I didn’t get a chance to tell everyone how the BTS concert went.
I have to go on record that the month leading up to the flight was super stressful. We flew with Southwest and two weeks before our flight, they were having staffing issues. They even had a weekend where they canceled hundreds of flights and people were stranded. Then the Monday the week before our flight, it happened again. Granted, on a smaller scale. Southwest was having issues. So, in the weeks leading up to the concert, it was hard for me to get excited because I was preparing for the worst.
Luckily, the flights went smoothly and on November 30th, we flew from Austin, Texas and landed in Los Angeles without issue. Well, except for my blood sugar dropping so low on our layover in Denver that it didn’t even read a number. But, I didn’t die and Starbucks saved me.
Once we landed, the excitement hit me like a ton of bricks. I was actually there. We checked into the hotel, and it was pretty nice. It was outside the entrance to LAX, so it made it easy to catch shuttles between the airport and the hotel. That night, we went to dinner with Casey’s sister and her husband. It was nice to see them again and visit. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted. We spent a whole day traveling and catching up that we were ready for bed.
We woke up the next morning pretty early. We didn’t want to take an Uber anywhere, so we opted to eat breakfast at the hotel. Of course, it was super expensive but worth it. It was actually pretty good. We headed to the venue around 8:00 a.m. You may or may not know that it is a straight-up battle to get BTS merchandise. The lines last ALL day. You have to get there before the concert, or you won’t get much of anything as they sell out pretty quick. I didn’t want anything other than an Army bomb for me and Casey.
When we arrived, this was the line. See the tent and port-a-potties on the left side of the screen. Yeah, that wasn’t the merch tents. The merch tents were beyond that tent with roughly 20 wrapped around lines. It was a sea of people. Luckily, we were able to get to the express booth that only sold the Army bombs. While waiting in line, fans were passing out goodie bags that they made on their own. A fan gave me this bag with a bracelet for J. Hope and a Jimin photocard with a purple mask. It also had candy on the other side of the bag. Another fan bought A WHOLE BOX of albums and passed them out for free. ARMY gets a bad wrap, but honestly, you will never meet a more generous group of fans.
When we FINALLY got through the line after two-and-a-half hours, we were proud owners of Army Bombs! If you don’t know what an Army Bomb is, it is a lightstick that syncs with the concert through an app. The lights are coordinated to go with the music to create waves of color and it is an amazing experience.
We then arranged for transport back to our hotel to rest for a while. I took a short nap. After a few hours of resting, we took an Uber back to the venue. We decided to stop by Panda Express outside the venue to eat some dinner. We sat next to a family. We couldn’t tell their nationality and didn’t recognize their language, but the matriarch was carrying a bag from Narita airport. That means, they flew through Japan to catch this concert. There were people from all over the world. There were so many different languages. One of our Uber drivers said he drove some fans that were from South America.
Researching the prior concerts, it was clear that it took roughly two hours to get into the venue. They were checking vaccine cards, so that slowed the process quite a bit. We got in line about 6 p.m.
The sheer amount of people waiting to get into SoFi was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. After getting into SoFi, we quickly found our seats to be greeted by this:
Do I wish I had better seats? Yes. I was willing to pay the $450/ticket for the floor seats, but they sold out faster than you could say BTS. When it comes to their tickets, you get what you can get and don’t complain. My only regret was not taking enough pictures or video. That being said, I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I was living in the moment. I do wish I got a video of my husband enjoying himself and waving his lightstick. It was adorable.
It was one crazy ride. One that I am willing to do again. They put on the most amazing show. I will never forget this experience. I will always be part of ARMY.
Filthy Casual for Life 