What a Seoul comeback showcase is actually like when you fly in for it

Landing the night before

I booked the trip the day the showcase was announced and landed at Incheon eleven hours before doors. The airport train got me to Hongdae by midnight, and the guesthouse owner had already printed the venue map for me because three other guests were going to the same show.

The queue started forming at seven in the morning. Nobody pushed. A fan club staffer walked the line every half hour with a laminated sheet explaining the entry order in Korean, English and Japanese, which is the first thing I would tell anyone worried about the language barrier.

Fan-chant rehearsal in a subway station

Around noon a group of thirty fans moved into the underground passage and ran through the fan chants twice. Someone handed out printed lyric sheets with the chant lines in bold. I had practised from videos, but hearing thirty people hit the same syllable at once is a different thing entirely.

Three hours in the queue felt like ten minutes because nobody was standing alone.

Inside the hall

The showcase itself ran a little over ninety minutes: four songs from the new album, two older tracks, and a talk segment with an interpreter reading fan questions in English. The sound mix favoured the crowd, which is exactly what you want when you flew in to be part of it.

Merchandise sold out before the doors opened, so buy online in advance if the label offers it. Card payments worked at the venue but not at the food carts outside, and the cash machine in the lobby only took Korean cards.

What I would do differently

• Book a guesthouse within walking distance and skip the last-train stress.

• Bring a printed copy of the ticket confirmation; the venue Wi-Fi collapsed at door time.

• Eat before the queue, not after. The good places near the hall closed at ten.

Would I fly in again for a showcase? Yes, and next time I am staying an extra day to see the city without a wristband on.