who’s your hope?

back when the members of BTS enlisted to serve their required time in the korean army, the bean said “imagine mom, by the time they all get out i’ll be a SENIOR!”

well, that time has come.  isn’t that crazy?

anyway, as they’ve been released a few of them have put out some solo projects.  and in april, the bean and i were excited to head to BMO stadium for j-hope’s l.a. stop.  i’d managed to score two tickets during the pre-sale, but then got the opportunity to buy a couple of floor seats that included soundcheck access.  i tried to sell the original tickets, but with no takers we offered them to lilcee, who’s also part of BTS army.

we got to the stadium and joined the lineup that had formed to enter the venue for soundcheck.  another of the perks of soundcheck access is being able to get inside before the rest of the ticketholders. another perk?  a fun box of surprise j-hope merch.

this is one of the newer venues in the l.a. area, and it’s really nice in there.  i’m not usually a huge fan of floor seats because i’m short and inadvertently end up stuck behind someone who’s much taller, but this time it looked like i’d be okay.

the bean spent hours working on this sign:

i’d never been able to score soundcheck access before, so this was all new to me.  and it was really cool - kind of like a mini concert before the concert.  he came out full of excitement and enthusiasm, greeted the audience and took a couple of selfies before launching into a couple of songs.  

when he disappeared backstage, we made a beeline for the merch booth and food kiosk so we could grab something to eat before the main event began.  and instead of going back to our seats, we found a spot on the floor where we could munch on chicken tenders and fries while peoplewatching.  there were some pretty amazing outfits, but i couldn’t take pictures of anyone without looking like a creep so you’ll just have to use your imagination.  as for me, i’d thrown on my favorite jeans that i now realize make me look even shorter than i already am:

one thing i’ve learned about going to k-pop concerts is that a lot of people bring bags of gifts to hand out to fellow army.  some fans hand out photocards, others bring bracelets, and a lot of them make up these cute little goody bags with several items inside.  

maybe when we go to the BTS comeback tour (rumored to come in 2026!), we’ll plan ahead and bring gifts of our own to give away.  

we were sitting next to one of the access points that was manned by venue staff who we heard say over and over “this is an EXIT ONLY!  you will not be able to come back here to re-enter!” i jokingly said “they must be so sick of saying that over and over again, you should make them a sign.” welp:

they laughed when the bean gave it to them, but quickly realized how useful it really was.

and then it was time to head back to our seats and wait for the show to start.

i may not have known a lot of the music, but i enjoyed the show anyway.  j-hope is just as entertaining and charming on his own as with the rest of the group, and he sang and danced his ass off on that stage for a full two hours.

not to mention - look at the smile on my child’s face!

just off to our left, in one of the lower field club sections, lilcee and mr. cee were also enjoying the show.

when the show was over, we made our way out of the stadium and found a bunch of street food vendors.  the smell of bacon-wrapped hot dogs overtook us and we stopped to grab a post-show snack.

sadly for the bean, the hot dog fell right out of their bun.  oops (and they were not super happy with me for taking this while cackling like mad).

but to make up for it, we stopped at one more kiosk, where the bean happily scooped up a fresh mango sliced up to look like a bee-yoo-tiful flower.

and that was how we wrapped up our fun night out.