Monday 18 December 2006

Chapter 43: Fly to the Sky I

It was 6pm and we were busy getting ready. The assistants ran around searching for clothes and accessories while we sat on the high chairs, as the makeup artists worked their magic. In line with the cosmic theme, we were given futuristic makeup. It ended up looking like we were participating in some carnival. My eye shadow colors extended all the way to my hairline, and they’d given me a nude lip color so that the focus did not detract from my eyes.

We were all dressed in silver and black leather, space suit inspired outfits. Mine was sleeveless and ended cropped at my calves and I had a light, white, almost transparent fabric tied around my hips. The guys had variations of straight-cut slacks and jackets and some of them, vests; the two serial offenders when it came to wearing vests being Shoei and Jae Joong. The management loved showing off their triceps and the fans loved seeing them. Our hairs were all slicked back instead of the usual big and complicated hairstyles. This was also to facilitate the helmets we were going to wear later.

“Nervous?” Jae Joong asked me just as his stylist had finished powdering his face.

“Kinda,” I smiled. “I feel cold?” I said. They hadn’t given me a jacket to go with this outfit. Jae Joong got up and went to rummage his duffel bag for his sweater. He walked back and draped it over my shoulders.

“You’ll be fine once we get on stage,” he said as he rubbed my hands to warm them.

“I know.”

“Hyung, does this make my butt look big?” Jun Su said as he turned his back to face Jae Joong and strained his neck to look behind.

“No! Stop being so paranoid,” Jae Joong said exasperatedly.

The guys loved teasing Jun Su about his butt and it has made him overly conscious when they wore tight outfits.

“Sierra, you’re a girl. Tell me the truth,” he said.

“It’s fine. Mine’s bigger,” I laughed.

“Chintcha?” he said, looking at me questioningly.

“I would never lie about big butts,” I winked.

“Komawo,” Jun Su said and he winked back.

“Can the two of you stop winking at each other?” Jae Joong said.

“Wae?” the two of us turned and ask in unison and we started winking at interval.

“You know I can’t wink,” he pouted.

“Haha!” Jun Su laughed. “So he can’t send you signals, can he?” Jun Su asked me.

“Nope,” I replied, laughing. “He’d only be able to blink if he wanted to send me a signal.”

“Did you know this before you dated him?” Jun Su asked me.

“No,” I pretended to sigh. “If I had known about his disability, I would never have dated him.”

“Yah!!” Jae Joong yelled. “It is not a disability.”

“Igot mothae?” Jun Su asked Jae Joong and winked.

“Jae Joong igot mothae!!!” I said gleefully and winked as well.

“Sierra-yah… how can you team up against me with the dolphin?” Jae Joong said, pretending to look hurt.

“Tolkkorae (dolphin)… Jae Joong igot mothae…” I said to Jun Su and winked again. We laughed hysterically as Jae Joong looked at us, lost for words.

8pm finally came and we were lined up backstage, ready to perform. We peeked out and sure enough, the whole arena was filled.

“Look at that crowd,” I said to Chang Min who was being wired. We were wired with the kind of wireless mouthpiece type of microphone Britney Spears would use for her concerts. It was a deviation from the norm since we always held microphones when singing live. But they’d decided that it would be better if we didn’t so that we had more ease of movement.

“Yea… It’s scary. I’m used to it in Korea but to see such a huge crowd outside of Korea… it’s even bigger than the concert we had in Thailand,” Chang Min said.

“Chunbi twaessoyo?” Yoo Chun said as he put his arms around our shoulders.

“I am so not prepared to walk out there,” I laughed.

“Too late,” Jae Joong walked out, “We’re on in five minutes.”

Five minutes later, TVXQ put on their silver and black helmets, which were part of the costume and walked to the other end of the arena. They were going to fly across the arena, on wire cables, and land the stage as part of their entrance. The music started, and the screens on stage lit up and video filled with lots of special effects and graphics started playing. Almost like the one during the Rising Sun concert, it showed a spaceship zooming through space and Earth came into sight. Then the scene suddenly changed into a bird’s eye view of NYC at night. The scenery of NYC moved past slowly and MSG came into sight. Some of the fans squealed in excitement.

The spaceship slowly landed on top of MSG and there was an explosion at the back of the arena. As sparks flew outward and died, the fans screamed when they saw TVXQ flying down from the top on the wire harnesses. The music continued as TVXQ drifted above the fans. They landed on the stage and removed the wire cables, then walked up to three pods on the stage. Jun Su, Jae Joong and Yun Ho hit the big red buttons on the pods and the pods started to split into halves. Skye, Shoei and I were inside each pod; also wearing helmets. The fans screamed again.

The 8 of us walked forward to the front of the main stage and slowly took off our helmets. We placed them in line at the front of the stage and took a few steps backwards to get into positions. Then, the intro for ‘Hold On’ started to play.

I weaved through, between Jun Su and Jae Joong, to the front of the group.

Sierra: I want you, I need you
Each day I wanna be with you
I’m cold now, please hold me
[Jun Su: I’m cold now, please hold me]
When you leave, please don’t forget me
[Jun Su: When you leave, please don’t forget me]

(I turned in Jae Joong’s direction, and him to mine, and we switched places.)

Jae Joong: To see you, and touch you
Brings out the beast inside me
To own you, to have you
[Sierra: To own you, to have you]
I’ll never let you go
[Sierra: I’ll never let you go]

(Skye and Shoei jumped through the group to stand side by side in front.)

Skye: In this world where love isn’t forever
In this world where affections could turn to hate so easily
Shoei: In this world where wanting someone, becomes pure torture
In this world where love may just disappear

(Then they moved back quickly and we all danced together.)

Guys: Hold on, grab my hand
Don’t you ever let go
[Sierra: Let go…]
Baby, if you don’t
I might lose you forever

(I walk forward and reached out my hand.)

Sierra: Hold on, take me with you
Don’t leave me here alone
All: If you don’t, baby
You may regret it

(We changed up the formation so that I, Chang Min and Yun Ho were in front.)

Chang Min: I want you, I need you
Your smile I’ll always remember
When we kiss, I shudder
[Sierra: When we kiss, I shudder]
Waves of pleasure wash all over me
[Sierra: Waves of pleasure wash all over me]

(I move back and Jae Joong moves in front. Chang Min switches with Yun Ho.)

Yun Ho: To see you, and touch you
So near that I could smell you
Your face imprinted in my mind
[Jae Joong: Your face imprinted in my mind]
I can never love another
[Jae Joong: I can never love another]

(Yoo Chun and Jun Su slide forward.)

Yoo Chun: In this world where life is turning meaningless
In this world where no one cares what happens to you
Jun Su: In this world where you and I could be one forever
In this world where I would never give up on you

(They move back and we danced as a group again.)

Guys: Hold on, grab my hand
Don’t you ever let go
[Skye: Let go…]
Baby, if you don’t
I might lose you forever

Hold on, take me with you
Don’t leave me here alone
If you don’t, baby
You may regret it

(As we danced, Shoei walks out from the group and a little bit down the runway. Jun Su followed at a distance behind him and stands there.)

Shoei: Hold on, grab my hand
Don’t you ever let go
S-Cube: Baby, if you don’t
I might lose you forever

Jun Su: Forever… yeah, yeah…

As Jun Su ended the song, the arena was filled with screaming, cheering and clapping.

“Kamsahamnida!” we shouted as we bowed. This was the first time I actually looked at the arena. I was so focused on the performance just now that I didn’t notice. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The seats were filled with balloons in silver (Asteria), red (Cassiopeia) and blue with silver streaks (S-Cube fans). There were huge banners with TVXQ and S-Cube’s face on it, and some fans even made placards with blinking LEDs.

“Annyong haseyo, Dong Bang Shin Ki-imnida!” TVXQ greeted.

“Annyong haseyo, S-Cube-imnida!” S-Cube greeted.

“U-Know Yun Ho-imnida,” Yun Ho waved.

“Choikang Chang Min-imnida,” Chang Min posed with a ‘V’.

“Yongung Jae Joong-imnida,” Jae Joong waved.

“Micky Yoo Chun-imnida,” Yoo Chun waved.

“Xiah Jun Su-imnida,” Jun Su waved.

“Skye-imnida!” Skye yelled.

“Sierra-imnida!” I waved.

“Shoei-imnida!” Shoei said, completing our introductions and we bowed once more.

“Wassup NYC!!!” Yoo Chun yelled and the crowd went wild.

“Wow… Yoo Chun, there are so many people out there,” I said in English as well.

“I know… and I can’t tell who’s who,” he laughed. “Where’s Cassiopeia?” he asked, and the Cassiopeia members screamed in delight.

“Where’s Asteria?” I asked and they screamed back at me.

“And who’s here for S-Cube?” Shoei added and the S-Cube fans cheered. In case I’ve never mentioned, Shoei spent most of his teenage years in the UK. So he was actually pretty fluent in English.

“It’s so touching to see all our fans come together to celebrate this big night with us,” I said.

“Whoever said that fans of different bands cannot unite,” Yoo Chun said. “Are we united?” he yelled at the audience.

“Ne!!!” the audience replied in unison.

“I can’t hear you, say it again. Are we united?” Shoei yelled and put his hand behind his ear.

“Ne!!!” the audience yelled louder this time.

“Thank you all for coming tonight,” Yun Ho said. “We didn’t expect such a big turnout. We’re truly touched.”

“We know many of you have come a long way from the many states in the USA. Some of you flew here from different countries as well, didn’t you?” Jae Joong said and the audience screamed.

“I love NYC!!” Jun Su said and the audience cheered and screamed.

“This next song we’re about to sing, I think everyone will be able to sing along,” Yoo Chun said.

Skye, Shoei and I retreated off the stage through a lift in the middle, at the back of the stage, which sank down as soon as we stood on it. We waved to the audience as we descended.

The intro for ‘Tonight’ echoed through the arena.

“Wooh! How are you doing out there?” Yoo Chun said, exactly the way it was recorded on the CD.

Skye, Shoei and I moved quickly backstage; we had like 10 minutes to change our hair and makeup and outfits before it was our turn. TVXQ will be singing ‘Somebody To Love’ after ‘Tonight’.

The stylists quickly spritzed our hair with water to soften the hair they’d slicked back with gel and hairspray, then they started to create new hairstyles, mine was still a smooth style, my fringe combed down to cover part of my face and the rest of my hair, and hair extensions that touched my shoulders, tucked behind my ears to show of the elaborate chandelier earrings they’d put in my ears. They weigh like a ton and I have to dance in them. I’d recently gotten a 2nd piercing and Jae Joong actually encouraged me, seeing I was a little afraid in the beginning.

“It doesn’t really hurt,” he said as this guy brought over the gun to pierce my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut and it was over in a second. The pain seared through my ears and after that, they started to ache and feel really hot.

“Is it normal to feel like this?” I asked Jae Joong as we walked out of the piercing and tattoo parlor.

“Yes, just don’t touch it. Leave it alone,” he laughed as he pulled my hands away from my ears.

I’m now dressed in a black v-necked halter top and a pair of tight pants. I stood in front of the television hooked up in the dressing room. TVXQ was singing ‘Somebody to Love’, which meant we were on in a mere 2 minutes. Skye and Shoei had their hair spiked up for the next song and they were in the same black outfits they wore during the photoshoot of our 2nd album.

“Let’s go!” the PD said as he ushered us to the lifts which will take us up onto stage.

As TVXQ descended on lifts on another side of the stage, we ascended on the same lift we’d left the stage on earlier. The fans cheered as we came into sight. The intro for ‘Desperate’ started playing, and we started dancing. We sang and danced with the backup dancers and in the middle of the song, we ran out onto the runway, all the way to the end. The audience cheered wildly when we did and some of our fans started tossing flowers and balloons at us. Shoei and Skye managed to catch a few stalks of blue roses. I picked up a balloon and waved it at the audience. We ran back to the main stage as the song ended and ‘Ghosts’ began to play. Yoo Chun appeared on stage on one of the lifts and the audience cheered like crazy.

5 comments:

Bubbles said...

i lurve ur descriptions of everything, it really sounded like an explosive & great concert.

charzylicious said...

yep, sound so real that i thought i was the one performing...hehe...

keep up with the good work..

시에라 (Sierra) said...

Sorry... Can't post on the tag board at work. Hope you guys read this... And perhaps in future you can post the constructive comments here and chat on the tagboard.

Melissa, you can sign up for Asteria here

http://www.xpforums.com/forums/profile.php?mode=register&mforum=dbsk&sid=ebef2389f265045da1699ce3a2790cb3

alex: I know that the recent stuff about Yun Ho still concerned about Sierra has made ppl wonder if they still have a chance. I myself don't know ;) At the moment, I'm happy with Jae...

addicted: Jae's affectionate and loving by nature. It's just cooler to believe that he is cold... haha! But despite him being loving, he has a temper as well (you might have noticed in some of the chapters). Yun Ho is always playful and loving. Jae's more matured and serious. Soo...

But who knows how things are gonna turn out... read on... :)

snowyflakes said...

Gosh, this is great! Very well explained too~ It feels like I'm really in the concert~! Haha.

Cant wait for more~ :D

Anonymous said...

sounds like one HECK OF A PERFORMANCE x__x
i wish i couldve been there...
if it had really ever hppened that is.... T__T---
wait, asteria was in the crowd!
that means i was there!!
*dreams*