{"id":12017,"date":"2023-05-04T14:26:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T20:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/?p=12017"},"modified":"2023-05-04T14:26:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T20:26:15","slug":"chicago-trip-day-1-nct-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/2023\/05\/04\/chicago-trip-day-1-nct-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"CHICAGO Trip! Day 1 = NCT Dream!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two weeks ago I got to take another weekend excursion for k-pop, friends, and city wandering. This time we got to see NCT Dream. Amanda and Jason tagged along as cultural observers. Originally we planned to see a show at Lookingglass Theater the same weekend, until they unfortunately ended the show run early. So sad! Even so, Chicago had more than enough activities to fill a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday night Amanda and I took an evening flight out of Denver. Our hotel was very close to the airport and the arena, so we easily checked in and had a good night’s sleep. Friday we chatted and watched k-pop while wearing our crowns (because why not??). Jason arrived midday. We continued visiting at the hotel until forced to adventure out for lunch. I found a unique place nearby called Jibarito Time<\/a>. They claim to be a Chicago specialty, making Puerto Rico style sandwiches on plantains instead of bread. I love sandwiches, local specialities, and enthusiastic employees who are proud of their food, so this was a total win for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back at the hotel, we took a short rest. I walked next door to Target for some toiletries and gawked at the enormous line outside the arena that had already formed for GA tickets and early merch booth. I forced Amanda and Jason out of their naps for some concert prep – temporary tattoos! They stopped for dinner at the Naf Naf Grill<\/a> on our way to the show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We joined the line for seated tickets and admired all the outfits by fellow concert-goers. I love how everyone dresses up for the shows! Once inside, I found a merch booth and bought a T-shirt (with free photocard!). The crowd seemed to skew younger and more predominantly female than the other k-pop concerts I’ve attended. They were polite and excited and friendly, passing out lots of freebies. I picked up a bracelet, fake photocard, and banner while standing in line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time for the show! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmm, this was a fun show, but I had to admit that Seventeen are far superior. As I taught Amanda and Jason in my pre-trip messages, NCT Dream are a weird group from a weird company. The members are very young and I don’t think they were very good at working a live audience. The dancing and singing were EXCELLENT, as expected. The sound mixing wasn’t great. I had a hard time hearing the music compared to other shows. Overall kind of muffled (but still blaring loud – earplugs required!). Still, the music was great and they performed almost all my favorite NCT Dream songs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again I got a lightstick for the show and it was so fun. Being a part of the light show is such a great way to enhance concert experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dancing was really good. I expected them to cop out on some of the harder choreo, but they did My First and Last full out! They got serious air on all the jumps in Trigger the Fever – I was so scared for them slipping on the confetti, but somehow they danced that one to the max as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s happening!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So hyped!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi Jaemin!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi Chenle!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi Mark!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi Haechan! (busy belting high notes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi Jeno!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I love this song!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi Jason and Amanda!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Posing for pics during non-dance songs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The boxes >:D<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So sexy \ud83d\ude09<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Me and Jeno \ud83d\ude09<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Can you tell my bias is Jeno?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Boombox! I wish they sang the original Korean instead of the English version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We communicate in written form<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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NCT Dream are big on aegyo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Amanda figured out that the laptop in the left corner controls the lightsticks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ridin’ with OT7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Better Than Gold!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My favorite song Candy closing out the night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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NCT neo green and streamers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They took a group selfie and I spotted the three of us. Open full image in a new tab to see. They also posted some official photos taken during the concert, and I found us there too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had a fabulous time. I love seeing and talking with the fans, interacting with other people who love this music as much as much as I do. I love sharing k-pop with friends and showing them this weird slice of culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\uae30\ub2e4\ub838\uc5b4 \uc5b4\uc11c \uc640 I’ve been waiting, come on
\uc5b4\ub514\ub4e0 we’re coming together Wherever we’re coming together
\uc544\ubb34 \uac71\uc815 \ud558\uc9c0 \ub9c8 don’t worry about anything
\uc798 \ub420 \uac70\uc57c hello future It will be fine, hello future<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks ago I got to take another weekend excursion for k-pop, friends, and city wandering. This time we got to see NCT Dream. Amanda and Jason tagged along as cultural observers. Originally we planned to see a show at Lookingglass Theater the same weekend, until they unfortunately ended the show run early. So sad! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12064,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12017\/revisions\/12064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}