To my right, a man and his wife. To my left, a twenty-something girl. In front of me, a grandma and her young granddaughter. Myself, a foreigner in a new home. Singing “Forever” together to show Girls’ Generation how much they meant to us all, we were not really so different. We were all the kinds of fans that Girls’ Generation has, a collection of people from all walks of life and all parts of the planet, coming together for a concert that was touching, hilarious, amazing, sexy, cute, and unique all at once.
“Märchen Fantasy” was a joyous gathering of SONEs and Girls’ Generation that brought us everything from debut until now, complete with the girls’ original self introductions.
“I’m brighter than gems Fany Fany Tiffany.”
As much as the girls have grown, this concert was such a refreshing return to the style of concerts they used to do. Gone were the questionable outfits from the world tour. Instead, we got stylish and gorgeous white outfits. We got solo performances. We got sub-group performances. We got hits. We got presents that the girls threw out. Girls’ Generation showed everything they have.
When Seohyun came out, we were seeing her growing up in front of our eyes from a cute maknae to a stage commanding guitar player. When Sunny came out, she blew the socks off everyone in the room with Ga-In’s “Bloom”, a song that fits her so perfectly well. And it showed, being both cute and sexy at the same time, exactly like Sunny. However, Sooyoung’s cover of Sunmi’s song was filled with the most outrageously awesome hairflips I’ve ever seen her do, not to mention impeccable dancing and legs that went on for WAY more than 24 hours.
But then… Miss Korea Jessica Jung decided it was time to grace us mere mortals with her divine presence and remind us why she is a queen. You could hear thousands of fans gasp in one moment when she tore her dress to reveal the now- famous swimsuit. Truly, we were blessed on this day.
The concert had the loudest fan chants I’ve ever heard with “The Boys” and “I Got A Boy”, and Sooyoung’s “Yeah” in “GALAXY SUPERNOVA” was worth going to the concert just for that. All the songs were amazing, and the set list was as close to perfect as you can get. A cappella “Gee”? I mean come on, how can you top this? It was the best Girls’ Generation concert.
The thing about Korean concerts and Girls’ Generation is that it feels like the girls are just SO comfortable. It gives a different feel to not only their performances, but downtime between songs and their talks with each other and the audience. They really feel at home, and the crowd responds in kind. It’s such a good feeling to be a part of any pink ocean anywhere, but there is just something special about seeing Girls’ Generation in Korea that cannot be reproduced anywhere else. The special fan event holding signs that said “Thank you. We love you” and “We will give you only happiness” felt so appropriate, because as much as us fans meant those things, the members of Girls’ Generation showed us they felt the exact same way.
As the audience lights came on at the end, I stood looking at the empty stage and emptying seats, confetti that reminded me of the snow outside littering the ground. In that moment, I thought about how I came to be here. A journey started in 2011 with a 1 week trip with Soshified to see Girls’ Generation’s concert. Girls’ Generation, as much as I loved their music and TV shows, were so much more to me. They opened a door. More than that, they opened my eyes. Years ago, an idea was planted in my head. Soshiception. “I have to go back to Korea.” In 2011, I was only a visitor, a tourist seeing a show. In the waning days of 2013, I was part of a pink ocean that felt more like home. I was able to take a leap of faith and move my whole life to a new country.
When I left the concert, I wasn’t going to a hotel, or back to an airport, or anything exciting. I just got on the train and went home. That might have been the most precious moment of the concert experience for me. After years of searching for things I wanted in my life, I realized that Girls’ Generation was what ended up inspiring me the most. Without them, I wouldn’t be in Korea, and I wouldn’t have met people that have become very important to me and made this concert possible for me. Without them, I wouldn’t be as happy as I was in that moment singing “Forever” with a man and his wife, a girl, and a grandma and granddaughter. What a perfect song title.
