It is actually crazy to me to think that a year ago today I saw IVE. Not only is IVE my favourite Kpop group, but I was happy that their concert was the first one I can say I successfully attended.
Third time truly is the charm after the Dreamcatcher concert in 2014(?) where I was so sick I couldn’t get out of bed on the day, or The Boyz in 2019 where upon my arrival in London some idiot delivery man rammed a roll cage into me twice (TWICE!) and punctured a hole in my ankle. I did end up going to that concert after getting 7 stitches (which were later ripped open by an idiot healthcare assistant — I don’t want to talk about it) and a tetanus shot, but I don’t count that as a success as I bought the highest tier ticket which included a photo with The Boyz and any worker I spoke to at the venue (and showed my ticket to) insisted that I’d made it up or been scammed. But when I went to see IVE? Absolutely nothing went wrong. It was wonderful!
If I’m being honest I did cry for the first half hour or so of the set, but that was wonderful too! I’m a water sign! I love crying!
Opening with Blue Blood, the bombastic first track of I’ve IVE was life changing for me. I was far away from the stage but I was in the same place as IVE! And they were performing a brilliant song! Blue Blood was already a song I loved but seeing it live with the white costumes, blue lighting, and music so loud I could feel it in my teeth was sublime.
I’d claim the concert was long ago enough for me to have forgotten the setlist but if you’d have asked me on the day immediately afterwards I wouldn’t have been able to tell you a the songs they performed — but I can tell you that I loved every last second of every song they played.
Of course I am truly a fan. There’s no way I wouldn’t have loved it. That being said, songs like Mine really elevated the experience. I can’t explain why I love Mine so much. There’s simply something very addictive about it as an aural experience. Seeing a whole performance of it in real life? Steeping in the atmosphere of the concert was already enough to make me love everything so much more, though I must say that the staging and the umbrella choreography was so sweet and fun. It was something I kept thinking back to afterwards as one of the most memorable performances.
The Hypnosis VCR was incredible. After seeing that I was blown away, obsessed, speechless, inspired. I loved the vibe of it and it really made me think of the fact that IVE have been genies, tigers, and cupids but more often they have been witches (well, they have been witch-adjacent twice but their references to circles feels witchy to me too)
On the day, I had chills, anyway. I loved Hypnosis anyway but I really felt that it was elevated with the gothic visuals of the VCR and the choreography involving rocking chairs. Following that up with Accendio was amazing and I felt so lucky to have seen the concert after the release of IVE Switch.
I will admit that the unit performances were a bit hit or miss for me. Obviously, loved the Spice Girls from Gaeul Rei. I was so impressed with Gaeul’s 7 Rings performance (her voice really suited that song which I didn’t expect at all). As for Rei, everyone else had fun and knew the song she sang so, I’m happy for all of those people. She sounded good regardless. I can’t remember Wonyoung and Liz’s song but I do remember the bench and the floral backdrop which was all very romantic. Unfortunately, whatever I saw live was shoved out of my head by seeing the videos of them performing the song from Tangled at the encore concerts. Before my concert date, I’d heard a lot of uproar stemming from the fact Leeseo was performing Little Mix’s Woman Like Me with Yujin. I’m sorry I’m not woke enough to have taken an issue with that when I usually find issues with everything in the world. I really enjoyed the performance and the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves too.
What I like about concerts is the magic spell they can put on you. A song you don’t particularly care for can become a song you become fond of after recalling the energy and performance that accompanied it. This happened to me many times over the years and it sort of happened to me at Show What I Have. Sort of.
I apologise to the All Night enthusiasts but I don’t like it. At all. If I had to have a preference I prefer the version with Saweetie to the version without her but that’s as nice as I can get about that song. That being said, using that song to endlessly hype up the audience at the end of the show was effective. I had so much fun! I haven’t listened to All Night by choice since then, but I appreciate it for what it could do that other IVE songs could not.
It was really such a good night and I am glad that so far it has been my only successful attendance of a Kpop concert. I was so enthralled by the whole thing that I tried my hand at dressmaking. My Minive dolls must hate what I put them through with my shoddy skills but as soon as I saw the pink outfits and the black outfits, I knew I could not rest until I replicated them (to the best of my non-existent ability).
Hush Nili 
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