aespa

unfinished account of aespacon that’s been toiling in my drafts for months

i’d been anticipating seeing aespa since summer 24 when my tl was flooded with fancams from their asia leg and was pretty sure they were going to tour the US too. when it was announced i knew ticketing was going to be a bloodbath though and went back and forth about buying a weverse membership for the presale code, only to miss the deadline (plus i couldn’t actually figure out what the steps were…). luckily valinors graciously offered their code and i was able to snag a really good seat within my budget!! the $25 membership is more than worth it for presale imo. this view for $180 was a total steal.

i feel like i’m getting too old/tired to travel to new jersey for concerts though [guy who is 23], it’s just really stressful…i’ve only gone alone so there’s no one to share/mitigate the travel logistics with, the trip requires so many connections (esp because i have to drop my stuff off first at my friend’s place and can’t head straight to the concert venue), and the concerts i’ve been to have always been on a work day! i took time off for the second half of the day but still had to attend a work meeting on the amtrak and it was the WORST. i completely missed that i was in the quiet car which was my bad (i still spoke quietly because that’s my default on public transportation) but then this starbucks drinking white woman sat next to me and immediately narced on me to the train conductor while i was mid speech not even realizing what was going on. i apologized and tried to communicate with my coworkers that i needed to mute for the rest of the meeting but she kept yapping in my ear!!! and then we continued being seatmates until new york because i didn’t want to test my luck finding a seat elsewhere. picture me seething for 3 hours with the setlist blaring on loop through my airpods.

also my original trains were cancelled last minute because of the snow forecast so i had to scramble to reschedule them and shuffle around the work schedule i’d already set up to account for my travel plans. it ended up not being a big deal but i was anxious that my new trains were going to get cancelled too….i saw on r/aespa that some people ended up backing out of the newark show due to icy roads or were also dealing with train cancellations. i wasn’t able to get breakfast before the train because the subway took longer than expected and so i arrived at the station literally to ALL ABOARD on the display for my train with barely a minute to spare, literally as the conductor was stepping inside. i feel like as long as i’m in boston i likely won’t go to new york for concerts anymore unless i’m going with friends or it’s the IOI reunion or something….i will definitely go for itzy but that’s it…maybe dream too…and nmixx of course.

concert

the show started at 8 and i arrived at the venue at 6.30. i didn’t even have to look up directions from the PATH station lol i just followed the crowd wearing tech wear and pink hoodies. the bag and ticket check went smoothly; i wasn’t sure if prudential required clear bags (metlife did and i just carried all my stuff in the pockets of my cargo pants) so i bought one from amazon last minute and paid for overnight shipping. later i saw that crys had dm’ed to tell me that prudential only cares about bag sizes, so i would’ve been fine with my regular sling bag but it was a useful purchase regardless. i immediately lined up for merch which took SO LONG, by the time i paid for a shirt it was 7.45 and i had to buy food because i hadn’t gotten dinner. i got my $25 chicken tender meal set + uncapped bottled water literally at 7.59 and BOOKED IT when the opening notes of welcome to my world started playing. i wish it was part of the setlist because it’s such a gorgeous song, and with the blue lighting it felt like we were in an underwater planet lmao.

drama + black mamba + salty & sweet was an insane opening combo, yelling I’M THE DRAMAAAAAAAAA with the crowd gave me a head rush. the girls then came out for their first ment and giselle made a joke about being in “new york? new…wark?” and played up the audience which was very cute. during the next segment (mine + die trying + flights not feelings + better things) the audience was pretty muted though, prob because they’re lesser known songs and harder to sing along. the energy picked up during the solos; karina’s stage got the most reaction but my personal favorite was winter’s! i liked how they played with shadow + lighting for the white swan imagery and the choreo looked complex and interesting.

ningning: ningbao T_T

giselle: she was sooooo good at crowdwork

karina: miss yu jimin was so pretty

winter: KIM MINJEONGGGGGGGGGG ♡ why was she so handsome and charming and dressed in the cuntiest outfits T_T

WINTERRRRRR. when did she stop being hyperfocused blank faced cyborg assassin x manhwa ice prince…..fly high illusion era. i need to update my winter soldier winter pinterest board.

urghghhghhhh wish the crowd was more energetic, there weren’t a ton of lightsticks in the crowd.

setlist: i’m sad that they took out illusion, licorice, and REGRET OF THE FUCKING TIMESSSSS, and no savage/girls/welcome to my world too

i wish the stages had been more experimental, the sets were pretty boring. felt like they could’ve used holograms + lightwork. it was cool when they blew up the avatars during whiplash on the giant screens. with the techno/rave feel of some of their songs they could’ve done laser shows or something

in terms of concert experience i would rank loona 2022 > twice 2023 > aespa 2025, although this mostly has to do with the venue and crowd. i mean the capacities are so different…in order that’s palladium (2k), metlife (80k), and prudential (12k). damn loona was nugu as fuck.

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pasta strainer memory is real…i usually take a bunch of haphazard notes during the concert so i can recall what happened later after parsing through the random keysmashes. omg i considered going for vip but it was so expensive and i would’ve had to take the entire day off from work c_C i was refreshing twt for soundcheck clips the whole train ride there.

i think it was you who said that wtmw sounds like a jurassic park theme?? which was soo apt i felt the gates opening up for us #real. looking back i’m in even more disbelief that they didn’t perform some of their most hyped tracks in favor of fuck ass naevis and that pokemon song?! my god…at least the pink tracksuits were cute.

i’m glad you enjoyed the show!! i think mine had more casual fans so you could really tell the difference in the crowd reaction during main tts vs bsides or even the solos. i looked thru my gallery to reminisce while writing this post and was sniped by miss minjeong again < 3