picdump, concerts, kpop