I can’t believe I am climbing up a steep set of stairs at Soldier Field, the iconic home of the Chicago Bears. Shit, where am I supposed to be sitting? I ask myself. I lost the row I’m supposed to be sitting in, but I remember the seat number. A nice man told me how to read the row numbers, located at the right and left corners of the seat next to the aisle. I found the aisle and parked myself there, along with my overpriced bottle of water and my hand-crocheted, fringed poncho.
I’m getting ahead of myself here. I want to take you back to the beginning, as in the moment tickets went on sale for the BTS Arirang World Tour. In January, I decided to preorder their album on vinyl: several different covers and colors. I also bought one ticket via Ticketmaster and got a seat in the nosebleeds. As a lifelong Chicagoan, I have only stepped foot in Soldier Field once before, and that was for a job with the Chicago Bears one year. Several months later, I decided to make some keychains and ornaments to hand out at the venue, but the ornament blanks didn’t arrive in time. I made about 120 keychains, each with a member’s name.
I decided to make a poncho since I didn’t know how the weather would behave. It’s purple, black, and white with fringes to boot. I kept my outfit simple: a purple tank top with a short white tennis skirt, and gym shoes. The goal is comfort, not being a fashion plate. I wore minimal makeup. My hair was in long butterfly dreadlocks, and I’m already tired of them. I’ll switch them out toward the end of the month.
Two days before the concert, I went to Wintrust Arena to pick up some items I preordered: a light stick cradle, two light stick accessories, a tour stamp, and a Big Dipper t-shirt. I got there, and a lot of people were already in line. By the time the place opened, I was in and out of there in five minutes. There were plenty of lines and plenty of workers to give you what you paid for. I should’ve ordered another light stick, since mine is bedazzled with rhinestones. I’ll do it another day.
Later that day, I took my kid downtown with me to see the ARIH pop-up at Pioneer Court. We got free drinks and some noodles, and they were good. I ordered them all summer long, and I want to order more. As we were leaving the area, I saw three black SUVs drive past us on Upper Wacker Drive. Were they in those vehicles? Did they leave the hotel they were staying in? I may never know, since I follow the rules of being a good ARMY.
Thursday, August 27: I am excited because in 24 hours, I will be at Soldier Field to watch 7 guys from various parts of South Korea on the Arirang World Tour come to my city and perform for two nights. As I put the final few fringes on my poncho, I watched a live feed of the concert on YouTube. I sang along to the English lyrics, while my Korean sounded like gibberish. I packed my clear concert bag and was ready to go, but I had to wait until Friday for my turn!
Friday, August 28: It’s Concert Day! To prepare, I took the day off work back in June, so I wasn’t scheduled to come in. I have my paperwork in case someone says something to me when I go in to work the next day. I took my kid to school, ran errands, picked up my daughter, and dropped her off at her grandmother’s. I stayed for a few minutes to do a few last-minute things, then headed to Soldier Field. I left and walked to the bus stop with my concert bag, freebies, and poncho in hand.
I got on the Green Line train heading toward 63rd and Ashland and took it to Roosevelt. From Roosevelt, you can walk to the Museum Campus, where the Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, and Soldier Field sit right along beautiful Lake Michigan. I walked past the group from a Discord server I’m in and ended up by the planetarium. I was able to walk around the aquarium and meet up with my group. I got a lot of freebies, and I passed out the ones I had. I ran into some of the people from a Discord server I belong to and took a group photo. I handed out the rest of my freebies until I ran out, then got myself an Italian beef pizza.
While I enjoyed my pizza and drank an ice-cold Coke, I listened to BTS’s sound check. They sang Hooligan, FYA, and Aliens. After eating, I walked around, took random pictures, and found a photo of Jimin in front of the Field Museum. I ran into a lady from a group chat I’m in on Instagram. Both of us were in the nosebleeds, opposite sides of the football stadium.
From the area I sat in, I was able to see everything, including the full moon that popped out during the concert. The other night had a lunar eclipse. My section of the nosebleeds were very chill and. alot of friendly folks were there. One ARMY bought some batteries from me, as I brought extras. I took some video that contained some of my bad singing, and the crowd sang Arirang at the end of “Body to Body.” Jungkook joined in on singing with us before they launched into “Idol,” the song that turned me into ARMY. I got excited about the surprise songs they did: 134340 and Mikrokosmos. Ath the final ments, four out of seven of the guys spoke in plain English their thoughts and love for Chicago-style pizza.
63k people attended the concert on both nights. I was happy to be one of the ones in the crowd. Two days wasn’t long enough for them. to be in Chicago. They need at least three to four days’ worth of concerts. If that ever happens, I’ll buy tickets for all of the days. Leaving the concert, the crowd was orderly and I ran into my group chat friend again and took a picture to post to the chat. There was a line of the 146 busses on the side of the Field Museum. I kept walking and ran into the bikes that tourists ride. They were lit up and playing BTS’ discography to get teh concertgoers to climb on. I walked further and people were cooking food. I grabbed myself a hot dog and ate it before I got on the Red Line to head to Chicago Avenue to go home.
That’s it for now. I’ll leave you with a YouTube short I created, and one last picture. I’ll see you in the next post!
P.S: How is it that two months has passed since that night? It’s the equivalent of adult summer vacation! Take me back!
