Living in the SHINee World - SHINeeInChicago May 8 2016

Hi everyone! Hope you're stealing some sunshine today!

On that note, I have a story to share today, just my own little piece of sunshine. To set a little bit of a backdrop for this though, I refer to my last post about K-pop. As I briefly mentioned, I am a huge fan of K-pop, and with that, I'm an incredibly big fan of one particular group.

Who are they? Lee Jinki. Kim Jonghyun. Kim Kibum. Choi Minho. Lee Taemin. A.K.A. SHINee.

You might think they're nothing special, but they are to me. When I first got started in listening to K-pop, I quickly grew attached to one particular group of 5 men. Since they, I've firmly supported them in their endeavors. Not only are they lovely human beings, but they are incredibly talented in so many ways. Formed in 2008 by SM Entertainment, each member has gone on to not only perform as SHINee, but also have acted (both on TV and on stage), have sung in musicals, have performed as solo artists, and have written and composed music for other artists I recommend you go look them up if you're interested. I can promise you that you won't be disappointed.

As I found out in March that they would be coming to the United States to have a fanmeet (which is a mix of a concert and a fan engagement session - basically performances & games & Q&A all in one), I knew that I had to go. My two friends and I freaked out, rightly so, but we waited until they released more information. The event, hosted by +SubKulture Entertainment would be one night only - but it would be in Chicago at the beginning of May, which was a little further than we had anticipated.

But it's SHINee. So we knew we had to go.

Things worked in our favor. We ended up getting tickets, and we made our way to Chicago on the 8th of May 2016 to the Rosemont Theater in Chicago, IL...And here is where the real fun started.

SHINee Fanmeet in Chicago May 8 2016

To start off, I didn't take any photos or videos of SHINee at the fan meet, but if you search #SHINeeInChicago you're sure to find things. Watch them. They won't disappoint. To sum things up before they even began...it was worth every penny.

Outside the Rosemont Theater

We arrived at the theater at around 5pm, and the line had extended past pretty much around half of the building - luckily though, it was just people waiting to get into the theater since everyone had already bought their tickets. We met some pretty awesome people in line - from all over and of all ages. It was great to see that SHINee has such a diverse fan-base and it just goes to show how much influence and reach music can have, even if it's in another language.

Hunter, Keely & I in line.

It really brings people together, and I personally find that more amazing than a lot of things. :)

We waited until about 630 when they finally let us into the theater. Once inside, we found our seats. It didn't sink in that we were going to see one of my favorite bands until that moment. Literally 20 rows away. like 15 feet away).

While we sat there waiting for it to start, we found ourselves (along with everyone in the audience) singing to all the SHINee songs they were playing while people set up and guests filed in. I guarantee SHINee could hear us singing behind the stage, and I hope that it brought a smile to their face to see how many people knew and loved their music (and them).

They are so close...I was gonna die.

The fan-meet started a little bit after seven, and it kicked off with one of their popular songs called EVERYBODY. It was amazing. They had on dark black suits with gold lining and they looked so amazing. They are much more attractive in person. Also that choreo is intense as heck. Same with those vocals. One thing I do love about SHINee is that they have a reputation of singing live. And their vocals are the best thing I've ever heard in my life.

After they performed Everybody, they left the stage to change outfits, and our MC Martin came out, introduced himself, and was cracking up over how loud we were. Literally we were cheering at everything. He even said "I had eggs for breakfast" and we all cheered. I don't think he was expecting how loud we were. It was great. SHINee came back out, and did short introductions in English for us. Key (Kibum)'s English is amazing - he's improved so much and I love that he tries to communicate with us in our native language. What a sweetheart <3 Minho was having such a fun time - he was so cute and energetic when he was like "WHAT'S UP CHICAGO?" They then played a little video for SHINee of their fans (SHAWOLS) around the United States. It was really great to see how much SHINee means to others - and I actually think Jonghyun teared up a little bit seeing how much they have impacted others. Everytime someone in the video would introduce themselves, Minho, Jinki or Key, would say "Hi". There was a girl in the video who said "Jinki you're our MVP. Have some chicken with me?" and she brought out a chicken leg. Everyone cracked up. There was also a little boy at the end that said "SHINee I love you", and Minho (and the rest of them) thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Then Jonghyun & Taemin both talked about how they were shocked that we were all there supporting them. Taemin kept saying that because there are fans out here in the United States that it allows them to do things like this. Jonghyun was surprised how many different types of people there were. Everyone loves SHINee. Kibum asked us where we got our merchandise, since they don't sell stuff in US stores. After those little introductions, Martin the MC was like "Well everyone, SHINee would like to say hello to you."

That's when I promptly lost my crap and was fangirling like crazy. Hello is my favorite song by SHINee, and I wasn't expecting them to sing it, since it's not as popular as their other songs. Either way, Kibum asked us to sing along with him. We sang so loud, you could tell SHINee was impressed. Turns out that Jinki told us after they sang that they had to take out their earpieces since they couldn't hear the music in their ears cause we were so loud. Either way, it was a dream come true to see them perform Hello. It was amazing.

Then they came back out, sitting down, and they began a Q&A session. They looked so tired at that point as well.

Jinki was asked what it was like filming Descendants of the Sun - a drama he starred in. He said that he really appreciates the support he got from his fellow co-stars as well as his fans and that the support encouraged him to do his best. He was amazing considering it was his first acting role.

Taemin was asked which choreography he preffered from his solo albums - Drip Drop or Press Your Number. He, in English, said "I like Drip Drop cause it's sexy...more sexual dancing" and I cracked up. Martin the MC was like "I like Drip Drop too" and Taemin, being the little sass master he is, was like "show me". Sadly, Martin did not show us haha.

Jonghyun was asked if he had to do a collaboration with any of the members who he would pick. He gave a reason for each, though I didn't catch all of it. He clearly said that he wouldn't pick Minho because Minho would be acting all the time and performing and Jonghyun couldn't handle that.

Minho was asked which Hollywood actor he would like to act with. Kibum kept telling him to "say Jennifer". In English, he was like "My favorite actor is Brad Pitt." Martin was then like "Brad Pitt is the Hollywood Sex Icon, but who do you guys think is more attractive - Brad Pitt or Minho?" and we all said Minho. He got so embarrassed and covered his face and then gave a 90 degree bow. He's so cute.

Kibum was asked what his secret to good skin was. You could tell that the question bothered him a little bit more than people realized, but he handled it gracefully. He then said that "You know we do cosmetic CFs right? Use that". It was hilarious! He is so much more sassy in person.

The group was asked as well what their best moment during debut was. Jonghyun said that when they debuted he could see tears in all his members eyes. Kibum them called him a liar, and said "I didn't cry. Only you cried." Jonghyun called Kibum a liar, and Kibum was like "I didn't cry. I know I cry a lot, but I didn't cry then." Jonghyun just kept calling him a liar. Taemin then said that when they all lived together in one room, they would all be going to bed and everyone would yell "don't put your clothes there" or "don't eat that" or "your phone is going off so turn it off". He then was like "we don't live together anymore".

They also asked the group if they had to pick English names, what would they pick for themselves. Kibum, the sassy man, was like "My name Key is already in English" and then Jinki was like "Onew (his stage name) is also English." What an excuse haha. Taemin explained how he is Catholic and he has a Catholic name "Frances". Jonghyun asked us all what we called him, and a lot of us were like "Jjong" and one guy yelled out "SEXY". Martin was like "AHHH, SEXY but SEXee like SHINee." So Jonghyun is now SEXee. Minho couldn't pick one at first, and Martin was like "Brad?" and Minho got so embarrassed again.

After the Q&A, they decided to play charades with the fans. They split into teams of 5 (with 20 lucky fans) and each SHINee member was on each group. Minho had 2 70 year old women on his team so we called them to Youngest Team. Taemin was called the shortest team.

Charades was so funny to watch. Minho and Taemin are cheaters haha. Taemin had to act out "school items". I don't know how, but one girl got calculator. It was impressive. There was a point where the girl couldn't get what Taemin was acting out, and another girl tried to help her. Martin was like "no talking" and then Taemin promptly mouthed the word to his team member, but Jinki caught him since he was holding the mic for the girls.

Minho went next, and he had occupations. At first he was like "I have no idea what that is" mainly cause it was in English, but he figured it out. He pretended to shoot the audience as a cop, and sprayed water on us as a Firefighter. He pretended to walk in no gravity as an astronaut. It was hilarious. After he went, Martin was like "the girl was supposed to be focused on Minho but all she was doing was staring at Jinki.

Kibum went next. He had musical instruments. Minho and Taemin kept standing behind him acting out other instruments to distract the girls on his team. Apparently also, according to one of the girls, Kibum was supposed to act out trumpet, but he acted out trombone. Jonghyun, who was holding the mic this time for the girls, was like "They'll never get this because of Kibum's foolishness".

Jonghyun went next. He had movies. He pretended to be Iron Man, and his sound effects were amazing. He also had ET & Avatar. He also pretended to be a dinosaur and the girl couldn't get it. I was dying cause he was prancing around on stage like a dinosaur. His last one was Lion King but he didn't have enough time, and afterwards, Minho yelled out "AHHHHHH SAVENYAAAAAAAA!" and we all lost it. I was laughing so hard.

Jinki had animals. First off, he was so cute. He had to act like a sloth, a bunny, a giraffe, a penguin, a turtle, a tiger, and so on. When he acted out giraffe, he was running around the stage and it was so funny. The girl also apparently guessed tiger, but no one heard her and so she then started guessing other animals. At the end, Jinki went up to the MC and cutely yelled, "SHE SAID TIGER". So cute. 

Martin then announced how many points everyone got. Minho kept repeating him like "who won?" or "yeah, who's winner"? Jink & Minho got 9. Jonghyun & Kibum got 10. Minho was anxiously waiting for Taemin's score and when he found out Taemin got 12, he like almost collapsed to the ground, and was like "oh great, now I have to do the punishment'. He looked like a man who had just died. Taemin then passed out presents to his team members since they won. Minho apparently grabbed the ball that said his team number on it, went up to a girl on his team, and was like "please accept my ball" and Kibum was laughing so hard.

The punishment was "aegyo" which is basically super cutesy acting. Jonghyun sat on the ground and bounced like a little kid. Taemin sat next to him. Kibum was like "Oh I have to see this" or "I'm looking forward to this." He also kept yelling out "punishment, punishment". Martin kept saying they each (Minho & Jinki) had to act for 2 minutes, but luckily Minho got them to only do it for 10 seconds. Jonghyun was then like "yeoja chingu" and that means girlfriend, so they had to get their "angry girlfriend" to not be angry at them anymore.

Jinki did a lot of cute faces & tried to hug his non-existent girlfriend. At the end, he just acted cute and was like "how would I have done this for 2 minutes?" Then it was Minho's turn. He looked so upset that he had to do it, but he told Jinki to pretend to be his girlfriend. My word. Jinki was hilarious acting upset. The look on his face was priceless. Minho was like "You are very angry"...and then he like bounded over to Jinki pretending to be cute. He then was like leaning his head on his shoulder and then he grabbed Jinki and pretended to make out with his girlfriend. We were all laughing so much I had tears in my eyes.

At the end, Minho was like "how was it? good?" and Kibum stood and kept repeating "I expected too much". Oh my land, Kibum. He is so savage. It's great. Then they went backstage to change, and they played another video of their last tour in Japan while we waited.

They came out and performed their hit song Lucifer. Hunter was getting all into it, and it was amazing. Then they performed Replay - their debut song. Afterwards, they performed Keely's favorite song (and one of their hardest choreographies) which is Sherlock. Keely said it was "freaking cool". It really was. That dance is amazing. It's also one of the songs that got me into K-pop so it was amazing to see live.

They then left the stage again and played another behind the scenes video of their MV view. Afterwards, they came out and performed View, one of their more recent songs. It was even better live. Afterwards, they all stood on stage and were explaining how much fun they had tonight & how much they were amazed and shocked by how many fans they had in the United States. We all showed the 8th year anniversary banner fans had made, and they just stood there looking at the sea of aqua pearl & white & the banners. You could tell that it meant a lot that we had prepared something for them. Jonghyun took one of the banners from a fan in the front. I think he was teary-eyed. <3 They then said their goodbyes. 

SHINee's selfie. We're behind the purple Key sign on the left

This is where I got a little emotional. I didn't cry, but you could tell they wanted to slightly. Jinki and Jonghyun kept waving and were really cute. Minho told us in English that "you are so special to me" and I was a little choked up. You could tell at the beginning that they were really tired, but they each gave it their all. You could tell that they got so much energy from us and that it really meant a lot that we were there supporting them. Taemin asked if he could take a picture. Minho kept taking pictures of us on his phone as they said goodbye. But the tried to take a selfie with the audience but they couldn't get one, so they had the staff do it for us. 

Jinki, Jonghyun and Taemin then left the stage. Kibum and Minho kept walking back and forth on the stage. Minho kept saying "I love you" and Kibum was like "we'll come back soon." 

Kibum was the last one to leave, and he was like "I don't know how I can leave you guys now." It was really sweet. He left saying "We'll be back real soon. Thank you. I love you guys."

I couldn't move from my seat for like 10 minutes after that. My legs hurt. My arms hurt. My heart was full with so much joy. It was literally one of the best nights of my life. While I know some people don't care about SHINee or K-pop at all, they mean the world to me. Whenever I'm feeling down, SHINee is always there to cheer me up. Their music holds a special place in my heart, and always will.

So to sum this up, I would just like to say thank you. To +SubKulture Entertainment for putting this event together. I'd like to thank the staff at Rosemont for being amazing people and really kind and geniune. I'd like to thank Martin the MC for being hilarious and awesome. I'd really like to say thank you to the fan we met as well. It's great to bond over something with so many different people.

More importantly, I'd like to say thank you to my friend Keely for introducing me to these 5 amazing men. And I'd like to express my extreme love & gratitude towards +SHINee  for being themselves, teaching me to be myself, and for blessing the world with their talent and light. 

At the SHINeeInChicago FanMeet

I love you SHINee. Thank you.
Anyways, Alyssa out. Go steal some happiness. As for me, I'm gonna go listen to SHINee now <3