Down to Mars at Lee Min Ho Benchsetter Fun Meet

I am glad that I did not let the 'Lee Min Ho Benchsetter Fun Meet' pass. Otherwise, I would have regretted it and miss the fun and excitement.

Teaser photos of what you will about to see later.

Thanks to friends who made it all possible to do the purchase for me and for getting the ticket invite.

I am not a Minoz but I am a fan of Lee Min Ho.  I have seen him in 'Boys Over Flowers', 'City Hunter' and 'Faith'. So, I am happy to be part of his fan meet.  Excited?  Yes.

Then 4  days before the event,  on the 12th of November, while watching Flippish (No. 1 Pinoy Online Video Channel)  where in Down To Mars is the guest, they announced a very pleasant surprise that they will be performing in the fan meet.  I was so elated when I heard it and was doubly excited... Lee Min Ho and Down To Mars. ^_^

Those reading this blog should know by now how I started liking Down To Mars. So as each day progresses and members of DTM are tweeting about it, my anticipation is growing and looking forward to Friday..

Since this is my first time seeing DTM performing live, I wanted to get good seat.  So I exhausted all my efforts to get what I want which I got.  Yahoo!

Anyway, before I go on,big thanks first  to Bench for making this possible and so cheap. Among the fan meetings that I have attended, I believe that this was the cheapest I ever been to. Imagine only shelling out P1,000 and getting  very good seat.

Those who attended the fan meet, they only had to make a minimum purchase requirement from P500 to P1,500 to be able to get a ticket.  For P500 worth of single receipt purchase  you get to seat at the  Upper Box B, P800 for Upper Box A, P1,000 for Lower Box , P1,5000 for Patron

With my P1,000 I asked my friend to purchase for me anything she can get from the rack of skin care products and colognes that I can give out on Christmas.  These  are the items she bought for me. 

With that purchase, I  got a ticket at the Lower Box A.

Biggest concern now for our group (we are 15) is how to get good seats.  Since I am a stone throw's away from Smart Araneta Coliseum, I thought of asking our help to queue for us as early as 6AM.  But something better came up  that we were able to get Row A of Section ___. I would like to believe that we got one of the best sections (if you don't like banging your body with the others and squeezing yourself with other bodies with everyone in the mosh pit).

Alright, concert day...

Since this is not a Lee Mi Ho blog, I will spare everyone from reading my fan account about him but will still be sharing photos of him and a little bit of him towards the end of this page.

The event started a little over 7PM.  Smart Araneta Coliseum's  concert capacity (3/4 of the dome) was almost full.

Audience was first entertained by Hans of Face to Face and we all had a good laugh with his hosting.  He's so funny and gay.  I love it! Running out of something to say because Min Ho was not yet ready to come out, he was instructed by the stage director to stretch the time until  he was given the cue  then the countdown started...

...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1!

A group of five ladies came out dancing and singing to Wonder Girl's 'Nobody'.

 Immediately after their performance of 'Nobody', Down To Mars came out with Super Junior's 'Sorry Sorry'.

When they came out I heard screams... excitement... wiiiiiii! Okay, I have to concentrate watching, taking videos checking the vid from time to time.

Then, they're done with their performance.

Okay, now let me start sharing photos. Here is a set of photos taken from their 'Sorry Sorry' performance. Sorry for the quality, had I known that they will not be too strict with camera I would have brought with me my DSLR and 70-300mm lens for better quality photos.

I like their performance  of 'Sorry Sorry'. DTM added twists to the choreography and song.  I like it better than doing the original stuff.

Among my friends seated together with me, according to them Yheen and Jeongwon stood out.  But when talking to friends who were at the mosh pit, all the members earned some fans. Woot!

After DTM's performance, I heard cheering in which I felt happy and proud.  I am really glad with the reception they got from the crowd be it they know Down To Mars or not (yet).  Audience enjoyed their performance.


Next another set of performers came out dancing to 2NE1's 'Fire'.  Here's a collage of their performance.

They were followed by an all group of men dancing to the world phenomenon 'Gangnam Style'.

As 'Gangnam Style' is about to end, all the performers came out and danced together to cap their performance.

Here again are photos of Down To Mars doing 'Gangnam Style' together with Philippines All Star.

For the first 30 minutes or so of the event, audience were well entertained by Hans, Down To Mars and Philippines All Star. 

Thumbs up to the director for getting Hans to hype the audience, putting together Down To Mars and Philippines All Star on stage to perform and having thought of having  that kind of production number wherein audience did get bored as it is a continuous stage from all the performer.

Congratulations too to Down To Mars for another job well done.

It was my first time seeing them live and I hope that it will not be the last.  Hope to see them performing on big stage once again and hopefully the next time, I will be able to get really good quality photos and videos.

Btw, about my video, I wanted to die when I got home to check only to find out that the whole 'Sorry Sorry' capture was corrupted.  Sorry... sorry... I should have not tweeted that I have a video. I should have checked it first.  T_T

Anyway, someone was able to share the video she took from the mosh pit.  Here's the video,  thanks to sharleen mae pabilona for sharing. I hope you do not mind me sharing your video here.

Alright, before I give you a bit of what happened at the fan meeting, let me share with you individual photos of the members of Down To Mars from last night's performance of 'Sorry Sorry' and 'Gangnam Style'.  I really regretted not bringing my DSLR for this event.  Anyway, I will try to make up for it next time I have a chance. 

Jeongwon's high pitch is really impressive

 and he looks good in white.

With Jang's hair, he stand so tall on stage.

His voice got drown when he had his solo at the beggining 

because of the screaming fans. 

Daisuke looking so tall and slim on stage.

At the end of their number I was surprise  to see him standing in the middle.

I guess the members did it on purpose.  Cute!

Yheen's very low voice can be heard in the coliseum 

despite the screaming.  Since he and Jeongwon are 

often side by side during their production and wearing 

white, they are very noticeable.

Kiro is always at the back and it is so difficult

to focus on him and get  snapshot of him. The time he was in front

I cannot get the right focus.  Next time I will have to it it right.

A friend in the mosh pit asked me who the guys with holes

in his pants with a cute smile. There no doubt that it was Kenji.

I noticed that when Sky had his solo there were a lot 

of screaming from the audience.  Hee, it must the the pink hair.

So, there it goes,  my fan account of Down To Mars from the Lee Min Ho Benchsetter Fun Meet.   Really, a pleasant surprise when I learned that they will be appearing in the fan meet. But like I mentioned, I hope to see them performing live next time much longer.

Now here is a bit from the actual fan meeting.  Will just give the highlights and share some photos.

When the production number ended, Lee Min Ho was then introduced and the crowd went wild.  Nothing can be heard except for the screams of fans wanting to see Lee Min Ho.

As with the other fan meeting, there were Q&A, interaction with fans, surprises and games.

Lee Min Ho is so accommodating and sweet that he made a lot of fans giddy with excitement.  He's very handsome  and full of charm.  He's overflowing with cuteness too. Who wouldn't fall for this handsome Korean lad?

Alright, I stop from here otherwise I will have to write long again and this is not the proper blog for this.

I will now be sharing some of the photos from the event for everyone's enjoyment. 

Standing sexily.

Why is it that I find Korean men sexy doing the cross legs.

Is it only me or other find it sexy as well?

Laughing at the funny re-enactment on the big screen.

With Sam Oh who did a great job interpreting and hosting.

 Saying goodbye to everyone.

That's all about it.  Hope everyone reading this or just plain browsing enjoyed what I shared in this page.

Btw, on my the way home, I have some friends hitching since they're on my way home who do not know Down To Mars.  I had DTM's cd on the changer playing.  They asked me who the artist but told them to guess. Two thought some foreign boy band was singing. They like the songs then I told them who Down To Mars is. ^_^

I even gave one of the signed CDs that I have in my car which I am about to send to a friend given to one of my hitchers because she said she likes 'Nandito Lang Ako' when she learned that it's DTM  singing from my player. Nice yah?

Until my next post.