Capturing the BTS Concert Experience

I saw the Korean boy band BTS back in September of 2018 during their Love Yourself world tour. The super group now solely plays stadiums, which makes me incredibly thankful to have had the chance to see them at the Staples Center -- right at barricade.

As an avid concert-goer, the quality of pictures I was able to take on my iPhone 7 from this proximity made me almost as euphoric as the group I was seeing. However, I'm also against holding my phone up the whole show, so I compromised by recording videos with my phone away from my face. I barely looked at my screen at all, so the video screenshot above -- BTS's youngest member, Jungkook, mid-dance -- was pure luck! I edited the color grading via VSCO and voila!!

I especially love this photo of Jungkook because of the small rainbow on his clothes. I only have half a dozen other Instagram-worthy pictures from this night, so the rainbow truly signifies the magic of the moment.

It took an added tour date, six devices, and a 30-minute refreshing session to score a General Admission ticket. All of the tickets sold out within only five minutes, the glaring 'SOLD OUT' message popping up over and over again. But I was determined (and a little frantic), so I kept hitting the refresh button until finally, there it was -- the golden GA pass. My debit card auto-filled, I hit confirm, and just like that: I was going to see BTS.

When BTS announced the dates for their tour in April of 2018, I was brand new to the world of K-pop. In the months between then and my September concert, I learned a lot about the members -- RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, V, and Jungkook -- as well as their long journey to fame, their passion for music, and their authentic appreciation for their fanbase. Their mind-blowing talent, genuine love, and utter dorkiness made me feel rather honored to support them by attending one of their shows.

I met 13 other girls attending the same show through Twitter. We started a group chat and began planning for the big day, including scheduling shifts to camp out in advance. My parents certainly thought I was crazy. Maybe I sort of did, too... Was I really going to sleep on the sidewalk in downtown LA for a boy band?!

It was so much more than that, though. I was surrounded by a community of people who understood that there was more to this group than their talent and good looks, and those memories are something I'll cherish for a long time.

Walking past the Emmys red carpet in my pajamas at 3 am on my way to the parking garage bathroom, sleeping on a yoga mat, making a sign with pink glow-in-the-dark paint, seeing the Love Yourself banner when no one else was around... All of these things made me stop and think, "Wow, I'm 19 years old and I'm camping out for a K-pop band and I'm having the time of my life."

It was absolutely surreal. I was worried the dreamlike state would persist for the entirety of the concert, preventing me from fully processing what was happening. My dad was convinced I was going to faint, just like the girls who passed out before seeing The Beatles and missed the whole show.

There's truly nothing like seeing the artists you have grown to love and admire with your own two eyes and not through a screen. Making eye contact with the young men who helped me develop a more positive outlook on life was unashamedly life-changing.

I screamed, cheered, laughed, and cried throughout the concert, and the pictures I took, like the one above, will help me remember that euphoria for a long, long time.

It's important to submit to the human experience and allow yourself to find passion in something, whether it be a sports team or a book series or, of course, a boy band from Korea. Looking past stereotypes and learning more about the members of BTS not only led me to one of the best days of my life, but it also led me to learn more about Korean culture and eventually spend a semester studying abroad in Gwangju, a southern city in SK.

Through this experience I met lifelong friends, saw the artists I deeply respect right before my eyes, and learned to love myself a bit more than I did before... And I think that's pretty cool.