Text & photos by Gianna Maniego
THINGS did not bode well for the Filipino Carats waiting at the airport. It was 4 am. The rains were turning Metro Manila into one big swimming pool, and the possibility of flights being canceled was pretty real.
Carats is the name for KPop idol group Seventeen’s fandom. The talented idol group was planing in from Singapore, where it just kicked off its 10-city Shining Diamonds Asia-Pacific tour. Manila was the second leg, and local fans had been literally biting their nails to the quick in anticipation of the group’s arrival.
The prayer circles must have been effective as the group’s plane touched down without any incident.
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED
Known for its catchy earworm songs and kick-ass choreography, Seventeen—made up of SCoups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, Dokyeum or DK, Mingyu, The 8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino—was one of the most anticipated KPop acts to hit the country in the past few months.
Barely a year since it debuted, the group has already enjoyed a meteoric rise in the industry, winning the Rookie of the Year plum at several year-end awards and enjoying chart success both on Billboard and iTunes. They performed at the KCon festival in New York in June and just recently, had debut concerts in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan.
The group was brought here by Singapore-based Three Angles Production, with support from local concert promoter Steve O’Neal Productions.
The 13-member idol group was down two men for the fanmeet in Manila. Chinese members Jun and The 8 did not make it for “personal reasons.”
But that did not detract from the group’s performances during the two-day stop here. Neither did it dampen their fans’ excitement.
NOT YOUR USUAL COMBINATION
Lines began forming as early as 2 pm at The Theater at Solaire, which was the venue of the 6 pm fanmeet. Something I imagine is unusual for the first-class theater. As one of the toniest stages in the metropolis, The Theater has hosted some of the most prestigious and well-known productions in the world, like Les Miserables and Chicago. Somehow you would not imagine saying The Theater and KPop in the same sentence. And yet it worked.
The theater is built in a way that allows clear views even from the back, so even those who bought premium tickets had a chance to see their idols. The seats were plush and somehow deterred fans from standing on them (which allowed everyone to enjoy unobstructed views, unlike in a normal concert.) So everyone was able to enjoy the performances without breaking any limbs or coming to blows.
But if you think this curbed any of the Carats’ enthusiasm, you’ve got another think coming.
FAN CHANTS ARE FOR AMATEURS
Carats were ready even before the fan meet started, cheering and singing to videos of Seventeen’s “Love Letter” and “Mansae.” But the energy amped up a hundred times the moment lights dimmed for “Shining Diamond,” Seventeen’s first number. Of course, all bets were off after the boys appeared onstage, as Pinoy Carats joyously sang along with the boys throughout the 12-song setlist.
Aside from “Shining Diamond”, the boys also performed their title tracks “Adore You,” “Mansae,” “Pretty You,” and “Aju Nice,” as well as crowd favorites “Rock,” “Chuck,” “Popular Song,” “Say Yes” and “Q&A,” ending with “Healing” and “Love Letter” as encore songs. The fans nearly drowned out Seventeen with their exuberant warbling, which apparently the boys loved. “I’m very very touched…. You guys sang with us together even if [the songs] are in Korean. You danced with us…. You’re here with us together,” Seungkwan said.
‘AEGYO’ AND FAN SERVICE OVERLOAD
AS amazing as the performances were, what endeared Seventeen members even more to the Carats was the impressive amount of aegyo (cuteness) and fan service they showed their Filipino fans, especially during the “Ask Seventeen” and charades portions.
For one thing, they spoke a lot more English, with Joshua and Vernon sharing hosting duties with Seungkwan. They even tried out Tagalog phrases. And not your normal, run-of-the-mill Tagalog words like mabuhay or salamat either.
Think Dino saying “Mayroong forever,” SCoups sending off the fans with Ingat kayo, and Hoshi greeting fans on the second day with “Na-miss ko kayo!” The boys really went the extra mile to make their fans happy.
Mingyu, who brought the house down with his “Ako si Mingyu,” was very nearly adopted by Pinoy Carats when he confessed to having visited Cebu back when he was in Grade 2.
Joshua also formed a firm connection when he said, “It’s such an honor to come to Manila. Philippines is the hometown of one of my favorite artists, Gabe Bondoc. I actually got the dream to be a singer because of him. Mahal kita.”
In exchange, Filipino Carats held sweet fan projects, like holding up banners and balloons and throwing paper planes with special fan messages toward the stage during the encore.
The paper planes, in particular, were unexpected and members of Seventeen were visibly moved as they scrambled to collect the planes and check the notes written on them. “These paper planes are something that touched my heart. Thank you for so much love!” Hoshi said.
“We had so much fun, this is going to be very memorable for us. I heard it’s raining outside, but still [you came]. Thank you guys for coming, ingat kayo,” leader SCoups said. In the end, they promised to come back, this time as a complete set (with Jun and The 8), for a full concert. Additional photos by Julia Mada
- The tour will have stops in Jakarta, Bangkok, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan.