So I know in the latest A/N of Where He Waits, I said I would write about my personal experience at one of the venues of the BTS Highlight tour, however, I've been extremely busy with life at the moment, and I just realized now that the event was a couple of weeks ago so this blog is hardly relevant anymore (the couple hundred words I had saved in my drafts is basically useless now). So instead of just not writing a blog and leaving you folks empty-handed, I decided to write up a condensed version of my BTS experience (in bullet point format).

• TGM Events, "a concert production company dedicated to bringing top-quality concert experiences to fans around the world" was in charge of the Highlight tour.
• I purchased an autograph pass and t-shirt that worked as an entry ticket and included hi-touch with BTS. Total: $170.00 (not including tax)
• A day or so before the event, it seems the company just couldn't make up their mind about seating arrangements. They were changing the rules online every few minutes, and if it wasn't for one of my friends who payed close attention to Twitter/Facebook, I wouldn't have known about anything otherwise. TGM had first stated the seats were going to be on a first-come first-serve basis, which then changed to assigned seating depending on the time stamp of the purchase, and they later updated us that if we wanted to sit in a group we would then need to email them our names and order numbers. My friends and I of course did the latter, however the night before the concert we were still not notified of where we were going to be seated.
• Day of the event: I'm not known for being a punctual person, so I was running late to the autograph session which was supposed to be held two hours before the actual performance.
• There was no security check at the entrance, which is different from usual concert procedures. If I had known, I would have brought my dslr camera despite the rules they posted online about "no cameras allowed" because, yknow, yolo. But on a more serious note, what if someone had brought a weapon inside the venue? I'm not saying someone would, but what if? Safety precautions, people.
• Which brings me to another point about security. When I was running aroud the site asking the security guards for where the autograph session was (since I was indeed running late), everyone I had asked were poorly informed about the event, having almost no clue about the event. It seems the only thing TGM had instructed them to do was to prevent any fangirls from taking pics.
• Despite arriving half an hour before the autograph session was supposed to end, TGM decided to terminate it early. I was extremely upset to say the least. Meeting up with my friends later on, they also had autograph passes, I found that they hardly any time to interact with BTS since they were being rushed along, but talking about how flawless they were made me very eager to see BTS for myself.
• Upon entering the auditorium, the seating went quite smoothly in the beginning. But halfway through, things suddenly got very messy and the staff was having a difficult time directing people to their seats. Eventually staff gave up and seating became a free for all. In my opinion, the ones who had the greatest loss were the VIPs who ended up having to sit in the balcony or losing their seats to those who didn't pay for VIP seats.
• The opening act was longer than BTS's time on stage, my second disappointment of the night. Later I would find out that the entire performance had only lasted 50 minutes. 5 songs from the opening act, 4 songs from BTS.
• OKAY. LET'S GET TO THE FUN PART. The second the intro video started reeling on-screen, all the A.R.M.Y.S in the auditorium rose as one from their seats and started screaming. This was not what I expected. The response to the opening act was nothing compared to this moment. The anticipation was one of the most exhilirating experiences of the night.
• The moment BTS came on stage... let me tell you... ohmygod. The camera does not do them justice. They looked even better in person. The fact that they were real, there up on stage, without any photoshopping and lightened skin, living and breathing, it was just... they were flawless. Their skin was perfect and tanned and their voices were perfect and everything about them was perfect. Believe it or not, I'm doing my best to contain my feels.
• They got the party started with N.O. It was very powerful from what I remember, but I was surprised they were performing that song at all since I was expecting Dope or War of Hormone. This didn't stop me from screaming my lungs out with what little lyrics I knew of the song, however.
• I believe after the first song they spent a few minutes to talk to the audience and introduce themselves. I'm pretty sure they were speaking in English, which impressed me quite a lot, but I honestly could not hear them over the roar of the fans and the ringing in my ears.
• After this they performed Dope and Boy in Luv. I absolutely love these songs and spent a good week learning the fan chant for Dope. I had a good time trying to discreetly hide my phone whilst recording them. Don't ask me for videos though because it turns out I did a terrible job hahaha. But besides that, I was seriously enjoying my time during this concert. My heart is pounding just thinking about it LOL.
• After this, they unexpectedly walked off stage making everyone go wtf. A good solid minute passes and I'm just praying to God that the lights don't come on. Thankfully, they play another lil vid asking the audience "Are you still there?" "Are you ready for BTS?" Something along those lines to which the audience reply with enthusiastic shouts, begging for more.
• So they come back on stage, and the intro for I Need U starts playing. What disappointed me was that they didn't start off with the usual formation, opting to stand instead of lay down. Which is understandable, I mean, they really did look worn out and I know it's a lot easier to breath standing than laying down. This is when I really began to see the signs of how tired and upset BTS were as well. For example, during Suga's first rap solo, he had pointed his mic at the audience instead of his own lips, having them carry out the lyrics for the majority of his part.
• The performance quickly came to a close afterwards: BTS walking off stage waving without a proper goodbye, the fans chanting for an encore but received none when the lights came on. I blame TGM for this. They were 30 minutes ahead of schedule but were still rushing everything.
• Another failed attempt of recording BTS was me shoving my phone into my pocket right before the hi-touch.
• While we were still in the auditorium forming a line for the hi-touch, me and my friends were planning that when we met Jungkook, we would count to 3, then say "Pardon?" in unison. But upon walking through those doors and into the hall, my mind blanked completely. The boys were literally right there, in the flesh, in all their tan and beautiful and flawless skin glory, I forgot how to think.
• Rapmon was first in line and looking exceptionally good out of all of the members. He had this kind of gentle, inviting smile on his face, I instantly turned into a shy mess of putty. And never in my life has this happened to me. So I force out a soft "hi" after this to every single member.
• V. Taehyung. Let me tell you about this embarrassing thought I had when I looked at him. Basically one of the only few thoughts I had during this hi-touch. I need to find a boyfriend like him in the future. The reason behind this was because he had put on these spectacles and... I just cannot continue talking about him. My heart hurts too much.
• But anyways, after V, another thought suddenly occurred to me. I was here, touching BTS's hands, and I needed to make the most out of it. So I basically started squeezing all their hands. What was extremely stupid on my part, however, was that I was so focused on their hands I completely missed getting a good look at Jungkook, Jimin, and J-Hope. I literally just passed them, only staring at their hands. MY BIGGEST REGRET OMFG.
• I realized this by the time I reach Suga, which is probably why I remember his face the most. I really liked his skin tone. And to be honest, I don't know why but I've always been a bit intimidated by him, but after this venue, my respect for BTS, especially Suga, has skyrocketed.
• One thing I felt really bad about was rushing by Jin since he was at the end of the line. It wasn't my fault though. The entire time the staff was literally pressuring us to move along and hurry up. But I really felt for Jin, and imagining all the other people who were rushed by him made me extremely guilty. All I can think of is how tired he was.

My experience basically ends here, since afterwards I was ushered out of the building. For the most part, I was very disappointed. Not by BTS, but by TGM. They handled everything so poorly and cheated hundereds of girls of their money. My post-concert depression didn't make me feel any better, either.

The reason behind my sudden surge of respect for BTS was because after the event, I went to Twitter to scour all the fanaccounts. The fact that they really cared about their fans, and the way they carried things out so professionally at the other venues despite the unexpected, unfortunate situations thrown at them made me like them all the more. They're so very human and I do hope they come back to America, hopefully working with a much better company.

Update: One thing I forgot to mention was BTS were shorter than expected hahaha.