For the benefit of you TLDR people. Here’s the table of contents so you can skip to whatever section you want.
Fast forward to concert day on September 22 in Vancouver.
Like with most K-pop concerts I have attended, the day starts earlier than you’d like due to extracurricular events and obligations for VIP-level ticket holders before the show. For me, it was particularly tough to wake up, as I had been at the Linkin Park From Zero World Tour stop at Rogers Arena the night before and didn’t get to bed until late into the morning. But such is life for a travelling music fan.
Although I wasn’t planning on it before this trip, I decided to check out the fan zone at the Bubble Tea Shop and meet up with some friends who were also attending the concert. The train ride there was a breeze, only two stops from my home base. But the walk to the shop was a long one. I felt like I was back in New York or Tokyo, just walking endlessly, waiting for Google Maps to chirp at me.
For the record, I didn’t pre-order any merchandise from NACE; I just wanted to see what this fan zone was about. Well, yeah, this was a very small bubble tea store tucked away in a corner. A place that you would probably miss if you weren’t actively searching for it. When I arrived, my friends were inside along with a few other tripleS fans.
There was no merchandise on sale at the shop; pickup only. So I got a tripleS themed Bubble Tea, I chose the Love Child variant since it looked to be the most appetizing. After that, we returned to our respective hotels to relax or do whatever we wanted before the show, since there was nothing else worth hanging around the fan zone for.
Just before 3 pm, I headed to the venue for VIP check-in and to pick up my photo op wristbands. Since I was so close, there wasn’t a pressing need to get there right away unless I wanted to be first in line to get the ordeal over with. The wait to get processed wasn’t too long, and I had my lanyard, signed album, photo op wristbands, and VIP wristband fairly quickly after being let in. After getting all that, it was off to early merch access.
I had compiled a list of what I wanted to buy weeks before the concert. My list was:
- 1 Hoodie
- 1 White T-Shirt
- 2 signed Assemble 25 OMAs
- 1 signed vinyl
- 1 tote bag
I would say that was a fairly modest list, covering almost all the major merchandise one would usually buy. Well, until I looked at my signed OMAs. After meeting up with my friends, I asked who they got, and apparently, the common card among us was Lynn. My other was Jiyeon. It was suggested that I try to trade with other people on site through Discord to see if I could get who I wanted.
Usually, I’m pretty anti-social at these concerts if I don’t have anyone I know around me, and I keep to myself since I don’t have the same level of “passion” as other fans. But I had chase cards I wanted, and the only way to get them was to put myself out there and beg for them. So I sent out a trade request for both my cards to see who would trade for a Hayeon.
Luckily, someone replied, and I was able to flip a Jiyeon for a Hayeon. Then, early merchandise ended, and we were all kicked out of the building with a request to return at 6:30 pm.
