The show begins:
"Wonderland" Kingdom version:
On a raging sea background, the boys perform the well-known choreography in front of leisured Atinys. The audience sings. We sing all the lyrics, accompany the group in chorus.
The French public is worldwide known for this: We sing, we dance, we cheer them, we vibrate with them but we do not scream hysterically.
Most of the Atinys (including my friend and I) sing in a sublime Korean-yogurt but we don’t care, we still sing to the full.
The 20,000 Atinys voices makes one as a spectacular result !
We are their very first 20,200 people public, it means double sized concert hall that they have performed untill now. We must honour them.
The artifices are triggered and Seonghwa goes up the stage, his sword in hand surrounded by archer, to perform the exclusive movement of this version. The audience accompanied him in a fervent clamour.
Finally, the long-awaited moment of the last two years arrives: the four high notes of our lead singer Jongho. This is a unique moment for us. A magical moment, suspended in time.
Then follows the emblematic speech of Captain Hongjoong, also exclusive to this version:"Who wants to wear the crown, bear the crown"
Then, my favorite moment starts and Mingi rushes to the front of the stage, launching the wild break point of this song that ends on a spectacular "Gkadja". Like everyone else, I jump on the spot, I wave my lightiny in rhythm, I sing, I am so happy to be there that I let everything out.
Opening + Wonderland
[Side note: Jongho is one of the few Kpop singers able to raise his voice so high. In the USA, he suffered material damage during this time. Even with a microphone off, we heard his high notes from the back of a 9000 people concert hall, as distinctly as he would do with the mic. ]
The lights switch on and the first ment begins. You should know that Ateez (and the Kpop bands in general) loves to talk with their fans. It is a special moment where they have the opportunity to exchange, to tell, to transmit their impressions and feelings and we must recognize that, as Atiny, we love it!
Unfortunately, you have to speak a little English to appreciate its contents. However, there is a translator who passes messages in French when they speak Korean. I would not talk a lot about the contents of ments, just on the contents that have marked me personally.
They pronounce the long awaited "8 makes 1 team"and we finally discover the boys who present themselves one by one:
- Hongjoong proudly wears his "Hong-ruella" hair (a mixture of Hongjoong and Cruella d'Enfer) and starts with a resounding "Merci Paris!" in an impeccably well-learned French.
It’s the turn of Seonghwa, the visual of the group to introduce himselves. Seonghwa decides to cheer us to make more noise.
The Arena trembles under the feet of thousands of spectators, the classic trick of the French public. But they have never experienced this loud and powerful Parisian noise.
Yunho (My favorite member called Ultimate Bias in Kpop language) takes over with a "Ça va Paris ???". My heart is about to burst with joy to finally see him with my own eyes. He is absolutely solar, absolutely beautiful, absolutely Yunho.
Yeosang appears on the giant screen and takes off his earpiece to better hear the cries and the clapping of feet from the whole room, which take credit for warming up us even more.
[Side note: He will explain later, that very moment he believed that a train was passing near the Arena and that this was what was shaking the scene. There is an outdoor subway train just outside the arena. ]
San' turn comes and his blond hair whom uses a hoarse voice to greet us with a "Make some noise!" immediately followed by… A stomping of feet, obviously.
I finally see Mingi, my Bias, because yes, we're allowed to have several biases (favorite members). Once again, my heart swells with happiness. The crowd shouts his name and he gives us for our money by playing it sexy as hell.
Wooyoung takes over, with a simple and fast presentation, which is quite surprising from his part, because he is known to be the free electron of the group... and the most turbulent too.
Finally, our Lead singer, our Maknae (the younger) sends us a simple "Hello Atiny".
The room being huge, Hongjoong, the leader of the group, reminds everyone that we are here to have a good time but in the peace and security for everyone. He tells us that the energy of the Parisian public is incredible and that they have been waiting for this moment for a long time.
[NDRL: they had already found that the French energy was unique in 2019 during their first tour at the Bataclan]
I felt it rather strange because I find them rather shy compared to their other concerts. At the same time, I imagine that going from 9,000 people max to 20,000 people must be intimidating. I find that cute.
Jongho takes the opportunity to announce us, the quietest in the world as usual, that they are preparing the release of a new album. [album released two months later]
San throws an "Atiny Fellows". He has already taken off his jacket and untied his tie…. Are we going to get an abs outing during the evening?
He launches the "continuation of the journey".
Ment 1
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