Here is a quick post on KpopKnight that took place at The SSE Arena in Wembley.
The first time I heard about KpopKnight was on a Taiwanese MONSTA X facebook fanpage and thought the whole thing smelled like a scam. The first draft of the poster raised eyebrows because of the way it was laid out i.e. looking very tacky and unprofessional (but that's like me trying to use creative software to be honest).
A few days later the official accounts of these artists updated to confirm that yes KpopKnight was real...and happening in three weeks time with ticket sales starting very soon. How incredibly last minute is that? No chance for anyone to save up. I thought no thanks I'm skipping this, even though it would upset me because MONSTA X is in the lineup. I even considered some alternative plan to see MONSTA X in Singapore or Malaysia at some point just for the sake of seeing them on better terms and better organisation.
KpopKnight then offered discount codes if you signed up on their website. It was £50 off the original price and I guess this tempted me eventually. Considering I may never see MONSTA X again in a hurry and I wanted to check out the other artists who had been invited I thought just buy a ticket. I even wanted to see SE7EN who I remember for many years often had his name tied to fake events happening in the UK before KpopKnight. That's another reason why I was cynical with KpopKnight in the first place.
I bought a seating ticket that was supposedly nearer to the stage but it turned out to be at the top row of the seating area. Once you exchanged your e-ticket at the special desk you just get a random paper ticket and then that's it that's your seat. Since it didn't sell out at all with the venue being half empty, everyone moved seats to get a better view. Why not? My original seat was ridiculously squashed up (and I had a hateful glare from a white girl who was judging me because I couldn't find my seat. I should have said something to her!). I didn't start queuing up till 4:30pm. I had left home much earlier to try to get a ticket from the box office because of the rainy conditions and then relaxed in the London Designer Outlet to dry off once that mission was done.
The doors were meant to open at 6pm but it ended up being delayed by a long period. The rain had returned and everyone around me was talking to each other, growing excited about the show. We all managed to get in before the start time of 7pm and things became messy with technical difficulties e.g. after 7 O'clock finished their set Tahiti's logo showed on screen even though they said they wanted to take a selca with the crowd before leaving the stage. Even with Tahiti and MONSTA X's stages, they started off in the dark before the lights came on.
There were no translators since SIMS Entertainment had not prepared in good time and had to ask on their Twitter if anyone was free to interpret for the artists. A bit too late yet again. Everyone tried their best to speak English and they did incredibly well given the horrid circumstances of KpopKnight. They explained the usual things such as what they wanted to eat, what attractions they wanted to visit etc. It was pleasant. Ignoring the microphone issues, lighting and shortened setlists (especially for Monsta X), everyone entertained on stage and there were plenty of fans showing support in the half-filled venue. It wasn't entirely terrible in that aspect.
I did a bit of research on 7 O'Clock beforehand and recognised the leader A-DAY who was absent from the event because he was a finalist in MIXNINE. He stood out in the My House performance. The group still put on a great show with their leader still at home in Korea and they did not disappoint in their performance at KpopKnight (Vaan reminds me so much of TOP with his rapping). Tahiti were the only girl group in the lineup and carried plenty of cuteness and sassiness in their set. SE7EN was a veteran in his own right. It has been a long time since I listened to him and haven't kept up with his music since he finished his military service. He was hyping the crowd very strongly, acknowledging everyone in the venue from all corners (especially his left side which was where I sat) and I never thought I'd hear Passion in the set. It was one of the songs that stood in my head for years when I was working through his discography.
MONSTA X ended up as the main act of the event and were meant to have a much longer set that would most likely have the night finish around 10pm even though it said KpopKnight would be from 7-9pm on the posters. Their set was cut short so they only performed 5 songs. It didn't help their microphones were fiddly as well. Fans were happy to see Wonho was in better spirits that evening after hearing about the death of his grandmother a few days earlier. Hyungwon became a real-life meme when he was forced to ask for water in a British accent by Jooheon. I absorbed what I could from those 5 songs given to the crowd and with I.M saying he hopes the next world tour will include London this is a slight glimmer of hope for fans who were born here and/or live in the UK. Starship, take note please.
Everyone was clearly disappointed there would be no encore and then the awkward MC voice in the venue said KpopKnight would live forever and return in Thailand. Good luck with that. I knew this event was not going to sell out because of the poor advertising but I didn't think it would be that bad to the point of selling tickets for a cheaper price and eventually letting people in for FREE later on. Yes FREE. What a joke. All those people who spent quite a bit were tricked. If I had known it was going to be that empty I'd have gone into the standing area. SE7EN's meet and greet only had 4 people buy the insane package.
Many attendees have spilled the beans immediately before and after the event. If you lurk on all the social media platforms you'll easily trace plenty of stories. I didn't stay till the artists left the venue but I saw footage of MONSTA X's van lightly crashing into a pole. Too many Monbebe had surrounded the van so the driver (who was not part of the organisers and most likely to be security for SSE Arena) had trouble reversing. Another piece of news I heard from others was how the organisers were giving away the location of MONSTA X's hotel. That's rather shady. How desperate would Monbebe be to go that far? I'm just praying I'll be able to go to their next concert and greet them more formally. I'm not as overly ambitious as the 'international' fans who can travel to any city or country and stalk all they want.
Anyway... on the whole KpopKnight was definitely a mess overall yet the artists saved it with their stages and pushed themselves to give everyone a good show. SIMS Entertainment please give people advanced notice so they can save enough money. Also, offer more reasonably priced tickets. Even Feel Korea was slightly better done (I also had issues with that but compared to KpopKnight it was slightly better).
Fancams
Just You - 7 O'CLOCK [LINK ] Lovely song for Kdrama Love Temperature. Keep an eye on this group. They have potential.
Come Back To Me - SE7EN [LINK ] Debut song from years ago. Wow time flies.
Passion - SE7EN [ LINK ] Memorable track from my SE7EN binge many years ago when I was treading Kpop slowly before 'getting back into it' later on
Dramarama - MONSTA X [LINK] . Starting off in the dark before the lights come on. Jooheon's aqua hair reminds me of TOP when he had that in the Fantastic Baby MV. Everyone looked charismatic.
From Zero - MONSTA X [LINK] . Hearing and watching From Zero was a treat.
I thought I had recorded Beautiful but clearly not! Deeply saddened by this. I think I was so excited when that song came up that I didn't actually press record on my camera properly. A shame since it was one of the songs I wanted to hear live so badly. Here is a HQ fancam from the pit POV though.
Photos from KpopKnight
View post on imgur.comView post on imgur.comView post on imgur.comView post on imgur.comThe rest of the photos can be viewed here or here
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