It feels very surreal to have finally seen the group that got me into K-Pop live and in person. But that’s exactly what happened! On Saturday morning I drove my happy ass down to MONSTA X’s first tour stop in Virginia and my Monbebe heart was full.
Truly, the Youtube algorithms tried for such a long time to get me to watch their “Love Killa” music video that by the time I did, I was pretty much hooked on the spot. Since then, I’ve not given nearly enough time to their entire discography, but they have always remained a group at the top of my list. Aside from being insanely talented, and age appropriate, they are also unbelieveably silly and have such a warm-hearted fan base. When they announced their brief US tour, sans I.M, I jumped on tickets as fast as I could. I scored a decent VIP ticket, along with a seat in the stands so I could actually see.
I didn’t waste too much time getting to the venue early. In fact I showed up almost when VIP check-in cut off, but it was just enough time to grab my merch and get in line for soundcheck. I didn’t get to check out the merch until later, but we got a beanie, charging cord, slogan towel, photocards, and a photocard holder – a pretty sweet snag! We got to sit in our assigned seats for the soundcheck, and while I did have an aisle seat and some 3-inch wedges on, it still wasn’t enough to dodge the arm of the girl in front of me wearing six inch wedges and filming every single second of the soundcheck. Short of standing directly in the aisle, I was glad I splurged for a seat in the stands, as well. Short girl problems.
The soundcheck was your typical fair, we got three songs, all of which were on the show’s regular setlist, but it was fun to see them in a relaxed setting. There was a little bit of time to kill before the show started, so I lazily made my way to my seat in the stands and was so pleased with the view. Since MONSTA X are a bigger and well-established group, this show had a handful of proper breaks for outfit changes, but we were treated to high quality pre-recorded mood packages that kind of hinted at the stages we’d be seeing next.
I was actually highly impressed by the four songs they powered through at the begining with no breaks! They got me back to back to back with “DRAMARAMA,” “Love Killa,” and “Rush Hour” – so amazing! And to end this first stage we got a triple taste of songs from their most recent English release, Unfold. They were at least songs that I liked the most off that album! The second stage of songs again hit me with a triple threat of “Magic,” “Do What I Want,” and “Tuscon Leather” – what a dream! Next were the solo stages which were just okay for me, though I will have to give Joohoney’s most recent solo tracks a fair shake someday.
The last stage and encore seemed to go by in a blink, but I did make my way back down to my floor seat for those stages. The view was manageable with some creative standing, at least. I was thrilled to hear “Alligator,” “Burning Up,” “Shoot Out,” and “Rodeo” in those final moments. They really put on a full show, but it felt like it should have gone on forever! There were only a few songs that I’d never listened to before, so the setlist was aces for me. As I’ve now officially learned, hi-bye is incredibly lame. Speed walking past these unreal humans is not enough for the price. But still, crazy to say that I was an arm’s length away from these legends. Here’s hopnig a tour comes around again when I.M is done with his military service!
