VAV met their European and UK Vampz in the last week of March as part of their first fan meet tour on this side of the globe. Here is a review.
VAV's first European fan meet tour in London was delayed hugely because of their flight from Germany and as a result the entire event had to be shifted forward to the point of finishing before midnight. Numbered wristbands for Platinum ticket holders queuing up for the meet and greet session were meant to be given out at 3:30pm but obviously since everyone was late nobody in the queue was certain on what was going to happen.
No news at all in person until Young Bros updated their Facebook event page to say wristbands were not going to be given out as originally scheduled and that everyone would go in as they were. Wristbands for everyone started around 5pm and Young Bros crew went down the line outside 229 The Venue to scan everyone's e-tickets and pass the wristbands for them to put on themselves.
VAMPZ were let into the venue at 8pm and immediately out of the blue the solo photo and hi-touch sessions for the Platinum ticket holders started. There was no actual management of the queue and it seemed to make its own way in a swirly pattern. I had gone to buy my merchandise which I had reserved in advance. I went with an eco bag only. If I hadn't pre-ordered the signed Spotlight album from Mwave I would have bought the CD on the actual day but Mwave were selling it a lot cheaper and I didn't want to buy another CD yet.
Opting to buy merchandise before the meet and greet may have been my personal mistake as the queue for the meet and greet was incredibly long and I happened to be near the end of the platinum queue. VAV had come out to take group photos together before the meet and greet session.
Perhaps after 30 minutes or so, there was a pause and Ace had excused himself from the meet and greet with a crew member. The rest of the group also left the main room. I assumed it was to take a break because of the flash photography from the main photographer. A crew member then came out again to say Ace was unwell and that he would not take part in the rest of the hi-touch and photo session with the other five (Jacob is the other missing member unable to attend because of visa issues). I even asked what was wrong with Ace and the man didn't know.
Soon after I spoke to the crew member, Baron, St Van, Ziu, Lou and Ayno returned to the main space of the venue to resume the meet and greet. My turn was incredibly awkward with everyone because I sensed they didn't find me as flattering or cute as the other fans who had been giddy as hell. I knew I looked hideous from queuing for hours that my physical appearance was quite frankly ghastly. It didn't help I had my usual bout of nerves before the concert and during the actual moment. I even used the wrong hand to form the heart with Baron which made me curl in embarrassment deep inside. Two photos are taken – one with an Instax camera and the other with the main DSLR. I was panicking that I didn't know what pose to do. Everything went wrong in that specific moment.
The room started to fill up as the Gold, Silver and General Admission ticket holders came in bit by bit. Once all the meet and greets with the Platinum, Gold and Silver people had finished, VAV left the room again to prepare the main concert which started just after 9:30pm. Opening the concert with Spotlight the five members of VAV threw their charisma and fan service out into the open, making themselves known to the VAMPZ in UK and Europe who had impatiently/patiently waited for so long for this event to start properly.
Most of the songs performed were from the mini album but VAV also added in some covers like Camila Cabello's Havana, One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful and Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk – a popular favourite to sing and dance to in a club for sure. In-between the talking sessions and performances there was also a game where six lucky fans were chosen to go on stage to meet VAV. Of course I never got chosen
Naturally they picked the more hardcore fans, the ones who waited at 3:30am in the morning or those who were passionate, cute and prettier. Someone was serenaded, another was taught a dance move, another received a group selca and the other three received beauty gifts from Korea. VAV will give you fan service if you are in close proximity, even taking your phone to take a selca or record a video of themselves.
Ace did eventually come back to the stage which made everyone very happy. He didn't feel well to the point of going to hospital for a check-up but insisted he go back on stage because he wanted to see the fans and heard their screams/cheers.
From listening to the Spotlight mini album there were two songs that stood out to me that I was looking forward to seeing and hearing live. One was Flower (You) and the other was She's Mine. VAV really have great vocalists. Winter Breeze is something to take note of.
As a special treat to make up for the delay and for Ace missing out on the concert from the beginning, VAV performed an encore of Spotlight. I give them massive kudos for even adding this in, despite being sweaty and clearly very tired from this long night. The concert finished around 11:30pm and the venue had to be cleared out prior to the farewell hi-touch for the Platinum ticket holders. VAV had come back, refreshed and had changed into the Spotlight tour t-shirts before the hi-touch started. After the farewell hi-touch (and I managed to be nearer to the front because yes I really wanted to get home and sleep) everyone was given a signed photo to take away as they left the room.
The merchandise I bought along with the signed photo given after farewell hi-touch.
Close up of the signed photo, including Zhang Peng/Jacob's signature. I imagine they must have signed all this way in advance prior to coming to Europe.
Overall
The flight delay was not anyone's fault but it really made the day so long and I almost missed my trains home, only narrowly just catching the last trains on both lines I used for my commute. Young Bros should have taken into consideration that not every person used SNS so wouldn't have been able to see the updates on Facebook. Perhaps pass the message to the security or venue staff and for them to go down the line with the information they were given would have been useful as well. I also felt more care should have been made for setting up the lines during the meet and greet since there were opportunities for people to push in front. Hopefully this wasn't the case and people were kind enough to line up properly. I didn't check since I was busy mentally preparing myself for my turn at the beginning of the night.
Despite so many things happening on Sunday 25 March and many VAMPz bravely staying till the end of the night to see things through, VAV still put on a great show (and Ayno/Yoonho - good to see him finally debut after No Mercy!) and hopefully if all the members do return, they will be able to explore more of London beyond London Zoo and eating fish and chips (yes Ziu great to hear you enjoy that dish as well). Also...maybe we'll meet under better circumstances – minus the serious awkwardness.
Photos
All my photos can be seen here or here
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