After that epic week of concerts last month, this month is a little disappointing by comparison. But, I think Ampers&One was trying to fill the void, because they put on a really fun show!
It’s been a little over a year since they stopped by, and since then they’ve almost doubled their catalog of songs, as well as grown in popularity. That’s thanks in part to them opening for label mates P1harmony on tour last fall. They may have only performed four songs, but it was enough to help them sell out the venue this year! I was nervous that was going to make it a bit of a nightmare, but this is just further proof that it’s a great venue. I never felt crowded once, and it seemed like they had a better handling on organizing all of the various VIP lines.
I had every intention of getting the ‘everything’ ticket for this show, but the site had other plans when they went on sale. At first I only managed to secure a general admission ticket, which would have been better than nothing. But perhaps in a delusional state, I kept refreshing the ticketing page for at least another hour, and as luck would have it, I scored a VVIP ticket! No selfies with this one, but I did get to participate in a fansign! All the members were making direct eye contact when talking to the fans, which was both sweet and mildly unsettling. Makaiah seemed particularly pumped that I had brought my Definition booklet to be signed.
Then it was time to get a group photo with nine of my most random new best friends. Those are always so interesting. But with the amount of people that VIP-related benefits, all of that stuff took almost two hours to complete. The sound check, as usual, was nothing special. I know it’s meant for them to check their mics and levels and whatnot, but we got three songs that were also in the setlist for the show, and they didn’t do much on stage besides horse around a tiny bit. Still, I think the energy of the crowd really impressed them for it just being a soundcheck.
The real show started on time, and we were treated to a lot of new tracks! I was most excited to hear “God” and “Hit Me Up” from the new album, and they delivered! I was also excited to see a more close-up version of “That’s That” compared to seeing them from much further away opening for P1harmony. All the hits were there like “He+She=We” and “On and On,” and of course “Broken Heart.” We also got to experience different unit covers this time around. Kamden and Jiho did a pretty dang sexy dance to an Enhypen song, while Kyrell and Brian were a little silly with a Taylor Swift Cover. And Makiah, Siyun, and Seungmo totally smashed a One Direction song to round it out.
I think what I was most impressed with throughout the night was how many performances they packed in before taking shorter breaks. Those performances are hard and I could tell they were giving it their all. Perhaps they were giving too much. Kamden didn’t make it out for the encore of songs. I believe he may have been dehydrated. Both he and Siyun, with a bum arm, were transported to the hospital to get checked out right after the show, meaning they wouldn’t be participating in the hi-touch or selfies. I hope they are okay today! Most of all, the guys all seemed to be having a genuine blast. They complemented our crowd a lot, but with not going to multiple shows I have no clue how original any of those comments were. I will take them at face value and hope that Columbus remains on their future touring list of cities.
