JYJ Concert in Berlin, 06.11.2011.


I flew from the UK to Berlin, after a short stop by Amsterdam to change plane (I couldn't find a direct flight D:), and arrived there around 11AM on Saturday.
I didn't really know how to go from the airport to my hotel as I figured I would just have to ask the airport staff for directions, which I did. They weren't really nice but it was still okay, I managed to get the information I needed and bought the bus/train (S-bahn) ticket. I took the bus without any trouble but once I got to the S-bahn station, things started to get a bit more complicated. According to the people from the airport I had to take the S42 which was supposed to take me straight to the hotel. But they forgot to mention the fact that when it reaches some stations, the S42 sometimes becomes S41, and so that I had to get off the S42 (which would then become the S41 and go all the way back to where the S42 started, which means in the opposite direction from where I had to go) and wait for an other S42, get in, and keep going till I reach my stop. I don't know if you get what I'm trying to explain, but if not don't worry, let's just say it was very confusing and illogical for me since it was my first time in Berlin and I had no idea how the public transports worked there and since I don't speak german it was even more difficulty to understand. I asked several people for directions, including a bunch of bulky policemen who looked kind of intimidating, but I was surprised when I realized that none of them could really speak english. I don't really know why but I was always under the impression that almost all germans could speak english more or less fluently, but except for the airport staff (and yet, some of them couldn't speak that well either), all the german people I talked to sucked at english. Anyways, after randomly getting in and off of the (wrong) train several times, I finally got to my hotel and went to the reception to check in. There, surprise surprise, I met two other french girls and since I had the feeling that they were JYJ fans I innocently asked them what they were doing in Berlin. Turned out I was right, they were here for the concert too. We talked a little bit while waiting for our keys and exchanged phone numbers to meet up the next morning, before going to our respective rooms.
A bit later I got a text from the french girls telling me to meet them the next day at 6AM so that we could go to the Tempodrom together in order to get our tickets. We already had online tickets but we needed our real tickets as well as our seat number and had to start to queue early since the first ones to get there would have the best seats (a few people even spent the night at the Tempodrom to be sure to be first). Unfortunately, the next morning I had some problem with my phone alarm (I don't know if it didn't ring or if I just didn't hear it) and woke up around 8AM instead. I was in a panic and quickly texted the other girls to apologize and to explain the situation. They were already in the queue at the Tempodrom and told me it was fine and that I should just join them once I'm ready. They gave me directions to the Tempodrom and I hurried up there without getting lost or making mistakes this time (taking the S-bahn is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it).
It was around 9AM when I arrived and there were already so many people waiting. The queue for the VIP and SVIP tickets was even more impressive so I was kind of glad that I only had a normal ticket XD (one of my friend had a VIP ticket and she had to wait till 3:45PM before she finally got her ticket !) It's a good thing the 2 french girls were already in the line and allowed me to join them or else I would have had to wait far longer than I did. I met a lot of other french girls and they had french flags so we attracted a lot of attention hehe.
While we were lining up, ROCKJJ was handing out banners to support Jaejoong, with the inscription We will always be there, in both english and korean. The girls were very nice and even allowed us to take several banners instead of only one.
There were also a korean man and his son (who was pretty hot I might say) who were selling JYJ goods but since I didn't want to spend too much money (I already spent a lot just to go to the concert) I didn't buy any. I also heard that japanese fans were giving out JYJ fans but unfortunately I didn't manage to get one.
The ticket office was supposed to open at 10AM but it opened late, thankfully even if it was a bit cold it was also quite sunny so we weren't freezing or anything, just a bit impatient. Around 11AM they finally opened it, and starting from there it went by pretty quickly and we didn't have to wait long before we had our tickets. Our seats were situated in Block 16, row 6, which was actually a really good location, not too far away from the stage, so we were quite satisfied. Once we had our tickets we decided to go and visit Berlin a little bit since we still had time before the concert started. We went to Brandenburger Tor, took pics etc., and also tried to find a restaurant because we were starting to feel hungry. However, that was harder than we thought it would be, since it was Sunday and they were almost all closed, so eventhough we initially wanted to find a restaurant serving traditional german dishes we had to settle for a normal restaurant, but at least the food was good. Then, we quickly came back to our hotel before leaving again for the Tempodrom.
We got there at 16:30PM or so and wondered around a little bit, talking, and taking pictures with our french flags. We even got filmed by a korean journalist who asked us to wave our flags and to look excited for the camera so that's what we did, while shouting “JYJ hwaiting” repeatedly. There were also 2 french girls working for Kokokoreano.com who took pictures of us.
Chinese fans from Jaejoong's Baidu Bar were handing out green lightsticks for his solo song, as well as posters with a picture of him on both sides and a message saying “Dear fans, please join us and give Jejung the strongest support”, in english, chinese, japanese and korean. Some other fans also gave us a white lightstick, for In Heaven. Oh, and there was a whole group of japanese fans (mainly older fans in their sixties and more, but some of them were younger too), most of them were Jaejoong's fans (but of course there were also JS and YC's fans) and had t-shirts, bags, towels etc. with JJ's pics/name on it. And they probably went to the Unforgettable Live Concert in Japan because lot of them were wearing the official shirts.
Some Junsu's fans were also handing out pink heart shaped papers with Xiah written on one side, and 다시 시작 (= start over again, from the lyrics of Fallen Leaves) on the other side. And I saw a lot of Yoochun's fans with mickey mouse ears, that was cute. In the concert hall, in the rows in front of me there were also some korean Yoochun's fans from sharingyoochun, and they were handing papers with Yoochun's name on it in korean for whoever wanted them. And I guess one of them brought her son with her because there was a little boy (I'm pretty sure he wasn't older than 12 years) with them, a Yoochun's fanboy as well ^^
I actually saw quite a lot of fanboys (I spotted a Jaejoong's fanboy, with his JJ's towel and lightstick :D), asians AND non asians, I wasn't expecting them to be so numerous. I'm sure JYJ were happy to see so many males in the audience. I also have to add that most of the fans were non-asians, which kind of surprised me at first but it just proves you don't have to be asian to like JYJ.
But I also saw a girl with an SMTown bag (WTH?!) and some DBSK and YunJae banners/posters. Fortunately there were only 2 or 3 of them, but still, it annoyed me to no end (and furthermore, I realized at the end of the concert that the girl sitting next to me was actually waving a YJ banner, grrrr >.<).
Anyways, after they quickly checked our bags (they didn't see my camera though, or if they did they let it slide) we were allowed into the concert hall (I can't remember exactly what time it was then but probably around 7PM) and went to our seats. The Tempodrom is a very nice venue, not too big and quite intimate, I really liked it. The venue was almost totally filled, except for some badly situated seats in the higher sections of the Tempodrom, and which were probably the farthest away from the stage too.
While waiting for the concert to begin we were getting excited and we started chanting "JYJ ! JYJ ! JYJ !" and even doing the wave. Suddenly, the lights went off, the JYJ logo appeared on the screens and the crowd went crazy, shouting and cheering. They showed pictures of Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu and then the In Heaven MV. Then the boys appeared on stage, looking hot and mighty in their white suits (I have to say I always read comments about how skinny they're etc. but they seriously aren't, they look absolutely fine. The 3 of them looked healthy and happy, eventhough Jaejoong seemed a bit tired) and the concert began with "Empty".
One of the negative point of the concert was that the staff was freakin annoying, ordering us to sit down while we were dying to stand up and just dance and jump up and down with JYJ. I mean, come on, it's a concert, don't expect the audience to stay put and keep quiet ! The only times they allowed us to stand were during "Be My Girl" (we did the flashmob) and "Empty Remix", and that's only because JYJ were asking us to, shouting “Jump!Jump!Jump !” etc., and so they couldn't do anything but let us be. Also, there were some sound system problems during "Fallen Leaves", the instrumental was far too loud, the boys kept touching their ear plugs and we could barely hear Yoochun, while Junsu and Jaejoong had to sing louder to be heard. For some of the other songs the bass was pretty strong as well. Other than these few inconveniences, the concert was awesome.
It was my first JYJ concert ever and I had always hear people saying that they sound much better live than in recordings and, damn were they right ! I was truly impressed at how good they sound live, the 3 of them.
My bias is Jaejoong, and I like his and Junsu's voices the most (in both JYJ and DBSK5) but I want to say to the people who think that Yoochun can't sing, go listen to him live and you'll definitely change your mind. His voice is kind of underrated at times, it's smooth and warm, deep and charming. And during "In Heaven", I heard this high note which was plain gorgeous and I though it was either JJ or JS but then I realized it was Yoochun and I was seriously awed. However, I would have liked it better if he had sung Miss Ripley's OST instead of "I Love You" as his solo but it's just me being picky. I still liked his performance, it's always a pleasure to watch PimpChun playing around with the ladies, making his dear Chunsas scream in delight/protest (there was no bed this time though, guess he realized it was too much for some of his fans).
Of course, Junsu live never disappoints, he is so passionate, he gives his all (well, they all do), and he is just a-ma-zing. He sang "You're Beautiful" and what can I say...it was indeed beautiful. And the man totally rocks that body, best dancer in JYJ, but that's no surprise (but hey, I love YC and JJ's lazily/nonchalantly sexy dancing too ;D).
And Jaejoong...his voice is so flexible, he sings effortlessly and beautifully. His high notes were even better than in recordings, damn impressive. The last high note in "I Will Protect You" was soooo long and powerful, I don't know how he did it but it was literally jaw dropping,.
I loved the way they hit high notes, harmonized together and threw adlibs in their songs as if it was the most easy and natural thing in the world. I was particularly impressed by "Ayyy Girl". This song is not my favourite JYJ' song, when I first heard it I truly disliked it (and I know I'm not the only one), then I got used to it but still wasn't so fond of it, then when they started to perform it live I watched fancams and was surprised at how good it sounded live. But I have to say, being there, at the concert, the way they sang this song made me fall in love with it (I still hate the MV though XD). The harmonization at the beginning when they were singing the “Ayyy Girl” part was to die for. They haven't lost their touch, and even if it's only the 3 of them now, nothing is missing, their voices blend together, complete each other, they sound fan-tas-tic.
They also had 3 concert talks (or was it 2, I'm not sure). There were 2 translators and, thanks god, they were translating in english and not in german. JYJ introduced themselves, saying how glad they were to be there etc. The MCs asked them if they could speak german and Junsu said “Ich liebe dich”, Jaejoong said “Berlin, wo seid ihr?” (Berlin, where are you ?) and then, Yoochun went all gangsta with his now infamous “Was geht ?” (What’s up ?). He kept repeating it while doing some kind of rapper hand gestures and Junsu started doing it too while Jaejoong was laughing so hard he had to turn around. The way they were saying “Danke” (Thanks) was very cute too, they pronounced it “Dank” XD. Then they were asked what they did in Berlin, if they enjoyed it, if they tried some german food etc. Jaejoong and Yoochun said they went to some bars and drank beers (and JJ added they drank tequila too). They also said they ate a lot of german sausages and that they enjoyed it (lol, it sounds kind of wrong now that I think about it). Oh, and they also said that german girls were really tall and Jaejoong was like “Why are they so tall ?! What do they think about short guys ?!”. And he said he thinks it's better when the man is taller than the woman and so that he will have to wear higher shoes (such a tease he is). He kept laughing without any real reason, I guess he was just very happy but he was adorable.
Later on (during the other talk session), soulmates also teased Junsu about his butt, saying that fans should bring Junsu's butt as a memorie from the concert. And before that Jaejoong came from behind Junsu who was already on stage (he just had his solo) and jumped down from the higher part of the stage to surprise Junsu (they sure love teasing their duckbutt lol). They talked about their activities and said that this concert was their last activity as a group for this year and that they'll have a break, compose new songs etc. but that they'll definitely go back to Europe for a new tour in the future. The french girls with me started shouting “Paris”, “Come to France” etc. and we were waving our french flags again so if they didn't realize they had french fans at this concert they must be blind AND deaf XD (and when Yoochun was talking one of the girl started singing “Oh Micky, you're so fine you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Micky, hey Micky ” and I'm pretty sure he heard her because he looked in our direction and smiled). Junsu talked about Mozart and Mr. Levay, saying that he was like a father to him and that he was happy to be in Germany because that's where he is from eventhough he only recently found out that he doesn't live in Berlin.
They also showed us footages of them in Barcelona and Berlin (which probably means a DVD is going to be released, which is awesome !!) and the Come On Over teaser video.
For the last part of the concert Jaejoong had taken his vest off and was wearing a sleeveless shirt, showing off his arms and I was glad to see he had gained back some muscles. He said they were going to sing the last song and I couldn't believe it was already the end of the concert, it went by too fast ! (and they didn't sing "Nine", "You're", "Boy's Letter" etc. T.T) We started screaming “Kajima Kajima Kajima” and they looked surprised. Jaejoong apologized saying that they didn't prepare any more songs and that they were running out of time and so they started singing "In Heaven". As planned, we waved our white lightsticks and created a white ocean for them. "In Heaven"...I love this song so much and hearing it live is such an incredible experience. It is such a strong and meaningful song, full of feelings and emotions that even if you don't understand korean, you can't help but be moved by it. Then the song ended and they left the stage but we know they were going to come back for the encore so we started cheering for them again, chanting “JYJ” and then “JYJ Saranghae” repeatedly till they came back. They sang "Get Out" and "Empty Remix" and this time we didn't care anymore if the security wanted us to stay seated, we just stood up and danced, jumped and sang with them with all our strength. Silver confetti were falling on the stage and near the end of the song each dancer had some sort of dance break and Junsu did his one hand handstand but I think his hand slipped a bit on some of the confetti because he almost lost his balance (it was hardly noticeable though because he got back on his feet pretty quickly). And then it was the end, JYJ thanked us and bowed with their dancers before leaving the stage, for good this time.
The concert went by too fast, it lasted a bit more than 2 hours but time flew so fast that we couldn't believe it was already the end. It was such a magical experience, absolutely mind blowing but too short and now all I want is to see and hear them again !! To those who haven't been to a JYJ concert yet, if you ever have the opportunity to go don't hesitate, you won't regret it. You think they sound great in recordings ? I agree, but it's nothing compared to how amazing they sound live. These 3 men are made to perform and be on stage, believe me recordings and fancams don't do them justice, you have to go to one of their concert to realize how truly talented they are and how good their singing is. Yes, they are THAT awesome.
Well, I will end it there, that's already quite a lengthy fanaccount, I hope I was able to convey my feelings about the concert and that you won't find it too boring.

JYJ fighting !!♥ We will wait for you to come back to Europe, and hopefully to France this time...:)

Reply · Report Post